Table of contents for Edition 26, 2024 in Traces

Betelgeuse is a gigantic, enigmatic star. Prominent in the constellation Orion, this red-orange giant lies 643 light-years from Earth and is one of the largest stars in our galaxy – you could line up 1142 suns across its diameter. As one of the brightest stars in the sky, it is prominent in the traditions of cultures across the globe, especially across Australia. Traditional stories describe the importance of the star’s position, brightness, and colour, as well as changes in these properties. In Wardaman Aboriginal traditions of the Northern Territory, Yidumduma Bill Harney describes the star as Ya-Jungin, the flickering eye of an owl, which is apparent when the star twinkles. In Aboriginal communities across the Great Victoria Desert, South Australia, it is the right hand of the man in Orion…

Midshipmen occupied a fraught place in naval hierarchy. These young men were apprentice officers, placing them above ordinary sailors in rank, but not experience. Likewise, they sat beneath officers in both status and skill. Usually teenagers upon enlisting, midshipmen were sometimes called ‘middies’ but more often ‘snotties’, apparently due to their runny noses when crewing a ship’s bridge in cold weather. A midshipman’s life entailed constant activity, learning and examinations. For this reason, there was a long tradition of snotties keeping daily journals to record everything they observed, from loading coal to launching torpedoes. Beyond procedural notes, many journals were also embellished with drawings, charts and human-interest snippets. Two snotties who saw the world with the British Fleet were Geoffrey Thistleton-Smith of the Royal Navy (RN) and John Plunkett-Cole, Royal…

In times before electric lighting, it was essential to have a good stock of candles at the ready. Along with candles, a purpose-made candle snuffer was a handy accessory. This candle snuffer, circa 1815, is silver-plated and was manufactured by Cope & Cutler in Birmingham, United Kingdom. It was designed to extinguish the flame and cut the charred wick, which is flicked into the cylindrical container by a blade arm. Cope & Cutler made a variety of steel items, including corkscrews and candle snuffers (both steel and silver-plated), boot and button hooks, nut crackers, sugar nippers, clasps, ornaments, fish trowels, and more. Image and information courtesy of the Science Museum Group, United Kingdom…

As a boy, I remember reading a story in the Wizard – a weekly boys’ magazine – about Ned Kelly. It came with an illustration of a man who looked like a robot, with a metal head and an armoured body, withstanding a furious hail of bullets as he battled against overwhelming government forces, the last man left standing after an assault on his hide-out. I had not heard the name before, but nowadays I suspect most will know of this famous bushranger. Nineteenth-century Australia was a rough place. In the mid 1800s, it was also the place to be after gold was discovered and fortunes were just waiting on the ground to be collected. Tens of thousands of prospectors from around the world flocked to Port Phillip (Melbourne’s harbour)…

Tongan skulls laid to rest Sydney’s Australian Museum has repatriated the skulls of two Tongan males to their living descendants on the island of ‘Eua. The remains of an adult male and a child were laid to rest in a royal funeral service in January this year, more than 150 years after their deaths. The Australian Museum acquired the skulls in 1875 and 1969. The first was donated by a surgeon, who picked it up in Tonga and brought it to Australia. It is believed that an artist found the second skull, skeleton still attached, in a cave on the reef of ‘Ata. It then featured as part of a Pacific art collection in Sydney before being donated to the museum. Director of First Nations at Australian Museum Laura McBride…

In July 1888 in London, the Queensland Smelting Company was formed to treat the refractory ore that was resistant to standard gold recovery methods available at Gympie, and the newly discovered goldfields west of Maryborough. The capital behind the company was 80,000 shares, at £1 per share. Francis Gill, who was the managing director of the new company, was dispatched to Maryborough to locate a site for the smelting works. The Maryborough region was attractive because of its port and the rail link to Gympie. After examining several sites, Gill settled on 485 hectares on the banks of Saltwater Creek, north of Maryborough. Several bores were dug, and a large quantity of coking coal was found on the land. While waiting on the arrival of processing machinery from America, a…

As a child of immigrants, with only one great-grandparent who was born and then died in the same country, I have always been drawn to the search for home. Where did we really come from? Tellingly, my oldest named ancestor, my 14th-great-grandfather, Ishmael Cohen-Tanugi, Rabbi of Cairo, died in Egypt, far from the land of his birth, Tunisia. My family believes he fled due to conquests by Hayreddin Barbarossa in 1534 and Charles V in 1535. The years haven’t changed our wandering feet. Generations of my family have fled conflict and persecution, or migrated in hopes of a better future for their descendants. As difficult as this makes tracing our family tree, I’m grateful for their resilience, optimism and determination. It’s now been more than a decade since I first…

