Inside History magazine

Launch issue of Traces magazine is now available!

Cassie Mercer — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 05:52:46 +0000

Good news, readers! The launch issue of Traces magazine is out now! The first issue of the quarterly publication is packed full of inspiring, informative stories about our history and heritage, written by leading historians and genealogists around the country.

Featured in Volume 1 of Traces magazine:

Fremantle Prison: then and now
How an Indigenous axe is rewriting Australia’s story
Melbourne’s buried treasure
Preserving old photographs
Beginning your family research

Plus much more!

Purchase your copy here, or subscribe for 12 months for just $19.95!

In case you haven’t heard, Traces is the new history magazine that takes over where Inside History magazine left off.

It’s for anyone interested in this country’s history, from ancient Indigenous heritage to European settlement, local history, artefacts and family genealogy.

Launched in December 2017, Traces is the only quarterly printed magazine dedicated to providing its readers with insight into the latest historical research, news, events and heritage projects taking place around Australia. The expert voices of historians, researchers, heritage professionals, genealogists and journalists uncover the fascinating characters and stories of our past.

With the partnership and collaboration of key national and local heritage organisations, as well as state libraries, Traces has its finger on the pulse of heritage news and developments around the country, making it the best consumer publication for anyone passionate about Australian history.

Inside History has a new name and a new publisher!

Cassie Mercer — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 02:44:49 +0000

Inside History and Executive Media are excited to announce that Executive Media has purchased Inside History magazine and will continue publishing a quarterly magazine focused on promoting and advocating Australian history. To be published under a new title – Traces – the magazine will be edited by Eden Cox, with Inside History former editor Cassie Mercer as consultant editor for the first six months.

Traces will feature new and groundbreaking research into Australia’s history and heritage, and feature engaging and inspirational stories about our shared past.

The collaboration is an exciting new chapter for both publishers, says Ms Mercer. “I’m delighted that Inside History will live on under a new masthead, and that existing subscriptions will still be honoured. Inside History had a lot of loyal followers and it was important to me that they receive the copies they have paid for. I’m looking forward to working with Eden to make Traces even more successful than Inside History, and it’s fantastic to see a publisher such as Executive Media believe in and back the importance of Australian history.”

‘I’ve always wanted to combine my two passions, publishing and history,’ says Ms Cox. ‘When I heard about the end of Inside History, I thought it was a great shame to lose a magazine dedicated to Australia’s heritage. My team and I have big shoes to fill, but with Cassie’s advice and expertise, we look forward to making Traces stand on its own and inspire its readers to take more interest in exploring this country’s history.’

The launch issue of Traces is now on sale from our online shop. Yearly subscriptions are also available for just $19.95 – visit our online shop to subscribe for yourself or as a gift.

To discuss advertising opportunities, email media [at] executivemedia.com.au

A Timeline of Australian Food: From Mutton to MasterChef

Cassie Mercer — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 11:50:22 +0000

Now here’s some food for thought. Ever wondered how Tim Tams got their name? Did you know Australia’s first commercial olive oil was produced in a prison? And why were revolving restaurants so popular?

Jan O’Connell wondered this and more, so set out to discover the history of food in Australia over the past 150 years. The end product is A Timeline of Australian Food: From Mutton to MasterChef. Lavishly illustrated, this tasty morsel of a book looks at what we’ve eaten, how we’ve shopped and how we’ve produced and prepared our food, decade by decade through depression, war and decades of abundance.

Jan spoke to Cassie Mercer about what she uncovered during her research.

What prompted you to write the book?
It’s a rather convoluted story. Writing a book was always on my bucket list. As an advertising copywriter all my life, most of what I had created was ephemeral in the extreme, and I saw having my name in the National Library of Australia catalogue as my form of immortality.

My first book was a memoir called Me and My Big Mouth: Living through Australia’s food revolution. I made it a food memoir as a way of giving my fairly typical middle-class Australian experience more general appeal, especially to baby boomers like myself. As publishers didn’t seem interested I self-published and sold the print books myself or through the printers. It’s also on Amazon as an eBook and every now and then I get an extremely small payment from them.

To get to the point – I had to do a lot of research for that book and decided to use many of the facts and stories I’d discovered in a website, Australian Food Timeline. This then became a hobby (obsession) and expanded to cover, not just my lifetime but Australian food back to colonial times and before.

