News - October 2025
Tuesday 21 October – 7:30 pm General Meeting
VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park Precinct
GUEST SPEAKER: Rosie Severs
TOPIC: The Trail of the Tin Dragon
The Trail of the Tin Dragon is all about the mining of tin in the north-east of Tasmania in the late half of the 19th Century. It particularly focuses on the extreme conditions that the miners had to work in and the story of the many Chinese miners who mined the tin in this area and the effect they had on Tasmania both then and now.
Rosie has a love of researching the presentations she and her husband Michael undertake. History is close to her heart. She is a guide at TMAG and had been guiding at the Cascades Female Factory in the past. She has also been a volunteer at Museums in the UK and Canada. Rosie was president of Browns River History Group for 10 years and with Julie Gardam founded this group 13 years ago.
More for Your Diary
Thu 16 Oct – 10am Hobart Committee
VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive
Thu 16 Oct – 1:30pm DNA Group
VENUE: St Marks Church Hall, Scott Street, Bellerive
Thu 23 Oct - 2pm Library Committee
VENUE: Branch Library, Bellerive
Tue 18 Nov – General Meeting
VENUE: Old Sunday School, St Johns Park Precinct
SPEAKER: Michael Watt
TOPIC: German Heritage in the Fingal Valley
From Your Branch President
Recently I was doing some research in England and had hit a brick wall re the parents of a man called John who was born c.1855, and who married in Hampshire in 1879. I use the GRO BMD site a lot, because for births they show the mother’s maiden name – invaluable information (that all too often proves other people’s online trees incorrect). But in this case, with only an approximate year of birth and no place, I have not been able to positively identify my John.
He was a marine engineer and spent most of his life at sea, apparently missing the census each decade. But he should have been on the 1861 census living with his parents, if only I knew the names of his parents and his father’s occupation. I could not identify which family John belonged to. I was hoping that his father’s name and occupation might be on the marriage record, to narrow down my options, but the online sources I could access had only a transcript of the GRO marriage Index, with no useful details.
Then I tried FamilySearch and found the image of the marriage record that I wanted was available, but only at a FamilySearch centre or affiliate library.
Not a problem. Our branch library is a FamilySearch affiliate library, and it was simply a matter of a quick visit and there was the information I needed. John stated that his father John was a confectioner, a conveniently unusual occupation. I am still searching for the right 1861 census but can rule a lot out.
I mention this because in the past week, searching in England, I have three times hit a similar blurred out image of information I could not find anywhere else online, with the instruction to visit a FamilySearch affiliate library. This is a resource we offer you in the branch library for free. It is under-utilised yet contains more information than all the other online sites combined, including those behind a paywall.
Why not come in and try it? The library assistants can help you.
Ros Escott president@hobart.tasfhs.org
What’s New on Familysearch and Other Tips
Recently, FamilySearch expanded its free online resources with over 21 million new records from 7 countries. Some exciting additions include 13 million civil and church records from Italy and 3 million census records from the Philippines.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/new-records-october-2025
Your free learning, research and activities centre for family history.
Under research skills you can look up FamilySearch, Ancestry, My Heritage, Find My Past for information on how to use their websites and tips for researching.
Printing Charges
The Committee has made changes to costs of photocopying & printing.
The new details are as follows:
Pages one to five are free, if that’s all you want. You don’t pay anything.
But if you want six or more pages then you pay 20c for every page, including the first five, so six pages are $1.20, etc.
Maree's Mutterings
Tours of Hobart Town Hall
19 October, starting in the foyer:
10.15 am - 10.45 am
11.30 am - 12.00 pm
1.00 pm - 1.30 pm
2.30 pm - 3.00 pm
Other events are listed, but they are nonhistorical:
https://www.hobartcity.com.au/Community/Events-and-activities/Upcoming-events/Town-Hall-Open-Day
Open House Southern Midlands
1 and 2 November
https://openhousehobart.org/southern-midlands/
Forty-four amazing buildings and events in the Southern Midlands go on show the first weekend in November. These range from iconic churches in Oatlands and Kempton - some of which have been converted to new uses; colonial homesteads and cottages which have been restored, and in some instances, sympathetically added to with modern additions; a 1970s artists’ retreat in the hills of Mangalore; along with service buildings, including the Cantwell Store and the Melton Mowbray Hotel.
One historic homestead to open its doors will be Lonsdale near Kempton, home of Alan Townsend, who has gone from novice renovator to one of Tasmania’s leading specialists in historic wallpaper. He had wondered what stories lie behind its classic Georgian façade and the chunky stone of its outbuildings, still standing after nearly 200 years.
Open Homes Hobart
8 and 9 November:
https://openhousehobart.org/hobart-2025Library Accessions 2025
The following items were accessioned during September 2025
The following items were accessioned during September 2025
Books
* Da Costa M. The Perry Family – from Essex to Tasmania Q 929.2 PE
* Hunt, I. The Lakeland Pedlar 942.780 HUN
* Williamson, M. Warialda Pioneer Families Q 994.44 WIL
* Denotes complimentary or donated item