Tasmanian Family History Society Inc. Hobart Branch

News - October 2024

Editor: Judith Crossin

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Tuesday 15 Oct - 7:30 pm General Meeting

VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park Precinct

GUEST SPEAKER: Helene Chung

TOPIC: Two Unconventional Tasmanian Chinese

Two Unconventional Tasmanian Chinese: My father, Charles, fruit merchant-restaurateur to artist-in-retirement, and my mother, Dorothy, nonconformist divorcee to devoted Catholic, by fourth-generation Tasmanian Helene Chung.

With his brothers, Charles launched Hobart's first Chinese restaurant, the Golden Dragon, while Dorothy, an artist's model who called herself Miss Henry, to the embarrassment of her two convent school daughters, drove around 1950s Hobart in an open-top red MG.

Through her parents' lives, Helene covers the historical role of two founding families of the Tasmanian Chinese, with a cameo role for a third, the Chung Gon family.

This illustrated talk is adapted from Helene's keynote address to the 2022 Australasian Dragon Tails Conference on the Chinese Diaspora.

Pioneer journalist Helene Chung (He-LANE CHUNG as in HUNG) broke racist and sexist barriers in 1974 to become the first non-white reporter on Australian television and, as Beijing correspondent (1983-86), the first female posted abroad by the ABC. She is the author of Shouting from China, Gentle John: My Love My Loss, Lazy Man in China, and Ching Chong China Girl.

https://helenechung.com

More for Your Diary

Thu 17 Oct - 10.00am Branch Committee Meeting

VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive

Thu 17 Oct - 1.30pm DNA Group Meeting

VENUE: St Marks Church Hall, Scott Street, Bellerive

Thu 24 Oct - 2pm Library Committee

VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive

Tue 19 Nov - 7:30pm General Meeting

VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park Precinct

Speaker: Rosie Severs

Topic: Elizabeth Fry and the Rajah Quilt

From Your Branch President

Halloween is the time to remember the deceased.

We can help if your extended family are buried in Southern Tasmania?

The unique and informative set of books, Cemeteries of Southern Tasmania , have been compiled and published by the Tasmanian Family History Society and are available for you to peruse and photocopy (small charge) in the Hobart Branch Library and Research Centre. Similar books for cemeteries in other parts of the state are also available.

They contain details of burials that can be hard or impossible to find elsewhere, many in cemeteries that no longer exist. You may then be able to cross-reference the details of the burial with our Undertakers Records, find a transcription of the headstone in our database Tombstone and Memorial Inscriptions of Tasmania (TAMIOT) and perhaps even find a photo of the headstone - the Hobart Branch has images for Sorell District, Oatlands District, Richmond, Bruny Island and other southern Tasmanian areas. Some photos were taken years ago, before the inscriptions degraded and became unreadable.

Why not come and visit us with your family tree, or list of family members, and see how many we can help you find. We are open on a Tuesday 12.30 - 3.30 pm, Wednesday 9.30 am - 12.30 pm or Saturday 1.00 pm - 4.00 pm.

Queenborough Cemetery

The members of many prominent Tasmanian pioneer families, and even lesser-known people, were buried in the Queenborough Cemetery between 1873 and 1934. It has been in the news recently because The Hutchins School was built over part of the old cemetery and earthworks for a new building uncovered some historic human remains. An archaeology team has since removed at least 1500 burials, many of which can be identified by plaques on the coffins. They will be reinterred at Cornelian Bay.

The above-mentioned Cemeteries in Southern Tasmania: Vol III Queenborough Cemetery A-J and H-Z contains some fascinating details of the history of this cemetery and the decisions taken around the time of its closure and repurposing, including who was responsible for the costs of those exhumations and reburials that did occur, many into a mass grave at Cornelian Bay. This section is followed by an index of all known burials - some have death date and place, spouse, kin, and even maiden name, others have no identifying particulars. Many have additional information, including e.g. 'removed to Cornelian Bay' or 'grave affected by proposed road 1 Nov 1957' (Churchill Avenue now goes over part of the old cemetery). Others are annotated as having been removed from an earlier cemetery, such as St George's in Albuera Street, and reburied at Queenborough.

