Amongst Mum’s repertoire of schoolgirl memories was the oft-repeated story of Alice and her lollies. Alice sat next to Mum in the one and only classroom, consisting of Grades 1 to 8, at St. Joseph’s Convent School, Cora Lynn, West Gippsland. The story went something like this: “Alice’s parents had a shop in Nar Nar READ MORE
How do we solve a problem like Maria?
Back in the 1990s, when I first started researching the family history, I innocently thought that my migrating forebears came to Australia and settled in one place. I soon discovered that, more often than not, immigrants to Australia in the mid 1800s often spent years finding their way; making money, losing money, battling disease, battling READ MORE
My Blog is turning 1!
Today is my blog’s 1st birthday! Time for a review… Site Stats: Since going online on 28 October 2015, there’s been 24 blog posts, 5,249 views, 1799 visitors, and 183 comments. The blog post with the most views? Back to the Main Drain-Cora Lynn, Vervale and Iona. A car trip around the Koo Wee Rup READ MORE
John COGHLAN, a gold town and Puckapunyal
Once again, as in a previous blog post, What’s in a Name?, I was bamboozled by a Victorian place-name containing the word ‘Spring’. This time it was ‘Spring Creek’, the wedding venue of my great grandparents, John COGHLAN (c1836-1904) and Ellen QUINLAN (c1843-1905) who married there in 1869. Here’s a reminder of how the couple READ MORE
Me, Dad and the Olympic Games
1956 was a very busy year for my dad, John ‘Jack’ Leo COGHLAN (1909-1974). Not only did he become a father for the fifth time—to me—but he was working at the Olympic Games in, our home town, Melbourne. The XVI Olympiad was the first Olympic Games to be held in Australia and the first to READ MORE
Where did I get that hair…Mary Jane CAMERON?
I have a lot of hair. It’s thick and curly. As a child my mum attempted to train its unruly behaviour by giving me frequent ‘trims’. She skilfully wielded those sharp scissors over my head as a I dutifully perched on the high, yellow stool. The result: a short style with ‘room to grow’, which READ MORE
My DNA. Results are in.
I’d often thought about submitting my genes for analysis to establish and/or verify my ethnic origins. Genetic testing has become a very popular thing to do in the genealogical world. The impetus to act, finally came in the form of an email I received a few months ago. It was from a relative of the READ MORE
A LEE Match!
About a month ago, a LEE ‘relative’ in the USA, who I’ve recently made contact with, emailed a couple of photos of a brother of her forebear, Charles LEE (1841-1929). Charles LEE being the brother of my great-grandfather Edward LEE (1840-1898). The question….are the photos of Edward LEE? One of the photos is labelled Stewart READ MORE
‘Duty nobly done’: two WINTER brothers KIA in France.
In ‘travels with my forebears’ I came across the deaths of two WINTER brothers, killed in action, in the First World War: Private Herbert William WINTER (c.1888-1917) Private Bertram John WINTER (c.1891-1917) They were the sons of John WINTER (1850-1902) and Margaret FOX (1859-1930) of Lake Rowan, a small town in northern Victoria between Benalla READ MORE
Sunbury Festivals and my great-great-grandfather, Edward WINTER’s, farm.
Pondering the fact that Mum’s side of the family had strong links to the Sunbury area in Victoria, I wondered if the original WINTER farm as detailed in my last blog post How I ‘met’ my great-grandfather William WINTER. Part 1. was anywhere near the Sunbury pop festivals of the 1970s. I did a bit READ MORE