John's Genealogy Page

"I saw behind me those who had gone, and before me, those who are to come. I looked back and saw my father, and his father, and all our fathers, and in front, to see my son, and his son, and the sons upon sons beyond. And their eyes were my eyes" .................

from Richard Llewellyn's "How Green Was My Valley"

If you like jigsaw puzzles, detective novels, Cluedo and the Thrill of a chase, you'll love GENEALOGY @Janet Reakes Historian 1986

Tracing one's ancestors can be a thrilling and rewarding experience - but it can also be frustrating and expensive. GENEALOGY helps you gain an appreciation of your ancestors as you delve into your Family Tree.

And, importantly, remember that you can't change what has already happened!

GOLDEN RULES OF GENEALOGY

1. ALWAYS work backwards from the known (yourself) to the unknown (your forebears)

2. NEVER believe everything on a Birth, Death Marriage certificate

3. NEVER completely trust the spelling of surnames, place names etc

4. ALWAYS check surname variants when researching

5. ALWAYS have at least two separate sources of proof for each event

6. REMEMBER that everything is only speculation until verified

7. ALWAYS photocopy or scan certificates and important documents and leave the originals in a safe place

8. IF a document exists, read it!!

9. JOIN at least one Family History Group, Genealogy Society or Historical Society

10. SHARE your information and documentation (copies only) with other researchers

Source: Australian Family Tree Connections Magazine December 2011

USEFUL WEB SITES

Fellowship of First Fleeters.-.www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au

Established in 1968- For Descendants of those who arrived in Sydney Cove with the First Fleet on 26^th January 1788

Publish the bi-monthly 'Founders' Magazine

The Proceedings at Old Bailey 1674-1913.-.www.oldbaileyonline.org

Records of the trials of non-elite people, containing the records of 197745 criminal trails held at London's Central Criminal Court.

FFF South Coast Chapter.-.www.fffsouthcoast.50g.com

One of 17 Chapters of the FFF-Established in 2002- For those First Fleet descendants living in the area between Engadine and Birrill Lake

Publish the bi-monthly 'Colony' Newsletter

NSW Registry of Births Deaths &Marriage.-.www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/

Records since 1788 of Births (up to 1918), Deaths (up to1988) and Marriages (up to 1968).

The State Archives- State Records NSW .-.www.records.nsw.gov.au

The repository of the official archives of the State of NSW

Publish a monthly electronic newsletter advising updates etc

State Library/Mitchell Library/Dixon Collection.-.www.sl.nsw.gov.au

The State Library of NSW, including the Mitchell Library and the Dixon Collection, is the unique major research and reference library in NSW

Convict Stockade.-.www.historyaustralia.org.au

A Wiki site for Australian Convict Researchers

Australian Royalty (Convict Ancestors).-.www.easystreetretreat.com.au/australianroyalty/

Coined from a comment by Actor Jack Thompson on "Who Do You Think You Are" that these days, unlike in the past, having a Convict ancestor gives you the status of Australian Royalty- Over 52000 individual records on the data base as at November 2011

National Archives of Australia.-.www.naa.gov.au

Described on their web site as the memory of our nation- collecting and preserving Australian Government records that reflect our history and identity.

National Library of Australia.-.www.nla.gov.au

'We cannot understand the present or plan for the future without the knowledge of the past' - Prime Minister Harold Holt, Stone Ceremony March 1966.

TROVE..-.www.trove.nla.gov.au

Established by the National Library of Australia - The digitised 13,199 newspapers of Australia from the 1800's onwards

Find and get over 586,366,076 Australian and online resources: books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives and more

Society of Australian Genealogists.-.www.sag.org.au

Established in 1937- Helping people trace family history for over 75 years.

Publish a monthly electronic newsletter advising upcoming events and courses. Also have started giving podcasts on history.

Publish the quarterly 'Descent' magazine

The 1788-1820 Pioneer Association Inc.-.www.the1788-1820pioneerassociation.org.au

Established in 1968- for those descendants of the early pioneers up to 1820 and to encourage the preservation of our heritage

now managed by theBiographical Database of Australia (BDA)

Descendants of Convicts Inc.-.www.vicnet.net.au

Established in 1981-for those who can claim a convict forebear, transported to the Australian Colony between 1788 and 1868.

Publish the bi-monthly 'The Mail' newsletter

Friends of the 1^st Government House Site (Inc).-.www.ffghs.org.au

Established in 1983-To promote awareness and research into the 1^st Government House Site 1788-1845

Publish the quarterly 'The Site Gazette' newsletter

Australian Cemeteries Index.-.www.austcemindex.com

Transcriptions & photos of many Cemeteries mainly in NSW but expanding to rest of Australia

The Ryerson Index.-.www.ryersonindex.org

An index to death and funeral notices, and other death-type information, published in Australian newspapers from 1803 to the present-Some 341 Newspapers and 6,661,336entries (as at August 2018)

Irish Famine Memorial.-.www.irishfaminememorial.org

The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine (1845-1848) located at Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie St Sydney.

The web site also contains some of the records of the 4400 Irish Orphan Girls who were shipped to Australia during 1848-1850.

Australian ANZACS on the Great War 1914-1918.-.www.aif.adfa.edu.au

Established in 2003-A database of the 330,000 men and women who served overseas in the First Australian Imperial Force- hosted by UNSW@ADFA.

Australian War Memorial.-.www.awm.gov.au

A Museum commemorating the sacrifice of Australians who died in War

Publishes a regular Electronic newsletter + the 'Wartime' magazine

Roll of Honour- Australian War Memorial.-.www.awm.gov.au/research/people.roll_of_honour/

Records of Australia's war dead

WW2 Nominal Roll.-.www.ww2roll.gov.au

Service record details of individuals who served in Australia's defence forces and the Australian Merchant Navy during World War 2

Commonwealth War Graves Commission.-.www.cwgc.org

Commemorates the 1,7000,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars.

The War Graves Photographic Project.-.www.twgpp.org

A project set up by the UK Ministry of Defence to photograph every war grave, individual memorial and family memorial of serving personnel from WW1 to the present day. Due to popularity it has now been extended to all nationalities and military conflicts.

Family and Friends of the 1^stAIF.-.www.fffaif.org.au

Established in 1998-Dedicated to Digger History and Keeping The Memory Alive! Of the First AIF Diggers who served in the Great War (1914-1918)

Publish quarterly 'Digger' magazine

The AIF Project .-.www.aif.adfa.edu.au

The AIF database is drawn from a range of official sources, including personal files on the National Archives website, and Embarkation and Nominal Rolls on the Australian War Memorial website.

These are just a small sample of the many WEB SITES and History Publications available to assist with your research, but always apply GOLDEN RULES OF GENEALOGY Nos 5 & 6 when searching and using information available on the Internet.

John Boyd

Research Director

Fellowship of First Fleeters

January 2019.