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 21st edition of Traces!

Traces

Heritage News

What’s that thingamajig? • Answer: a typewriter

The Harbour Rocks Hotel • In the early 19th century, Sydney was becoming more than just a dumping ground for convicts; it started to become a modern, livable and exciting city full of opportunity. The Harbour Rocks Hotel building is a reminder of those times.

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Death of a mailman • On 16 August 1862, mailman Daniel Crotty left Murringo for his usual run to Boorowa, New South Wales. Crotty rode his own horse and led another horse carrying two mailbags. Sadly, he didn’t get very far on his short journey.

Notes from the author

THE MCDONAGH SISTERS • In 1924, three orphaned sisters inherited £8000 and decided to go into the feature film business. Friends and relatives tried to discourage them from their fanciful plan, and when they approached male professionals in the business for advice, they were told, ‘Go home, little girls.’

Glückauf: Emigration desirable! • More than 1000 government-sponsored people from Germany’s Harz region emigrated to South Australia in the middle of the 19th century. The evidence of their excitement and heartache upon leaving their homeland remains in the archives.

How do the Djaara bury? • As a proud Dja Dja Wurrung man, I spend a lot of my time researching letters, memoirs and newspaper articles penned in the decade when white migrants first took over Australian lands. Almost nothing remains about how First Nations people practised religion, particularly our funeral practices.

A ship of death • ‘Around this stone are interred the mortal remains of 26 immigrants who, seeking in this land an earthly home, have found, elsewhere, we trust, a better country.’ So reads a plaque on the grave of Dr George Mitchell in the historical cemetery in Dunwich, Stradbroke Island, where the passengers of the Emigrant died in quarantine.

Remembering Rabaul • The untold story of a remote World War II garrison and a battle against extraordinary odds.

THE RAILWAYMEN • In this edition of Traces, our featured lost jobs come from the railways, a sector that transformed Victorian transport and industry from the mid 19th century.

SMALL THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE • When it came to chasing wild horses, nobody questioned Rachel Kennedy’s skill in the saddle. Born in 1845 in the wild and remote Warrumbungle mountains of western New South Wales, Kennedy was an extraordinary woman of stark personal contrasts who became a colonial folk hero. Traces caught up with Kennedy’s great-great-grandson, Jeff McGill, to find out more about her pioneering story.

Jeff McGill’s family history research tips

Irish pioneers in India and Australia • Thomas Little arrived in Swan River in January 1837, when the European population of the whole of Western Australia was only about 2300. Over the next 40 years, he made his mark and is remembered to this day in the Thomas Little Memorial Hall in Dardanup. Other than being Irish and coming via India, very little is known of his life before he arrived here – until now.

Shining a light on a Sydney teacher • Around 18 years ago, my father, who was a builder, found a box of old books under the verandah of a building he was demolishing in The Rocks, Sydney. Inscribed with identifying information, these books captured my imagination and, with the help of teacher records, revealed the life of a Sydney school teacher.

Using teacher rolls and career cards

A link to ancestors...