Picture South Perth

In the Federation of Australian Historical Societies e-Bulletin No. 126 - 28 June 2014 we have been alerted to a new  digital collection.

Copied below is the notification:

The City of South Perth recently launched a digital collection of historic images online; this project only went live a few short weeks ago and has been titled Picture South Perth. The website link to visit is: http://picture.southperth.wa.gov.au

Picture South Perth is an online collection of historic images dating back to the 1870s that showcases the people, places and events that have shaped the City of South Perth.

It contains photographs from the City of South Perth’s Local History Collection and artwork from the May and Herbert Gibbs Collection which has been scanned and catalogued by dedicated library staff.

Through Picture South Perth you can search, tag and comment on images. Key words such as people’s names, places and subjects can be clicked on to view more images that have been tagged with the same terms.

Share your images through Picture South Perth to preserve our cultural heritage.

Contact the City of South Perth Libraries on 9474-0800 or localhistory@southperth.wa.gov.au to arrange for your images to be scanned and returned to you.

(Sources: RWAHS – Email 24 May 2014 - History Council of WA’s Email Roundup, 23 May 2014)

Image source: http://southperthlocalhistory.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/picture-south-perth/

Technology Special Interest Group - Thursday 10 July

Having returned from my travels I look forward to catching up with fellow members at our next  Technology SIG Meeting on Thursday 10 July at 1:30pm in the Society Rooms.

Please come along with your technology news and questions for discussion.

I had great success finding resources at The National Archives in Kew and would like to show you how and what I found about some of my ancestors by using the Discovery online catalogue.

Prior to going away I participated in the Royal Australian Historical Society's first webinar which was a worthwhile learning experience. I will spend some time talking about webinars for historians and family historians.

We will also take a look at Lifelink - the new Births, Deaths and Marriages search portal for indexes from the NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages.

Jill Ball

Family History Conference

The Illawarra Family History Group, hosts for the 2014 Annual Conference of The NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies, has asked us to share details of the conference with our members.

Each year several members of our Society attend and enjoy this conference which has a range of learning activities for all family historians.

Paul Brunton presents Joseph Banks

Come along to our next Family History meeting - this Saturday 5 July from 2pm.

Paul Brunton OAM FAHA is Emeritus Curator, State Library of New South Wales and an Honorary Associate of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney.

He was Senior Curator of the Mitchell Library until 2012 and Curator of Manuscripts between 1986 and 2000.

An enthralling speaker, Paul Brunton brings to life the amazing Joseph Banks.

As a young man, Joseph Banks travelled with James Cook on “Endeavour” from 1768-1771. It was the great adventure of his life and produced one of the greatest of all manuscripts relating to Australian history.

Did you know:

·          -       He transcribed the Aboriginal word for kangaroo as ‘kanguru’ in 1770

·          -       He was wealthy and influential with a passion for botany

·          -       He accompanied James Cook on the Endeavour charting the Australian coastline

·          -       He kept an accurate and extensive journal describing Australia

·          -       He recommended NSW as the site for a penal settlement

Visitors are welcome and afternoon tea will be served after the talk.

Admission is free.

The meeting will be held at 2pm in the library meeting room between Gordon Library and the KHS research rooms.

Good news for Pymble property

A recent article in The Daily Telegraph carries this headline " Ku-ring-gai Council gives Pymble home Lanosa an interim heritage order".

To read the article which gives a history of the home and its connection with Francis de Groot follow this link:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/north-shore/kuringgai-council-gives-pymble-home-lanosa-an-interim-heritage-order-linked-to-the-controversial-official-opening-of-the-sydney-harbour-bridge-by-protester-francis-de-groot-using-horse-mick-borrowed-from-the-reichard-family/story-fngr8h9d-1226969061828

Seeking photos

This plea appeared in the latest issue of our newsletter. Perhaps you can help.

WANTED WANTED WANTED

Can you help us find a photograph of the Oratory of the Sisters of Mercy at Mt St Bernard School at  Pymble?

Perhaps a photo of a small tabernacle made from a cedar press for the Sisters of Mercy? If you have any other photos of the school your help would be appreciated. Your reply should be to the Society at khs@khs.org.au for the attention of Bruce Robinson, Research Team.

Tintern

Following is a copy of an article written by Kathie Reith for the May2013 edition of the Society newsletter.

Tintern – an enduring reminder of an early Roseville family and their sad loss in WWI.

Remarkably, because is it not protected by heritage listing, Tintern still stands, at 205 Pacific Highway Lindfield, one of the very few original houses along the highway in Roseville/Lindfield. Built about 1903, it is a single storey, Federation Queen Anne style house, and for many years was home to Walter Shaw, his wife Frances Geraldine nee Archbold and their three children.

Enid, their youngest daughter wrote: ‘My grandfather [Richard Archbold] divided his land from Eton Road to Clanville Road between his daughters and when I was about six my parents built a home on the corner of Eton Road and … Pacific Highway. The house was named “Tintern” after the famous abbey...’

Enid was born in 1896, Mabel in 1895 and Ernest in 1892. Ernest studied accountancy. Mabel attended Ravenswood, then helped look after their mother. Enid went to Lindfield College, on the corner of Lindfield and Russell Avenues, and later took up nursing. When WWI broke out, Enid and her friends joined the Roseville Voluntary Aid Detachment.

Ernest enlisted in March 1916, his attestation papers signed on ANZAC Day 1916. At the time he was working as a clerk with the AMP Society in Tamworth. He joined the 33rd Battalion, formed in early 1916 in Armidale. The 33rd later became part of the 9th Brigade, 3rd Australian Division.

Shaw left Sydney on HMAT Anchises on 24 August 1916 and by the end of November he was in France. The 33rd’s first major encounter was the battle of Messines that began on 7 June 1917. Shaw was killed on 23 July when a shell exploded in the trench he and three others were occupying. Buried close to where he fell, he was re-interred in Bethleem Farm West Military Cemetery. Enid wrote: ‘Many of the
young men of our circle did not return.’

Despite the tragedy of losing their only brother, the two sisters had happy memories of their childhood. Most of their relatives lived nearby and they ‘were never without playmates and friends’. After their parents’ deaths, Walter in 1923 and Frances in 1935, the two sisters remained in Tintern for over sixty years. Enid left for a time, serving during WWII with the 102nd AG Hospital in Brisbane. At some stage the house was converted into two flats. In the last years of her life Mabel was cared for at Milton Nursing Home. Enid
moved to Archbold House, built in Trafalgar Avenue on the site of their Uncle Jim’s old home.

Information on the family was taken from WD Archbold’s history The Archbolds of Roseville; WWI notes from the personnel file of EA Shaw, the history of the 33rd Battalion and the unit diaries.