News - May 2026
Tuesday 19 May - 7:30 pm General Meeting
VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park Precinct
GUEST SPEAKER: Alison Alexander
TOPIC: Outlandish or Euphonious? Aboriginal placenames in Tasmania 1803-1926
In Tasmania, only three Aboriginal placenames lasted from Aboriginal times, but from the 1880s they were used more and more - with some opposition. Here is the entertaining story of changing attitudes - for some.
Alison Alexander, Patron of our Society, has been writing about Tasmanian history since the 1980s and has published upward of 30 books. Recent activity in remaining places with Aboriginal names got her wondering when the first names were used.
More for Your Diary
Thu 21 May - 10am Hobart Committee
VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive
Thu 21 May - 1:30pm DNA Group
VENUE: St Marks Church Hall, Scott Street, Bellerive
Thu 28 May - 2pm Library Committee
VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive
Tue 16 Jun - NO GENERAL MEETING
From Your Branch President
'Volunteers don't get paid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless'.
Attributed to Sherry Anderson, 2025
Old Melbourne Cemetery
If, like me, you have ancestors or family members who were early residents of Melbourne, it is possible that they were among the estimated 10,000 early settlers buried in the Old Melbourne Cemetery under what is now a section of the Queen Victoria Market. Yes, Queenborough Cemetery is only one of many former cemeteries that were simply built over.
The first burials in the Old Melbourne Cemetery were in 1837 and the last in 1917, but as early as 1877 sections of the original cemetery which was allocated to Aboriginal and Quaker burials, as well as unused sections of the Jewish area, were taken over for the purpose of the growing Market. The cemetery closed permanently in 1922 with exhumations beginning in the mid-1920s. Not surprisingly, the Market expansion was contentious as there were many notable pioneers buried there.
If you think you may have a family member interred in this cemetery, there are two resources that don't require you to go to Melbourne:
Alphabetical record of burials - Old Melbourne Cemetery (1866-1917), PROV website, digitised and can be browsed online.
The Old Melbourne cemetery 1837-1922 by Marjorie Morgan, published 1982 by the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies Inc. NOTE: This book is in our Branch Library. It includes maps, burial records, some headstone transcriptions, and a few photos.
However, if you find yourself, as I did, at the Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV), you can order records of nearly 200 early settler burials which were recommended for relocation (each includes a short and fascinating family history) and a list of the 886 which were actually relocated (average 21.88 per day exhumed, clearly not as carefully as at Queenborough). Some went with their headstones to a special section of the Fawkner Cemetery on the outskirts of Melbourne. Others, like my gt-gt-grandparents who died in 1851 and 1861, were 'claimed' by a family member and reinterred in the family grave at the Melbourne General Cemetery.
Image Liardet, W. F. E. The Melbourne Brewery and Distillery, 1875. State Library Victoria
An interesting example of a bio for one of the proposed burial relocations is that of John Mills, a brewer - 100 years ago his descendants still knew he had been a convict:
John Mills. Came from Launceston. He died in 1841 and his widow married his Manager, Thomas Robinson. E.H. Long. His grandnephew is a draughtsman in the city. He tells me that his uncle was sent out for poaching, arriving in Van Diemen's Land in 1834, he married there Alice McM (???). She died very soon and three years later he married Hannah Hale, by this union he had a daughter Emma Mills, they claim she was the first white female child born in Melbourne. She survived Mills seventy-one years and inherited his property. She married William Arthur Callander A'Beckett... Liardet painted the picture of Mills' Brewery (The Melbourne Brewery and Distillery), and it is in the Public Library.
Ros Escott president@hobart.tasfhs.org
Special Event - Greg Lehman Lecture
Visual Rhetoric in Australian Colonial Art: The Preconditions of Prejudice
This presentation explores how early Australian colonial depictions of Aboriginal people drew heavily on visual traditions developed in French and British North America a century earlier. These images, often marked by naïveté and contradiction, nonetheless carry enduring influence, shaping perceptions of Aboriginal people and informing how we understand our place within the Australian landscape today.
The Royal Society of Tasmania and Arts National
Date: Sunday 14 June 2026
Time: 2.00p.m. followed by foyer drinks after the lecture
Venue: Stanley Burbury Theatre, Sandy Bay Campus
Cost: $25
To book: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1576618
46th Conference and Annual General Meeting
Saturday 20 June 2026
at Rydges Hotel, 393 Argyle Street, North Hobart - with free on-site car parking
Check out the following link to find all the details: www.tasfhs.org/AGM
Researching House History
Contributor: Melissa Hardy
austinrealestate_househistory_genealogyresearchIt is a practical guide to researching house history and genealogy, with ideas for tracing people through records, property history, local archives, and related sources.
The Sorell Historical Society
Contributor: Lindy Mollineaux
Formed in 1983, the Historical Society of the Municipality of Sorell Inc is a not-for-profit association with an active volunteer committee.
We collect stories, photographs and artefacts that share the rich history of the Sorell district in southeast Lutruwita/Tasmania - from Orielton to Marion Bay, from Nugent to Primrose Sands and the townships of Sorell, Midway Point, Dodges Ferry and Dunalley.
The History Rooms at Sorell Memorial Hall are currently open Wed 9-12, Sat 12-3 and any change will be advised on our social media. One room showcases the history of Sorell, while the second hosts temporary exhibits - currently Transport. The displays comprise photographs, artifacts, and digital presentations.
We publish the Pitt Water Chronicles local history journal, host events from time to time, run a Facebook page Historical Society of Sorell Inc. , and the very popular Sorell History Society Facebook group. Our website has an extensive online collection of people, places, items and events.
New members are very welcome (just $25 annual family subscription). Visit the History Rooms, come along to a meeting or event, phone SHS president Peta Kelly on 0437 588 848 or email us with a question. Meetings and events will be advised on our website and Facebook and are generally from 1:30pm on the third Thursday of the month in the Sorell Memorial Hall.
F: Historical Society of Sorell Inc. for organisation information
F: Sorell History Society for community contributions
E: secretary@sorellhistory.org
M: 0437 588 848 (Peta Kelly - president)
Billy: A Boy from Queenstown by Sandra Stubbings
The story of Billy Gadd, a Tasmanian World War I boy soldier.
THE BOOK: It's not known how many under-aged Tasmanian lads signed on for the Great War, but Sandra Stubbings' great uncle Billy Gadd from Queenstown was one of them. He signed on in 1915 at just 16 years of age.
Just three years earlier Billy's father, Albert had been recognised as a national hero for his actions in the North Mount Lyell mining disaster. Sadly, Albert died in 1913, his death hastened due to the carbon monoxide poisoning he suffered during the rescue efforts. This left his wife, Henrietta a widow with eight children to raise. Billy was the eldest and was barely 17 years old when he was killed, beside three of his 12 th Battalion mates in the early hours of 14 April 1917 near Lagnicourt in the north of France. His short life was marked by hardship, commitment and courage.
THE AUTHOR: Sandra Stubbings is a retired consultant, university administrator and secondary school teacher. Sandra holds a BA DipEd from the University of Queensland with a major in Australian history and literature. Billy - A Boy from Queenstown will be her first published piece and possibly the first published story of a Tasmanian World War 1 boy soldier.
Maree's Mutterings
On the 18 April 2026, the Irish government released the 1926 Census of the Irish Free State to the public.
The census was taken on the night of Sunday the 18th of April 1926.
https://nationalarchives.ie/collections/search-the-1926-census/