Spreading Branches is published quarterly and sent to members and other interested groups and organisations. Download our latest edition in pdf. from here or browse past issues.
The Project Team – Sausage Sizzle success – Directions to Galga [Ron Wanke] – Bleary eyes wide open-unexpected finds [Whitaker family] – Christmas meeting 2024 – Rabbit holes-again [Emigrant’s Guide to New South Wales]
Emerald Cemetery Walk – Treasures from the Oscar Wanke Collection
Vale Rex McFarlane – Member of the Year 2024 – From poverty to successful orchardist [John Wilfred Rutty, Percy Vernon Lockey, Walter Brown]
We’re moving to Berwick – 35th birthday celebrations – Volunteers’ Morning Tea and Shirley Award – Vale Maureen Patricia Stagg – Vale Lynette (Lyne) Arlene McGregor
Seventy years at Melbourne General Cemetery: The Clowes family – Two 100 year coincidences for the Dougherty Clan – Ballarat Briefings: Buninyong Library, Ballarat Gold Museum and St Paul’s Church, Bakery Hill
Barbara Sharp Member of the Year – Pastor Laurie Dyer – Dandenong Community Cemetery walk
Max Thomson Collection’s picnics – The black box (St John’s Church Upper Beaconsfield) – Dandenong Choral Society concert for the family of Luke McCoy
AMaGA’s Collections and Community Resilience Project – Bunnings Sausage Sizzle – Vale John Elliott – Proposed Cranbourne Community Hub – The Titanic Memorial Bandstand, Ballarat – Dr W Niel Gunson (1930-2023)
Trove needs your help – Kel Anderson: more than just a name – Biogrpahical Database of Australia – Congratulations to Audrey Dodson, Cardinia Senior Citizen of the Year 2023 – Prime Ministers Avenue in Ballarat Botanical Gardens – A visit from the good fairy of family research (Onley family from Donald, Amiable Deperouzel, William James Pittard)
Berwick Cemetery Walk 30 October 2022 – 200,000 Casey Cardinia Combined Index celebrates another significant milestone – Unrecognised for 98 years (George Ritchie 1906-1924) – Virtual War Memorial Australia – The Chrozier Family – Ballarat Briefings: Ballarat Tramway Museum, Vale Anne Burrows & Honour Board WW1 St Paul’s Anglican Church, Bakery Hill – The new death certificate package – A brush with royalty
Life member presentation to Jane Rivett-Carnac – 2022 AGM – Member of the Year Award to Eileen Durdin – Restoring family links presentation by Australian Red Cross – Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria – Treasure saved from the fire – Mothercraft nurses and the Beaconsfield Babies Home – No time to say goodbye cemetery walk at Cranbourne – Berwick Cemetery Walk – Ballarat Briefings
The hapless infant (Chrozier family of Skye) – FamilySearch Affiliate Library – Ballarat Briefings – The Eacott family of Longwarry
Family newsletters – Thanks badge to Reg Kurll (Max Thomson Collection) – Web archives – Solving a naming riddle (Georgiana Spencer Morris) – Leslie Stewart Graham (1891-1947)
Georg Caspar von Ruti – Recollections and comparisons (Casey Cardinia Remembers & Max Thomson Collection) – Cormore Tea Rooms and the Funnell family
No time to say goodbye: Cranbourne Cemetery Tour – Thank you to our volunteers – Local and family history hotspots – Getting side tracked (Joseph Thompson Arblaster) – Ballarat Briefings – New in the Research Room – RHSV Pioneer Register seminar
In remembrance of Fred and Annie Sheard. An unfortunate end – A French convict added to my tree (Amiable Sierl Deperouzel) – School days (Then and Now: The Max Thomson Collection) – New in the Research Room – Ballarat Briefings
Local and Family History Hot Spots 2021 – Researching the Moran family from Narre Warren – Gransy and the Gilmore Valley (Alice Ellen Naughton) – Creswick Family (George Wallace Baird & Helena Creswick) – A farm in Switzerland – Inheritance: a memoir of genealogy, paternity and love (book review)
The fall of Rabaul and Australia’s greatest maritime disaster – More Victorian Wills and Probates online! – Bregazzi Reserve – Tales from the Berwick School Registers – The Debutante Ball (Then and Now: The Max Thomson Collection)
