Queensland State archives

The Queensland state archives are located in Runcorn near Brisbane. The location is along a busy road. There are several methods of reaching the archives such as on foot, by car and bus. The nearby train station of Fruitgrove does mean you have to walk around 3.5 kms, which is an easy walk. The website for the state archives provides directions to the archives if you are walking from the train station.

Before entering the research rooms the people at the desk need your details so you can have a research card, which lasts for life. Before entering the research room it is a requirement for the visitor to both sign on and off in case of emergency. People’s research is made quicker when providing the details of the records before your visit. This is appreciated by the archivist on duty. The retrieval of the item you are after should be at least 15 – 20 minutes.

The state archives hold public records, which are available for researchers like correspondence through local councils and organisations. Examples are proposals for tourism for the area or for a cemetery. There are provided fact sheets about certain topics for the researcher that range from information about shipping, genealogy and the different cemeteries around the state. Maps are also available for viewing as well. For any other records that are not to do with the government, then visiting a local heritage or state library would be of more help.

The archive has a kitchen for coffee and limited food items from a vending machine. An honesty box is provided for a small amount to be placed for coffee or tea.

State Archives Queensland

Lady Chatterley’s Lover written by D. H. Lawrence

Lady Chatterley’s Lover written by D.H. Lawrence was at the time of publishing controversial in nature due to the use of language that was used at the time and also due to how the different classes interact with each other. Another fact was the book happened to have numerous pirated copies made, so there were different versions. How the author combated the various versions was to create copies printed for half the price to make it more attractive. This was an early way of dealing with piracy issues of popular media which in today’s world is being used on movies and music.

The book is about Constance Chatterley married to Clifford, who was wounded during the First World War. Clifford Chatterley needs help from his requirement of a wheelchair as he is unable to walk. He is well learned and has views upon the world as he looks down on the working class as anything but people. He does want his wife to have an affair to someone of their own class to bear a child in their name. Lady Chatterley has several affairs without the knowledge of her husband and ends up with the Games keeper who she falls for.  When the affair is found out there is a strong reaction from Constance Chatterley’s family and from her husband too.

The book was seen as being very erotic at the time of printing and had been banned at certain points, but the book when viewed from the standards of the 21^st century it is very tame in comparison as many other books go into minute details. He wrote other books such as Sons and Lovers and The Rainbow women in love. The book is well worth reading especially since it is a classic. The version I read was the Penguin Classics with an introduction by Doris Lessing and explanatory notes explaining the various phrases used throughout the book.

About the Australian Historic Shipwreck Act of 1976

A huge part of the development of Australia involves ships, without the ship this country would not have been discovered. The roles of ships lead to the discovery and settlement of this large island country. Many  ships that came to Australia  were wrecked in one way or another. There are many shipwrecks around Australia and there are around 7,000, many of which have not been discovered.

Shipwrecks in Australia are bound by the Historic Shipwreck Act of 1976. A historic wreck is one that is over 75 years. This means it has to be under water for the length of time and not the age of the ship itself. To touch a wreck you need to obtain a permit to enter a wreck zone. Legislation protects against looting and souveniring, illegal sales of artefacts, fishing and anchoring, unauthorised interference, seabed development – marine aggregate extraction, commercial exploitation.

It is your responsibility to report a wreck as you cannot assume that it has been surveyed and not everyone would actually know about it. The ocean floor is always moving as things are covered and uncovered. The group to contact is called AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority), although you are also bound by the Commonwealth Navigation Act of 1912 as well. By finding a shipwreck doesn’t mean you are actually the owner of the wreck or even its cargo. The ship itself and the cargo are still owned by the owners, so it is not finder’s keepers. This does mean by disturbing the wreck and taking anything from the wreck would mean jail time for those who are caught. If in doubt contact the people who are in charge of heritage conservation in your state.

Under the Historic Shipwrecks Act there are inspectors whose job it is to enforce the Act and regulations. Historic Shipwreck inspectors are people who have been trained in shipwrecks and can be any police officer (Commonwealth, Territory and State), any authorised government officer such as fisheries officers that have been appointed by the Federal minister.  They have the powers of arrest, boarding vessels, seizures of relics, diving gear and even the boats. 

