Genealogical Society of Queensland - GSQ

02/09/2025

One final post for Family History Month. Thanks to Kerry Beeton. A blog from the State Library Victoria Spotting fake information, misinformation and lapses of memory in your family tree before it takes root.

02/09/2025

𝑩𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 Bonegilla Railway Siding. With thanks to the Bonegilla Migrant Experience

𝑩𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈

Open from 1899 to 1978, this railway platform saw more passengers coming and going than any other station on the Wodonga to Cudgewa railway line 🚂

More than 320,000 migrants entered Australia via the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre between 1947 and 1971. Most of whom arrived at Bonegilla on a train that was dubbed the “𝑅𝑒𝑑 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑟.”

The long train trip was unsettling, with few migrants able to speak English and many had boarded at Melbourne’s Station Pier knowing neither their destination or the length of the journey.

Edelgard Rixon, who had migrated from Germany, could recount the trip vividly, “I remember that long train trip and not knowing where you’re going or anything like that; we thought it would never end …”

The Bonegilla railway siding now serves as a rich piece of history along the High Country Rail Trail.

📸 Black and white photograph of migrants gathering together their luggage after their arrival by train - in the background. 17 November 1948, ARM 96.1302

02/09/2025

School Milk. Thanks to Wodonga & District Historical Society Inc for this picture.

Ariel Street school 1951, photo from Ian Grundy.
School milk was introduced by Menzies Govt. Far from being a conspiracy to put a whole generation off drinking milk forever, school milk was conceived as a benefit. The State Grants (Milk for School Children) Act was passed by federal parliament in 1950 and by the end of 1951 most states were inflicting this benefit on children up to the age of 13. A report to the government in 1973 deemed school milk poor value for money and the Whitlam government abolished it.

01/09/2025

Bonegilla Migrant Centre located near Wodonga in North-Eastern Victoria and the first arrivals after WW11. Thanks to the Bonegilla Migrant Experience
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonegilla_Migrant_Reception_and_Training_Centre

01/09/2025

As well as Wattle Day in Australia and the beginning of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, it's also Webtember with Legacy Family Tree Its all free, every Wednesday in September but you will need to register for these sessions.

Webtember is back! Get ready for all Genealogy, all September long!!

https://legacyfamilytree.com/blog/2025/08/webtember-2025-all-genealogy-all-september-long-sign-up-today-free/

01/09/2025

National Wattle Day is celebrated on the first day of Spring in Austrlaia. Thanks to Trove and the National Library of Australia.

It’s officially spring, and we’re celebrating National Wattle Day!

Australia’s national floral emblem has over 1000 different species and is a beautiful example of our unique Australian flora.

Spring into Trove’s vast wattle collection: https://brnw.ch/21wVlK6

31/08/2025

Pauline Williams, GSQ's Writing Group convenor, is GSQ Blogger today, writing about a family history around a theme and how she developed this idea.
https://gsq-blog.gsq.org.au/my-coalmining-ancestors

My coalmining ancestors GSQ Blog Posted on August 31, 2025 by Pauline WilliamsAugust 31, 2025 GSQs Writing Group met in June 2025 and we considered the subject of writing family stories around a theme. The writing exercise for the meeting was to develop a plan for doing this. It is usually the case....

31/08/2025

Solomon Islanders who served in the NT during WW11, as part of the little-known Northern Territory Special Reconnaissance Unit. The Australian War Memorial is asking if anyone knows anything about these men.

31/08/2025

On the Overland Telegraph route, 1929. Thanks to Library & Archives NT

This image was taken on the Overland Telegraph route in 1929.

Thornycroft was a United Kingdom-based vehicle manufacturer that built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. In 1929 a six-wheel Thornycroft was loaded onto a goods train in Adelaide and offloaded at Terowrie, where the rail break of gauge occurs. It was transhipped to another train and offloaded at Quorn where it took a special party to the crash site of the Kookaburra in Central Australia. On board were two coffins for the bodies of Anderson and Hitchcock.

Leaving Alice Springs with four hundred gallons of petrol and eight forty gallon water drums, they followed the Overland Telegraph route where the image was taken en route to Newcastle Waters.
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​Photographer unknown, ‘On the Overland Telegraph route’, 1929, Library & Archives NT, Thornycroft Collection, PH0676/0005.

30/08/2025

The story of Bomber Stacey born on the day Darwin was bombed in 1942. Thanks ti the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre

Bomber Stacey-Unsung Hero

Leonard Edward “Bomber” Stacey’s life began on a day etched into Northern Territory history. Born at Newcastle Waters on February 19, 1942—the day Darwin was bombed—he carried a nickname that stayed with him for life. To his family and community, “Bomber” was more than a name; it symbolised resilience, grit, and the spirit of the Territory.

As the eldest son of a pioneering droving family, Bomber’s childhood was shaped by the rhythms of cattle and country. When his father passed away, he left school at just 12 years old to shoulder responsibility, working the family’s droving plant across some of the harshest landscapes in Australia. Those early years hardened him, but they also grounded him in the values of hard work, endurance, and loyalty.

In time, Bomber traded saddle for steering wheel, becoming a truck driver who carted cattle and supplies across the vast, remote north.

He knew every bend in the dusty tracks and every challenge the outback could throw. Later, his skills and commitment led him to the Northern Territory Government, where he worked on repairing schools and police stations in isolated settlements. His efforts ensured that even the most remote communities had the infrastructure they needed.

By the time of his passing on June 9, 2009, aged 67, Bomber Stacey had left a mark far beyond his own lifetime. His contribution to the Territory’s rural and road transport industries was recognised in 2018, when Stacey Road in Katherine East was officially named in his honour.

Today, locals remember him not only as a hardworking pioneer, but also as a man whose life helped build the backbone of the Northern Territory. In every mile of road and every outpost he touched, the spirit of “Bomber” Stacey endures.

30/08/2025

South Australian Family and local History Resources by Rianna Goodman. Blog thanks to Trove

Researching your family or local history is a fascinating experience that once you start, it’s hard to stop. Diving down that rabbit hole means you can discover some amazing stories from your family’s history, but there are always more stories to find. This blog highlight’s some wonderful reso...