Table of contents for Edition 21, 2022 in Traces

Then As European settlement began to urbanise Sydney, the development of infrastructure in several suburbs, particularly The Rocks, paved the way for the modern Sydney of today. The land at 42–52 Harrington Street, in the heart of The Rocks, was a key part of this modernisation. Sydney’s very first hospital was located in The Rocks, with its premises taking up the block cornered by Globe, George, Argyle and Harrington streets. A mere seven months after the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove, a hospital structure was erected, and the land that would later be intersected by the four streets was purchased for future developments. The need for a larger and more contemporary building quickly became apparent as more British settlers came to Australia. To accommodate a growing population, the hospital…

The McDonagh sisters were not girlish or little. The eldest, Isabel, was 25, followed by Phyllis, 24, and Paulette, 23. With their matching glossy black hair, hazel eyes and understated elegance, they seemed more like a set of triplets, or even parts of the one being, rather than three separate individuals. By the time they’d become obsessed with filmmaking, they’d endured more grief and heartache than most people twice their age. As teenagers growing up in Sydney, and daughters of a respected surgeon and doctor, they’d already lived through World War I and the postwar flu epidemic, as well as the death of their beloved father from a cocaine overdose and their mother from a stroke. Following the death of their parents, they were now raising their four younger siblings…

Dr George Mitchell was the surgeon-superintendent on the typhus-stricken 1850 voyage of the ship Emigrant – the second ship to bring government-sponsored free settlers directly to Moreton Bay. The 25-year-old Irishman is buried near the site of the old quarantine station, alongside his colleague Dr David Keith Ballow and the 26 passengers of the Emigrant who died during their long and harrowing months of quarantine. Dr Mitchell, Dr Ballow, and most of the men, women and children buried with them were victims of the dreaded disease typhus, which had broken out during the barque’s three-month voyage from Plymouth. Emigrant had set off on 17 April 1850 with some 276 passengers from England and Ireland – emigrants who had been selected by the government for assisted passage in a bid to…

The books rescued by my father spent almost two decades sitting in the bottom of my cupboard, as I never had the time to research them – that was, until COVID-19. Th ere were approximately 30 books, mostly school textbooks, and some of them were signed ‘John Joseph Blackmore’ and dated, while others had the names of schools. The books were dated from 1883 to 1920, and I was struck by the wonder of holding a book that belonged to someone who was born 160 years ago. Through Ancestry, I was able to identify the existence of a John Joseph Blackmore, who was born in 1862 and died in 1939 at the age of 77. Was Blackmore a school teacher and did these books actually belong to him? In the…

Just a few kilometres from Murringo (then known as Marengo), Crotty was shot at close range. A scarf was tightly wound around his head. The horses were gone, and the unopened mailbags lay about. A rough camp site was located nearby. Three French nationals would eventually be arrested for the murder of the mailman. Although mailmen were often robbed, Daniel Crotty is very likely the only mailman in Australia to have been killed by bushrangers while on duty. Charles Robardy and Auguste Rivet were soon arrested in Forbes, and Louis Douchef would be arrested six years later by Sergeant Martin Brennan at Araluen. Rivet and Douchef had known each other in France and had travelled together to New Caledonia. The pair met again on the goldfields in the towns of…

For centuries, the Harz mountains have been shaped by mining. The Rammelsberg mine in Goslar mined for almost 1000 years without interruption, and was only closed down in 1988. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site four years later. The Upper Harz mining industry was one of the most important German metal districts – silver, copper, lead, iron and zinc were mined here, in some of the deepest mines in the world. To supply hydropower, 143 dams, hundreds of kilometres of ditches and kilometres of underground watercourses were built, called the Upper Harz Water Regale (Oberharzer Wasserregal). It is considered the world’s most important pre-industrial water management system for mining and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010. Today, many of these 65 dam ponds, which still exist…

In early 2021, watching as COVID-19 swept around the world, I started thinking about the Pacific War. I wondered how Aussies and Kiwis coped with it: the sudden collapse of order and the rise of a new, formidable power in the world’s greatest ocean. Suddenly, no Pacific port was safe, and no city was secure from the threat of carrier-borne bombers. The United States and the United Kingdom suffered great knocks to their prestige, but Australia and New Zealand faced grim existential questions. What was it like to have an enemy at the gate, and to know that no help was coming? I started writing a book, and was immediately drawn to the port of Rabaul, New Guinea. Rabaul is seldom mentioned in Pacific War histories, for reasons that are…

