News - February 2023
Tuesday 21 February - 7:30pm General Meeting
VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park, New Town
GUEST SPEAKER: Maree Ring
TOPIC: History of Cornelian Bay; it's 150th anniversary
Join us for a talk on the history of Cornelian Bay which has just celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Maree started researching her family history just over 40 years ago after the sudden death of both parents. She has been a voluntary librarian for the TFHS Hobart Branch since 1984, research officer from 1984 to 1992 and a committee member from 1989 to 1998.
With the qualifications as an AAGRA record agent, she undertook private research for a while which led her to teaching at Adult Education between 1992 and 2005; the subjects being both family history and researching convict records.
Maree was employed researching genealogies for over 20 years by a major Tasmanian ophthalmological research project. Over time, she has contributed many articles for Tasmanian Ancestry and is currently admin for a Facebook page: Hobart's 19th century burial grounds and cemeteries, which includes the Cornelian Bay cemetery.
More for Your Diary
Thu 16 February - 10.00am Branch Committee Meeting
VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive
Thu 16 February - 1.30pm DNA Interest Group Meeting
VENUE: St Marks Church Hall, Scott Street, Bellerive
Thu 23 February - 2pm Library Committee
VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive
Tue 21 March - 7:30pm General Meeting
VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park, New Town
SPEAKER: Peter Hodge of Hobart Legacy
TOPIC: The History and Activities of Legacy - celebrating 100 years since foundation
Library Accessions November 2022
The following items were accessioned during the month of November 2022
Books
* Lowe, (Worsley) Madge; DAYS GONE BY IN THE CHANNEL - Volume 1 994.62 LOW
* Slee, Ken; MY SLEE FAMILY IN ENGLAND, VAN DIEMENS LAND & VICTORIA Q929.2 SLO
Sargent, John; THE GOOD OLD DAYS - A photographic celebration - Bellerive and Surrounds
* Denotes complimentary or donated item
Renewing Your Membership 2023/2024
The Tasmanian Family History Society Inc. Membership year is 1 April to 31 March. Renewal forms for the coming year will be sent with the March Journal Tasmanian Ancestry Vol 43 No. 4 which will be mailed the last week of February.
When renewing by direct deposit into the TFHS Inc. account please ensure that your 8 digit CRN is used as the reference. The CRN is on the front of the renewal form, bottom right hand side. Your CRN is unique to you and will ensure that your deposit is identified correctly. If for some reason you do not have your CRN please use at least your four digit membership number as the reference.
When renewing using debit/credit card please ensure that your card number and expiry date are entered fully and clearly.
If your circumstances have changed, e.g. Ordinary to Concession or Joint to Single please notify Membership Registrar promptly as your subscription and CRN may change. Also If your contact details have changed, particularly email address which is endorsed on the membership renewal form, please advise promptly.
Maree's Mutterings
Videos from Libraries Tasmania, who hosted National Family History Month in August, have been added to the Libraries Website.
- Using DNA to solve family history mysteries presented by Ros Escott - video goes for nearly 75 minutes Link:
- Ukrainian Family History with Marina Ladaniwskyj - video goes for just under an hour Link:
- Understanding VDL Incarceration presented by Brian Rieusset - goes for a little over 55 minutes Link:
- Researching your house and home presented by Ali Marchant - this goes for just over 1 hour Link:
- Convict Women at New Norfolk Asylum with Dianne Snowden - goes for 45 minutes Link:
- Dr G F Huston, Superintendent of the New Norfolk Asylum & the Kenny Affair with Kate Vermey - goes for just over an hour Link:
- With the recent passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, a video of her first visit has also been uploaded to the Libraries Tasmania site - video goes for 54 minutes Link:
Bigamy prosecutions the Tasmanian Way:
7 Years’ transportation to 10
minutes in gaol
Date and Time : Wed, February 22, 2023, 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM AEDT
- Eventbrite Registration Link (Face-to-face)* Link:
- Zoom Webinar Registration Link (online attendance)* Link:
Please register for online attendance, or we would love to see you in person, using the link above.
Greg Marshall (
Manager Engagement and Partnerships)
College of Arts, Law and Education University of Tasmania
Colonial Prison Discipline – Trove Article
Why some convicts, in 1856, were wearing yellow and others wearing grey
National Library of Australia - http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2503875
Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), Tuesday 20 May 1856, page 2
We have to direct attention to the following startling communication written by a gentleman upon whose unimpeachable veracity we implicitly rely. The subject of which it treats has already been spoken of in other quarters, and it is one which demands the most earnest and searching enquiry. If the information is correct, and we are bound to state that the result of our investigations since the receipt of the letter has induced us to believe there is unhappily too much truth in the statement, we cannot but deeply deprecate a system which, from its very nature, destroys the last vestige of self-respect in the bosom of such unfortunates, and consequently tends to the reproduction and multiplication of crime in this community.
