Now&Then 54 - February 2012
- Online News
- Closure of the Sydney Records Centre in June 2012
- Online request for information form
- New copy service available for post 1900 Railway Personal History Cards
- 2011 Christmas Competition results
- March - Women's History Month
- Archives Outside blog update
- Flickr update
- Spotlight on searching for Colonial Secretary's letters received 1826-1982 online
- Stay up-to-date with State Records
- Exhibition
- Upcoming talks and tours
Online News
New Index to Teacher Rolls
Additional 400+ digital shipping lists added to Online Reel page
We are continuing to add to our ‘Online Reel’ page as part of our project to create digital copies of some of more popular records from microfilm and make them available on our website. To assist you in locating the arrival of your ancestors in the period 1828-42 we suggest that you first check the Bounty Index, 1828-42 – a free index - on the Family Search website to identify the name of ship. You can then go to the 'Online' Reel page, find the name of the ship in the chronological list and go to the digital copy of the passenger list. Alternatively, you can just scroll through the online lists.
We have recently added over 400 additional shipping lists to the Online Reel page. The additional images are from the following series:
NRS 5309, List of Irish passengers arrived on the ship Sir Joseph Banks, Oct 1828;
NRS 5310, Persons on early migrant ships, 1828-32;
NRS 5311, Persons on early migrant ships, May 1832- Jan 1833;
NRS 5312, Women on the Red Rover and other early migrant ships, 1832;
NRS 5313, Persons on government ships, Aug 1837-40
New Resources for historians page - Closer relations with New Zealand
A look at the close relations between NSW and New Zealand dating from the 1830s to Federation.
New albums in Photo Investigator
These albums are from Mr L.G. Watt during his time on the NSW Board of Fire Commissioners and are a visual account of the Commissioners' travels around NSW and parts of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. The two albums cover 1928-1935.
The photo series [NRS 549] is generally arranged in chronological order and to some extent capture the route the Commissioners took on their travels recording where they stopped for lunch, where they stayed and any events they attended during the trip.
The photographs provide an excellent snapshot of regional NSW during the late 1920s to mid-1930s and record the antics of the fire commissioners as they made their way throughout NSW and across neighbouring state borders. Images of the newly built Sydney Harbour Bridge can be found in this collection and there are also several newspaper clippings included in the photograph albums.
Closure of the Sydney Records Centre on 30 June 2012
Effective from 30 June 2012 State Records will close its city reading room at 2 Globe Street and the Public Access in the City program will be transferred to the Western Sydney Records Centre. State Records acknowledges that the relocation of its public facilities to Western Sydney will inconvenience some people and it is therefore actively pursuing a number of options to minimise this. Already one quarter of the microfilm material available in its reading room has been digitised by Ancestry.com.au through a non-exclusive agreement. The State Library of NSW and many local public libraries have subscriptions to Ancestry and provide clients with free access to its site. The reading room at the Western Sydney Records Centre has free access to the all the Ancestry collections, including Australia, the UK and the US.
Copies of the core of the State's historical records are available as a part of the Archives Resources Kit, which may be accessed at 40 community access points throughout country New South Wales. A number of other institutions and organisations around the State also hold parts of the kit and copies of State archives.
State Records is also in negotiations with the other parties to relocate as much as possible of its microform material within the Sydney CBD. In addition, State Records is also aiming to distribute relevant material to its network of six regional Repositories.
State Records already has one of the most popular websites in the NSW government sector and over the coming months it will be exploring ways of extending its digitisation program so more material can be made available online through its website.
Online Request for information form
Need to find an answer to your family history question? Why not fill in your question on our new Request for information form. While we can provide you with advice and guidance on the use of NSW State archives, we do not offer a research service. You have the option to select a Topic from the drop-down list e.g. convicts, shipping, general etc. Provide the details of your enquiry in the question box and we will do our best to answer it.
New Copy Service available for post 1900 Railway Personal History Cards
We have extended the Railway History Cards copy service to include NRS 19333, Personal History Cards — employees born between 1900 and 1962.
In order for us to copy the correct card/s we need you to provide specific information. The most important details we need for each request for an indvidual's card are name (in full) and the date or year of birth.
We need to have as much detail about the person's name as you can provide. For instance, looking for the name Richard Boyd Thompson instead of R Thompson is more likely to achieve a successful result. Without all details, especially with common names, we may not be able to identify the correct record.
Important: This service only covers cards for employees who left employment over 30 years ago.
For cards for people still working within the last 30 years please contact:
GIPA/Right to Information and Privacy Office
RailCorp
Level 21, 477 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
E: GIPAinfo@railcorp.nsw.gov.au
Tel: (02) 8922 1313 or (02) 9822 1308
Fax: (02) 9822 4338.