Then several people suggested that it would make an interesting book in itself. I was introduced to NewSouth by Jacqui Newling from Sydney Living Museums; she had discovered my website and purchased my first book. I wrote to NewSouth with a proposal and it all went from there.

I’m more of a writer than a historian, but I do enjoy the research part of the process and am constantly updating the website, which has much more material than the book itself.

Tell us your favourite childhood food memory.
My favourite childhood food memory would have to be the Cornish pasties my mother made every Saturday for lunch. They were a family tradition and you can read the story on my website here.

What about food for an Aussie summer?
I’m not a great fan of salad, so I probably prefer winter food when we make a lot of hearty stews and soups.

But the stand-out summer food for me is raspberries – by themselves, preferably with thick cream or mascarpone and maybe with a dash of vino cotto to bring out their sweetness. Or perhaps made into summer pudding with other mixed berries set into a white bread coating.

The other summer favourite is picnic style food: a table loaded with salami, prosciutto, pickles, roasted peppers and zucchini in olive oil, cheese, quince paste and crusty sourdough bread.

What’s the most surprising thing you discovered during your research?
There were a lot of surprises. For example, the first commercially available olive oil in Australia was actually produced in a gaol.

Another surprise was that Henry Leggo, founder of Leggo’s, was Cornish not Italian. So the company that’s now synonymous with Italian food in Australia started out not being Italian at all.

I was also shocked to find out about dugong paté being made by Brainard Skinnner in Queensland in the 1870s. He did a nice line in turtle soup and it surprised me to discover that protection for both those species didn’t happen until the late 1960s – 1968 for turtles and 1969 for dugongs.

Your book is unique – this is the first book to approach Australian food history as a timeline. What were your top resources for researching the book?

Trove, of course. Using the advanced search function to look back through newspapers of the past is a great way to fact-check information from other websites and books and get the real story of what happened. I also discovered new stories by browsing through papers from the early 1800s to the mid-1950s.
National Library of Australia. When I wrote the first book I was living just outside Canberra in a town called Bungendore and spent many hours in the library’s reading rooms looking through old publications.
Other people’s books and websites. Secondary sources are a good starting point. As I acknowledge in my book, I have found books like Michael Symons’s One Continuous Picnic and books by Barbara Santich and others great sources to pin down dates (one of the essentials if you’re creating a timeline) and identify trends in Australian food. Then the dates can be confirmed and stories expanded upon by going back to other sources including newspapers via Trove.
William Angliss Institute in Melbourne is a specialist training provider for the foods, tourism, hospitality and events industries. Their library is open to the public and they have a great collection of food-related ephemera from the past. Their archivist was extremely helpful.
Newspapers.com. I have a subscription to this service which allows me to access more recent stories, as in most cases Trove stops at 1955.
My own diaries and letters. I’ve always liked to eat well, and I have descriptions back into the 1960s giving details of meals I’ve eaten and foods I’ve discovered in my travels.

A Timeline of Australian Food: From Mutton to MasterChef (NewSouth Books, $34.99) is available now.

John Curtin’s War: An underrated PM who shaped modern Australia

Guest Blog — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 21:38:55 +0000

Sworn in as prime minister of Australia just eight weeks before Japan launched war in the Pacific, John Curtin had a gruelling few years as the country’s leader — but in many ways his leadership shaped modern Australia. In the first instalment of a landmark two-volume biography of this most underrated of PMs, John Curtin’s War, John Edwards looks at Curtin’s story from the late nineteenth century through to the early period of the Japanese military onslaught. Below is an extract from the new book.

In the group photograph of the new ministry taken on the morning of 7 October 1941 twenty men in suits are arranged in two rows, one row sitting and one standing. John Curtin is in front, sitting next to the Governor-General, Lord Gowrie. Curtin’s hands are folded, right over left. He has thinning grey hair and wears spectacles. In this photo he cannot hide the cast in his left eye by looking down or turning side-on to the camera. He wears a white shirt and a dark three-piece suit with a high waistcoat. In the breast pocket of his suit there is a folded triangle of white handkerchief. It is a black and white photograph but we know Curtin is in his good blue suit, not only because it is the one he usually wears on formal occasions but also because he has only three, and this is neither the brown nor the blue with the white pencil stripe. He wears his black shoes, not the brown. Of his six ties he has chosen one that is plain and dark.

