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 20th edition of Traces!

Letters to the editor

Traces

Heritage News

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Dimora • One of Adelaide’s most affluent streets, East Terrace, is home to some of the city’s grandest heritage-listed mansions. Dimora, located at 120 East Terrace, is a 20-room manor graced with design features from the late Victorian era.

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Queenstown: where the empire never ended • One needs to be emotionally prepared for the denuded moonscape surrounding Queenstown, on Tasmania’s isolated west coast. Guy Salvidge takes us on a journey to these ravaged lands that bear the legacy of colonial mining.

Hanging Ned Kelly • How did Ned Kelly, our most infamous outlaw, come to be hanged by Elijah Upjohn, an obscure nightman turned chicken thief? That was the question I set out to answer, and what ensued was an odyssey into some of the darkest recesses of Australian history.

Why did he fly? • Sometimes it’s the oddities that give an archive a whole new meaning.

The hangman • In this edition of Traces, our featured ‘lost job’ of the past is the hangman – a maligned figure who was hated, feared and avoided even by those he served.

Discovering Dolly – Madam of Melbourne • In researching the life of criminal businesswoman Dolly Gray, I’ve been able to realise her integral role in Melbourne’s gang war, the Fitzroy Vendetta, and how the story has been whitewashed over the last century.

Victorian mourning jewellery • The tradition of wearing mourning jewellery to remember a loved one dates at least as far back as the 1600s. This edition, we look at the basics of this fascinating custom and its symbolism, and how to identify Victorian mourning pieces in your collection.

RESEARCHING YOUR CONVICT ANCESTRY • More than 150,000 convicts were sent from the United Kingdom to Australia over a period of 80 years – was your ancestor one of them? Helena Melton discusses the best resources to help you find your convict ancestors.

A promise to my grandma • As a professional genealogist, I am often asked how I became interested in family history. It all started with an old family Bible when I was just a teenager.

THE JEWISH STOCKMAN OF BOMBALA • I arrive in Bombala on a promise that I made to myself 40 years ago. I am looking for the cemetery. More specifically, I am looking for my great-grandfather, John Coronel.

James Byrne, the Blue Mountains guide • In the early 1800s, a mysterious individual who is recorded with four different surname spellings guided explorers across the difficult terrain of the Blue Mountains. Anthea Fraser Gupta explores how 19th-century spelling variations can create historical mysteries, and how to discover the truth.

The Hurstville Chain Letter • Chain letters are surprisingly older than we might expect them to be and, as demonstrated in the case of the Hurstville Chain Letter, can quickly spiral out of control.

A link to ancestors • This edition, we asked you, our readers, to share your favourite family heirlooms and the stories they hold.

What’s that thingamajig?

What’s new online? • The latest updates and additions to historical collections available online.

A VISIT TO BEECHWORTH ASYLUM