Attention Winners of the Blanka Buring Prize 🏆

I’m conducting research on the remarkable legacy of Blanka Buring, a trailblazer in social work training in Australia during the 1930s. Her dedication to the field continues to inspire, and I believe her story deserves recognition on the Australian Women’s Register.

As winners of the prize bearing her name, your insights would be invaluable in capturing the essence of her contributions. I’m eager to learn what winning the Blanka Buring Prize has meant to you, both professionally and personally.

If you’re willing to share a few sentences about your experience, please leave a comment or email me at kylie at kyliesgenes.com. Your thoughts will play a crucial role in honoring Blanka’s legacy and inspiring future generations.

Thank you for considering my request. I look forward to connecting with you.

#BlankaBuringPrize #SocialWork #AustralianHistory

Concert In A Cave At Tobruk

In October 1941, during the siege of Tobruk by German and Italian forces, the ABC Field Unit, led by war correspondent Chester Wilmot, recorded a unique concert held in an ammunition cave. This concert featured 400 Australian soldiers, who were known as the “Rats of Tobruk.” Wilmot, who was pioneering the use of recording equipment in the field, captured the event on lacquer discs, providing a vivid auditory experience of the scene. You can listen to part of the concert here.

The concert showcased various musical performances, including a short song called “Bless Them All” and an instrumental piece featuring saxophone and piano accordion. The acoustics within the cave were surprisingly good, enhancing the quality of the recording. The highlight of the concert was a stirring rendition of “The Legion of the Lost,” performed by a soldier and backed by a makeshift military choir. The massed voices brought the song to an energetic and uplifting conclusion, capturing the spirit of camaraderie and resilience among the Australian soldiers during a time of intense conflict.

I have written previously about my great uncle Oscar Geoffrey Buring whose war diary I have. Uncle Geoff wasn’t in Tobruk at the time of this concert he was away doing training in Palestine. Here is an excerpt from his diary explaining where he was going:

FRIDAY, 19 TH SEPTEMBER, 1941
Conference 0930. My movement order to No3 Course Platoon Weapons Wing, AIF
(ME0 Small Arms School, Reinforcements Depot Palestine one 23 rd Sept. Warning
order to Coy re movement to perimeter again on 21/22 Sep. Changing with 2/32 on
Derna Road Sector I think. Slept during pm Boys went swimming. Had “dinner at
Coy HQ” Seemed funny to be only original A Coy Offr left. Ferrier seems a decent
sort of bloke and 100% on Reid. Packing gear after tea. Dick got some good powder
bowl souvenirs today from a bloke at MDS. Made out of 75mm shell cases Back to
Coy HQ for supper. Willie has opened his heart.

I don’t know how many of the 2/43rd went to do the training and how many were at the concert. Does anyone else know this? If you do please let us know in the comments.

An Interesting Journey

An Interesting Journey

I’m beginning an interesting journey to research and publish articles about my 1st cousin 3x removed Blanka Buring. Blanka is the sister of well known Australian wine expert Leo Buring. There are many, many websites, articles, books etc about Leo but very little about Blanka or her sisters Meta and Edelgarde. My main focus at the moment is Blanka. This will be a long term project which I’ll be able to work on in between my other work and interests.

No one in my immediate family had any photos of Blanka so I was thrilled to find one right at the start of this research.

I’ve done a small amount of editing to the photo as it is a newspaper photo and very poor quality. I haven’t been able to remove the discolouration and make it look passable yet.

Blanka was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 24 Mar 1881 and died in Avalon, New South Wales on 11 Jun 1956. She is the youngest surviving child of Theodor Gustav Hermann Buring and Henriette Friedricke Louisa Lina Dohrenwendt.