In this photograph of Curtin a few moments after his swearing-in as Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Co-ordination we cannot see what he is, but we can see what he is not. In his expression there is no grandeur, no easy command, no triumph. He looks, as always, ill at ease, as though caught in a conversation from which he hopes soon to excuse himself. Those who know him well will remember his sincerity, his intelligence, his reserve. They will not recall him as an imposing man, like his political opponent Bob Menzies. He is, as one of his secretaries, Hazel Craig, would say, ‘a very, very normal nice human being’. He is also an adroit and accomplished politician, unusually free of vanity or illusion. He is often underestimated, which does not trouble him at all. It was only later, long after this photograph was taken, long after he was buried among the pines and gums at Karrakatta, that Artie Fadden would remember him as the greatest leader of his time in politics, and Harold Cox, an unsentimental reporter who has seen many prime ministers come and go, would say of Curtin that he was the biggest figure in Australian politics since the colonies federated in 1901. Curtin does not look like a great man, Menzies will one day write, though ‘he undoubtedly became one’.

Curtin is Australia’s third prime minister in six weeks. He leads the the first federal Labor government in a decade. He is fifty-six years old and it is the first time in his life he has held ministerial office. Ten years ago Curtin was so frequently drunk his colleagues referred to him as ‘Poor John’. He has been sober for the last six years, but he is not a healthy man. Patches of his skin are sometimes red and inflamed with psoriasis. He has spent many days in the last month lying on his bed at the Hotel Kurrajong, tormented by neuritis. Already he has heart disease. In the less than four years of life he has remaining he will do things that even now, posing for this ceremonial photo and already impatient to be driven back to Parliament House to chair his first Cabinet meeting at noon, he does not intend or expect or even imagine.

John Curtin, seated third from left. Courtesy RandomHouse.

Sworn in moments before, the new ministers pose in front of the fluted columns of the portico of Yarralumla, not long ago the home of Scottish settlers who farmed sheep on the high Monaro plains. Of the nineteen other men in the photograph, men who are to write themselves into the Australian story over the remainder of the decade, one whose company Curtin finds congenial is Gowrie. Canberra in 1941 has a population of only 9000 people. Curtin hates flying and the journey home by train takes four days, first to Melbourne, then Adelaide, then across the Nullarbor Plain to Kalgoorlie and then to Perth. When Parliament is sitting he mostly stays in Canberra while his wife, Elsie, takes care of the family and the cottage in the Perth beachside suburb of Cottesloe. Some weekends, after writing to Elsie from his room at the Kurrajong, Curtin visits Gowrie and his wife for tea. Gowrie is sixty-nine and won his Victoria Cross fighting the Dervishes in the Sudan Campaign at the end of the nineteenth century. At the time Curtin was a sixteen-year-old messenger boy in a Melbourne club. Blue-eyed, pink-cheeked, white-haired and usually dressed in a superbly tailored pinstripe suit, Gowrie is an English gentleman. His father was a baron, his mother’s father an earl. He pronounces ‘coming’ as ‘comin’ – there are no ‘gs to his ‘ings’. Gowrie respects Curtin but he would very much prefer that Menzies was still prime minister, perhaps in an all-party government like Britain’s. He plans to write to the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, Viscount Cranborne, suggesting a seat be found for Menzies in the House of Commons.

On the other side of Gowrie, Deputy Leader of the Labor Party Frank Forde looks unexpectedly glum. Steady, loyal and reliable, Forde is a good deputy. Next to him is the Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs, Bert Evatt. Even in the still photograph Evatt seems to bustle with impatience. Immensely intelligent and hard-working, he has been a successful barrister and a High Court judge. Soon, Roosevelt and Churchill will be amused by his many peculiarities. Curtin values Evatt’s brilliance but distrusts his common sense. For most of the past year he has been fighting with Evatt over political tactics. Even now he rightly suspects that Evatt believes the Curtin Government will not last long, and will soon be succeeded by an all-party government in which Evatt hopes to have a prominent place. Curtin knows that Gowrie also believes this, as do the leaders of the United Australia Party and the Country Party. He knows they may well be right.

Treasurer Ben Chifley sits beside Curtin, glancing away from the camera. He has been back in federal Parliament for only a year, but already Curtin thinks of him as his closest lieutenant.

