News - July 2023
Tuesday 18 July - 7:30pm General Meeting
VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park Precinct
GUEST SPEAKER: Judith Mudaliar
TOPIC: My Two Convict Grannies: the De Roock family in Tasmania
Our guest speaker, Jude Mudaliar, has degrees in English and History and a postgraduate diploma in librarianship, and has spent most of her working life teaching and running libraries in Tasmanian secondary schools, apart from three years as an owner/operator of a restaurant. Since retiring, Jude has been both a participant and tutor at Clarence U3A and is currently the librarian at the Hobart Branch of the Tasmanian Family History Society.
The De Roock family - mother, daughter, and son - arrived in Van Diemens Land in November 1831. The De Roock women came as convicts from Cape Town, both charged with theft. The name is Dutch in origin, but they were not part of the Dutch population which had been there for centuries. Their stay in the Cape Colony was comparatively short.
But why transport them elsewhere for theft? Surely a term of imprisonment would have sufficed. However, it appears that prisoners from the Cape were sent to Australia on a regular basis - but why these two? By 1862, the last descendant bearing the name had left the state, dying in Victoria in 1915. While there are many descendants, here and elsewhere, the name existed in Tasmania for only a generation. Some mysteries have been solved, but others still remain.
More for Your Diary
Thu 20 July - 10.00am Branch Committee Meeting
VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive
Thu 20 July - 1.30pm DNA Group Meeting
VENUE: St Marks Church Hall, Scott Street, Bellerive
Thu 27 July - 2pm Library Committee
VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive
Tues 15 August - 7:30pm General Meeting
VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park Precinct
SPEAKER: June Cunningham
TOPIC: Follow the Gossip! Finding my family
From Your Branch President
I am still settling into this new role and am trying to get around to talk to the various volunteers who work quietly in the background, keeping the wheels turning and beavering away on projects that the branch can be proud of. The 'Monday Group', who are transcribing undertakers' records, really impressed me with their meticulous procedures for checking and double-checking their work. It really is done to a highly professional standard.
Under Jude Mudaliar's expert tuition, I have also done my fascinating initial 'induction' as a library assistant. I have still a lot to learn, but I have put myself on the emergency back-up roster for Saturday afternoons. We are short of library assistants, and it can be a struggle to fill the roster, so please think about volunteering once a month, or going on the emergency list. The library at Bellerive has a huge number of resources, some unique, as well as our online resources. If you are on library duty and there is no-one who needs your help, you can do your own research. Think about it!
If I have not caught up with you yet and you have something you'd like to talk to me about, please contact me.
Ros Escott president@hobart.tasfhs.org
DNA Interest Group
This group started in 2015 and we still have regular attendees who were at that first meeting. A recent survey of members highlighted that the group has a mix of people at different stages of expertise, so we have now introduced a short back-to-basics segment each month addressing one of the basic skills or tools we use to explore DNA. We have also had several presentations from group members on the research they have been doing with their family's DNA and the brick walls they have broken down, only made possible through DNA. If you think this is all beyond your comprehension, you may be surprised to know that successfully exploring DNA requires a huge amount of traditional family tree building - up, sideways, and down - to work out connections between you and your DNA matches. Everyone welcome to come and see what we are about: third Thursday of the month, 1.30-3.00pm followed by a cuppa, at St Mark's Hall, Bellerive.
Ros Escott and Andrew Cocker
Volunteers Needed
With recent resignations, illness and several members absent on holidays during the next few months, the library is seeking replacement volunteers, particularly on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons. If you are able to help on either of those days, please contact Judith Mudaliar, at jude1710@bigpond.com .
