Discussions on the history and historiography of Australia's New England

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




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

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

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.
Newcastle Region Library contains a range of official and private collections relevant to the Hunter Valley.
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 Parliament, First Legislative Council 1824-1855. Digital copies of debates, bills and various related papers.
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.
University of Newcastle Cultural Collections defines its role as to protect and safeguard the documentary history of the University and its regional context for current research and for future generations. Includes a number of collections with a special focus on the lower Hunter.
Virtual Sourcebook for Aboriginal Studies in the Hunter Region provides a rather valuable resource, including digitised records of some of the early European visitors.  

2 comments:

margie said...

Hi jim
After surfing the net in search of information on the history of the historic Armidale house "Opawa" in Mann St, I came across your blog titled "Armidale's Beauty", Monday 25th May, 2009. I read that your grandparents lived at Opawa in the 1930's. My grandparents also lived at Opawa from 1911 to 1914. My grandfather, Alexander MacKay bought the property in March 1911 and moved his family there from his property at Tulloch near Rockvale. Alexander then "disappeared" in July 1913 leaving Opawa in the possession of his wife Janet who sold the property in October 1914 to Mr Holland.

My interest in the house is that it forms part of my research into the life of the "Disappearing Alex MacKay". My father Don was his youngest son. Dad was 6 weeks old when his father left his family and never returned.

My niece Alison and I have been reseaching the events that transpired after Alex left Armidale. So far we've found that he left Australia soon after 19th July, 1913 and by the end of 1913 had settled in Argentina. We intend, sometime in the future to write a family history story about Alex's life in Argentina in parallel with his wife Janet's struggle to raise 7 children without their father. Its a fascinating story that I would be happy to share with you if you are interested. Alison and I have been on an incredible journey so far and we're nowhere near finished yet.

What we're looking for at this time is as much history of Alex and is family's early lives between 1878 when he was born and 1913 when he left. Our family never really talked about Alex because of the shame of his desertion of his wife. We know that Alex's two best friends were Harry Lonsdale and JLG Johnstone. The Reverend Thomas Johnstone played an important part in our family history. He performed the marriages of both Alex and Janet in 1900 and Janet's parents Henry Bell and Janet Newby who came from Paddysland east of Guyra.

I would be very interested in any information that you may have to share with me. I would also like to get in touch with Ian Johnstone as he may have some old family photos and family history information that may involve our Alex and family. Can you help me contact Ian?

Margaret MacKay

Unknown said...

Margie Here I am at johnstone@bluepin.net.au

Do contact me please.
Ian Johnstone