Blanka attended Norwood school and the Advanced School For Girls whose purpose was to prepare girls for entry into the University of Adelaide. She passed her Junior Examination in 1896 and Senior in 1898. Blanka then went on to study Invalid Cookery at the School of Mines in 1912 and Nursing at Adelaide Hospital (now Royal Adelaide Hospital) in 1913. In 1915 she also completed study at Queen’s Home which became the Queen Victoria Hospital. This study was possibly in midwifery or paediatric nursing.

After a time of nursing in Western Australia and after the death of her father she began travelling the world. Her trips throughout the 1920s and 30s included British Columbia, America, Crete, and Spain. I am yet to find out the full extent of her travels. The newspaper reports of her travels speak about her interest in social work particularly with regard to nursing and hospitals.

I am currently researching the influences in Blanka’s life growing up and whilst at university to see from where this interest in social work came. I have found connections to Catherine Helen Spence and indirectly Miles Franklin. Blanka’s uncle Heinrich Franz Rudolph Buring and his family were all part of the Adelaide Unitarian church right down through the generations to my mother. The Unitarian beliefs of social justice and individual beliefs (no one guiding creed) may have also influenced Blanka however I still need to confirm this.

I won’t go into detail of Blanka’s life achievements here on my blog just yet. This will come in future posts.

This is a far deeper dive into an individual’s life than I have previously undertaken. It differs from my usual genealogical research in that I wouldn’t usually look heavily into childhood or family influences in someone’s life. I do look at historical context and people’s achievements when researching but nothing like this depth of research. It is very interesting and has so many aspects of life in South Australia, feminism, German immigrants and Adelaide society that I am very happy to have found this wonderful person to research and write about. There is so little about Australian women’s achievements from the turn of the century that I’m hoping to add a small piece to the wider picture.

Another area where this research differs from genealogical research is the software I am using. Being a proponent of Free and Open Source Software I am using Zotero to gather and organise my research rather than a commercial, proprietary software such as Endnote or others. Not having been to university I hadn’t used this form of software before but I am finding Zotero extremely easy to use and will continue to use it in my future genealogical research.

The journey continues……….

Merry Month of May Meme

Merry Month of May Meme

Pauleen from Family History Across The Seas has proposed this meme which follows on from previous years.

Has your day-to-day life returned to how it/you functioned previously?

I am still mostly staying at home to avoid COVID because I have other health issues which could cause complications.

If your “new normal” is different from your “old normal”, can you share some of the ways it’s changed?

I am doing most of my voluntary work for Makerspace Adelaide from home now which I wasn’t doing before. The genealogy work I do for customers I’m still doing from home.

Do you think these will be long-term changes for you?

Yes I think these changes will continue for some time yet for me.

What personal benefits have you gained from the change of pace and experiences in the past two years?

I’ve been able to work on a major research project of my own instead of mainly doing work for customers.

What do you value most about your new normal?

Being at home means I’ve been able to do major de-cluttering of my house and now I can find things a lot better!

What is your view of in-person meetings (social or genealogy) and do you love or hate zoom meetings?

As I’ve said above I’m still staying away from in-person meetings where possible. I like zoom meetings.

What was the main activity and/or person that supported you through the unpredictable times?

My main activities are genealogy, crafts, listening to audio books and watching movies.

Has your community developed a new normal or just returned to the old one? What differences do you see, if any?

Most of the communities I’m involved in have returned to normal however I’m still feeling a bit isolated not being able to attend as many face – to – face activities as I would like to.

Blanka Buring Investigated By Military Police Intelligence Section

Blanka Buring Investigated By Military Police Intelligence Section

On the 27th June 1940 Miss Stella Armstrong made a report to the police about Miss Blanka Buring. The following is a paraphrase of the original report which I obtained from the National Archives of Australia.

Miss Armstrong says that she met Miss Buring about two or three years ago at the Women’s Club in Elizabeth St, Sydney. Miss Armstrong believes that Miss Buring is of German nationality. Stella reported that Blanka had said to her she hated England and was going to visit her beloved Germany.

