NEWSLETTER 15-17 Welsby Street, Goompi (Dunwich) If not delivered, return to PO Box 80, Dunwich 4183 www.stradbrokemuseum.com.au [email protected] Ph: 3409 9699 NSI Historical Museum gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Sibelco Australia in the production of this Newsletter. Asylum Research Connecting Families Volume The Museum Museum holds receives over 200 copies of these Inside this requests every year records from issue: from families the Qld State Asylum 2 searching for Archives from Research information about 1865 until (continued) family members about 1905. RCC Councillor’s 2 Small Grant who were admitted Records after Walking 2 to the Dunwich that may be Together Benevolent Asylum. available with Quandamooka 3 Above: Asylum inmates playing checkers in the assistance Festival When a request is Junner St, Dunwich. Photo courtesy SLQ. received, the of researcher records held at the John Winterbo- BINGO! 3 Museum are searched to The database lists the tham. John has also Registration Number of completed an annotated unearth as much Museum 4 information as possible for each inmate, which index of over 1000 female memberships the families potentially unlocks a lot of Asylum inmates, which information—including will be of great assistance. Winter 4 First stop is the Death Mega-Raffle the dates the person was This research about Register: a book listing all living in the Asylum, and the people who died in the inmates has been where the inmate was coordinated by Althea WELCOME Asylum. This handwritten buried. This number also Vickers for over 20 years. to recently book was painstakingly helps us locate the Althea has meticulously appointed transcribed by one of the Admission Forms for each kept records of all the Museum Museum’s founders— person, which sometimes Jenny Cooke-Bramley— in people who have made Administrative lists much of the personal inquiries, together with the late 1980s. Lorraine information about inmates Manager Winchester donated her any additional information Pekeri Ruska. that means so much to families have given to the time and skills to turn this families. data into a database—a Museum. In many Pekeri will very useful and often-used Thanks to former Museum instances, Althea has been commence work resource. volunteer John Mines, the able to link More on p 2…. in late July. The Museum acknowledges the Quandamooka people as the owners and custodians of the lands and waters on which the Museum operates. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. Asylum Research Connecting Families up people researching the same inmate, which has each other) met at Dunwich Cemetery to pay helped family historians immensely. homage to their great-great-grandfather. Over the years, Althea has collected a filing cabinet They held a moving private ceremony in memory of full of genealogical history and interesting stories of Anders at Dunwich Cemetery where a plaque had the inmates lives. This has developed into a unique been newly placed for him on the Wall of and rich resource for future researchers. Remembrance. It was draped with the Danish flag Althea recounts the key role the Museum plays in and after a brief address was unveiled. At the bringing together family members with a common conclusion of the ceremony, his great-great- grandparent/ great-grand grandparent: granddaughter who had travelled from Ballarat with her four children, read a poem the she had “In 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2018, requests were written for the occasion. made for information on inmate Anders Anderson. Anders proved to be most elusive and finally it was In 1878 Anders, aged 48, had emigrated from found that he had been incorrectly registered as Jutland, Denmark to Australia, bringing with him his “Hans Neilsen.” wife Karen, and children Jens, Carl, Georg Christian, and Anna Margareth. They were accompanied by One of his descendants contacted the others and on Karen’s daughters – Jacobina and Nielsena from her st 31 August 2018 eleven of them who came from as previous marriage to Anders’ brother, Jens Carl. far afield as Sunnybank Hills, Manly, Ballarat and After only four years in Brisbane, Karen died from Gladstone (most of whom had not previously known typhoid fever. Anders died in 1884.” Walking Together in Alice Springs In May, Museum board Museum faces in facilitating member Aunty Evelyn Parkin First Nation representation, and researcher Elisabeth and moving beyond a Gondwe travelled to Alice settler-colonial story in our Springs to present a paper at displays and activities. the Australian Museums and The Museum recognises the Galleries Association (AMaGa) need to embed First Nation’s National Conference. perspectives in our processes The conference had a strong and has instigated a process Elisabeth Gondwe and Aunty First Nations theme, and we call Walking Together. This Eveyn Parkin addressing the AMaGa National