Greedy B@ggers!

[mr luvpants]

Hi

 

I have been searching my family tree for about a year now and although my family seem to hail from London, I have also found some direct desendants that lived and died in my home town of Colchester. It seems that my GGGG aunt Charlotte and her family left Colchester and migrated to Victoria in 1853 for the Gold rush. I wonder if I could have used that info to get a "family sponsored" visa.:biglaugh:

 

JOHN

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi John

 

What was Colchester like in 1853, me boy? The sea voyage from the UK to Oz took several months, was bluddy dangerous, and the only really fresh protein to be had on the small sailing vessels called 'ships' came from catching and eating the rats, cockroaches and weevils on board them apparently. Even if the protein was OK, the passengers and crew died of scurvy all the same anyway.

 

There might have been gold and wealth in Oz if you lived for long enough to get there and exploit it but just getting there in the first place was very uncertain and I think it was pretty dreadful once you got as well. Colchester must have been seriously bad, it seems to me.....

 

Have you found out whether GGGG Aunt Charlotte and family made it to Oz and, if they survived the journey, what happened to them after they reached Oz?

 

There are some excellent Aussie "family tree" websites now. There are some links about it somewhere on the DIAC website. (Presumably they got fed up with people phoning them to ask where any records from 1853 might be!) Apparently there were records of a sort and I think that the records were kept by the people who are now the State Governments in the various States.

 

The ship might have been blown off course, whatever GGGG Aunt Charlotte said about VIC, though.....

 

A few years ago I saw a fascinating documentary about a woman called Rebecca Wade. I think she was about 11 or 13 when she went to Oz and I think (from memory) that she was sentenced to Transportation because of some trivial little crime or other. However I think - again from memory - that she eventually settled in Tasmania. Whatever and wherever, her family tree had been traced and by the time of the documentary, apparently 306 people who were alive in Oz who could trace their ancestry directly back to Rebecca Wade. She lived to be ancient and saw some of her great great grandchildren grow up plus she was a prolific mother to start with - I think she had 13 kids of her own and most of them survived and reproduced, apparently.

 

In your shoes - since you are interested in this stuff - I'd search the Aussie records next and find out what happened to GGGG Aunt Charlotte.

 

I'm 99.9% sure that there are no ancient ties to Oz in my own family. I'm 99.9% sure that my own blood tie to Oz has only been in existence since 1979 when my younger sister moved to Oz. Only temporarily so she claimed at the time....!

 

It would be very interesting to know whether your GGGG Aunt Charlotte actually made it to Oz - or whether any of her family did - and what happened to them after that. If you should decide to look into it, please could you let me know what you discover? I love the old stories like piecing together what happened to Rebecca Wade and I gather that the Aussie Government has made the money available in the last 10 years or so to enable the old records to be dug out and turned into website records, which are said to be excellent.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest proud2beaussie]

There certainly are some very interesting stories out there Gill,only recently I found out that a distant relative on my mothers side was transported to Australia for stealing a lace hanky,I think it's an incredibly interesting thing to do to trace ones ancestors,mainly because I have always thought that you can't properly plan for the future unless you understand your past.

[wakeboard1980]

Little bit off topic but still involves family history.

 

My Grandmother was born in Knowsley Village, near Liverpool, in 1911. She moved to New South Wales when she was about 3 or 4. I came to England just over 4 years ago, on and ancestery visa courtesy of her, and moved to Manchester 3 months after I got here. To cut a long story short, in 7 weeks I get married to a scouser who was born and grew up only 3-4ks away from where my Gran was born nearly 100 years ago. Such a small world really.

 

I will be taking my mum to see where her mum was born in a few weeks when she gets here for the wedding.

 

Suppose when we have kids the will be 5/8ths scouse....uh oh.....:biglaugh::arghh:

 

At least some of their family tree will be easy to trace

[kernow43]

Hi

 

I have been searching my family tree for about a year now and although my family seem to hail from London, I have also found some direct desendants that lived and died in my home town of Colchester. It seems that my GGGG aunt Charlotte and her family left Colchester and migrated to Victoria in 1853 for the Gold rush. I wonder if I could have used that info to get a "family sponsored" visa.:biglaugh:

 

JOHN

Hi John

I have the Victorian records, if you want a look up on the Pioneers index I will gladly do it, at least you will know if they arrived, also would show descendants from them.

PM me if you want a look up.

[mr luvpants]

Hi. They did arrive and set up a Bakers. I have been in contact with a (very) distant relative who incidentally was born in Geelong and moved to the uK 40 years ago. There is still a lot of family there.

 

JOHN

[Petals]

Family trees are very interesting, we have taken mine back to the 15 century and my oh to the 17. oh is scots so his was very easy given that everyone in his family were scots till his family married English spouses. Mine is very interesting what we were told and what is fact is a little different.

[PommyPaul]

anyone clue me up on what sites i could use to trace my history?

[ali]

I love the family history, I found that one of my ancestors was a lamp lighter ... it facinated my children because they've always obviously lived in an age where the street lights come on automatically and the house lights by a flick of a switch.