MyHeritage Australia • Australian Capital Territory, Deaths, 1930–present: 39,292 records • Brisbane Hospital Death Records, 1899–1963: 52,939 records • British Assisted Passengers to Victoria, 1839–1871: 173,294 records • First World War Embarkation Rolls: 338,619 records • First World War Nominal Roll, 1914–1918: 322,830 records • New South Wales, Gaol Inmates and Photos, 1870–1930: 51,955 records • Queensland, Licensed Victuallers, 1900–1914: 33,393 records • Queensland, Nominated Immigrants, 1905–1928: 95,265 records • Queensland, Wills, 1857–1940: 47,322 records • Tasmania, Births, 1803–1933: 640,970 records. Canada • Nova Scotia, Census, Property Assessments and Poll Taxes, 1770–1841: 69,772 records • Saskatchewan, Births, 1832–1921: 950,875 records. Channel Islands (United Kingdom) • Jersey, Burials, 1541–present: 299,811 records • Jersey, Marriages, 1542–1946: 140,978 records. England • British Red Cross Society Volunteers, 1914–1918: 242,744 records • Durham, Home Guard,…

This interesting contraption looks very different to the modern computer keyboard, or even the classic typewriter. Created by Frank Lambert, a French-American inventor, the ‘Lambert’ typewriter incorporates a keyboard and typestamp combined in a single unit. Vastly different to other typewriter products of the time, the Lambert typewriter features a flat, circular keyboard that is intricately connected to an ebonite (rubber-like) typestamp. When the keys are pushed, the circular keyboard moves and forces the selected letter or symbol on the typestamp to a printing point. From here, further pressure applied onto the keys then brings the chosen character into contact with the paper. In other words, despite its abstract design, the Lambert still functions as a regular typewriter typically would. Frank Lambert patented his design in 1884, but wouldn’t manufacture…

The first railway line in Melbourne was built in the 1850s, linking the town centre and port. Further lines followed, connecting the city with Geelong, the goldfields and the Murray River ports. The earliest railways were privately owned, with the government-owned Victorian Railways taking control of all lines in the early 1880s. The so-called Octopus Act in 1884 authorised a huge expansion of the railway network and sparked a spate of construction. By 1900, thousands of kilometres of track had been laid and Victoria had the largest and most impressive rail system in the country. The railways encouraged the expansion of metropolitan Melbourne to the suburbs. They opened new markets and opportunities for rural industries, and stimulated regional development. In the Mallee region, for example, the locomotive often preceded settlement;…

Even less is known of Thomas Little’s wife Eliza, but she is the one who inspired me to research the lives of this remarkable couple. Eliza (nee Lally) is my great-great-great-aunt, and I have discovered her to have been a lively and active women. Thomas was tasked with buying land and setting up a business to breed horses for the Indian market. Very wisely, the family arrived with everything they needed to set up home and farm: a farm manager, 23 Indian servants and workers, tents as temporary accommodation, water buffalo, wagons, and the first horses. After a few months in Perth, the whole party moved down to Bunbury, in the Dardanup area, and eventually settled on the Leschenault Peninsula. The following years were not easy, but the business developed…

Grandpa’s writing/sewing box Grandpa owned this box. It is cedar with a piece of silky oak on the top and a variety of woods in the intricate, inlaid design. There is a rectangular piece of mother-of-pearl on the lid. I discovered that it is a writing box, probably the equivalent to today’s laptop computer. My mother used it as a sewing box. My father used to make things into other things according to their use. The writing box was turned into a sewing box by cutting some of the timber, thus spoiling the original appearance, but making it practical. Robyn, Bombala Amethyst bangle My mother’s amethyst bangle came to her from her uncle, Donald Mason ‘Mase’ Marshall. She was told he had won it in a horserace. The bangle is…

Comprising one of the finest collections of historical buildings in Australia, Hartley Historic Site allows visitors an immersive heritage experience, almost like stepping back in time. Traces spoke with Luke Donnelly, Project Officer for NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), about what makes this fascinating heritage site so special. Culturally significant for its role as one of the first colonial settlements west of the Blue Mountains, Hartley was established as an administrative centre between Penrith and Bathurst, and played an essential role in the development of inland Australia. ‘The imposing Hartley Courthouse was built in 1837 and first served all the town’s functions, including police, judicial, religious, and even as the initial post and telegraph office,’ says Donnelly. ‘Vernacular buildings quickly began to develop around Hartley’s public buildings, and…