Gunning & District Historical Society

Barbara Moore and her sister Anne McGuiness at Gunning Catholic Cemetery By Leslie Bush with contributions from Barbara Moore Last September my fellow Graver, Cass and I were feeling like a bit of family tree investigating coming on, but the weather wasn't the best so we thought better not venture too far today. Cass was looking for McDevitts in the Catholic Cemetery and I thought I would photograph all the headstones to add to the collection for the District. So off we go, she's searching and I am clicking away. Bit of a chill in the air, it's windy and the clouds are rolling in, better get this done quick! Half way done and we chanced to meet these two lovely women who were also visiting. Barbara Moore and Anne McGuinness were there visiting the graves of their great-grandparents John and Ellen O’Brien, Patrick and Mary (Bartley) Clancy (photos below), their great-great grandparents, Laurence and Catherine Bartley and Patrick and Mary (Hannan) Clancy as...

A great turnout for the Australia Day Awards 2018 in Gunning Bright, beautiful and sunny - what a way to start Australia Day in the Gunning District. The Australia Day awards kicked off at an early 8 am this morning with breakfast by the stalwarts of the district, the Lions Club. Sports commentator and journalist, Gordon Bray AM, the 'voice of rugby' is the 2018 Australia Day Ambassador for the Awards and he gave a very nice speech to start proceedings off. Upper Lachlan Shire Council Mayor Brian McCormack OAM was the host for the event and together with John Bell the General Manager of the ULSC they handed the awards to the recipients. It was lovely to see The Hon. Angus Taylor MP at the ceremony along with Upper Lachlan Shire's Deputy Mayor John Stafford, Councillors' Pam Kensit and John Searl supporting their community. The seats were full and there were plenty more people standing around. Even had a group of motorcycle riders who decided to ha...

Murray Hazell presenting Peta Luck with copies of his Father's book. Photo courtesy of Gunning Library Just before Christmas Bob Spiller from GDHS put out the word that the copy of 'Some Came Free' by E.G. Hazell that we had donated to the Gunning Library quite a few years before had 'disappeared'. Whether someone had inadvertently picked it up or permanently borrowed the book, it had seemingly 'sunk without trace'. We put the call out on our Facebook page and also on the Bush Family Society - Jerrawa page to try and replace the 'lost' copy. Following up on replies and comments we were fortunate enough to have Murray Hazell kindly donate two copies of his father's book to Peta Luck from the Gunning Library on the 20th January. He also kindly donated a copy to us in Memory of his Father, which will be available to researchers at the Gunning District Research Centre. The Book is the story of mid-nineteenth century Australia t...

Hazel Doris Alchin with nephew Garry Norman Smith By Garry Norman Smith Hazel Doris Alchin is arguably the oldest living direct descendant of Ambrose Alchin (1800-1877) and Ann Alchin (nee Waters) (1799-1858). This image is of a woman who recently turned 95 years old. Hazel is from two long lines of pioneer families: the Thompsons of West Pennant Hills and the Alchins of Oolong Creek and Gunning. Roy Irwin Alchin (1922) and Doris Irene Thompson (1919) While Hazel’s father, Roy Irwin Alchin (1897-1976) was born at Gunning, she has never actually visited the town.  (l-r) Daphne, Doris, Hazel, Roy, Joyce & Ellen Alchin c1938 Charles Alchin and Mary Alchin (nee Stear) Roy married Doris Irene Thompson (1902-1990) in 1922 at Dural, New South Wales; Hazel was born that same year at Dural. Hazel and her four sisters lived their early lives in The Hills District. Her grandparents, Edward Alchin (1863-1941) and Elizabeth Ann Alchin (nee Bailey) (1872-1964), ...