They were allies in the fight against the populist demagogue Jack Lang in New South Wales, and his supporters in federal Parliament. The leader of the Lang faction now sits with them in the front row of the ministerial photo – Jack Beasley has been back in the Labor Party only since March. Ten years ago he helped to finish off Scullin’s Labor Government and force an election in which both Curtin and Chifley lost their seats. In appointing him Minister for Supply and Development, Curtin has given Beasley a big job. He hopes he will want to keep it. Lang may be a spent force but Curtin wants to keep Beasley separated from his sometime ally Eddie Ward, whom Curtin has been unable to prevent from winning a position in the ministry. Ward now stands in the back row, looking down at Curtin before him. His hair is swept back, his boxer’s shoulders set. He is Curtin’s enemy.

Menzies will later tell the United States Consul at lunch in Melbourne that the new ministers are ‘scum – positive scum’. In their suits and ties they do not look like radicals. For some of those looking at the camera on the portico at Yarralumla, the pleasure of being sworn in as new ministers on a fine spring morning in Canberra shines through. Australia is at war, so they also strive to be dignified and solemn.

John Curtin’s War by John Edwards (Viking, $49.99) is out now

Tracing your house history: Top research tips

Marian Guthrie — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 22:29:11 +0000

Frederick Yates, carpenter, was the first resident of Marian Guthrie’s house. Who was yours?

I recently moved house. On the day before I left my previous home I popped into my neighbours to say goodbye. As we were chatting they casually mentioned that my house was the first in the street. All I knew was that it had been built in 1916. I felt a pang of regret. What stories could I have discovered?

I was determined then, that with my new house — a similar era to my previous one — I would uncover its stories. Who were the original owners of the land on which it stands? When was it built and by whom? How many previous occupants have called it home? Did they leave their mark and if so, what?

Of a time when house names, not numbers identified them, the first thing I was keen to learn was its name. With the help of the Local Studies Librarian at my local library, I discovered its name — ‘Barwon’ — but in the process, I found out so much more.

I learnt that my house was built in 1921 and by 1951 it was called ‘Ednaville’. I knew that its first owner and resident was Frederick Yates, a carpenter, and that its next owner, Robert Dixon, was a tram driver. By 1962 Salvatore Rotondo lived there, and he left his mark by way of aluminium-framed windows and pebblecrete paths. Most of Barwon’s original features are gone, including a chimney. But my house is more than just the fabric from which it is made; the people who lived in Barwon form part of its fabric too. I’d like to learn more about her previous owners and occupants but even knowing just this much, I have connected with Barwon in a way I otherwise wouldn’t have.

Barwon, built c.1921, replete with Salvatore Rotondo’s modifications.

House histories are important because they tell us about the fabric of a suburb, how it developed and the people. . . A house doesn’t need to be heritage listed [to be worth researching]; from the humblest cottage to a grand house, house histories are significant.

How do you trace a house history?

Before I investigated my house history, I had no concept of where to begin and was amazed by my Local Studies Librarian’s wealth of knowledge as she steered me to uncovering Barwon’s past.

Here, Ryde Library’s Local Studies and Family History Librarian Angela Phippen shares her insights into tracing house histories.

How can a local studies librarian assist people in tracing their house history?

Each local government area has different surviving records, for example, rate books, and so this will impact the assistance a librarian can give. Some records, such as Land Titles and Sands Directories are digitised, whereas the Local Council may hold others, for example, building application registers. Also consider the records held in your state’s Archives.

My top tips for researching a house history are to examine the Land Title records, and make a chronology of the buying and selling of the land. Other sources to examine include:

Rate books
Land valuations
Sewerage diagrams
Sands Directories (for NSW) or their equivalent in other states
Electoral rolls
Probate packages and deceased estate files (for NSW)
Birth, death and marriage notices in newspapers

When researching, you might find conflicting records, so then it’s important to consider the relative value of each one. Sometimes too, house numbers change so it’s crucial to have the correct Lot and Deposited Plan number.

What are the most common questions people ask?

People are mostly interested in the age of their house and whether it has a name. The ease of discovering the age of a house can vary. Dating a nineteenth-century sandstone cottage is harder than, for instance, a twentieth-century house because the architecture and records of a twentieth-century house provide more information.

House names give a house personality and can signify many different things: the name of a ship that carried men to war; where people came from; as a form of memorial, for example “Gallipoli”; or a combination of given names, such as “Wilma” — the combination of William and Mary. However, it’s important to note that councils don’t keep an official register of house names, but these can be found in many cases on land valuations, sewerage diagrams and electoral rolls, although in some instances they remain elusive. Another question I am often asked is whether a house was built on a cemetery.