It is impossible to give an accurate figure for burials. It was estimated that there were up to 4417 graves containing 7879 bodies, but the Index in this publication lists over 15,000 names of which at least 9000 appear to be for unduplicated individuals. Most of these burials are probably still in situ. The original recommendation was for the cemetery to be made into a place of quiet recreation, in the same manner as St David's Park, but Hobart seems to have a history of building schools over old cemeteries.

Ros Escott president@hobart.tasfhs.org

Office Manager Vacancy

The branch has advertised on Volunteering Tasmania's website https://volunteeringtas.org.au/?oppId=217894 a vacancy for a volunteer Office Manager to be responsible for the overall smooth running of the library and research centre. The role is up to 15 hours per week and meets Centrelink's mutual obligations requirement. This may make it attractive to people approaching retirement age. A role statement may be found on our web site here (https://www.hobart.tasfhs.org/downloads/Office_Manager_Duties.pdf).

Enquiries may be directed to our President, Ros Escott, 0478 620 420 or president@hobart.tasfhs.org

Interested persons are encouraged to apply though Volunteering Tasmania's website. If you know someone that might be interested, then please pass on this information.

Maree's Mutterings

Videos from Libraries Tasmania, YouTube from August National Family History Month:

1. NFHM: Unshackled - The convict Memorial at the Hobart Penitentiary

Scott Carlin discusses the digital history experience that allows visitors to trace the lives of 75,000 convicts transported to Tasmania.

https://www.youtube.com/@LibrariesTasmania/videos

2. NFHM: Finding the Forgotten

Author and researcher Lyell Wilson shares how he creates biographies of the people connected to the old Psychiatric Hospital at New Norfolk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1OP402ttzQ

3. NFHM: Semaphore Score: Re-composing a contemporary code language for Lutruwita/Tasmania

This talk traces the work in progress of State Library of Tasmania Creative Fellowship recipient, Dr. Margaret Woodward

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTuJeuYnGKQ

4. NFHM: Revealing the life of Tasmanian artist Ada Frances Butler

Revealing the life of Tasmanian artist Ada Frances Butler (1874-1922) with Caitlin Sutton, Allport Librarian/Curator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znB2f_GgNo4

5. NFHM: Down the Huon History of the Tasmanian Apple Farmer

Delve into both a formal and informal account of a deciding period in the Apple Isle, and why such a booming industry almost collapsed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIcoFtAXfl0

6. NFHM: The Five Huston sisters of New Norfolk

Experience their loves, losses, scandals, betrayals, joys and more with Libraries Tasmania Archives Support Officer, Kate Vermey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-gvoMIbdFM&t=296s

7. NFHM: Convicts in space, using the Archives to locate Tasmania's Convict past.

State Library of Tasmania Research Fellow, Dr Richard Tuffin, will show how the state archives can be used to investigate convict places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4WdldfnFtQ&t=1897s

HAMST [Historical Arms Military Society Tasmania]

Open Day - Military History FAIR - WEEKEND 12/13 October - 320 Main Road,Glenorchy.

Glenorchy City 60th Anniversary Celebration -Sunday 20 th October 2024, from 11am to 4 pm at the Council Chambers, 372 Main Road Glenorchy

Glenorchy City is turning 60! Community members are invited to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Glenorchy becoming a city with music, art, history and culture on display.  This mammoth event will be free to the public.

Open House Hobart 2024 is back!

Get out your thickest black pen and mark in your calendar - Saturday 9 + Sunday 10 November. This year we are also hosting a 'Day on the Domain' on Sunday 3 November to align with Government House Open Day!  The program launches at 7 pm on Monday 7 October 2024!
Forer more infor ation see Open House Hobart 2024

FCRC Seminar: Sunday 4 May 2025

Presented in partnership with the School of Humanities, University of Tasmania.

Topic: Female Convict Places: A Lasting Legacy

CALL FOR PAPERS

This seminar will explore female convict places, where our female convicts spent time, how they came to be in those places and the legacy left for future generations.

Possible topics include:

If you would like to present a 20-minute paper at the seminar, please forward an abstract for consideration to seminar@femaleconvicts.org.au by 20 October 2024. The abstract should outline your intended topic, the points you will highlight and the sources you will be using to inform your paper.

Dr Dianne Snowden AM (President) Female Convicts Research Centre
Amanda Johnson (Seminar Organising Committee)


Sent by the Tasmanian Family History Society Inc. Hobart Branch