Books I Own - Places
This collection of books is important because it references the places where my ancestors lived. Some are pictorial, others are news or just plain history books, but each is important because of who they represent.
Jean Wallace - my Grandmother, was born at Black Range District Hospital and returned home, in the horse and sulky with her mother, to Youanmi where the local indigenous people crowding around to see the little white "piccaninny" (baby/child). (Hers is the largest birth certificate I have ever seen!!)
These places were pivotal in her early childhood. Her father was a baker there in the small gold mining town. The town was actually part of the greater Sandstone area and the mine's land and is no longer accessible, so we can't visit the place where my Gran's lived specifically.
The book "Youanmi: A story of Murchison Gold" by J.M.Hooper (1987) although an older book was purchased from Hesperian Press in 2018. They were still printing copies at that time.
The book on "Sandstone: Gold to Wool and Back again, A District History" by Sally L. Senior (1995) is also great, giving a wide historical overview of the area. This book was purchased from Sandstone Council. Request a contact email from me if you are interested.
Eventually Gran's family moved further south to the forest areas where there were a lot of logging towns. "History in the news: Old Newspaper Articles of Manjimup and Districts" by Jane Muir is actually one of my Dad's purchases and has a lot of articles from those districts, though my father mistakenly thought that Manjimup was where my grandmother grew up. Listening to a recording of Gran talking about her life it didn't quite extend down that far, she actually lived around Wuraming about 3 hours north (by car) from the Manjimup area, but there are lots and lots of "up" towns in those areas. Wuraming is surrounded by Dwellingup forest.
Also this fantastic Blog by Moya Sharp, "Outback Family History", is on my regular reading list, with entertaining "Ripping Yarns and Tragic Tales" on every page! I highly recommend it for anyone, but especially for anyone with family from this gold mining area.
My Mum grew up in Gladesville and many of her ancestors were settlers of Ryde and had land grants there. There are roads named after the Wicks family and the Small family. My kids are probably sick of me pointing out Wicks Road Ryde that was "named after your ancestors" each time we drive through the area! These are great books for historical photos of various parts of town.
These pictorial books exist for many towns and are available at a lot of newsagents. I highly recommend them as gifts, particularly for the elderly. I bought one on Mittagong for my step-Mum and she spent hours reminiscing about all the places she remembered in the books and a lot of stories came out of that, so be ready to record them!
This book "The Churchyard on the Hill" St. Anne's Ryde, NSW (2020) by Kevin Shaw and Janice Eastment is a very recent publication. I jumped at the chance to purchase this as many of my ancestors were members of this church and were buried in the small cemetery there. I have visited the church many years ago and it is a very grand old place. I have many obituaries of ancestors recording their final journey to this church. The book also contains a list of those buried at the churchyard. I can put you in touch with the authors for purchase of the book if you are interested. They originally contacted me via the Small Family Association of which I am a member.
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