Whether a house is grand or small, why are house histories important?

House histories are important because they tell us about the fabric of a suburb, how it developed and the people. It’s not just about the age, materials and architecture of a house. Knowing the stories of the people who lived in and/or owned a house is important, owners and tenants alike. A house doesn’t need to be heritage listed [to be worth researching], from the humblest cottage to a grand house, house histories are significant.

Once you’ve completed your house history remember to record it! Once you’ve recorded it, there are various avenues to share it. Deposit it with your local studies librarian so that it can be incorporated into the local studies collection. Also consider contacting your local history society or family history society as content for their journals or newsletters.

Additional Resources for Researching Your House History

National Library of Australia
NSW State Government Historical Records Online – Land and Property
Public Record Office Victoria
State Library of South Australia
State Library of Queensland has four webcasts on house history accessed through its catalogue
LINC Tasmania
Landgate Western Australia

A capital place: The history lover’s guide to Canberra

Sarah Trevor — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 10:32:16 +0000

The secret’s out: Lonely Planet recently picked Canberra as the third best city to visit in 2018, marking the city’s renaissance as a tourist destination. But what does it offer for history lovers?

In this article from issue 31 of Inside History, Sarah Trevor explores the capital, from the hallowed halls of its grand civic institutions, to its lesser-known historic treasures.

A confession: my first impressions of Canberra, as a high-schooler on the mandatory, rushed excursion through the nation’s capital, were less than dazzling. Surely the city deemed most worthy of representing Australia — indeed, created for this very purpose — should, I reasoned, have more, well … life?

Perhaps this was the result of an overcrowded itinerary, or preconceived notions formed prior to even arriving. Maybe the city’s relevance to the curriculum robbed it of appeal, tainted by association with schoolwork. Whatever the cause, the bias was set.

Little did I realise that Canberra had other plans. Over several return visits — each one induced by a love of history — my mistake became clear. The problem with such a blinkered view towards the nation’s capital is that it is the nation’s capital: a hub, a repository of much of its most precious artefacts, its founding documents, its stories in all their rich variety. For a history aficionado, such a place could never be lifeless.

To dislike Canberra is simply incompatible with a love of Australian history. Because, at its very core, it is a cluster of Australian heritage. A round-up of some of the country’s best cultural institutions, brimming with stories and treasures from across the continent, all pre-packaged into an orderly city.

Oh, and for the record — there is plenty of life in Canberra, the not-yet-historical variety included. You just have to know where to look.

MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES

National Museum of Australia

Despite its name and eminent status, the National Museum of Australia is not your average national museum. There’s no imposing or stuffy grandeur to the place, for one; no endeavours to floor the visitor with sheer architectural might. As a building, it’s quirky and postmodern, rather than intimidating and ornate.

There’s no regimental organisation of subject matter, either. Its dizzying range of artefacts sprawl about thematically rather than strictly chronologically. The layout itself seems to ramble and saunter.

That’s partly why even those who detest museums would, I’d wager, enjoy a few hours here. Another reason is the rich, almost overwhelming array of objects and stories on display. To name but a few, there’s Renaissance-era maps and Phar Lap’s heart, the Endeavour’s cannon and Germaine Greer’s coat, an Italian migrant’s bicycle, 40-odd convict tokens, a war correspondent’s footage, Indigenous tools and weapons, a dancer’s costume, 18th-century Dutch coins uncovered in northern Australia, a sweetheart ring from 1916 — and more.

Best illustrated in its richly symbolic outdoor courtyard, the Garden of Australian Dreams, the National Museum aims to represent Australia in all its diversity: geographic, cultural and temporal diversity alike. As such, whichever era or area of Aussie history intrigues you most, you’re sure to find something of interest here.

Australia War Memorial. Courtesy John Torres.

Australian War Memorial

You don’t have to be a military history buff to spend hours, if not days at the Memorial, absorbing the masses of material that reveal a multitude of Australian experiences of war. The lifelike recreations of trenches; panoramas of battlefields; touching personal possessions of soldiers, nurses, and those caught in the crossfire.

But what you may not be prepared for is the emotional resonance. Particularly haunting is a small, dimly lit room commemorating the Sarakan death march. Hundreds of black-and-white photographs of prisoners of war stare out at you while the audio recording of a survivor recounts the horrifying ordeal. Some 1,787 Australian prisoners-of-war died in North Borneo during the death march. Only six survived.

