A break in posts

I am taking a six to eight week break in posting in part for a rest, in part to update some of the supporting reference pages.

New England New State Movement Reference Page

Over on the New England, Australia blog I have put up New England New State Movement - consolidated posts linked to the fight for New England self government as a reference page drawing together various posts on the Northern Separation, later New England New State, Movement.

The Penders of Maitland

Photo: "Anambah" Maitland. Finished in 1889, the house was designed by J.W. Pender.

Anambah with its beautiful cedar joinery consisted of 23 rooms, 10 marble fireplaces, tiled hall and verandah and a free standing billiard room .

This post is by way of a stub. I wanted to record some of the links to the remarkable story of the Pender family, the Maitland architects who has such a remarkable impact on New England's built environment.

On Anambah itself, here. The NSW Department of Planning Heritage Branch web site provides information on a number of Pender designed building. The University Of Newcastle has a magnificent Pender archive.

New England's History - Guide to on-line resources

Note to readers: This post has been replaced by a new page, New England's History - Guide to on-line resources.  


Photo: Wing Hing Long & Co store, Tingha c1900 from the NSW Heritage Branch on-line exhibition.

I have established this page to provide information about on-line resources relating to New England's history.

Like all the reference pages, I hope that, with time, it will become a useful resource for all those with an interest in different aspects of New England's history whether at local or regional level.

Alphabetical Listing

Austlang, the Australian Indigenous Languages data base, provides a very useful searchable facility on Australia's Aboriginal languages.
Australian Bureau of Statistics web site provides access to past census data, year books and historical population estimates.
Australian Dictionary of Biography. The ADB is an invaluable source of information on people. You can also search by area or topic.
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies web site provides access to their extensive collections.
Australia Screen provides on-line access to a range of audio visual material. You can use the search facility to find material of regional interest.
Australia Trove is the National Libary of Australia's central search facility. It gives you access not just to their collections, but also to the invaluable searchable digitised newspaper data base and to the still patchy Pandora electronic archive of Australian web sites.
Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia (CHIA) database is a catalogue of historical images of Chinese, Chinese immigrants and their descendants held in Australia.
Directory of Australian Archives provides a searchable list of archives throughout Australia.
Encyclopedia of Australian Science is a register of the people and the many industries, corporations, research institutions, scientific societies and other organisations that have contributed to Australia's scientific, technological and medical heritage, with references to their archival materials and a bibliography of their historical published literature.
Free Selector or Felon provides a rather good searchable resource for all those interested in the history of the Hunter Valley.
Google Books is often a great way of finding references. I find the previews especially valuable.
Guide to Australian Business Records is as the name says. So you can search on, say, North Coast Steam Navigation Company.
NSW Heritage Branch. This NSW Government site is a valuable source of information not just on listed heritage items in NSW, but on the context and history of the listed sites. You can search by local area, by the name of the building or by architect if known.
NSW Railnet. An invaluable private site for all those interested in the history of New England's railway lines.
Picture Australia provides access to a range of visual material.
Unlocking Regional Memory - NSW electronic regional archives provides access to a range of archival resources including the large regional archive managed by the University of New England.
State Records Authority of NSW is the name now given to what was previously the NSW State Archives.
Theses on NSW Political History is as the name says. It seems to be pretty complete. You can sort by name or subject.
University of New England's Heritage Centre web site gives you access to their collections, including the regional archive.
Virtual Sourcebook for Aboriginal Studies in the Hunter Region provides a rather valuable resource, including digitised records of some of the early European visitors.