Conference. Aunty Evelyn and Elisabeth’s is a deliberate, active process, Photo by Stephanie Parkin. paper was called “Walking where the Board dedicates Together: Incorporating time at each meeting to reflect Elisabeth and Aunty Evelyn Aboriginal and European perspec- carefully on our aspiration to received financial support tives into small museum processes properly document and from Murri Ministry and and practices”. The paper display the shared journey of MAGSQ to attend the explored the challenges the living together on Minjerribah. conference. Friends of the Museum Become a Friend of the North Stradbroke Island Museum on Minjerribah. Donate $500 or more, and receive life membership, invitations to all Museum events and functions, and acknowledgement in the Museum. All donations to the Museum are TAX DEDUCTIBLE You could also consider a bequest to the NSIHM. Please contact the Museum for any information. 2 Bingo! The Museum is working with the Amity Point Progress Association (APPA) to preserve and display a significant bingo machine and megaphone. Bingo was an Amity institution. Ada Hall would drive the streets of Amity in a variety of vehicles calling “Bingo tonight, 7.30pm in the Hall”. Bob Gregory called the numbers. The bingo machine (see left) supplied by Toy and Novelty Wholesalers in Annerley in the early 1980s for $500. The objects will be donated to the Museum, but will be displayed at the Amity Community Hall. A morning tea will be held later in the year —to have a game of bingo and share stories about bingo and the fundraising efforts of APPA. Please contact Elisabeth at the Museum if you have any photographs or stories to share. Quandamooka Festival MEMBERSHIPS are due on July 1. Your membership fees are important. They help fund the Museum to collect and preserve the Island’s cultural heritage, and to share the Island’s stories with visitors from near and far. We use membership fees to support the work of our staff and volunteers The festival theme this year is to celebrate the in keeping the Museum open to the public 6 days a week, in keeping United Nations Year of Indigenous Languages. the buildings and gardens well-maintained, and in creating For the duration of the Festival, June to August, new and interesting displays to we invite visitors and local community to share the Museum collection with locals and visitors. explore historic and language material in the Please see the enclosed form for collection in our Reading Room. renewal details. Dues can be paid at the Museum counter or by Materials on display include the diary of direct debit: Gustavus Birch from 1873 at Amity Point, the Heritage Bank BSB 638070 Collected Works of Thomas Welsby, books ACC 12519677 written by Quandamooka woman Sandra Drop us an email if you would like to make the switch to electronic Delaney, and other highlights from the Museum newsletters. You’ll receive the newsletter earlier, and the photos look collection featuring Jandai language. great on the screen! 3 Support your local Museum—buy tickets in the Winter Mega-Raffle Prize 1: Return vehicle barge pass kindly donated by Stradbroke Holidays Prize 2: Handcrafted woollen blanket kindly made and donated by Jan Smith Prize 3: Handcrafted woolly slippers kindly made and donated by Constance Millar Prize 4: Handmade Corkboard kindly made and donated by Joan Benham and Ursula Cotterill Tickets $5 each, 5 for $20 Available from the Museum Shop, or make a direct deposit into the Museum account and we’ll put tickets in the draw for you. Heritage Bank BSB 0638070, ACC 12519677 All proceeds to the continued work of the Museum in collecting, preserving and sharing the history of Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island New Computer Rare Book donated The Museum is grateful for the $3000 grant received Dr Jeff Rickertt from the Fryer Library has from the Redland City kindly provided a digital copy of a very rare Council Councillors Small novel At Friendly Point by G. Firth Scott to the Grants program to replace Museum collection. According to the National Library of Australia catalogue, there are only our main computer, which four copies of this book available in Australia. was aging and becoming unstable. This computer is The book is set at Amity Point, and describes key infrastructure the lives of some of the people living there in important to the the 1890’s. Characters living at ‘Friendly Point’ include Backhouse and Fernandey, Captain, management of the Isters and the Earl of Yerrul. The book is Museum’s digital collections. available to be read at the Museum. VOLUNTEER AT THE MUSEUM! Volunteering at the Museum is a great way to meet new people, share your skills or learn new ones, and find out a whole lot of interesting stuff about the history and people of North Stradbroke Island. We have roles for front of house staff, tour guides, researchers, cataloguers, gardeners, jam makers, dusters etc etc.