Memories of Officer – Vale Paul Stevenson – Thursday history talks on Zoom – Modella Hall – An Officer and a Gentleman (part 2) Charles George de Beauvoir Tupper – School and work in the depression – Ballarat Briefings – Caroline Charlotte Aurisch nee Tschirner – Has the Covid-19 lockdown been a positive or negative for you and your family? – Ora: Online Repository Assistant, a time saver – Research ideas
Lawson Poole Reserve – The Rose of Joy cot (Max Thomson Collection Then and Now) – Grandfather Francis Sharp’s family – I never thought I’d say this (life in lockdown) – Women to women. Influenza epidemic. What to do. – Ballarat Briefings – PROV Map Warper – Saints in Scottish place names – database of Scottish Hagiotoponyms – New in the Research Room
Lorraine Taylor Research Room transformation — Coffee Pen and Giggle writing group – Local & family history hot spots – An officer and a gentleman: Charles George de Beauvoir Tupper (1872-1893) – Ballarat Briefings – New in the Research Room – Member profile: Judith Power (nee Lunsden)
Life and death on the edge of the swamp: a walk in Bunyip Cemetery 27 October 2019 – Daly Waters air disaster memorial at Bunyip – proposed writing group – 1001 steps backwards (Bayview Park and the Aurisch family) – The making of our road network (Max Thomson Collection Then and Now) – New in the Research Room – Ballarat Briefings – Many family history resources are free
Happy 15th birthday Casey Cardinia Combined Index – President’s report – Ballarat Briefings – Lorraine Taylor’s thank you – Elisha Stephen Grosse: second winner of Stawell Gift in 1879 – Member of the Year 2019 award – Haystacks (Max Thomson Collection Then and Now) – Sister Kirkpatrick: a mystery – Casey Cardinia Remembers: the bad ones in Casey – Seeking William Arch James – Hamilton Family History Expo review – New in the Research Room
Dedication of Lorraine Taylor Research Room – Our 30th birthday celebrations – 2019 Volunteers’ Morning Tea – Heritage Festival at Fisherman’s Cottage – Ballarat Briefings – Then and Now: modern conveniences – Casey Cardinia: Elletts’ Grandma – March general meeting with the Scouts – A scouting history – A short sad life [Catherine Doherty 1889-1921] – James Ralston at Fromelles.
Dr and Mrs Elliot Drake – 2019 Holt Australia Day Awards – Casey Cardinia Remembers: Koo Wee Rup Secondary School gates, Koo Wee Rup clocks, BJ Wallis Gardens – Then and Now: Harkaway Tennis Club – The Common Riding (Scottish Borders) – Ballarat Briefings – The enumerated cat.
Peace at last: a World War 1 walk at Lang Lang Cemetery – AGM roundup – Casey Cardinia Remembers: Laurie Cleary & Cyril Beechey – Then and Now: Christmas Dinner – Interesting headstone stories – Frances Elmes & the Melbourne Cookery Book – Writing Competition entries: Pirates by Lyne McGregor, Harkaway lad new clerk of Parliament by Barbara Sharp, Generous genealogists by Margaret Hunter – New in the Research Room.
Member of the Year: Jane Rivett-Carnac – AGM roundup – Frances Fitzgerald Elmes (1867-1919) by Marianne Rocke – Casey Cardinia Remembers the good, the bad and the ugly – Then and Now: Narre Warren North – Writing Competition entries: Joachim Popp by Brenda Wheeler, Getting sidetracked while researching a soldier by Jane Rivett-Carnac, Hard life, hard times by Margaret Hunter – Moran-McLellan-Duncan reunion – The Research Room: this thing called LibraryThing.
Another successful cemetery walk – Cranbourne 22 April 2018 – Phyllis Bould’s magnificent poppies – The Research Room (on the computers) – Our stately trees (Casey Cardinia Remembers) – Writing competition entries: An unconventional family by Margaret Hunter, She was always nice to me by Lynne Bradley.
The trouble with Lyndhurst (Casey Cardinia Remembers) – Captain David Jones of Tandderwen Orchard – Writing Competition entries: Basking in the Moonlite by Lynne Bradley, Interesting and unexpected aspects of research by Jane Rivett-Carnac – Land titles by Marianne Rocke – On the shelves (in the Research Room).