However many hours you spend at the Memorial, be sure to make time for the Last Post ceremony each afternoon.

HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS

Lanyon Homestead

Located some 30km from the city, on a working farm (complete with lazing cows), Lanyon Homestead feels worlds away from the pollies, public servants and roundabouts of Canberra.

Its 1850s-era homestead has such an authentic, lived-in feel that you could almost believe its inhabitants just stepped outside for a minute. Its heritage furnishings, rambling fields, and historic outbuildings make for a fascinating outing from the city.

National Archives of Australia

Think the National Archives are only worth a visit for family history research purposes? You’d be mistaken. A vast collection of images, records and artefacts of Australian history (with a particular strength in 20th-century history), plus ever-evolving high-quality exhibitions, awaits you at the Archives.

There’s the late Harold Holt’s briefcase, the 3m long Larrakia petition signed by 1,000-plus Indigenous people, footage of Johnny O’Keefe performing on Six O’Clock Rock, and more. Hints at some unsettling aspects of Australian history are visible too in an Index of Aliens from World War I, national service ballot balls, and a dictation test from the White Australia era.

The permanent exhibition that greets you upon entering is worth at least an hour’s perusal alone. Don’t miss the stunning wall-length collage of 200-odd images, the Faces of Australia.

National Library of Australia. Courtesy Martyman.

National Library of Australia

Just down the road, and every bit as immersive, is the National Library of Australia. Even for repeat visitors, the Treasures Gallery is a must, beckoning with unexpected delights and answering questions you may not even realise you had.

Its portraits of early explorers put faces to familiar names, while a display of early maps and an exquisite celestial globe contextualises the history of exploration that led Europeans here in the first place. Then there’s the digital display: a touchscreen allows you to chart Cook’s voyage around the east coast and beyond with corresponding entries of his journal (even keyword-search enabled).

A colourful, varied picture of Australian history emerges throughout the gallery. Look out for the ‘Hairy Wild Man of Botany Bay’, and the legendary gentleman pickpocket George Barrington.

National Film and Sound Archive

Featuring an unparalleled catalogue of Australia’s audio and video recordings, and associated artefacts like posters, memorabilia, costumes, props and more, the National Film and Sound Archive deserves a firm place on your list. Firstly, there’s the heritage building in which the Archive is located. Built in 1930 as the Australian Institute of Anatomy, it’s a striking Art Deco structure with a uniquely Aussie stained-glass skylight.

But, of course, the primary reason to come is to take a seat in either of its two theatrettes, sit back and enjoy the vaguely nostalgic viewing experience. Snapshots of the Archives’ vast collection of footage of everything from home skits and football announcements to war reports are frequently screened. A real treat for history enthusiasts.

Canberra Glassworks

The only cultural centre in Australia dedicated purely to contemporary glass art, Canberra Glassworks is a personal favourite. Marvel at professional glass artists at work (or try it for yourself, under their guidance). And what work it is, to create art and sculpture using massive, fiery furnaces blazing at up to 1160°C.

But for history lovers, the heritage-listed building in which the Glassworks is housed is almost as worthy of artistic appreciation, as Canberra’s oldest permanent public building. The former Kingston Power House is a striking example of industrial heritage come modern drawcard. An enthralling site overall.

HIDDEN GEMS

Mount Pleasant Lookout

Next stop is Royal Military College, Duntroon. Drive up a winding road until you reach the top of Mount Pleasant for, as the name would suggest, lovely views of Lake Burley Griffin and surrounds. But history lovers will enjoy more than just the view, with informative signposts revealing more of the capital’s past. Look out for the grave of General Bridges, who was the only Australian soldier killed at Gallipoli to be buried in Australia.

General Bridges’ Grave, designed by Walter Burley Griffin. Courtesy AYArktos.

Changi Chapel

While you’re in the area, take a moment of quiet reflection and consider the touching legacy of an infamous Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. Changi Chapel, built in 1944 by Allied prisoners of war, was brought to Australia after the war and re-erected as a national memorial on the grounds of Duntroon.

All Saint’s Church

Another ‘recycled’ Canberra church with an interesting history is found in the leafy suburb of Ainslie. The stonework of what is today All Saint’s Church came from a rather unlikely source: between 1869 and 1948, it was a mortuary railway station in Sydney’s Rookwood Cemetery, used to transport the dead to their final resting place. It was purchased by the parish, transported to Canberra and rebuilt, with some major adjustments. Worth a visit.