Post afternoon tea with Edith and John Medway at Crookwell Shared Ancestors, Living Relatives By Garry Norman Smith (Images by Garry and Malia Smith) The research sources you use for your family history are many and varied. While little can match primary sources such as historical documents, eyewitness accounts, diaries and family photographs, it is the fortunate face-to-face meetings with people who share a family story that are arguably most valuable. Contributing to the Gunning and District Historical Society (GDHS) Blog has brought several personal contacts. These contacts extend and enrich the research I have done on my Alchin family in Gunning, Dalton, Jerrawa, Crookwell and other places. Morning or afternoon tea is such an enjoyable way to talk about family connections, such as I was delighted to do with newly-found cousins John Medway and Edith Medway (nee Clark) at Crookwell in late 2017. I uncovered, thanks to Edith – the real family historian in her family ...

By Matt Friend Personal objects can often be overlooked when conducting family research. It may be that they are seen as merely possessions, however objects can provide us with rich and invaluable information and stories. While consulting a well-crafted genealogy publication, concerning the Holgate family, I observed an interesting note. On the pages that were of interest to me at the time (those detailing members of the Brown, Whittington, Noakes and Alchin families) there was a small note at the bottom crediting the information provided upon those pages to a bible that was, at the time the author put the book together, in the possession of Isabell Alchin (nee Whittington). Mention of the Bible as it appears in the Holgate Family Genealogy Book by Daphne Holgate Isabell Alchin was my Nanna, and when she died in 1996 the contents of her home, in Jobson Street Dalton, were sorted, moved into storage or dispersed among family. It was possible then that the bible, mentione...

Butcher Shop on the Corner of Warrataw & Saxby Streets By Kim Lees The centre for the business end of Gunning is now Yass Street, but this was not always the case. Up until the 1960s there were numerous shops and businesses at the railway end of Warrataw (previously Waratah) Street. With the introduction of the railway line in the 1870s the top end of Warrataw Street became an important part of town. Frankfield House (known to us as 'the boarding house') which had been there for many years was originally a staging post for Cobb & Co. coaches and a hotel until the 1920s when it was closed. It later became a guest house and operated that way for many years. It has had a number of owners over the years, including T D Roche, Mrs Hookway, the Edwards family, Herb Pollard (who ran the Dalton mail run whilst his wife ran the guest house), Jack & Stella Range, ‘Alley’ Morgan (who also ran a taxi service in Gunning) and my family from 1963 until 1972 when it was pri...

Waratah (now Warrataw) Street, Gunning, circa 1905. Article by Kim Lees The Lees family emigrated from Germany in the 1850’s as Bounty Immigrants under a scheme to bring citizens from various countries to Australia to assist in establishing farming and other industries. They came from the wine growing area of Grossbottwar, some 26 kms north of Stuttgart. It has been possible, through a German Ancestry organisation ‘Beyond History’, to trace the Lees family in Grossbottwar as far back as the late 1500s, some 6 generations before the family emigrated from Germany to Australia. In 2013 I visited Grossbottwar where I met with a cousin and his family who still live there.  The Lees family (parents Johannes (48) & Louisa (44) and children Conrad (20), Adam (16), Jacob (14), Fredricka (9), and David (6)) travelled to Australia on the Dutch Barque ‘Helene’ with 215 other German Immigrants. The youngest child, a daughter Christiana (aged 5 months) died on the voyage to Aust...

Mr Sid and Mrs Maree Hillier pictured in their Gunning home recently with their historic bottle of medicinal turpentine. Well over 70 years ago a young Sid was bed ridden for a fortnight with a very serious gash to the leg suffered when he was impaled by a cut sapling stem while riding his bike home from school. He owes his return to full health and mobility to this very efficacious and versatile product. The bottle they are displaying is the same one used by Sid’s mother to treat his injury at the time – and it still retains a good amount of aromatic turpentine today. In recent weeks I have had the pleasure and privilege of talking with three local people who know a lot about our district history, having lived through many decades of it themselves. Mr Sid and Mrs Maree Hillier and Mr Harold Hazell have been helping me learn about their lives and times in the Gunning district generally but particularly for the Oolong and Lade Vale areas where I also live. Mr Harold Hazell wh...