I keep going back to Bendigo.  I’ve visited there the last two years and will be again this year.  (very soon)

This year, as well as visiting my old favourite places, I want to visit some of the outlying towns where my ancestors lived and worked such as Majorca, Craigie, Maryborough, Elmore and Echuca.  The Echuca visit is to do with the river trade I didn’t have any ancestors, that I know of, who lived there.

My Wigley and Boyd ancestors lived in this area.  The Wigleys were miners and the Boyds were farmers etc.  This is a very broad generalisation as I didn’t want to list ALL the occupations here.

I’m excited just thinking of what things I might find out on this trip!!

Having listened to Maria Northcote’s latest Genies Down Under podcast about heirlooms I was looking at an old suitcase I have which belonged to my 2x great auntie Gertrude Ada Beale nee Chapman.  I made a record of what I know about the suitcase, from what my Mum has told me, using Maria’s Heirloom Checklist document.  I’ll keep one copy in the suitcase and one in my family history files.  The suitcase was manufactured by the Everlite Travel Goods company which is still in operation in Victoria, Australia.

I have had the suitcase since about 1987, it was my Mum’s before then and possibly my Grandma’s before that.  I used it when I went governessing in South Australia and New South Wales in 1987 and 1988.  As well as being a storage container it was also useful as a small table.

Since then I have stored my own treasures and memorabilia in it.  I had a great time this morning looking through old letters, a couple of photos, youth group programmes, church camps and more.  I had forgotten what was in it.  One of the items I found from my childhood was a bunch of BP Spotto Holiday Motoring Game cards.

Did anyone else play this in the car on long trips?

I also need to write about my time spent working as a governess on sheep and cattle stations in South Australia and New South Wales but that’s a big job and will have to be another day.

Here’s a blog I often read, Kevin’s Irish Research.  Kevin lives in Ireland and he says

I have an absolute love of genealogy and history in general. There is almost nothing better than spending a day in the library or a records office. I pull out all the stops to assist researchers and I myself have a large collection of records.

I have to say I agree about spending a day in a library!! I like Kevin’s blog because his posts are short, sharp and shiny. I’m not one for a lot of waffle. He often puts relevant pictures or documents with his posts which spell out the story far better than words could. I like to do this too.

Also Kevin very kindly offers to help people with their Irish research and can be contacted at kevmccresearcher @ gmail.com.

I’ve finally taken the plunge and installed phpgedview on my website and uploaded my tree.  It was actually much easier than I thought it would be.  I will leave my tree as it is on ancestry.com.au and do all my updates and new work on my website.  I have much to do now re-uploading all my photos and documents I had on my ancestry.com.au tree and editing entries which aren’t compatible with phpgedview.  Oh yeah and learning how to use it as well  🙂

Please have a look and let me know what you think.  www.kyliesgenes.com

Just some of my ancestors who served.

 

This is my grandfather Richard Alexander Wigley who later changed his name to James Richard Hardy.  I’d like to find out more about the gorgeous little dress he’s wearing.  It appears to be a Scottish outfit which is understandable as his maternal grandparents were Scottish.  I think the photo was taken about 1910 or 11 as he looks 3 or 4 years old and it was taken in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

I like to wonder about family photos, stories, events and heirlooms and with this one I wonder if this dress was passed down through the family.  It appears to be made of velvet or another such heavy material and is worn with thick stockings and boots.

Does anyone know if it is from the early 1900s or is it an earlier style?