Is there a happier or more divisive group of people than family? Having spent more that 25 years collecting information on my family, I have come to realize that there is no more important thing in life than your family. However having said that there are times one could quiet easily 'strangle' some members of the family for their 'care less' attitude. I often wonder how old people have to be before they start to consider others as much as they do themselves!
About 17 years ago we took the opportunity to travel to the West, to not only see the greatest country on earth, but also to take the time to meet family that we had never met before. A wonderful example of this is the photo above this is of two brothers Alan & Jack Kirk (both of whom are now dead)these two men gave freely of their time showing us around their area and enlightening us on family history & secrets. We met and spent time with a lot of other family members also and it was a most pleasant time, certainly fond memories that we will retain always.
Over the years I have, like most family historians, come across 'brick-walls' and I am please to say I have been able to solve all but one of these.
In 1853 my great-great grandfather, William Kirk, died whilst on the goldfields of Bendigo. William was only 23 years old when this tragedy occurred. He was newly married and had a young son, George James Kirk at the time and was, according to family history, with his father William Kirk and his wife at the time. Now finding information on the death of William has caused a lot of headaches, firstly as there is no listing of his death in the records, although there is a William Kirk's death in the Victorian Inquest listing. This William is 23 years of age and although I have obtained the coroners inquest on this death it throws up more questions than it answers. There is no record of any deaths or burials officially listed for William in 1853. Having said that a lovely researcher in Bendigo has found a death and burial for a William Kirk at White Hills, death 8 August 1853 and buried 9 August 1853, but without further information this mystery remains.
Maybe one day my request to the Victorian Birth, Death & Marriage registry will be answered and I will at last be able to knock Down this 'brick-wall.
(The man in the top hat is William Kirk the senior, William's father).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Travelers towing caravans around Australia should think twice about going to Benalla with their caravan. For more than ten years my partner and I fought to have the town allocate caravan parking areas for tourists, in the end there were two such spaces allotted, 'in a busy car-park'. It was pointed out to the relevant authorities that the spots are to small and to hard to park all but the smallest caravans. The caravan spots are some 300 plus meters from the present 'tourist information' building, never ideal for the elderly or in-firmed.
Another major problem facing caravaners is the fact that the council does not police the two caravan spots, but allows 'all and sundry' to park in these two spaces. It would appear that touists are not encouraged, in fact I have heard 'from the horses mouth' that the council didn't deem Benalla to be a tourist destination, and so didn't need to put in place any tourist infrastructure.
We have also tried for many years to have a tourist bike path put into place to join up those already in place,and being built, in other areas of the North East of Victoria. And the answer has consistently been 'we are not a tourist destination' or we haven't got the money. The Victorian Government has, over the past years, poured millions of dollars into other areas of the state for the very same type of bike paths as we have been wanting for Benalla.
So whilst there is a wonderful man-made lake in Benalla and other splendid tourist destinations in the area, think twice if you have a caravan or wish to cycle around the area.
Caravaners are generally a very astute group of people, and if the are not made welcome they 'go somewhere else' to spend their money. Benalla is missing out on an enormous amount of tourist dollars, and rightly so. So as I said, think twice before making Benalla a stop over.