New Website for Armidale & New England History - Aboriginal History

[pocketrocket]

A lot more entries have been made on the New England Index of Aboriginal People. Link is above. 650 records now and many more to put on. PM me if you have any specific names you want me to check with my collection. 

Happy hunting.

Caroline

[pocketrocket]

Hi Everyone,

I am still working on this project after 9 years! Have been updating the website recently and have nearly 700 historical documents indexed that refer to Aboriginal people in the New England, New South Wales from 1848-1956.
I have met many people who have used the site over the years which makes me happy. :-)  Hope everyone has a nice break over the Chirstmas period.

Regards,

Caroline

[majm]

Hi     

I was away when you posted, sorry. 

Just as a gentle reminder to other RChatters who may be interested in Aboriginal family history, the NSW State Library's collection of Electoral Rolls is very handy, and exceeds the current holdings of various commercial online websites. 

I have previously posted on other RChat threads re this, and I again share:

From NSW State Library web page
http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/content.php?pid=367120&sid=3112777
"DID YOU KNOW?
Aboriginal people of New South Wales have been eligible to vote since 1858. Few Aboriginal people were aware of their right to vote so it's surprising how many actually appear on the earlier rolls. It's only since 1984 that all Aboriginal people have been required to enrol to vote."

1858 -  yes, 19th century - yes, this is generally accepted as when Universal MALE suffrage commences in NSW - 21 years and over, and born as British Subjects, or naturalised as British Subjects, ....

JM

[kazan]

in reply to the following message
George reilly and Solomon toliman were brothers, William russell was their cousin, paddy morrowin was their uncle. Charles skeritt was also a cousin and the surname later changed to sheritt. im assuming tommy Sammy was jelick. I am the 4th great grand daughter of George Riley/Reilly. 


ot sure if you are still interested in various early records, and of course the following is not from the New England District but

NSW Electoral Roll for CAMDEN 1870 has the following entries with the word “(aboriginal)” or “(ab.)”  in brackets under the heading Christian and Surname for the following

George CHIPPENDALE, residence at Burragorang
Paddy MORROWIN, residence at Burragorang
George REILLY, residence at Burragorang
William RUSSELL, residence at Burragorang
Tommy SAMMY residence at Burragorang
Charles SKERITT residence at Burragorang
Soloman TOLMAN, residence at Burragorang
Thomas WRIGHT, residence at Burragorang

The returning officer for that Electoral District was J M ANTILL, and he certified the roll on 4 July 1870 at Jarvisfield, Picton.

[majm]

Welcome,

I typed a great reply,  but it has been snaffled up by cyberspace.

It mentioned Paul Irish and his book, Hidden in Plain View.  Excellent thorough resources there,  fresh original info.

JM on e reader that snaffles posts. 

[kazan]

Two great books about the Gundungurra people of burragorang valley are. Gungalook the burragorang aboriginal Riley family and the new one Aboriginal people of burragorang both by Dr Jim Smith. We contributed to both books the second one is basically a big family tree most of the valley Aboriginal families were related either thru blood or marriage.

[kazan]

Being related to William Russell, George Riley and myangarlie has made our search much easier. Solomon is a bit of a mystery we have his birth registered as a toliman. We later have him listed as Solomon Riley in a newspaper article in 1910 about the flood in 1864 when he and George saved a local settlers son from drowning. Other then that we have very little info on him. George Riley is thought to be the first Aboriginal man to be place on the Electrol roll. I think if they weren't so prominent in the local area our search would be much harder