Life at The Steppes
A stop at The Steppes was once essential for every traveller in Tasmania’s Central Highlands. On our list of recently digitised materials is a sketchbook of birds and plants by Marjorie (Madge) Wilson, who was the last resident of the house at The Steppes.
Continue reading “Life at The Steppes”An Antarctic homage: 30 years since the sinking of Nella Dan
Tasmania has hosted many of the most important ships that have ventured to Antarctica. In December 1987 one of these ships, the Nella Dan, ended its journey when it ran aground at Buckles Bay, Macquarie Island.
Continue reading “An Antarctic homage: 30 years since the sinking of Nella Dan”Digital collections – our most fragile and at risk Tasmanian heritage?
When you hear the words ‘heritage’ and ‘archive’ what is the first thing that comes to mind? …. paper? books? photographs? buildings? physical objects? … What about ‘digital heritage’ that is created via websites, word documents, emails, texts, and on social media?
Without regular intervention, in only a few years digital information can be completely lost, inaccessible, or corrupted. Each day Tasmanians are using computers, laptops, phones, and tablets to create millions of records of our state, our community, and our lives. How do we ensure that these will be available in the future?
Continue reading “Digital collections – our most fragile and at risk Tasmanian heritage?”The Theatre Royal – Australia’s oldest continually operating live theatre
Where theatrical performances were enjoyed by the light of sperm whale oil lamps and theatre goers could enjoy a tipple in the tavern underneath. Through name changes, alterations, additions and a fire, Hobart’s Theatre Royal has survived the ravages of time.
Continue reading “The Theatre Royal – Australia’s oldest continually operating live theatre”House hunting in Launceston
Do you recognise these historic houses from your neighbourhood?
We have recently digitised a series of photographs of houses around Launceston. They were taken by Stephen Spurling III in the early twentieth century, but not all of them have been identified.
Continue reading “House hunting in Launceston”Bird Woman: Elizabeth Gould and the Birds of Australia
If you’ve been through the Allport gallery recently, you will have noticed the birds. They are familiar birds, with all of the endemic Tasmanian species represented – many visitors will recognise them from their own backyard. And they are lovely. But the thing that convinced us that it was worth getting these prints out for display is the controversy – whose hand created them?
Continue reading “Bird Woman: Elizabeth Gould and the Birds of Australia”Bad money in wool and boots: Bankruptcy records in the Tasmanian Names Index
We have added a new category to the Tasmanian Names Index!
Go to Record Type and select Bankruptcy to find the records of over 1600 people who declared either bankruptcy or insolvency between 1821 and 1928.
These include the files of two notable Tasmanians whose fortunes fell on hard times – Thomas Wells and Sylvanus Blundstone.
Continue reading “Bad money in wool and boots: Bankruptcy records in the Tasmanian Names Index”Time-balls and feminism
What was a time-ball and how did it contribute to the feminist movement?
Continue reading “Time-balls and feminism”Playing with data: creating bushranger timelines
The bushranger Michael Howe and his gang terrorised Van Diemen’s Land from 1815 until Howe’s death.
Next year will see the two hundredth anniversary of Michael Howe’s final showdown, so we created a timeline of the events that led to Private William Pugh of the 48th Regiment shooting and killing Howe on 21 October 1818 near the Shannon River.
Click on the following image to view the live timeline, then, double-click on any event in the timeline to view the newspaper article about that event.
Play around with the live timeline!
Continue reading “Playing with data: creating bushranger timelines”The convict letters of George Bramwell: Convicted felon, yeoman, farmer, horse dealer and adulterer
Re boxing a series of old legal documents is not my idea of a fun few months. It usually involves simply pulling out the paper clips and pins that damage the old paper and re housing them into crisp white archival folders.
However, whilst re boxing our intestate wills (documents related to people who have died without a will) I discovered three letters written by George Bramwell to his then wife in England.
Still not overly exciting….until I realised George was a convict, and in amongst the polite greetings and formalities he mentions details of his life as a convict. This provides us with a different insight into Van Diemen’s Land than that of the privileged free settler or gentleman farmer.
Continue reading “The convict letters of George Bramwell: Convicted felon, yeoman, farmer, horse dealer and adulterer”