June
2015
Vol. 30 No. 5
7.30pm on Wednesday 10 June 2015
The guest speaker this month is:
Jenny Haworth
who will talk about
“Twisted Wire: the story of New Zealand artists
in World War I”
Members Corner
Welcome to two new members: Claire Becker and Nicky Sarson. We hope that you enjoy your membership
of our branch. Nicky is also welcomed as a new member of our committee.
Denis Hampton has been in the newspapers of late. He is known as Christchurch’s Flagman because of his
campaign to retain the current New Zealand flag. He has a Facebook page with about 4,000 likes.
Meetings: 7.30pm second Wednesday of each month, Upper Riccarton Library, 71 Main South Road.
Postal Address: Riccarton Branch NZSG Secretary, 32 Townshend Crescent, Halswell, Christchurch 8025
Riccarton Branch Committee:
Convenor: Kathy Hill 322 6183
Secretary: Judith Pay 322 6367
Treasurer: Betty Campbell 343 2834
Committee: Heather Pearson 347 2558
Jean Sharfe 349 8366
Nicky Sarson
Win Loach 338 4316
Research Advisor: Alan Tunnicliffe 358 4838
Magazine Circulation: Win Loach 338 4316
Librarian: Gaynor Phillips 343 0443
Project Officer: vacant
Auditor: Keith Sharp
Archivist: Jan Sharp 351 5951
Editor: Alan Tunnicliffe alant@snap.net.nz
Please note, that if anyone wishes to get in touch with our branch by e-mail, the official e-mail address to use
is: riccartongenealogy@hotmail.com This e-mail address is monitored by our Secretary and Convenor.
Convenor’s Annual Report
It gives me great pleasure to present the Annual Report of the Riccarton Branch, NZSG for the year ended 31 March
2015.
Number of members Riccarton Branch: 62
Number of members NZSG: 28
Average attendance at meetings: 28
2015 has marked a new start for us – one that I am hopeful will see us remain in our new home for a settled period – or
for as long the Upper Riccarton Library is prepared to host us. The thought of having to find another suitable meeting
room in the near future is quite daunting. Where else will we find warm rooms, readily accessible toilets and free wifi in
a convenient location?
I would like to thank the library for allowing us to meet once a month, at no cost, and for providing storage for our
library books, also at no cost. Negotiations will continue into the foreseeable future over where and how our books are
stored or shelved, but we will always bear in mind that we want our books to be freely available for members’ use. And
that they continue to belong to us!
It is also important to thank St Ninian’s Presbyterian Church for the use of their rooms and for the storage of our books
up till December 2014. They tided us over a fairly rocky period – and always with smiling friendship.
This year we have continued to try to fulfil our mission statements of promoting genealogical studies, providing
assistance for our members and encouraging research into the histories of New Zealand families. To this end we have
run a range of varied meeting activities. Some have been very informative about localities that we come across in our
daily lives, while others have focussed on imparting information that we might be able to use in our research. All part of
building our skills as genealogists.
In May, Lynda Seaton introduced us to some of the symbols used on headstones in Victorian times. A “mistress” of her
topic, she had much to share with us all, and I am sure we all look at tombstones with a much more knowledgeable eye
as a result. Belinda Lansley talked about the books she has written on immigrant ships for our June meeting. Fiona
Lees continued our computer education with a session in the Upper Riccarton Library Computer Suite in July while in
August I had the privilege of telling you a little about my genealogical holiday in the UK. We continued our practice of
involving members in our meetings in September, when Jenny Mayne told us the story of “Finding Colonel Graham”
and the genealogical twists and turns her research entailed.
Once more, in October, we ran a members’ night. Garry Jeffrey started us off with a talk about his family’s involvement
in World War 1, which was followed by members talking about soldier members of their families. Computer databases
were the focus of our meeting in November, when members explained how their data base programs work. We hope
that by showing members which programs we use, they will be able to make educated choices when buying programs
for their own use.
For our Christmas function, Quizmaster Alan Tunnicliffe posed us a series of questions that many of us took wild stabs
at, but at least one team of our members was very genealogically savvy! The rest of us had a good laugh.
On our first meeting night in the Upper Riccarton Library, our regular, very popular speaker Prof Geoff Rice delighted
us with his talk about Victoria Square. He was disappointed that the library’s data projector showed only sepia versions
of his colour photos, which made us very determined to always use our own, reliable, equipment in future. A good
number of us turned up at the Manchester Street Library in March. Several librarians had volunteered to spend the
evening with us, sharing their knowledge about the resources that are freely available there. They must like us, because
they invited us to come back again.
We are hoping to purchase some new books this year, but maybe that will depend on the outcome of our negotiations
with the library over storage and shelving. We spent a small amount of our accumulated funds on a remote controller
for the computer and data projector, and when we remember to set it up properly it has served us very well.
