I never understood why people found genealogy so much fun and so addictive until I tried it myself. www.ancestry.com.au is where I’m working on my family tree. So far I’ve been able to do all that I need to using the free account. The Internet is full of terrific information not just for the family tree but also on ancestry.com.au you can put in family stories, events in people’s lives, photos and more. Some of the places I’ve found things are:
National Archives of Australia
Australian Dictionary Of Biography – Online Edition
Here’s some of the things I’ve found out which I never knew before:
Friedrich Adolph Buring and his wife Caroline were part of a group called the Berlin Emigration Society, they came to South Australia on the Princess Louise in 1849.
Albert G A Buring was born in Australia and although of German descent he chose to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force and fought against Germany in WW1.
Anna Augusta Elisabeth Buring was a Josephite nun, Sister Mary Carolus.
Theodor Gustav Hermann Buring owned Quelltaler winery in partnership with Carl Sobels his brother-in-law under the name H. Buring and Sobels Ltd. It took me a little while to find out they were brothers-in-law because they married sisters.
I haven’t been to the winery but my Mum and Grandma have. It’s no longer in the family. It is at Tarnma near Eudunda in South Australia. It’s only a few hours from home, I keep saying I’m going to take Mum there for a visit but haven’t done it yet. 🙂
These are small, relatively normal things to find out about descendants but I find each revelation exciting. The kids are getting sick of me telling them all the stories!
P.S. Yes Leo Buring is a relative but I’ll probably do a separate post about him.
Last week I started researching my family tree again, the first time in a long time. What I thought I’d spend an hour on ended up taking a lot more of my time 😉
It’s quite fun, the only problem being the expense of doing more serious research.
One resource I would also suggest for quick name searching of later generations is the State BDM’s Historical Indexes. Unfortunately it seems SA’s BDM doesn’t allow online searching, but I know at least NSW and QLD BDM do have searchable online indices that can reveal parents’ names.
Hi
Thanks for the tip, I’ll check out the BDM’s like you suggest.
Kylie
Yes, family history research takes a lot of time, but it is very rewarding.
I have found Genealogy Search Australia at http://www.genealogysearchaustralia.com.au very useful. Check it out – it is free.
If it gives you something to toy with, my relationship to the Brooks clan is (surprise) through Dad (Robert Ross) to his Dad (Charles Alfred) & Mum (Gladys Gertrude) in Adelaide.
Mum (Robyn Elva nee Richards) was from the Singleton/Grafton area of NSW but I’m afraid I don’t remember her parents’ names.
Thanks Jim I’ve bookmarked the site and will check it out soon.
Leon my cousing is a Brook (no ‘s’) she’s done heaps of family research and encouraged me to get into it more.
Kylie
There are also some Brooks (with an ‘s’) in WA who run a massive hire company, no relation, plus assorted Brookes, also no relation.
If you’re putting serious effort into this, I’ll see if I can scare up some paper (parchment, in some cases) records for you.