Hobart Town, 18th May 1856. To the Editor of the Hobart Town Courier.
Sir, Passing through Liverpool-street, near the entrance to the Domain, this morning, in company with a friend, I met a party of prisoners clothed in yellow and a few yards in their rear a larger party of men clothed in the usual grey prison dress.
There could be no mistake about the condition of the first party, and indeed we knew that they have been, for some time past, employed in the quarry and other public works connected with the New Government House ; but we were induced to inquire what description of men formed the second party, and how they were employed; and we learned to our surprise that they were men suffering imprisonment for non-payment of Fines and for short terms, and that they were proceeding to employment upon public works.
Fines, I believe, are usually imposed by the Magistrates, as penalties for drunkenness, assaults, and other minor offences; the parties lined are generally sailors, labourers, or mechanics, who have yielded to the temptations to drink, which this city unfortunately presents, and among them are not unfrequently newly arrived immigrants.
I have had opportunities of observing, in England, the extreme care taken to prevent, not only the association of prisoners during their confinement, but the possibility of a prisoner identifying another at a future day, as having been incarcerated with him. Indeed, so careful are the authorities to avoid any unnecessary degradation of offenders, that prisoners of all grades have conveyed to and from the Police Offices and Gaols in covered vehicles containing separate compartments.
Here, however, it would seem that, with a refinement of cruelty, we not only employ and associate on our public works the felon and the working man, guilty of a trivial offence, or unable to escape from the consequences of his folly by payment of a paltry fine ; but, as if for the express purpose of extinguishing every feeling of self-respect, and of compelling the latter to leave our shores at the termination of his imprisonment, we disfigure him by cropping his hair, clothe him with a prison dress, and in that state parade him daily through our public streets.
I do not, of course, vouch for the accuracy of the reply to the enquiry of my friend and myself, as to the condition of the second party of men who met us this morning, but if they really were, as described to us, men sentenced to fines and short terms of imprisonment, I do not hesitate to designate their treatment as barbarous and unjustifiable - a disgrace to our authorities - and utterly at variance with the principles by which the control and employment of offenders in Europe is now governed.
Your insertion of this letter will, doubtless, cause an enquiry into the real facts, for it is certainly undesirable that any doubt or misrepresentation should rest upon them.
I am, Sir,
Your very obedient servant,
T.
Family Histories and Copyright Fact Sheet
The Australian Copyright Council (ACC) is a small, independent, not-for-profit community legal service dedicated to promoting understanding of copyright law and its application. We have a large variety of free fact sheets available on our website including our very popular Family Histories & Copyright fact sheet.
Our Historians & Copyright book provides further detail - Historians & Copyright - Nathan Webster - 9781875833573 - Australian Copyright Council
Digging Deeper into Family History
An Online Course from the Genealogical Society of Queensland
The 1921 Scottish Census is here! The National Archives
Tweed Market, Scotland, 1905. Catalogue ref: COPY 1/491 (121)
ScotlandsPeople 1921 Census: Who Will You Find?
Find your Scottish ancestors | ScotlandsPeople
The 1921 census records, made up of over 9000 volumes of enumeration district books, have now been released by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) on the online research service, ScotlandsPeople.
ScotlandsPeople 1921 Census is searchable online - containing 9,000 volumes comprising over 200,000 images, with details of 4.8 million people, all at your fingertips.
Trove - Researchers Bemoan Closure
Article in The Advocate Thursday 2 February 2023 written by Stephanie Dalton
The future of Trove, the National Library of Australia's expansive digital
archives, is in doubt following revelations that it will face closure as
soon as midyear if the government fails to step in with funding.
Trove, a free online resource used by thousands of researchers receives upwards of 22 million visits each year: on average around 63,000 every day.
However, the possible consequences of the free digital archives closure will not just affect academics.
Burnie's Tasmanian Family History Society president Peter Cocker says the website is used by many everyday people.
"The loss of Trove would be devastating for a lot of people," Mr Cocker said.
"Not only researchers and academics, but everyday Australians. It is also used extensively in the ex-pat community overseas too."
Mr Cocker said it isn't just a matter of one website disappearing; the absence of Trove will lead to many, more complex problems.
"When Trove came into being, a lot of physical copies of material was no longer deemed necessary, so a lot was removed from public libraries," he said.
"We are quite fortunate to have been donated a lot to us, but that isn't the case elsewhere.
"In the instances where the libraries may still have some of that material, everyone will need to go to the library to access it physically, so they will have to put on more staff to handle the inquires - creating even more funding issues."
With the tranche of funding set to run out in July, Mr Cocker said the race is on to find a viable solution.
"Without Trove there really aren't many other platforms to use," he said.
"There are paid databases available put people shouldn't be limited to their ability to pay for these services.
"We like to remind people that we are still available to help out with any research requests they might have."