Thursday 26 January – a good day to catch up on your family history research at home as the State Library of Victoria is closed all day.

 

 australia day 1945 Sports meeting on Morotai Island on Australia Day held by the R.A.A.F. 26 Jan. 1945   H 99.201/5232

 

Some Australian related items in our collections that could be of interest and useful to know about for your next visit  :

Inside History  magazine published in New South Wales and coming out bi-monthly is now available for browsing in the Genealogy Centre. It contains a range of informative articles on Australian (and overseas) genealogy and history.

There are new items about Australian genealogy arriving in the Genealogy Centre collection all the time. One recent example which would be very useful if like me you are researching South Australian family history is Graham Jaunay’s 2011 publication Family history research in South Australia which provides an excellent and up to date overview of a range of records relating to this State, such as adoptions and orphans, land ownership records and hospitals and asylums.

Exploring the Library’s  heritage collections is always worthwhile. Australia Day might be the perfect opportunity to settle down and listen to the podcast of librarian Katie Flack’s Family History Feast 2011 talk Genealogical gems in the La Trobe collections  which will suggest new research avenues.

 

How did we celebrate Australia Day in the past? Look back to the 1956 Australia Day celebrations at Frankston from 26 to 30 January, days full of activities including dinners and socials, a mannequin parade, dog show, flag raising ceremony, religious observances and a mile swim. The full souvenir program of this 168th anniversary event  has been digitised and is available on the Library’s website.

 australia day parade Australia Day ceremony at St. Kilda, Peter Hansford, c.1954   H2002.199/636 an017487

How will activities on Australia Day 2012 be remembered and recorded for the future? 

Anne

This article has 1 comment

  1. I am not sure if the same process is followed this year 2012.Funny how things change so rapidly from 1954 – 2012. (Approx 60 years) shame though , as we tend to forget how valuable such events are and the significance of such events are to various people. I believe that such events should be encouraged to continue as with each pursuing year should reflect more emphasis on the groups who participate and how well these groups note the values of each generation.

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