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...

Garry Smith at the Irish Famine Memorial at Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (Photo by Malia Smith - provided) By Garry Smith: The 18th Annual Commemoration of The Great Irish Famine was held on Sunday 27 August 2017 at the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney. Beginning in 1845 and lasting for six years, the potato famine killed over a million men, women and children in Ireland and caused another million to flee the country. During the early 1830s, approximately 3000 women accepted the British government’s offer of an assisted passage to Australia. Many of these women were educated, articulate and keen to escape the stultifying effects of their family and demonstrate their enterprise. By contrast, the young orphan girls from the workhouses across Ireland during the potato famine were very young, very poor and refugees of a calamitous famine that ravaged Ireland. In the Ennis, County Clare workhouse, built in the period 1839-41, there was an overwhelming crush of famine victims wanting ...

Tense negotiations underway in Dublin between Irish author Margaret Smith and GDHS’s then secretary, Rosemary Spiller, about arrangements for launching her book in Australia.  Gunning and District Historical Society is delighted to assist Anchor Books to launch a new book which sheds light on a little known aspect of Australian and local Gunning history.  Samuel Clayton – Forger, Freemason, Freeman by Irish author Margaret Smith tells the story of an Irish engraver, transported for forgery, and his son Dr Benjamin Clayton.  Both prospered in Australia and played prominent roles in early colonial life.  Their stories deserve to be known. The Claytons, father and son, were successful graziers in the Gunning and Tumut districts.  More than that, their property Baltinglass very near to Gunning village, on the junction of Meadow Creek and the Lachlan River, was the very first successful major wine producer in what is now the Canberra District...