Getting The Big Picture

I’m still organising all the information I found out whilst away on holiday.  One of the things that’s standing out to me at the moment is the big picture and how every small piece of information adds to that.  Sometimes a piece of information may seem small and insignificant but when added with all the other pieces they form a big picture!!

My Wigley ancestors came to South Australia from England, lived in Burra and worked in the mines there.  They then went to the Maryborough area in Victoria again working in mining, then on to mining in Sandhurst (Bendigo).

Charles Robert Wigley married Eleanor Greenway in Burra.  Eleanor’s parents and siblings, also having come from England, moved from Burra to Maryborough and Sandhurst (Bendigo).

Some of the Greenways went to Charters Towers, Queensland for mining.  Later one of their nephews Eleanor’s son Frederick John Wigley also went to Charters Towers as a miner, marrying and raising a family there.

The Knuckey family also came to South Australia from England and were in Burra at the same time as the Wigleys later moving to Sandhurst (Bendigo) as the Wigleys had done.  There’s a later connection between the Wigleys and Knuckeys, I wonder how well the families knew each other….

Loving putting all the pieces of the puzzle together!

Preparing For A Research Trip/Holiday

I’m currently preparing for a holiday which is also a research trip!!  It’s very exciting because I’ll get to revisit places I’ve been before and dig deeper, meet new relatives, and see some terrific scenery!!  Yes, I’m using lots of exclamation marks, that’s how excited I am!!

Driving from South Australia, Bendigo is the first stop.  I went there last year in February for 4 days.  This year I’ll be looking at buildings where my ancestors worked and houses where they lived as well as the library’s wonderful resources.

Melbourne is next to meet some cousins and exchange research!

Take the boat to Devonport, Tasmania which I’ve never done before, this will be interesting.  In Devonport I have to convince my co driver that we need to stop at Don Congregational Cemetery.

Albert Gustav Adolph Buring was a teacher in Wynyard, Launceston and Hobart so I’ll be looking for any information on him and his family.

Beautiful scenery throughout Tasmania as we travel from the top to Hobart near the bottom.  As we go along I’ll try and blog but if I don’t get anything much written I’ll definitely post photos.

My daughter is house sitting for me so I’ll be on the look out for a nice present for her too.

Today I’m writing all the questions I can think of that I want answered so that while I’m away I can concentrate on these.  Should be great fun!!!!

If you look at www.maps.google.com you’ll be able to see where I’m going.

Campaign For Trove To Digitise Australia’s First Women’s Newspaper

Congratulations to Donna Benjamin for her great success with the Digistise The Dawn project.  The money needed by the National Library to digitise The Dawn has been raised!!  Here is an article from ABC News 

Suffragette journal set to join digital age


Save Willison’s Farm Lot 50 Golden Grove Rd, Modbury, South Australia

Here is the latest Messenger newspaper article.  http://leader-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/fight-to-save-wilsons-farm/
It’s interesting to see what goes into an article like this after the five of us being interviewed for about half an hour.  Journalists are skilled at distilling information aren’t they.  I am disappointed that they didn’t spell Willison correctly in the heading though.

Left to right is me, Carole Simmonds, Todd Hacking, Dane Wilden and Lesley Purdom.

One Lovely Blog Award

Thanks to Aillin from Australian Genealogy Journeys for the One Lovely Blog Award.  



The rules for accepting the award are:

  • Accept the ward, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and their blog link. 
  • Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
  • Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
I’m a bit of a rebel, so I’m saying to all those I give this award to, it doesn’t matter if you pass it on or not I just want to give you an award!!! and if you’ve already received this award before then you must be super special!


Congratulations to:
Tania – Outback
Paula – Apple Leaf Blog
Heather – Art & Life
Ruby – Mumma’s Place
Susan – Kerugma
Paula – Sepia Siren

Save Willison’s Farm Lot 50 Golden Grove Rd, Modbury, South Australia

I took these photos this morning.  This is Willison’s Farm which used to belong to my cousin Bruce Willison.  Had a very good meeting this morning with Councillor Todd Hacking, Dane Wilden, Carole Simmonds (President of the Tea Tree Gully Historical Society and Lesley Purdom (former Mayor of Tea Tree Gully) and a reporter from the Messenger newspaper.  I’m looking forward to reading his article.  Lesley was Mayor of Tea Tree Gully when Bruce Willison sold the property to the council.  She told us that he chose to sell it to council rather than a developer because he wanted it to be community land and not be used for housing.

I totally support Cnr Todd’s motion which goes before Council Tuesday night that the land be rezoned from operational land to community land and am praying that this will go ahead!!