Birrigai Rock Shelter

Amidst the serene Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, nearly an hour’s drive out of central Canberra, is one of the region’s most significant Indigenous sites. Follow a 3km trail through open fields — passing a kangaroo or dozen along the way — and you’ll come across Birrigai Rock Shelter. Archaeological studies found it was originally occupied more than 21,000 years ago, yet the shelter was still used up until the mid-19th century. You may just have it all to yourself.

View of Canberra from Mt Ainslie. Courtesy Jason Tong.

TIPS FOR VISITING CANBERRA

Where to stay and eat

Peppers Gallery Hotel, Canberra, set in the arty NewActon precinct, is a heritage-listed site — formerly the Hotel Acton building. A boutique hotel, its interiors offer a good mix of luxe and quirky. Bicicletta, the in-house restaurant of Peppers Gallery, is a charming Italian trattoria (and does a good breakfast).
Monster Kitchen and Bar in the nearby, architecturally dazzling Hotel Hotel offers interesting twists on seasonal produce.
The famous Brodburger, now located beside Glassworks, is a Canberra institution. Hearty meals and atmosphere.

Tips for history lovers

Any history lover’s Canberra experience will be enriched by the Canberra Tracks app, which Inside History reviewed in issue 30 (free; iOS and Android). Best to consult prior to arrival.
For a deeper insight into the Acton region, try the heritage walk on the ANU Walks app (free; iOS and Android).
If you love science as much as history, try the Mt Stromlo Heritage Trail app (free; iOS and Android) and learn more about this fascinating part of our past.

More Canberra attractions

Read more of Sarah’s travel tips, tricks and stories at World Unlost, a travel blog for history lovers. Sarah travelled as a guest of VisitCanberra.

Young Hitler MREC Home Page

Cassie Mercer — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 12:08:09 +0000

Paul Ham’s Young Hitler: The Making of the Führer conjures the ordinary man beneath the myth and seeks to solve the riddle behind the enigma of the Nazi leader.

Parramatta Female Factory Open Day: It’s A Riot!

Marian Guthrie — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 00:31:17 +0000

27 October 1827. The convict women incarcerated in the Parramatta Female Factory downed tools and in a bid for freedom broke out into Parramatta Town.

Join the Parramatta Female Factory Friends and descendants to celebrate the lives of these women and commemorate the 190^th Anniversary of this historic event.

In a rare opportunity, visit the Governor Macquarie and Francis Greenway site, once home to at least 5000 female convicts. Be inspired by the stories of the women’s survival, their lives and their legacy. Learn about the site’s history and view recent archaeological finds.

When: Friday 27 October 2017

Open: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Where: Parramatta Female Factory site

Cumberland Hospital, Fleet Street, North Parramatta

Entry: Gold coin donation

Readers’ Stories: Places in Time where history comes alive

Marian Guthrie — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 03:37:53 +0000

Places can be portals to the past. From cemeteries and churches, gaols and asylums, to cottages and grand houses, discover where history has come alive for our readers in the latest edition of readers’ stories. Enjoy!

Julie:

My visit to Goulburn’s Mortis Street Cemetery with my Mum, brought a connection to my German ancestry more than I’ve ever felt before. For there laid my 3rd Great Gandma Juliana Miller aka Müller nee Schwaiger born so long ago in 1807 in Hagenbach and who died in 1887 Tarlo near Goulburn.

The feeling I felt was one of instant love and mighty respect for the woman lying there, who arrived in Australia with her husband and 6 children in 1855. Juliana sadly lost her two-year-old daughter at sea on the journey out and her husband within a few years of their arrival.

I ask how did Julia manage with so much change and loss? Could I have done what she did? Leaving her homeland and all familiar to her then endure atrocious conditions on board where so many died, including a child of her own. Then losing her companion so early after their arrival in Australia and leaving him buried somewhere in Queensland before moving to Goulburn, NSW (a considerably long journey in those days). I am in awe of her, I admire her and thank her coming to Australia and giving her all so her future generations could have what she could only dream of.

Dianne:

Waverley Cemetery — my great great grandfather John Young (builder of several important buildings around Sydney) and his wife are buried there. They are near Dorothea Mackellar and have prime position overlooking the ocean.

