genealogy

Those Places Thursday – Bendigo

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I started out writing about Bendigo and then got side tracked making this collage in Gimp.  I’ve cheated a bit in the younger generations because not everyone has had a son.  Left to right is James Wigley, Charles Robert Wigley, Richard Henry Wigley, Charles Thomas Hardy (changed his name), James Richard Hardy, Charles Richard Hardy, Michael Willison, Geoff Green and Douglas Willison.  Eight generations.

Anyway back to writing about Bendigo.  🙂

James Wigley moved his family from Burra in South Australia to Bendigo in Victoria in about 1853.  Charles Robert Wigley married in Burra and Richard Henry Wigley (pictured above) and his older brother William Henry were born in Burra.

James Wigley was a miner in Bendigo, Charles Robert Wigley an engine driver, and Richard Henry Wigley was a miner and later a mine manager.

Richard Henry Wigley, my great, great grandfather was in a mining accident in 1881.  This newspaper clipping contains quite a grissly account of the accident in which another miner, George Jenkin, was unfortunately  killed.

 
Richard was manager of the Unity mine for some time.  This is all that remains of it today, a plaque and some lumps of concrete.

The Goldfields Research Centre in Bendigo is a terrific resource!!  The people there were extremely helpful too.  I spent many hours there and will be going back again in April next year.

One of the mining exhibits at Central Deborah Mine
You can see the poppet head of the Central Deborah mine in the distance.
Charles Robert Wigley and his wife Eleanor nee Greenway
A group of miners, Long Gully, Bendigo
Miner’s cottages, Bendigo
James Wigley and family lived in Little Iron Bark and later had a house on Mt Korong Rd.  Charles Robert Wigley lived in Little Iron Bark and Long Gully, Richard Henry Wigley lived for a long time in Garden Gully Hill and also Long Gully.

Mappy Monday

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Early 1900s map of Houghton and Tea Tree Gully, South Australia
Hand drawn map from “The History of the Village Of Houghton 1836-1950”
It was these maps and  South Australian electoral rolls which solved the puzzle of a place called New Guinea in South Australia where my grandmother and several of her siblings were born.

The electoral roll stated
  • Scadden, William Henry (my great grandfather)
  • New Guinea
  • freehold
  • sec 5398, New Guinea

My Favourite Christmas Carols

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It’s really hard to pick, but here are two of my many favourite Christms Carols. You may not have heard these before they aren’t very common.  I hope you enjoy them.

Christmas Day
The north wind is tossing the leaves.
The red dust is over the town;
The sparrows are under the eaves,
And the grass in the paddock is brown;
As we lift up our voices and sing,
To the Christ-child the heavenly King.

The tree ferns in green gullies sway;
The cool stream flows silently by;
The joy bells are greeting the day,
And the chimes are adrift in the sky,
As we lift up our voices and sing,
To the Christ-child the heavenly King.

The Silver Stars Are In The Sky
The silver stars are in the sky,
The red-gold moon goes riding high,
O, sleep my little one sleep!
Once long ago, against her breast,
A mother rocked her child to rest,
Who was the Prince of Heav’n above,
The Lord of happiness and love.
        O, sleep, my little one sleep!

The boobook calls across the night,
The brown moths flutter in the light,
O, sleep, my little one sleep!
In Bethlehem long, long ago,
When roads and paddocks gleam’d with snow;
On this same night, that mother mild,
Lull’d into dreams her royal child.
        So, sleep, my little one, sleep!
                      Sleep …

(These are both by John Wheeler and  William G. James, I had to ring Mum for this!)

Christmas Carols

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Christmas carols would have to be my most favourite music genre!  I have so many memories tied up with them.  Mum’s played our piano ever since I can remember.  I used to sit on the floor, next to her feet, with my ear pressed up against the piano, it was the best spot to be!  We had big family Christmas gatherings at our house, in Flaxley, (South Australia) when I was growing up.  All the aunties, uncles and cousins would come.  A barbie for lunch, Dad would mow a strip in the paddock for cricket in the afternoon and a good sing song around the piano later in the day.

Mum is an avid singer, belonging to several choirs over the years.  I loved going to concerts as a child and I still love them now.  This one, with the Mt Lofty Singers, was just the other day.

This picture is from their website

One of the ‘coming of age’ events that I looked forward to was being old enough to attend our local youth group.  Each year the youth group would pile onto the back of Mr Downing’s truck and travel around the countryside, and towns, stopping to sing carols for the people.  Some families would organise a party that night and invite their neighbours, the carol singing was the entertainment.  We travelled quite a way on those nights.  Starting in Flaxley (South Australia) we would go to Mt Barker and visit the Aged Care facilities, sometimes to Hahndorf Aged Care, back through Flaxley to Macclesfield and Greenhills stopping all along the way.  Though the numbers dwindled a bit in later years the enthusiasm never did, to me it was always the highlight of the year.  I’m not sure when the final one was held as I moved away from the area at the start of 1987.  It’s a real pity I don’t have any photos from those nights.

I’ve continued my love of Carol singing and playing my flute in church, at community gatherings and family ones too!

My First Carnival Of Genealogy Post

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Yay, I got in to the 100th Carnival of Genealogy.  This is the first Carnival I’ve participated in.  The title of this Carnival is, “There’s One In Every Family”.  I submitted my post Diff’rent Names.

I might also try and remember to post on some of the popular genealogy blogging themes like Sentimental Sunday or Wordless Wednesday.  I’ll see how I go.  I also want to submit to other blog Carnivals too.

How Family History Uncovered a Far-Reaching Secret

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I read this story in my ancestry.com newsletter today and it was so good I thought I’d share it.

On December 22, 1933, something wonderful and unexplained happened to Felice May. It was the night before her birthday – her 4th — and two days before Christmas, but in the past, neither day had been any different than the other chore-filled days of her Depression-era childhood.
But on that night, Felice’s parents did something they had never done before. In their rickety Model T with its tattered canvas roof, they drove into town, showed Felice the dazzling Christmas lights, and led her to the five-and-dime store, where they offered her a choice of a doll or a wooden pony on a pull-string. She chose the pony. It was likely her only store-bought toy.
It was a night Felice would never forget. But it was also a night that left her with an abiding mystery that lasted through the years: how could her parents have afforded such a gift when they were so down on their luck?

 You can read the rest of the story here.