Writing the war at Cranbourne Library – Local History Archive & NW&DFHG Research Room launch – Colac and VAFHO Family History Expo – On the shelves (in the Research Room) – Berwick RSL (Casey Cardinia Remembers) by Eileen Durdin – Writing Competition entries: Death on the high seas-one family’s immigrant experience by Ken Swadling, England, 26 July, 1948 by Di Christensen, A Promise by Moreyn Dimsey and People that bind us from our past by Kerryn Maxwell – Vale: Alice Amelia Pattison.
The beginning of NW&DFHG – AGM Round up – Do you read genealogy blogs on the net? – Rootsweb mailing lists – Writing Competition entries: Several violent deaths in the family by Susan Arlove, Emily’s choice by Jane Rivett-Carnac – One man’s treasures by Lynne Bradley – Narre Warren Mechanics Institute (Casey Cardinia Remembers) – Melbourne University Archives.
Fun & Frolics at Narre Warren North by Max Thomson – The grieving mother by Di Christensen – Greg Clydesdale Square (Casey Cardinia Remembers) by Eileen Durdin – A successful sausage sizzle by John Uren – For some the bell tolled: a World War walk in Harkaway Cemetery by Jane Rivett-Carnac, Writing Competition entries: All it took was a photo by Kerryn Maxwell, Lakes Creek State School by Ken Swadling, An interesting military connection found while researching my New Zealand family by Jane Rivett-Carnac – A teacher in your family by Marianne Rocke – New in the Research Room.
Our move – Great recognition for local Presidents by Fay McCoubrie – Clusters (Casey Cardinia Remembers) by Lynne Bradley – England and Wales research: the new GRO online index by Marianne Rocke – Writing Competition entries: There is a Pirate on our tree by Jane Rivett-Carnac, No skeletons by Marianne Rocke, Henry Barton Stray Sharp by Lorraine Taylor – The Shire at war (Alberton) by Di Christensen – Vale: Judith Johnson – New in the Research Room.
Ordinary people, interesting lives: a walk in Historic Harkaway Cemetery Sunday 30 October by Jane Rivett-Carnac – Preserving your genealogical research by Di Christensen – Member Profile, Lois Giacometti – Cite Trove – Snipping Tool – The short life of Emma Box from Harkaway – Home Front (Ballarat Genealogical Society) by Di Christensen – 2017 Writing Competition – Ron Andrews Park (Casey Cardinia Remembers) by Lynne Bradley – 2017 workshop schedule – Vale Anne Rae Smith – New in the Research Room
AGM Roundup – The 2017 Shirley Award ‘The Press Pass’ – Map Spy Viewer – Lost Diggers of Fromelles by Di Christensen – Chaplain-Captain Frederick Percy Williams MC 58th Battalion by Di Christensen – Max Thomson’s memories of World War 2 (part 2) – Australian writers remembered at Lynbrook (Casey Cardinia Remembers) by Lynne Bradley – New in the Research Room
Have you heard about Trove?? – Sacrifice & Patriotism Cemetery Tour – AGM Notice – Bunnings Sausage Sizzle report – Max Thomson’s memories of World War 2 (part 1) – Narre Warren Memorial Gates – Robert William Moors – Pioneering: a tale of the bush – New in the Research Room
Vale Stephen Cowell – Research Room News – Conviction by Gay Hendriksen – Looking back … and ahead (Victorian BDMs online) – Patrick Northeast Wetlands Reserve – JC Lloyd Square – City of Berwick Bicycle Path Network.
Pakenham Cemetery’s indomitable women – Lucy Pepper – Pakenham Cemetery’s 150 anniversary – 2016 workshop schedule – Nar Nar Goon conversations at Casey Cardinia Remembers – Ask Granny – Our dancing skeletons.
AGM Roundup – The Last Post – Research Room News and new additions – The cousin of my Great Aunt was a Victoria Cross Winner (Albert David Lowerson) – Cranbourne’s Floral Clock.
100 men, 100 years: a World War 1 Walk in Berwick Cemetery – Springvale Botanical Cemetery tour – Casey Cardinia Remembers and Mother’s Day – Research Room News and new additions – Private L Papley.
