For many years, other family researchers have added Joseph Mallett and Sarah Jordan of Pettistree to their trees as the parents of my direct ancestor, Thomas Mallett 1761-1838 from Lowestoft and Kessingland in Suffolk. THIS IS NOT CORRECT!! Joseph and…
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Patrick and Ellen Barrett: The Long Journey from Gushedy “Every family story begins with a choice — to stay, or to go.” Patrick Barrett was born in December 1777 in County Fermanagh, the son of Owen Barrett, a farmer, and…
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🌿 The Constable and the Girl from Clare James Douglas Hendren & Ellen Davin, 1827–1906 “Every life is shaped by choices. His were to serve, to leave, and to love; hers were to follow, to endure, and to begin again.”…
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The California Gold Rush began in January 1848 with the first announcement in Australia on December 23, 1848 in the Sydney Morning Herald. The news of the discovery soon spread around the world and by the end of January 1849,…
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Our Earliest Known Ancestors – Owen Barrett and Ann Logan Dr Brian Turner, Director of the Down County Museum and the Ulster Historical Foundation suggested, in reply to my enquiry: “Barrett [name] is uncommon in Fermanagh, but it is much…
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County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland What was County Fermanagh like when our Barrett ancestors lived there before making the enormous decision to emigrate to the other side of the world in 1841? In the early part of the eighteenth century the…
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Michael Barrett was a Fenian patriot. Accused of murder he was the last man to be publicly hanged in England in 1868. When I visited County Fermanagh in May 1994, on asking the locals for information on the Barrett family…
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I have been deep in police history this month, researching and writing about my ancestor who served in the Irish Constabulary before emigrating to Victoria in the 1850s. He served in the Victoria Police Force after the Eureka Stockade and…
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The areas of Fitzroy and Collingwood in the late 1800’s was a far cry from the restaurant & boutique lined streets that we know. Poverty and crime were rampant, and unwed or deserted mothers, in particular, had few resources to…
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Did you know that the tradition of Carols by Candlelight began in 1938 in Melbourne? It’s a sentimental story which began with 3KZ radio sports announcer Norman Banks walking home along St Kilda Road from his night shift…
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Thomas Hughes was the earliest of my ancestors to arrive in the Australian colony in 1825. Here is his story, and that of his wife Sarah Want.
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The beautiful Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens is currently being used as a vaccination centre in the current battle with COVID 19. Did you know that one hundred years ago the building was being used for another pandemic –…
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SECRET TUNNELS What if I was to tell you that there was a 1500km underground tunnel network right under our feet in Melbourne?? Well… I’m here to tell you that this subterranean mystery exists and it’s not without some tall…
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March is Women’s History Month and so I’d like to tell you the story of Mary Gilbert whose statue sits at the Conservatory in Fitzroy Gardens. Mary was the first European woman to live in the Port Phillip settlement, and…
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In 1853 the “Triton” arrived in New South Wales laden with German vinedressers. Among the passengers were our Dries family Lorchhausen on the Rhine. Over the last 30 years or so, many descendants gathered information about our ancestors which we…
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18th Century Religion, Literature, and Culture Explorations of Cultural Intersections S An Account of Sarah Mallett An Account of S[arah] Mallitt. Arminian Magazine XI (1788): 91-93, 130-133, 185-188, 238-242. Editor’s Introduction: Sarah Mallett (sometimes spelled Mallitt or Mallet) Boyce was born in Norfolk in…
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Armorial shields are arms that had ancient and tribal significance, as opposed to arms that were later assumed by an individual as a part of a non-hereditary British knighthood. The arms of the Barrett family are based on word play,…
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THE MEANING OF THE NAME BARRETT It must be remembered that it wasn’t until about 1500 that the custom of everyone having one surname only and keeping it was generally established. Edward McLysaght[1] believes that the Irish Barretts were of…
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“Every life is shaped by choices. Eliza’s choice was to take an opportunity, use it to forge a new life: she was brave, courageous and resilient.” Elizabeth Sharkey is my grandmother’s grandmother, through an all-female line. I like to imagine…
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Just a short walk from Stop 15 down Smith Street to the corner of Peel Street and you come across the Grace Darling Hotel. Built in 1854 and constructed of bluestone, it is one of the few remaining 1850s goldrush…