Thursday, April 24, 2008

Victorian Historical Indexes


Additional loan copies of the Victorian historical indexes on CD-Rom have been added to the collection. Holds for the following can be placed via the online catalogue from our website.

Pioneer Index 1836-1888

Federation Index 1889-1901

Death Index 1921-1985

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Benalla Cemetery online

Benalla CemeteryThanks to a grant from the Benalla Rural City, the cemetery records are now online. Included at this site is a copy of Register Of Burials and similar information from the headstones for which there is no entry in the register. At this stage pictures of the inscriptions for names A to D are also available the rest to come soon.
The Sexton is also compiling a list of those for whom there is no information, only that their Death Certificate says Buried at Benalla Cemetery. These are mainly pre 1900. If anyone has a relative whose Death Certificate indicates burial at Benalla Cemetery and you are unable to locate on the register e-mail the Benalla cemetery sexton: Kelvin Freemantle kelfreemantle@bigpond.com

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

PROV at Ringwood

The members of the Public Records Advisory Council invite you to join them and staff of Public Record Office Victoria for a morning of information, ideas and social interaction, followed by lunch.

PROV at Ringwood

Thursday 8 May
Maroondah City Council
Braesdie Avenue, Ringwood

Free seminar
RSVP: 28 April diane.brodie@prov.vic.gov.au

9.45 am Morning tea and registration
10.00 Welcome and introduction - Justine Heazlewood
10.15 Indigenous resources at PROV - Simon Flagg
10.40 Places of Deposit - Margaret Sawyers
11.10 Break
11.20 Guest Speaker -Kate Prinsley Executive Officer
Royal Historical Society of Victoria
11.40 Public Programs and reference services - James McKinnon
12.05 Online resources - accessing PROV's records remotely - Daniel Wilksch
12.30 Lunch and networking

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Researching your family's military heritage

An introduction on this subject for family history researchers will be presented at Diamond Valley Library this Wednesday April 9. 2008 marks the 90th anniversary of the final year of the First World War.
Websites for family history researchers include:
Australian War Memorial
National Archives of Australia
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
World War 2 Nominal Roll
Nominal Roll of Vietnam Veterans

Nominal Roll of Australian Veterans in the Korean War
Australians in the Boer War - Oz-Boer Database project
National Serviceman’s AssociationPartial nominal roll searchable by Force and year, but it is not official like other nominal rolls. Voluntarily submitted information only

Cyndi’s list Australia & New Zealand MilitaryA comprehensive list of links that is constantly updated

Australians at War
Australia’s War 1939-1945
World War 1 – Trenches on the web: an internet history of the great war
ANZAC Research site
Leaders of ANZACS
Includes names of Officers who died at Gallipoli

First AIF Order of battle
Peter Dunn's Australia @ War
Digger HistoryAn unofficial history of the Australian Armed Services. To see what is on offer here browse the master or full indexes.

Zentsuji Camp, Shikoku Australian, New Zealand & Fiji POW 1942-1945Includes names of prisoners of war.

Borneo POW
War memorials in Australia

Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research centre, Melbourne

AIF Database

Australian War Graves Photographic Archive

Using War records in Family History Research (How to)

Service Dossiers and Other Defence Personnel Records in the National Archives of Australia talk

Online Exhibition: A Website to Remember
Gain insights into the Gallipoli conflict from the viewpoint of the official World War 1 correspondents. The website includes transcripts of the news stories of four Australian journalists, and highlights their role in the development of an Australian identity. It includes war images, accounts of battles, and examples of censorship and discussions of the Australian legend and a copy of a letter written by Keith Murdoch, to Prime Minister Fisher regarding the conditions facing Australian troops at Gallipoli.

Cenotaph - an online resource for all parts of New Zealand
Cenotaph is a database of New Zealand deceased service personnel. It is based on those who died in periods of conflict, especially during the 20th century. However, content now includes virtually all World War 1 soldiers and nurses who served overseas based on the published embarkation rolls. The database consists of over 114,000 records. The focus is biographical, with a strong emphasis on war service.

Veterans History projectInterviewing military relatives: US based, some tips here
(Ken Burn's "The War" has recently been showing on ABC1 on Sunday afternoons)

Wartime memories project
Suggested questions or memory prompters for oral history interviews

Reading: Digging for diggers: a guide to researching an Australian soldier of the Great War 1914-1918 by Graeme Hosken

“When you go home, tell them of us, we gave our today for your tomorrow” – Weary Dunlop