The disturbance of a shipwreck makes the wreck degrade faster than what it was before.  Taking objects or parts of the ship reduces the chances the marine archaeologists who visit the wreck of being able to correctly identify it. Parts of the ship and its cargo can actually lead to clues to the identity of the ship. One little bit of metal can tell a person how large and from what era the ship was built.

Watson? Which one are you

One group I have found difficult to research in my family tree, so far are the family sharing the surname Watson. Sure I could have found them on the various census records if they had been born before 1901, but my grandfather, James William Watson had been born in 1929 and had been married in 1955 to Marjory Bell. The parents of James were actually James William and Jane Hannah Richings. Other than knowing their names there was not much else I knew about them. I knew when James and Marjory were married, his mother was alive and father James William was listed as deceased.

Searching for Jane Hannah Watson’s death was not hard, although I did not know which one I was looking for as I had found two around a certain time. I asked a family member and she gave me the date of Jane’s death being 1964. The death certificate did not give me any clue to when they had been married, although a search revealed two more dates for her children. The birth dates and Jane’s age did have me concerned that I was tracing the wrong person, although the certificates did confirm she was the mother. Jane’s birth was in 1883 to John and Margaret.

By searching through the marriage indexes from 1922 backwards from the oldest child was the only way I could find the marriage record for Jane Hannah Richings. After around two hours I had actually found the record I had been searching for although to make sure I had the right person, I looked to see if James William Watson was located within the same record. He was and the date was actually 1908 in the town of Chester le Street, Durham.  Later I did find another child by Looking at Jane Hannah’s death certificate, although all it had was B. E. Nesbitt, daughter. A search for marriage records found the name of Beatrice and a birth and death.

I may not have broken into the 1800’s with the Watson's, but so far the Richings have gotten me that far. Only time will tell, by how much information can be found and how many siblings my grandfather had. I was once told there are no records about the Watsons and since I never believed that, I had actually found several generations and a great grandfather who had worked in Heworth, Durham as a crane operator on Coal staithes.

Tutankhamun and the golden age of Pharaohs, Melbourne Museum 2011

  

Tutankhamun and the golden age of Pharaohs,  Melbourne Museum 2011

The Tutankhamum exhibition that is showing at the Melbourne Museum is not something you would see in Australia very often. The exhibition not only shows items taken from the boy King’s tomb, but also information about his family and what was actually happening prior in Egypt to Tut’s rule. Tutankhamum’s father implemented one god making the other Egyptian gods obsolete and it was King Tut who was the person who bought them back during his short rule. The tour starts by telling the people about the boy’s family so you are given a little bit of his family history. The exhibition is run along side of the National Geographic and it did explain how the tomb was found and offers an explanation as to why. Scattered throughout the exhibition are numbers, where if you have an audio guide with you that has been purchased before the event.

 

When I visited I did see the whole exhibition was very popular with large crowds waiting for their turn to visit the inside. Inside the exhibition it was crowded, but you could take your time looking through the exhibits although you would have to scramble for the best position to look at the actual displays. Information about the actual items on display not only was on the front of the cases but on the side as well. Apart from the crowd issue it was a wonderful display of what had happened in the past.  The items on display are very interesting like a coffin, Jar stoppers that were used for the preservation or organs for the afterlife and other artefacts. Due to the popularity of the event, people would be drawn to the exhibition for a long time until it closes. I never was able to go see the 3D show that was also running on Tutankhamun. I do highly recommend a visit to the exhibition as this would be something not many people would have seen in their life time outside of The British Museum or even in Egypt.

The Tickets also enables you to have access to the Melbourne Museum as well, so any visitor can wander throughout the whole museum before their specific visiting time for the exhibition is available. Purchasing tickets before heading to the museum is a must as you have to book yourself into a specific time. If you are after programs make sure you purchase them early in the morning when the museum opens to avoid disappointment. For more information about the exhibition visit the website and read the Frequently Asked Questions if you have any queries.

The website for the exhibition is http://kingtutmelbourne.com.au/

I was not paid to visit or have any affiliation with the exhibition or Melbourne museum