For more information click on the following link:
2011 Christmas Competition results
![NRS 16410 State Rail Albums of Travel and Advertising Brochures [5] Item A87-11-4-13](http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/publications/now-then-enewsletter/images/1939-christmas-card-railway/image_thumb)
Congratulations to the following winners: C. Inman, C. Anderson, M. Grogan, R. Connell, J. Franklin, M. Hall, V. Street, K. Dickson, D. Blishen and M. McNamara.
Well Done!
March - Women's History Month
The aim of Australia’s Women’s History Month 2012 is to turn the extraordinary into the ordinary.
The theme is Women with a Plan highlighting the number of women among the urban planners, architects, and landscape architects who shaped our surroundings, and our history in the past century. Some of these women helped lay the foundations of these professions in Australia. Others, from early 19th century First Lady Elizabeth Macquarie to fighting feminist Bessie Guthrie 150 years later, had a more singular impact on the planning and design of their surroundings.
- For more on Women's History Month 2012 see the Australian Women's History Forum
Archives Outside blog update
Have you got photos of our archives that you'd like to share?
Have you visited our reading rooms to view original NSW State archives? Did you take photos of the records? Add your photos of documents from the official NSW State archives collection to our new Flickr Group called Archives2Share NSW.
The idea of this group is to help make the State's archives more accessible. Our aim is to make your images and tags available through our new, experimental catalogue search tool.
Look at what has been shared so far: -
But I don't have a Flickr account and I really want to share!
Not a problem. Flickr accounts are free and you can join in a matter of minutes. Then simply load your images and add them to the new Flickr group.
If you don't wish to get a Flickr account, you can upload your images via our contact form on the Archives Outside blog (note: you can only add one image at a time).
Sound interesting? Read the full post on the blog
Flickr update
The latest additions to our Flickr account include:
Audley, Royal National Park |
George St Asylum/State Hospital, Parramatta |
Ornamental Lanterns at Bridge Stairs |
Class N67 No.69 locomotive |
| Brunswick River
|
Stanwell Park |
If you don't have a Flickr account you can still browse these photos on Flickr, many of which are also available on Photo Investigator.
Spotlight on searching for Colonial Secretary's letters received 1826-1982 online
The correspondence of the Colonial Secretary is one of the most valuable sources of information on all aspects of the history of the Colony and the State of New South Wales. Chiefly responsible for this was the Colonial Secretary's pre-eminence in public life and the fortunate occurrence of the survival of the greater part of his papers.
From time to time researchers ask us how to locate the item lists and/or microfilm details for the main series of Colonial Secretary’s letters received 1826-1982 (remembering that the Colonial Secretary’s Papers 1788-1825 are indexed on the website and they are all filmed and available to access in the reading room).
The ‘individual letters in the Main Series of Letters Received are numerically arranged by registration number (annual single number order) in the years 1826-1832 and 1850-1982. Between 1833 and 1849 the in-letters are arranged in writer/subject bundles (usually according to the last person who wrote on the matter).’ (See the online guide to the Colonial Secretary Correspondence for more details)
If you want to browse and/or search the post 1825 Colonial Secretary Item lists to either locate an Item number or a microfilm reel number here are a few simple steps:
1. Go to the online version of the Colonial Secretary Correspondence
2. Scroll down the content page until you get to the heading Main Series of Letters Received, 1826-1982 [searchable database - Indexes Online] and click on the hyperlinked text.
You will be taken to this page:
Search Tips
- The only names — with one exception, Pinnington — in this database are found under 'Minister'.
- 'Keywords' search: typing a word, part of a word, or phrase will search the entire database for that word or phrase in the following fields: 'Title', 'Place', 'Minister', 'Church' and 'Remarks' fields. Item, reel and registration numbers are not part of this search.
- 'From/to' search: To search for a year or for a range of years change the 'from' and 'to' fields: for example to search for 1827 only type 1827 into both of these fields; to search for 1830-39 type 1830 into the 'from' field and 1839 into the 'to' field.
- 'Title', 'Place', 'Minister' and 'Church': Select from the drop down menus.
These fields are derived from the titles of various bundles of in-letters. The titles have been manipulated, amended and simplified to facilitate their searching. Occasionally, the final component of the title is in the 'Remarks' column of the database, for example Water Police.
The bulk of the Titled bundles are in the 1833-49 period when the in-letters are arranged this way. Other titled bundles (such as Despatches, Minutes, Miscellaneous), exist from 1826 until the 1920s.