Library Accessions July 2023
Books
* Amos, Julian; AN AMOS FAMILY HISTORY - The First Three Generations in Tasmania [Q929.2 AMO]
* Cameron, David W; CONVICT-ERA PORT ARTHUR - Misery of the deepest dye [365.9946 CAM]
* Bacon, Carol; THE LEGACY OF JOHN HEADLAM OF 'EGLESTON', Macquarie River, Tasmania [Q929.2 HEA]
- Blythe-Cooper, Anne; THE GLORIOUS VINTAGE - Australian Opera Star Charles Westbrook Benson (1891-1977) [782.1992 BEN]
* Duncombe, Kathy; INDEX TO: SOUTH BRUNY ISLAND - TASMANIA - A brief history of the settlement
* Ely, Richard; THE HISTORY OF THE HUON, CHANNEL, BRUNY ISLAND REGION: PRINTED SOURCES [994.62 ELY] .
- Frost, Lucy; CONVICT ORPHANS - The heartbreaking stories of the colony's forgotten children, and those who succeeded against all odds [305.23086495 FRO]
- Geeves, Lance; SOUTHWARD HO! - A southland argosy which sought and found the golden fleece of freedom in the Huon, Tasmania [994.6 GEE]
* Hastie, Julie & Elizabeth Hodson; SWANSEA HERITAGE WALK
* Hooper, F.C; PRISON BOYS OF PORT ARTHUR - A study of the Point Puer Boy's Establishment, Van Diemens Land, 1834 to 1850 [365.99464 HOO]
* Hurley, Beryl; THE BOOK OF TRADES or LIBRARY OF USEFUL ARTS 1811 - Volume I [993 HUR]
* Hurley, Beryl; THE BOOK OF TRADES or LIBRARY OF USEFUL ARTS 1811 - Volume II [993 HUR]
* Orchard, A.E; THE POST OFFICES OF TASMANIA - Opening and Closures 1818 to 1991 [Q994.6 ORC]
* Pybus, Richard; INDEX TO: SOUTH BRUNY ISLAND - TASMANIA - A brief history of the settlement
* Ranson, Alma; WAGNERS - 130 Years in Tasmania [Q929.2 WAG]
* Ryan, Lyndall; THE ABORIGINAL TASMANIANS - Second Edition [994.6004 RYA]
* Sargent, John & Robin Barker; TALES FROM THE CRYPTS or Some Analysis and Musings on the Burials in the Churchyard of St. Marks Church of Ease, Bellerive [Q929.3209461 SAR]
* Statham, Pamela; THE TANNER LETTERS - A Pioneer Saga of Swan River & Tasmania, 1831-1845 [Q929.2 TAN]
* Urquhart, TARTANS - The new compact study guide and identifier [941.1 URQ]
* Denotes complimentary or donated item
Marita Bardenhagen Memorial Award For Local History
The Marita Bardenhagen Memorial Award for Local History is a biennial prize acknowledging outstanding original research in the field of local history with significant Tasmanian content.
Entries open on 14 June 2023 and close 30 September 2023.
How to apply: Application forms are available from Dr Dianne Snowden AM at dsnowden@tassie.net.au
Library Notes
Do you have ancestors from Scotland? Thanks to the generosity of a past member, the library has a good collection of tombstone inscriptions from some areas of Scotland. Aberdeenshire and the North East are well represented, and some booklets contain several cemeteries. Dewey numbers 929.3209411 - 829.3209414 will help you on your way.
Judith Mudaliar
State Library - Duck Trousers, Straw Bonnets, and Bluey
Uncover the threads of Tasmania's clothing history.
The history of Tasmanian textiles and clothing is filled with colourful and unique garments, characters, and stories.
Stories like that of Joseph Bidencope, a skilful tailor and milliner from Poland, whose popular hats made in Battery Point were exhibited to great success at the Philadelphia International Exhibition in 1876.
Or the many stories of the female convicts housed in the factories at Cascades and Ross - some of whom were imprisoned for stealing aprons, bonnets, and jackets - who made, embroidered, and laundered clothing.
These stories - and many more - are at the heart of Duck Trousers, Straw Bonnets, and Bluey: Stories of fabrics and clothing in Tasmania, a new free exhibition now showing at the State Library of Tasmania and Tasmanian Archives Reading Room in Hobart.
