Traces Edition 3

Hello! I’m most excited to bring you Volume 3 of Traces! Over the last few months, I have thoroughly enjoyed receiving your emails and reading about all of your interesting research projects. It’s great to know that there are passionate history lovers out there who are uncovering all the little stories that make us who we are. This edition features insight into Adelaide’s Sym Choon family (page 17), who arrived from China in 1891 and quickly climbed to the top of the local business and social ladders. On page 12, Gay Hendriksen shares with us the plight of Australia’s convict women, and their role in forming a national identity. Ian Evans has us all on the lookout for ‘witch bottles’ on page 15, and John Toohey takes a look at…

Convict ancestors competition winner Kerin Wanstall. Kerin has won a copy of Convict Tattoos, by Simon Barnard ‘My 4x great grandmother Ann Brusfield Gaping/Geappen was transported to Hobart in 1823. She married a convict and had two children; one died as a baby. One police report described Mrs Gaping in a brawl: she had “her mouth wide open, dishevelled hair”, and complained of Fanny O’Maul ill-treating her. Accused of drunkenness, she said to the magistrate, “she was how she always was”. “How is that,” asked the magistrate. “Why, drunk to be sure, Your Worship.” It was proved that Mrs Gaping was mauled and the defendant fined 10 shillings. Thank you, Traces, for at last giving us a ‘homegrown’ quality magazine about our own history in Australia! I can’t wait for…

Historical air-raid shelters uncovered Air-raid shelters have been uncovered during the construction of the $110-million Howard Smith Wharves, a Brisbane riverfront development. Five shelters were discovered, among which were two pillbox shelters and two pipe shelters. As many as 230 shelters were built across Brisbane between 1941 and 1942, but few of these still stand today. In the postwar years, structures like these were seen as of little importance – and no heritage value – once they had served their purpose. The five shelters had been concealed by vegetation, but will now feature in the parklands of the new development for people to visit and appreciate into the future. The Wild Deserts project preserves Aboriginal artefacts where they belong In May, the Wild Deserts project began the delicate task of…

MyHeritage England and Wales • 33 million searchable records from the 1939 Register of England between 1911 and 1951. Canada • Two million obituary and memorial records from the 10 provinces, from 1997–2017. United States • More than 6.6 million new records added to the New York City Marriage License Index 1908–1972.• Historic Kentucky newspapers comprising more than 1.3 million pages across 19 newspaper titles.• Historic West Virginia newspapers comprising more than 370,000 pages across 18 newspaper titles.• Historic Connecticut newspapers comprising more than 2.3 million pages across 23 newspaper titles.• 96, 216 records from the New Jersey Death Index 1901–1903.• 769,976 records from the New Jersey Marriage License Index 1901–1914. Denmark • More than 18.7 million new records added to the Denmark Church Records from 1576–1919. Visit www.myheritage.com FamilySearch…

Then 1885 The opposite photograph, taken in 1885, shows Windmill Tower on Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill, Queensland. Built in 1828 to process the wheat and corn crops of the Moreton Bay penal settlement, the windmill was first regarded as ill-conceived, due to the often windless location chosen for its erection. But the true function of the windmill became clear when a treadmill was attached and convicts, under the direction of Penal Commandant Patrick Logan, were made to power the windmill when there was no wind. Convicts were set to work as a punishment, wearing eight-kilogram leg irons for 14 hours straight in the burning sun. Wearing only rough leather hats for protection, they had to grasp an overhead rail with both hands and walk the 23-centimetre wide steps continuously. If…

Contemporary Australia is opening its ears to the marginalised and the minorities, and their silent stories that have shaped each of our journeys. The history of the colonial convict female factories is one of these stories. The voices of at least 9000 women are now being drawn into the broader narratives of Australia's past. This history, her story, is our story. The colonial convict women coming to Australia were experiencing the effects of the industrial and agrarian revolutions and the consequences of the failed Irish Revolution, the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. Of the estimated 166,000 convicts transported to Australia, at least 24,960 were female. Just over 11,000 came to New South Wales. A considerable number of the women went through the Parramatta Female Factory, the first…