Mark:

My own Pearce family cemetery at Bella Vista in Sydney’s north-west suburbs. It is partially situated on land granted to Matthew Pearce in 1795 and 5 generations of my ancestors are buried there.

The Pearce Family Grave in the Pearce Cemetery. Courtesy of BillionGraves.com

Lynette:

St Luke’s Cemetery in Liverpool NSW where many of the Bulls are buried. They are my grandfather’s ancestors who came in 1800 and were given a land grant known as Bulls’ Hill which encompassed most of the land which is now Cabramatta.

Toni:

West Terrace, South Australia is the resting ground of many of my newly found relatives. After 34 years of research into my father’s adoption, my history came to life when I was privileged to view the graves of my Irish grandmother, great grandmother and many aunts and uncles who immigrated to South Australia in the 1880s!

Tracey:

The first Methodist church in Castlereagh, NSW. While researching my ancestor John Lees, who built the first Methodist Church in Australia, I decided to see if the church still exists. Sadly, it doesn’t but John Lees built a second church on his land at Castlereagh. I have visited the church, the church hall and cemetery. The cemetery contains the graves of John Lees, his wife Mary Lees and many family members. What a great find!

Janelle:

Ebenezer Church and Cemetery in the Hawkesbury, NSW, where 5 generations of my ancestors are buried and Andrew Johnston my 4th great grandfather designed the Church and George Hall my 4th great grandfather used his bullocks to move the sandstone from the quarry to build the church.

Ebenezer Chapel, Ebenezer, NSW. c.1900. From the E.W. Serle Collection, Courtesy of NLA http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-141857044

Tracey:

The Penitentiary Chapel site (old Gaol) in Hobart. Having an ancestor who was held there made it all so real. It made me realise how hard his life was. Loved it!

Judith Alice:

The Coal Mines site, Tasman Peninsula. A place where the worst of the prisoners from Port Arthur were sent as punishment.

The cells of The Coal Mines Site, Tasman Peninsular by photographer J.W. Beattie. Courtesy of SLV.

Anthea:

Visiting Beechworth a few years ago and wandering around the original gaol and the grounds of the former May Day Hills Lunatic Asylum.

A W.T. Pater Postcard of Beechworth Lunatic Asylum. Courtesy of SLV H87.206/70

Margaret:

I was visiting small towns in Victoria where my great grandparents had lived and worked. In one place I was lucky enough to find that the president of the local history society lived in a house built by my great- grandfather. She happily gave me a tour of the cottage, which was lovingly kept in original condition. It was a very moving experience that connected me to my ancestors in many ways.

Colin:

I’ve just returned from a short visit to Tasmania. It was a working holiday of sorts. An interest in family history took me to Launceston and Evandale. The latter was of particular interest. I was able to walk in the steps of my ancestors, Kennedy Murray snr and Kennedy Murray jnr, John Glover, Thomas McQueen and Sarah Murray. I saw the graves of most, and the glorious home of the Murrays, Prosperous House. Evandale retains much of its 18th-century look and charm. I browsed the same shop buildings and hotels as my forebears, and strolled down lanes and pathways as they must have. Evandale is not a big a town in Tasmania but it is a big town in my ancestry. Another visit next year is not out of the question.

A painting of Prosperous House: Residence of Mr Ky. Murray, Evandale by C.H.T. Costatini, c.1853. Digital image courtesy of Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (with permission).

Jock:

Lanyon Homestead in Canberra. I have a connection to that as the property my great great uncle (who sponsored my great grandmother Mary Gallagher) came to work at from a similar groom/groundsman role in Levington Park in Mullingar, Ireland.

Thanks to all readers who shared these wonderful stories! Head over to our Facebook page and look out for our weekly book giveaways every Friday for your chance to share your own family’s story — and maybe even score a great history book in the process.

What’s New Online: Latest family history records, August 2017

Sarah Trevor — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 23:03:47 +0000

From historic newspapers to digitised artworks, parish records to old-school music and more, August 2017 has seen a host of family history and history collections made available online. Here’s our round-up of the latest. Happy researching!

Latest Paid Resources

Latest Unpaid Resources

Burra History Group

New website containing various genealogical databases such as Burra Cemetery Register, war memorials and honour rolls, National Australia Bank signature books and more (click on the ‘Databases’ tab beneath the ‘Genealogy’ menu for full list)