Miss W. and her Smartboard

It has now been 220 years since Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet of convicts and military arrived in Australia.  At that time, only the indigenous aborigines lived on the land which had been theirs for over 60,000 years and soon the ‘whites’ were taking their hunting grounds, their food as well as their womenfolk.  In the past 220 years, many turning points have happened in Australian history including convict rebellions, the opening up of the land beyond the Great Dividing Range, the discovery of gold, the separation of the states, development of the trade unions, White Australia Policy, development of political parties, participation in war, Federation, conscription, the Great Depression, treaties with our allies, participation in local and overseas sporting events, developing our own music and film industries yet …………..

We still are in conflict with our indigenous people who have a lower standard of living than the average Australian whether they be Aussie born and bred or an immigrant to our shores.  Are they celebrating a Happy Australia Day this year?

Not much time devoted to writing and research today, at least not of the blogging kind. Instead, I have spent about five hours at the Matron’s Cottage of the Cascades Female Factory transcribing conduct records for female convicts arriving in Van Diemen’s Land in 1839 on the ship “Hindostan”. As part of my genealogy, I have found four male and four female convicts in my family. There are many records online for researching convicts sent to Australia. Presently, on SBS TV, they are showing the series “Who do you think you are?” and I found the first Australian episode with Jack Thompson enthralling especially when he found he had a convict in his background. “Australian Royalty”, he exclaimed.