Miss Armstrong also reports that Blanka had received an unexpected dividend in 1939 and that she was deciding whether to buy a car, or a house in Avalon. Stella noted to the police that Blanka also had a sister in South Australia.

As I was unfamiliar with this kind of activity I did some searching for context. I knew that German people were interned during World War II but I didn’t realise that every day Australians of German descent were reported on and then questioned by the police.

During World War II the Police Subversive Organisations Branch combined with elements of the Commonwealth Police, Navy and Army to form the Military Police Intelligence Branch to fulfill the role of a domestic security service. This involved the monitoring and control of enemy aliens, internees, prisoners of war, and suspected enemy agents plus the prevention of espionage, sabotage, sedition, and trading with the enemy.

Transcript of the above statement

No 14 Police Station Manly 12 July 1940

We beg to report having interviewed Miss Blanka Buring of Plateau Road, Avalon, on the 11th, instant, with the following result.
Miss Buring stated that she reside (sic) alone, does not associate with the local residents, and drives to town twice or three times a week in her own car.
She is about 60 years of age and was born in Australia of German parents, who came to Australia from Germany when they were each three or four years of age. Her parents are now deceased, and during their lifetime neither of them visited Germany. They were engaged in business as wine merchants and her brother Leo Buring, who resides at Emu Plains, is still connected with the same business. She receives an income from the South Australian branch of this business. She has been residing in this district for about two years, and is considered to be of good reputation but of an eccentric nature, as she has been observed walking alone on the roadway muttering to herself.
She has no associates in this locality except that she occasionally calls at the local store and Post Office.
She stated that she had visited a number of foreign countries including Spain, Italy and Germany and was last in Germany in the year 1929 for a period of three weeks when she was investigating social service work. During the year 1936, she visited England, Spain and France. On her return to Australia she resided at Mosman and later moved to Avalon. She stated that she was a most loyal British subject, and that in regard to the war, her sympathies were definitely with the British. She said “I think it must be admitted that one can find some good in every country, and I do think that Germany was unjustly treated in the Versailles Treaty. Having travelled (sic) about the world a lot, I am naturally broadminded and people do not seem to understand my outlook. I do not remember ever making any remark that could have been interpreted as being disloyal.”
This person is not required to register as an alien.

There wasn’t anything further of note in this packet from the National Archives.

Apart from being astounded at this course of events I also learnt a lot about Blanka from her statement. I didn’t know from where she derived her income so finding out that she was supported by Leo’s business answers my questions about how she could afford her overseas travel. This also explains her owning her own house and car. I am pleased to know she was comfortable at this stage in her life.

Instead of thinking of her as eccentric as the report suggests we would now think of Blanka, perhaps as an introvert who kept to herself. In her own words she says that people didn’t understand her, “I am naturally broadminded and people do not seem to understand my outlook.” By this time in her life Blanka had worked as a nurse, volunteered on boards and in training new social workers. Her broad-mindedness would have served her well in those endeavours. Blanka wrote about the need for social workers in hospitals and investigated what other countries were doing in this regard during her travels however I have yet to ascertain whether she worked as a social worker herself in hospitals or elsewhere.

This blog post is part of a series I’m writing about Blanka Buring. The previous post in this series is:

An Interesting Journey

You Can Research Your Home

If you live in an older home in South Australia you may be able to find out about it by following the tips from the State Library and State Records of South Australia, you don’t need to be a historian to find things out.

You will be surprised by what you can find out about the home you live in.

The State Library has a downloadable guide for Researching your locality in the collections of the State Library of South Australia which covers

Almanacs and directories
• Architecture in South Australia
• Mapping sources for South Australian history
• South Australian newspapers

as well as Tracing the History of a House

State Records has House or Property History which takes you through how to use their Archives Search, the South Australian Integrated Land Information System (SAILIS), Location SA, Maps of the Surveyor General’s Office, 1808-1946, land tax assessment returns and more.