The year 'from/to' fields can be used with any one of the above to limit the search to a particular period.
Example of search for an item (using the example of 'convicts' from the pull down title list)
Search screenclick to enlarge image |
Results screenclick to enlarge image
|
|---|
For more information relating to the Colonial Secretary's records see
Stay up-to-date with State Records
On our website
Subscribe to our website news - receive an email each time we post a news item.
Our social media channels
On Facebook we post updates, events and much more.
Google+
Just new. You can now find us on Google+
If you like to tweet or just read tweets follow us on Twitter where we post news items and links of interest to genealogy and archival resources.
YouTube
On YouTube we have added some in-house videos such as “The Criminal Underworld of Sydney in the 1840s” and “Family History at State Records NSW” and other archival films from our collection.
Exhibition
You can still see the In Living Memory exhibition of photographs from the Aborigines Welfare Board at State Records Gallery in The Rocks.
In Living Memory exhibition
State Records Gallery
Sydney Records Centre
2 Globe Street (off George Street)
The Rocks
FREE ENTRY
9am - 5pm, Mon - Fri only
Closed weekends & public holidays
Exhibition Talks & Tours are available for small groups of 5-20 people, weekdays between 10am and 4pm ph: (02) 8247 8609
Upcoming Talks and Tours
Where there's a will - Probate packets and related records
Records relating to the administration of the deceased person's estate may help fill in some of those frustrating gaps or inconsistencies on death certificates. These records include Probate packets, Deceased Estate files and Intestate Estate files. Christine Yeats will be presenting.
4 February 1:30pm-3-30pm
Richmond Villa, 120 Kent Street Sydney
Contact: Julie Morgan
Phone: (02) 9247 3953
Searching for State records on Ancestry.com
Learn what State records can be found on Ancestry.com as well as handy tips and tactics on how to search Ancestry.com to locate State records. Christine Yeats will be presenting.
8 February 11:00am-1:00pm
Tuggerah Library, Westfield Shopping Town, Tuggerah
Contact: Michelle Goldsmith
Phone: (02) 4350 1567
War comes to Australia Seminar
This one-day War comes to Australia Seminar will provide insight into the impact of war on Australia generally. Christine Yeats will be presenting Tracing Military Ancestors.
16 February 9:00am-4:30pm
Sydney Records Centre, 2 Globe Street, The Rocks
Phone: (08) 8395 7476
History of public education in NSW in the 19th and early 20th century
Christine Yeats will speak about the history of public education in NSW. This event is hosted by the Randwick and District Historical Society.
18 February 2:00pm-3:00pm
Vonnie Young Auditorium, Bowen Library, 669-673 Anzac Parade
Phone: (02) 9349 3572
HAGSOC event - A master class
A master class with Gail Davis and Lindsay Allen on various topics including some of the less familiar and sometimes unexpected resources of the archives.
19 February 9:30am-3:30pm
The Heraldry & Genealogy Society, 41 Templeton Street, Cook, ACT
Contact: Kerrie Gray
Phone: 0411 616213
Coffs Harbour Family History Society
Christine Yeats will be speaking on: Women's work - records about women in the NSW State archives; Searching for inquest and probate records - tips and tactics, and; Sources relating to children in the NSW State archives.
25 February 10:00am-3:00pm
Cavanbah Hall, 191 High Street, Coffs Harbour
Contact: Ruth Morrow
Phone: (02) 6658 1972
State Records NSW - Introduction for family & Local Historians
Learn how to make the best use of 'State Records' online and reading room resources (including guides, finding aids, indexes and digital copies of the records) for family and local history research. Presenter Christine Yeats.
29 February 10:30am-12:30pm
Sydney Records Centre, 2 Globe Street, The Rocks
Contact: Julie Morgan
Phone: (02) 9247 3953
Nepean Family History Fair
State Records will be hosting a display table and will be available to answer your family history questions.
11 March 10:00am-4:00pm
Lower Lounge area of Penrith City Library
Contact: Lorraine Stacker
Phone: (02) 47 327886
Wyalong District Family History Group
Christine Yeats will be presenting two talks. One on the "Forgotten Children: children in care in the 19th and 20 century" and "Getting the most from probate packets. Tips and tactics for the family historian"
24 March 10:00am-3:00pm
Anglican Parish Centre, Court Street, West Wyalong
Contact: Pam Butcher
Phone: (02) 6972 3113
Shake your family tree
Family History Open Day at National Archives of Australia. Emily Hanna will host a display table and present information sessions on our records, focusing on the colonial period.
31 March 10:00am-4:00pm
120 Miller Road Chester Hill
Phone: (02) 9645 0110