Dr Francis Langley – Research Room News and new additions – Casey Cardinia Remembers and the Great War – Casey Cardinia Combined Index
Berwick Cemetery Tour – Bunnings Sausage Sizzle Report – Benjamin Muffett 1861-1903 – David Hughes – A Wedding Comparison – Research Room News and new additions
2014 AGM Roundup – Research Room News and additions – 2014 Shirley Award Winner – 2104 Member of the Year
Narre Warren & District Family History Group’s 25th Birthday – The Mystery of Raheen – Vale: Wendy Brock & Jessie Etherington – Research Room News and new additions
19 Kinds of death records & their uses – Genealogy books in Casey Cardinia libraries – A twist in every tale – Away Days – Research Room News and new additions
Grave Secrets (symbolism in cemeteries) – Residents of Upper Beaconsfield website – Research Room News and new additions – Remember This – Away Days
2013 AGM Roundup – Research Room News and new additions – An unusual reunion pt 3 – Away Days
Grave Stories of the Queen Victoria Market – Warrnambool research – Sausage Sizzle Report – Research Room News and new additions – An unusal reunion pt 2 – Away Days – AGM Notice
Our day at the Salvos – An unusual reunion pt1 – Sausage Sizzle Report – Research Room News and new additions – VAFHO Conference
South East Victoria Family & Regional History Expo 2012 – Research Room News and new additions – Closet Awards December 2012
2012 AGM Roundup – Research Room News and new additions – Cranbourne Cemetery Tour October 2012 – Closet Awards December 2012
War Comes to Australia: 70th Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin 19 Feb 2012 – 2012 AGM – Research Room News and new additions – Headstone Theft a Grave Mistake – Rookwood Cemetery – NW&DFHG Members’ Interests.
Gippsland cemeteries Away Day – Research Room News & new additions – Delicious (social bookmarking) – The Writing on the Wall or Practical Patriotism shown at Broadford: an article on Wilfred John Herrick – Local Matters at Grill’d, Fountain Gate
Didn’t we meet under the clocks?: an article on Jenny Davies and her research into Flinders Street Station – RSS Feeds – Research Room News and new additions – Local Matters at Grill’d, Fountain Gate – Antiques Appraisal Day
2011 AGM Roundup – Research Room News and new additions – Tribute to Don Grant – Adam Ritchie (Berwick) – Grace Paterson (Harkaway) – Blogging – Mary Augusta Hillbrick Funeral Notice – new websites
Vive la Revolution: the digital revolution – Michael Holt Obituary – Research Room News and new additions – Murdoch McDonald Obituary – new websites
Ballarat Away Day Report – Albert McCormack shot at Berwick 1925 – Research Room News and new additions – One Hundred Years On: What a difference a century makes – Timeline Fair Report – new websites
Australian Screen – South East Victoria Family & Regional History Expo – Research Room News and new additions – Mary Anderson (Cranbourne 1928) – Founders and Survivors Project – new websites
2010 Member of the Year – AGM Roundup – Research Room News and new additions – Ada Ackerly wins Frances Brown Award -new websites – Away Day to PMI
Recognising Women in War – New home of Cornish Association of Victoria – change to NW&DFHG Constitution – Research Room News and new additions – ScamWatch – The London Gazette – websites – Mrs R Mickle Obituary 1919
James Timmins’ New Memorial – Research Room News and new additions – The Story behind the Ancestry Raffle – new websites – Local History societies
Away Day to Ballarat – Newspapers on the Internet – Research Room News and new additions – Sausage Sizzle Report – Beaconsfield Bush Fires 1890 – new websites – Victorian Government Gazettes
Member of the Year 2009 – 2009 AGM – Local History Librarian at Casey Cardinia Library Corporation – Research Room News and new additions – new websites
20th Birthday Celebrations for NW&DFHG – Volunteers’ Morning Tea 2009 – A Mystery-ious Cornish Tale of two Luggers and 11 men – Research Room News and new additions – new websites
Red Cross Wounded and Missing – RSS – Carol Armytage Obituary 1909 – Sausage Sizzle Report – A Convict for Christmas – Research Room News and new additions – new websites
Cambridge University 1209-2009 – Was Henry Maple a Bushranger? – Google Book Searches – Catherine Bourke Obituary 1910 – Research Room News and new additions – new websites
