Traces

This magazine is for people passionate about Australia and New Zealand's genealogy, history and heritage. Whether you want to explore convict history, find your Anzac, identify photographs or trace your family tree, our trusted expert advice will help you discover your past.

Welcome to the 17th edition of Traces!

Traces

Heritage News

THE LA TROBE READING ROOM • The State Library of Victoria’s La Trobe Reading Room is one of Melbourne’s grandest historical spaces. This edition, we dive into this landmark’s past – from design to construction, and everything in between.

The importance of remembering • Annie Lock might not have been altogether pleased by her somewhat equivocal obituary.

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A miraculous last stand • Tongerlongeter and his people were an incredibly well-trained and effective fighting force that inspired great fear among colonists. Under Tongerlongeter’s leadership, they pressed a sophisticated resistance campaign against their vastly more numerous enemies.

What’s that thingamajig? • Answer: A mourning box with lock of hair, circa 1854

Vandemonians • Were the convicts born bad or made bad?

Balmain coal mine tragedy • Tucked away in quiet spots around Australia are monuments and memorials erected to men killed in mining and industrial accidents at a time when occupational health and safety did not have the focus that it has today.

BREAKING CHINA Bluejackets and white Australians in the Boxer Rebellion • When he declared the very first Australian Parliament open on 9 May 1901, the Duke of Cornwall and York was bereaved. His grandmother, Queen Victoria, had died barely three months earlier. It was, he lamented, a ‘sad event which has plunged the whole empire into mourning’.

The wreck of the Meridian • Th e Meridian’s journey from the United Kingdom to Australia was smooth, and even enjoyable, for the 107 people on board. Until, that is, they approached the Cape of Good Hope.

WALHALLA, VICTORIA • Perched neatly in a picturesque valley between tree-lined hills as far as the eye can see, and with a name that harks back to the majestic, golden hall of Norse mythology, it’s tempting to think that the small town of Walhalla in Victoria’s alps has a history as charming and peaceful as the town is today. But the story of the now almost-deserted town contains its fair share of difficulty, with one resident even going so far as to suggest that it was cursed.

James Brothers photographers • James Brothers, London Portrait Studio, was a well-regarded photography business run by the artistically inclined Edward and James James in the Orange area of New South Wales. Catherine Mackenzie, of the Molong Historical Society, investigates their lives and those of their immediate family upon arrival in Australia.

DAYS MILL Australia’s best-preserved steam-powered flour mill • English migrants William and Ann Day established Days Mill near Shepparton in 1865, and today it is Australia’s best-preserved steam-powered flour mill, with its buildings and artefacts providing a glimpse into the life of a thriving family business in the 1800s.

Operation Semut, 1945 • When young Australian soldiers were dropped behind Japanese lines in the dense Borneo jungle, they knew that winning the support of the local Dayak peoples was essential to success, and to their survival.

Bringing a trailblazer back to life • When Lynne Leonhardt discovered pioneering suffragist Henrietta Augusta Dugdale in her family tree, she was inspired to write the life story of this remarkable Australian.

WRITING FAMILY HISTORY • Do you think your ancestors’ lives would make a great historical novel? Writer and historian Dr Naomi Parry introduces the work of Mandy Gwan.

What’s new online? • The...