Research, research and more research

After watching Ash Barty lose the semi-final and finishing up reading a chapter in a sci-fi book, I decided to get back to the keyboard.

Research for the current WIP - working title - Empty Beds - has taken years, and is ongoing. Each time I think up an adventure for a character, I go back and research to see if it's plausible. This often means searching through newspaper articles on Trove (www.nla.gov.au), through shipping lists on Public Records Office Victoria, through births deaths and marriages, and cemetery records.

Here is an little excerpt from the Lancefield Examiner  10 April 1873. Love the language.

Last week we had to report the occurrence of a very sad accident which befell Mr James Allan of Monegeetta, and in consequence of which he had to be conveyed to the Melbourne Hospital. This week, it is our melancholy duty to record Mr Allan’s death. The sad event took place about 3 o’clock on Wednesday, 9^th inst. The shock to the system caused by the frightful nature of the injuries received was such that he never rallied sufficiently to allow of amputation to be performed. He gradually sank, and at the time above mentioned, passed quietly away. He was sensible to the last, and was able to converse with his wife, brother, and other members of his family, up to within a short time of his death...

As I remarked last week, there are few people in this district held in higher esteem than as the late Mr Allan. His unsullied reputation as a man of the strictest integrity in all business transactions, his never-failing good humour, and Christian kindness, served to command the respect and highest appreciation of all who knew him. His death may be said in some respect to be a public loss, for the district cannot spare many such men…Mr Allan was only 42 years of age at the time of his melancholy death.

The photo is Robert Allan, James' eldest son, with Fanny Robins Allan (seated) nee Darby (Robert's wife) and Jean Mary Allan, their daughter.

I"m forced to stay inside today because of the smoke from the fires in East Gippsland and Tasmania, (asthma). Thoughts are with those who are living through the loss of homes and livelihoods; heart breaking for the animals. 

A member of the University of Tasmania Diploma of Family History alumni group (FB) posted today that she lost all her family's antiques in the fires. Just like that, part of a family's story lost. There is nothing to be done about the loss of the physical items except try to salvage as much as possible, and claim insurance on the rest. But the family's stories won't be lost, because she understands the value of recording and telling those stories.

Don't put off writing up your family's sagas. Save the information on your computer and separate from it. I save on a portable hard drive, on Microsoft's OneDrive, Google Drive and sometimes Dropbox. Heaven forbid anything should happen to the house, but computers are fickle beasts and I don't want to risk losing all my years of research and writing.