Lifetime Membership for Val Holland – Member of the Year 2008 – 2008 AGM – Berwick Heritage Walk – Our Journey from East to West on the Indian Pacific – Research Room News and new additions – new websites
Anzac Day – Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour Photographs – James Herrick: Cobb & Co Mail Contractor – Fire at Beaconsfield Sanitorium 1890 – Research Room News and new additions – new websites
Celebrating our 75th Edition – Cinderelder (Cinderella 20 years on): what a performance? – The Cardinian Embroidery – Ballarat Botanic Gardens 150 Years Celebration – Puffing Billy 2007 Christmas Lunch – Research Room News and new additions – new websites
Commemorating the Spirit of the Herrick Family Pioneers – Four day break at Tawonga – Research Room News and new additions – Be Prepared when you visit the Research Room – Hallam Valley Soldier Settlers – State Library of Victoria Podcasts – new websites – Christopher Moody Obituary 1920
Member of the Year 2007 – AGM Roundup – Research Room News and new additions – Melbourne Hunt Club talk – Sausage sizzle report – new websites
Victorian Volunteer Forces – Research Room News and new additions – Just a headstone photo?: Alice Porrit – James Thewlis Obituary 1921 – new websites
John Todd & Sons, Cranbourne – Bunnings Sausage Sizzle – English Magazine CD Resource Index – The Downes Family Reunion – Research Room News and new additions – Vale Nick Vine Hall – new websites – Members Interests and how Googling a name found me
Lily Alberta Seymour – Is this the real story of “Clancy of the Overflow?” – Demystifying mailing lists and message boards – Research Room News and new additions – new websites – Canadian on-line records – High tech solutions to unmarked graves – Along the Rhein
Member of the Year 2006 – Family History Writing Competition – Research Room News and new additions – Casey Cardinia newspapers at the State Library of Victoria – new websites – Darebin Historical Encyclopedia – Slaying spelling dragons
Origins of Mothers Day – Archive Grid – Research Room News and new additions – new websites – The Buzz Around Berwick – John Startup Obituary 1905
1852 New Year’s Resolutions solve genealogical mysteries – Research Room News and new Additions – new websites – Mrs TJ Rossiter Obituary 1891 – How records and keepsakes told a story when Grandfather went to war – The hunt for William Bishop continues
Horse racing in Casey Cardinia – A brief account of a researching tourist to Sydney July 2005 – Francis Green Obituary 1912 – Victorian Shipping Books in our Research Room
They really are a weird lot! – Clare Australian Genealogy Project – Narre Warren street names – St. Arnaud Goldmine for Genies – The abandoned headstone (James Kilmartin) – Ugly Man Competition 1924 – Hazel Smith (nee Vines) Recollections – sausage sizzle report – new websites
Mornington Ploughing Match 1860 – St Kilda Cemetery: 150 Years – Susan Bain, Ann Bethune and Louisa Hewish – Boring Farmers? – new websites
Casey Cardinia Combined Index – Berwick Anglican Church Centenary Flower Show – St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Bakery Hill, Ballarat 150th Anniversary – new websites – Narre Warren street names – Ballarat and Eureka
People you meet – AGCI (Australasian Genealogical Computer Index) – Finding great great grandpa – new websites – Research Room News and new additions
Casey Cardinia Combined Index – Narre Warren street names – Research Room News and new additions – new websites – VAFHO Mildura Conference 2004 – A timely reminder – 10 simple steps to taking a great headstone photograph
Celebrating 15 Years NW&DFHG – Then and now – Vale Val Dellar – new websites – Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson and the The Bulletin – Research Room News and new additions – Narre Warren street names
Research Room News and new additions – new websites – Bishop’s Transcripts – Narre Warren street names – Dr Colin Angus – The Tumath/Toomath family history – Melbourne railway suburbs
Edwin Flack and the Berwick connection – Ernst Gottlob Wanke – Vale Peter McAlpine – The Collins Settlement, Sorrento 1803 – Narre Warren street names – A good looking young man (or Diana’s adventures at Kew)