Learn about how clothing was considered a treasured possession in the past; evolving styles and fashions; and the work and creativity involved in producing Tasmanian fabrics, such as wool and leather.
Free exhibition - Now Showing
State Library of Tasmania and Tasmanian Archives Reading Room
State Library and Archive Building, Level 2, 91 Murray St, Hobart, Tasmania 7000
Open:
Monday to Friday 9:30 am to 6:00 pm
Saturday 9:30 am to 2:00 pm.
Closed Sunday and public holidays - NO BOOKINGS REQUIRED
Maree's Mutterings
30 June 2023 The Ryerson Index ticked over to 9 million entries!!
Have you looked at the Virtual War Memorial? Is your ancestor here? https://vwma.org.au/
According to Hamish Maxwell-Stewart... The Assignment System
The system of assigning convicts to private enterprise was hit or miss. So much depended on the skills of the convict and the attitude of the employer. Here Hamish Maxwell-Stewart explains the pros and cons of the assignment system.
A short video of about 5 minutes - https://reassign.net.au/m?v001&s
What is an indent?
Convict Indents (Ship and Arrival Registers) 1788-1868...
https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/Convict_Indents_(Ship_and_Arrival_Registers)_1788-1868
Why are there still such scurrilous myths surround our early female convicts?
"New research has found many of the female convicts believed to have engaged in prostitution, did nothing of the sort. A study of the First Fleet vessel "The Friendship", reveals that most female convicts were guilty of theft, pick pocketing, burglary, highway robbery, receiving and possession of forged bank notes, and most never resorted to prostitution either before or after transportation. So why has the myth of the prostitute endured?
Philip Clark was joined by one of the co-authors of this new research, Carol Liston AO, Adjunct Associate professor at Western Sydney University. to discuss how these women were canny survivors, who lived on their wits and were often entrepreneurs running profitable schemes before they were caught and charged."
Henry Finlay, former Professor of family law at the University of Tasmania, now deceased, presented a paper to AIGS - Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies - sadly, this group no longer exists - renamed to Family History Connections - nor is the paper no longer online. He said, "the late Michael Sturma has shown that the term 'prostitute' was often used, in contemporary England, as referring to a woman living in what we today would describe as a 'de facto relationship': The 'prostitute' was not necessarily a professional harlot, nor even promiscuous. Patrick Colquhoun's often quoted estimate that 50,000 prostitutes resided in alone included 'the multitude of low females, who cohabit with labourers and others 'without matrimony'. By mid-century Bracebridge Hemyng, who investigated prostitution as part of Henry Mayhew's inquiries, estimated that prostitutes in the Metropolis numbered about 80,000. But it is worth noting the definition of prostitution given by Mayhew and Hemyng.
Prostitution ... may be done either from mercenary or voluptuous motives; be the cause however, what it may, the act remains the same ...
Prostitution, then, does not consist solely in promiscuous intercourse, for she who confines her favours to one may still be a prostitute. In short, the woman labelled a 'prostitute' might be guilty of no more than cohabitation."
August is Australian Family History Month... https://familyhistorymonth.org.au/index.php
Libraries Tasmania, Hobart are holding talks on Level 2 (reference library), but I haven't seen their calendar, and unless I am doing something wrong, not on the website noted above.
GRO Online View Digital Image Service
Ordering birth and death certificates from the UK has been a difficult process for some years. While ScotlandsPeople has long offered a pay per view online system, it was much more difficult and expensive to obtain certificates from GRO (General Records Office). For that reason, the Hobart Branch has offered an ordering system on behalf of members.
That has finally changed with launch of the GRO Online View digital image service which now makes birth entries from 1837 up to 100 years ago and death entries from 1837 to 1887 viewable online (and saveable) for a fee of £2.50. It is necessary to first open an account, but the original register entries can then be searched and viewed online. Full detail of how it works may be found here: https://www.rolotest.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/images/CGOVPublicBeta.pdf
Meanwhile, Victoria has increased the cost of their historic BDM certificates from $20 to $22.