Tradition is the purposeful creation of meaning and connection. On a national scale, it is how we express our culture as a people. In the same way, traditions within a family or with significant others in our life reflect what we value and how we want to express identity. It is how we signify our own individual culture. Tradition invites us to reflect on the past. It inspires nostalgia for moments that unite us, and connects our past with our present. Tradition brings constancy to an ever-changing world. As a child, I would eagerly anticipate New Year’s Day, when my mother would gift me a carefully chosen and wrapped book. One of many traditions in our home, it was a celebration of the new year through a simple act. As…

In 1926, Victoria’s Benalla Standard reported that there was an increase in the ‘installation of wireless receiving sets in the home’. They were as popular as cars, and provided people everywhere with newfound access to news; lectures; orchestral, band and choral music; and concerts. The societal value of the technology was apparent from the beginning. Broadcasting stations were established, and they played programs for eager listeners in their own homes. It opened minds to a wide range of topics, which inevitably resulted in criticism. The chief complaint was announcers’ pronunciation. To tackle the complaint, in July 1926, the British Broadcasting Company (B.B.C.) announced that it had established a committee consisting of ‘well-known authorities on the English language’ to standardise how certain words should be pronounced. Known as ‘The Advisory Committee…

Then The Women’s Hospital, as it was originally known, was founded by Scottish-born physician Sir James Graham in 1893. Located in a four-roomed house on Hay Street in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, the hospital was initially funded by public subscription, as well as nurse training and student fees. It also received government funding to obtain surgical instruments and furniture, such as hospital beds and waiting room chairs. In 1895, the hospital came under the direction of a board, and saw Graham move away from his directorial role. While Graham played a pivotal role in establishing the hospital during its infancy, he eventually turned his attention to politics and medical teachings. In 1901, Graham was elected as the 38th Mayor of Sydney. During his short tenure as mayor, Graham…

According to Tiwi belief, the Tiwi Islands were formed millennia ago by the creator-ancestor, Murtankala. Tiwi have lived on Country ever since and have fiercely defended their lands from intruders. There were some wars with neighbouring mainland peoples, but also intermarriage. The Dutch were the first Europeans to land on Tiwi Country, but they came without permission, so the Tiwi fought them. Then the British attempted to create a settlement in the 1820s, but again the Tiwi fought them and sent them away. In the early 20th century, a Catholic mission was established on Tiwi Country, and then, in the 1940s, a mission for children of the Stolen Generations. From the late 1960s, Tiwi people increasingly won back their independence and self-governance. Fighting off a global superpower When Britain’s navy,…

Common scams today often involve unsolicited phone calls, bogus text messages and infected internet links. Larger-scale modern cons are made famous by podcasts and Netflix: ‘Scamanda’, who faked cancer, defrauding her community of donations and sympathy; the ‘Tinder Swindler’, who duped internet love-interests into funding his lavish lifestyle; and Elizabeth Holmes, who fleeced investors of millions of dollars for a medical product that didn’t work. But, of course, scams, cons and Ponzi schemes are not new. While most of us like to think we’re smarter than the average con, many of us still click on those links and answer those calls. And back in the 1940s, people were even more trusting. The 1940s con A con artist is a person who cheats or tricks others, persuading them to believe something…

MyHeritage Finland Karelia, Births and Baptisms, 1685–1949: 4,786,438 records. Netherlands Batavian-French Army Studiobooks, 1795–1813: 61,256 records. Sweden Stockholm City Census, 1855: 100,012 records. United Kingdom British Army and Air Force Nominal Roll, 1920: 371,696 records. United States California and Hawaii, Chinese immigration to the United States, 1874–1954: 131,688 records Idaho, Births, 1861–1940: 541,011 records. Visit www.myheritage.com. FamilySearch Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792–1981: 464,692 records Victoria, Wills, Probate and Administration Files, 1841–1926: 252,412 records. Canada Census, 1931: 10,376,786 records. Dominican Republic Immigration Records, 1925–1999: 1096 records. England Cheshire, School Records, 1796–1950: 388,462 records. France Calvados, Census, 1856: 56,821 records Haute-Garonne, Census, 1896: 93,082 records. Gibraltar (United Kingdom) Census, 1767–1931: 129,257 records Church Records, 1697–1991: 55,776 records. Guatemala Civil Registration, 1877–2006: 4,590,812 records. India Catholic Church Records, 1751–2014: 12,583,935 records. Ireland Catholic…

The 1914 Blood Bros. Store is a local landmark and the only remaining pre-World War I shop in Ringwood’s commercial hub. It has historical associations with two prominent pioneer families in the area, as well as a very unique facade of rare majolica tiles displaying the name of the business. The store is owned by the Maroondah City Council, and is covered by a Heritage Overlay ‘as a rare and relatively intact rural Edwardian corner shop’; but this wasn’t enough to protect it from planned destruction. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the Ringwood & District Historical Society (RDHS) fought to save the Blood Bros. Store, and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV) wrote to the council in support of its efforts. RDHS President Russ Haines was involved in the campaign,…