Gunning & District Historical Society

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 While little can match primary sources such as historical documents, eyewitness accounts, diaries and family photographs, it is the fortunate face-to-face meetings with people who share a family story that are arguably most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 ...

Historical photo of the Exeter Railway Disaster, Friday 13th March 1914. See  ABC Illawarra . In heavy fog, just before midnight on the evening of Friday, 13th March 1914, the Temora-bound mail train from Sydney collided with the Sydney-bound goods train from Junee at Exeter, NSW. The Junee goods train had been shunted onto the main line and it was presumed that the fog had obscured the signals for the driver of the Temora mail train. Fourteen people were killed and many more were injured in what was to become known as the Exeter Railway Disaster. At the time, this was the worst rail disaster in Australian history. A report on the incident appeared in  The Advertiser  on 16th March 1914 and is available on Trove . Pollard Family Grave Sites at Dalton Cemetery. Photo: Beth Aglio Recently, local author and historian, Keith Brown, accompanied Beth Aglio, a descendent of the Pollard family from Dalton, to assist her with some family history research. At the fam...