BDGS Past President Joan Hunt FRHSV was presented with an Award of Merit by His Excellency the Honorable Alex Chernov AC QC Governor of Victoria and Patron of RHSV at a ceremony held on the 24th of February 2015 at the Royal Historical Society in Melbourne. The Federation of Australian Historical Societies at its General Meeting in 2014 determined that Joan was an outstanding candidate for this award.
The other recipient was Professor Geoffrey Blainey AC FRHSV - illustrious company indeed. Joan served for two terms as President of the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society, providing excellent leadership for almost a decade. She is very well regarded by our members for her continuing interest and support for the Society's initiatives.
The citation for the Award of Merit mentions Joan's extraordinary contribution to the community history movement in Australian over a period of more than 40 years. In regional Victoria her influence has been crucial to the setting up and training of local historical societies in optimum administrative practices and the care of their collections. This entailed a great deal of time and travel - always cheerfully and generously given. We are thrilled for Joan and share her delight at this celebration.
Old Buninyong Courthouse Saturday 21 March 2015 at 11.00am by Dr Anne Beggs-Sunter, Secretary of Buninyong & District Historical Society. Bright sunny morning in the ˜Village". Lovely olde worldy setting with a select group of guests interested in this index transcribed and published electronically by Ballarat & amp; District Genealogical Society Inc. ISBN 978-0-9751359-5-2. There are introductory documents and a searchable index of around 25 000 entries dating from 1856 to 1969, a period of 114 years, spanning four generations of life in Buninyong. This pre-dated Ballarat as a European settlement and that set of pioneering names was intrinsically linked to early Ballarat goldrush history. Many family names in the district have continued throughout the generations to the present day. Some of those present were delighted to find names of their ancestors in the index and will followup to discover more from the original registers. More information and Order Form.
BDGS members were based at the Society's headquarters in the Australiana Research Room of the Library for the weekend of Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th May 2015. Speakers scheduled for both days included Adam Ford from ABC (pictured) with Jennifer Burrell, Ben Mercer from Ancestry and local identities representing historical and WW1 commemorative groups. In her talk Betty Slater from BDGS emphasised the importance of not doing your family history from Index information. She demonstrated the value of obtaining certificates for births deaths and marriages by providing examples of vital details which would otherwise be missed.
The eight lucky winners of the 'Win a Genie' competition sponsored by the City of Ballarat:
Hazel Ashton
Mrs Sarah Clark
Sharon Green
Fiona Plover
Julian Poulton
Pat Standen
Geoffrey L Wilson
Neville Willson
Each of these people are entitled to receive two hours of personal help with their research from the BDGS research team.
BDGS members at the May 2015 meeting were treated to the sights and sounds of Ben Schueddekopf's ANZAC visit to the Australian War Memorial in the French village of Villers Bretonneaux. As he placed 100th anniversary commemorative poppies he face-timed Carmel Reynen (Link Editor) back here in Ballarat so that she and her cousins could share the tribute to great uncles who died in WW1. Amazing! We were also given glimpses of a First Fleet family connection at the Old Bailey in London and the Schueddekopf ancestral town of Gottingen near Hanover in Northern Germany. Here we toured the cemetery via video. It was the next best thing to actually being there without the long haul flights.
Our members very much appreciated such an interesting talk given by Dr Anne Beggs Sunter on the 28th July 2015. We were treated to an in-depth story of Ballarat's gold, beginning with its exciting discovery in the newly separated Colony of Victoria in 1851. The word ˜Digger™ coined in California and used to designate the gold-seeking immigrants on the Ballarat goldfield was, in time, assigned to WW1 soldiers. The incredible cooperation of the first would-be miners in drawing up a map of claims agreed to by mutual consent, before the arrival of the Gold Commissioner with Captain Dana's mounted police to enforce the collection of licence money was an anecdote new to many. The population of Victoria at this time was just 77,000, easily imagined by comparison with an MCG crowd.
As the deep lead mining developed, huge workforces of men were employed, not only as miners but in allied industries such as foundries. These required skilled metallurgists, geologists and mine managers - hence the establishment of the School of Mines, Ballarat. Gold mining declined with the advent of WW1, and only one gold mining company is still tunnelling under Ballarat but the continuing legacy of gold is exemplified by the remarkable success of Sovereign Hill as a tourist destination and the other institutions which were established by the pioneers for well-being and education of the gold miners and their families.
Ballarat supplied one third of the world's gold in the 1850s and it it reckoned that all up 650 tons was produced. We all need context for family histories and it was most pleasing that so many fascinating aspects and details were covered. Such bleak July weather but a good attendance of 30. Serenity prevailed despite the buzz of an alarm elsewhere in the library building and the sideshow of a visit by paramedics who declared the patient well enough to avoid hospitalisation.