Traces

Traces magazine delves deep into Australia’s history, from ancient Indigenous heritage to colonial times,convicts, local history, antiques and artefacts, family genealogy and more!

Welcome to the 34th edition of Traces!

Traces

Heritage news

WESTELLA, Hobart

The Fisk Jubilee Singers at Maloga • In the late 19th century, 11 talented African-American singers electrified the Australian colonies with their spirituals. Unexpectedly, the most emotional audience members they encountered were members of the Yorta Yorta nation on the banks of the Dhungala (Murray) River.

DEATH AND BURIAL on the goldfields • For some fortune-seekers rushing off from Melbourne to the goldfields in the 1850s, a great adventure led to death by misadventure. At Whroo, in Central Victoria, the cemetery reveals traditions and practices that were typical in goldfields burials.

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Mark Oliphant: THE TRUE FATHER OF THE ATOMIC BOMB • Australian physicist Mark Oliphant played a pivotal, yet often overlooked, role in the creation of the atomic bomb, laying the groundwork for the Manhattan Project.

THE FIGHTING FLETCHERS • Every Anzac Day, we honour those who laid down their lives in times of war. It is also a time to acknowledge families that lost loved ones in conflicts far from home – like the Fletcher family, which lost more than most.

STEAMSHIP TRANGIE has left the harbour • In the crowded waters of Sydney Harbour, ships were constantly coming and going, loaded with imported and exportable goods. But there was one small, rusting steamship that always stayed behind.

What’s that thingamajig?

A ring for Miss Towel • On a rainy afternoon in 1937, a jeweller’s shop in Melbourne’s inner suburbs became the stage for a daring diamond theft. Now in state archives, the heist’s paper trail reveals a fascinating life of crime.

Reading between the lines • When the usual building blocks of your family tree run out, new approaches can help you tackle brick walls.

The eternal hope of Ellen Danby • Hope is what keeps people going when the odds are against them. Some people have an almost superhuman ability to maintain hope, but most of us can think of someone who has survived the impossible through stubborn resolve. I know one such woman; her name was Ellen Danby, and she was my great-grandmother.

David Syme: Australia’s first press baron • When David Syme stepped in as the reluctant editor of a struggling Victorian newspaper, he began a career that would shape the colony’s future.

Cooking for a new country • Harriet Wicken’s journey from England to Victoria was the catalyst for a new edition of her The Kingswood Cookery Book, adapted to Australian kitchens and the everyday realities of colonial life.

Seed cake

GARROORIGANG HISTORIC HOME A GOULBURN TREASURE • Garroorigang Historic Home is a rare survivor: a continuously lived-in family home that has been part of Goulburn’s story for more than 160 years. Shaped by the lives of everyday people, it offers visitors an intimate window onto Australia’s past.

Do you have a story to share? • Traces welcomes article submissions and pitches from historians, genealogists, family history researchers, authors and history lovers.