Members of the committee have fulfilled their roles enthusiastically and I have to thank Judith Pay for her work as
Secretary, Alan Tunnicliffe for his work arranging speakers, writing, editing and publishing the newsletter and his
dedication as Research Officer, Win Loach for continuing to run the magazine Round Robin and providing the venue
and supper for committee meetings, Betty Campbell for her work as Treasurer, Jean Sharfe for her attendance at the
Meet and Greet Table, Heather Pearson for spending time with us when the fruit fly permitted and Gaynor Phillips for
her work with our library. I would also like to thank Keith Sharp for continuing to act as our Reviewer and Jan Sharp
for her role as Archivist. Lastly, I would like to thank all members for their continued support and understanding.
Thanks also for attending meetings regularly and participating so willingly. Without you, the branch would not
function.
Kathy Hill
Riccarton Branch NZSG Newsletter, June 2015, page 2
PAPERS PAST UPDATE
In May several new titles were added and other papers had more years added to them. The new titles are:
Alexandra Herald 1902-1948
Wairarapa Standard 1867-1887
Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette 1877-1881
Samoa Times and South Sea Advertiser 1888-1896
Samoa Weekly Herald 1892-1900
Samoa Times 1903-1920 [in English & German]
Details of the other additions are as follows:
The Sun (Christchurch) 1916-1920 [now covers from 1914 to 1920; i.e. the full period of World War One]
Wanganui Herald 1910-1920 [now covers from 1867 to 1920; i.e. all of World War One period]
West Coast Times 1910-1916 [now covers from 1865 to 1916]
Waikato Times July-Dec 1887 [now covers from 1872-1918; i.e. all of World War One]
Thames Advertiser April 1897-March 1898 [now covers from 1874 to 1899]
Hawke’s Bay Herald 1901-1904 [now covers from 1857 to 1904]
ROYAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE (WITHOUT A SURNAME)
Riccarton Branch NZSG Newsletter, June 2015, page 3
FINDMYPAST UPDATE
During the past 6 weeks many more useful databases have been added to this website:
- Australia World War Two POW and Missing records (in the Pacific Theatre)
- Queensland Wills Index 1857-1940
- NSW Returned Soldiers Settlement Files 1906-1960
- Northern Territory Indexes Births 1870-1918, Marriages & Deaths 1870-1913
- England Quaker Births Marriages and Burials 1578-1841
- Southwark St George The Martyr Workhouse records 1721-1826
- Nottinghamshire Burials (for some parishes)
- Yorkshire Baptisms Marriage and Burials (for some parishes)
- Great Britain County Apprentices 1710-1808 (350,000 records)
- Dublin Poor Law Unions records for 4 workhouses 1840-1919
ANCESTRY.COM UPDATE
Added on 21 May:
Victoria, Australia Index to Naturalization Certificates 1851-1928 (images of cards with name, age etc)
Added on 12 May:
West Yorkshire Apprentice Records 1627-1894; Alehouse Licences 1771-1962; Occupations 1792-1930
Added on 11 May:
Oregon Motor Vehicle Registrations 1911-1946
Added on 5 May:
UK Maps Popular Editions 1919-1926
BRANCH LIBRARY UPDATE
Six new CDs are now available for members to borrow, all published by the NZ Society of Genealogists.
a) Early Wellington Settlers [includes Hospital Register 1847-1880; 1940 Centennial Exhibition Visitors
Book; Photos from the Centennial Exhibition; Memorial Inscriptions from Old St Paul’s; Pioneer Roll;
Cemetery Records from Bolton Street, Karori, Johnsonville Methodist, Ohariu Valley R.C. & Anglican,
and Mount Street R.C.; extracts from St Mary’s Catholic Church registers]
b) A Return of Freeholders of NZ (1882) [alphabetical list of every person (and company, etc) who owned
property in NZ in 1882 giving name of owner, place and occupation also size and value of land; all on
one pdf file with 1,188 pages]
c) Discharged in New Zealand [Solders of the Imperial Foot Regiments who took their discharge in NZ
during the period 1840-1870; was originally book compiled by Hugh & Lyn Hughes, then on fiche; all on
one pdf file with 196 pages, the last 65 pages being an alphabetical index of names]
d) Cemetery Records for Waikato, King Country and Taupo [includes transcription and burial records from
approx 120 cemeteries in this region of NZ; all on one pdf file with 3,793 pages]
e) Passenger Lists Outwards from Victoria to NZ 1852-1923 [can search by passenger’s name, ship’s name
or by port of arrival; gives ship name, passenger’s name (often with just initials), age, marital status,
occupation, country of origin, port of departure with date and port of arrival]
f) Naval Chronology of Great Britain 1803-1816 [scanned pages from a book by James Rolfe; has an index;
an historical account of naval and maritime events 1803-1816 with memoirs of officers, official letters,
etc and some illustrations; all on one pdf file with 969 pages]
Riccarton Branch NZSG Newsletter, June 2015, page 4