Postcards from Australia: Christmas Edition (Part One)

Back by popular demand (well not really, back because I saved these cards specially) are three special Christmas editions of the Postcards from Australia series of posts I ran earlier in the year.

Like the previous postcards this was sent by William Joseph Henry BATEMAN and his wife and family back to his family in England. As you can see below this one was sent to his mother “with love and best wishes” for Christmas 1912, presumably in an envelope as there is no stamp or postmark.

The artwork on the card (The Call To Breakfast) is obviously by the same artist as the previous postcards I featured, but I wouldn’t really consider it a Christmas scene. I am not sure what is in the cut-out at the top, the plastic film covering it is disintegrating, revealing the “chips from the nuggets of gold”.

Postcards from Australia: At The Shaft

This postcard in another postcard that was sent “home” to England by the BATEMAN family of Australia, this one was sent by the wife of William Joseph Henry BATEMAN to her sister-in-law (Dorothy) May BATEMAN. The picture is another of the Australian Series by the artist J. Hutchings, and the card itself is a little worn around the edges.

The card was sent on the 7th January 1908 (although it may have been the 1st) and serves as a thank you letter for Christmas cards and gifts. Postcards like this are great because they prove that there was still a connection with the family back home, I often wonder when people leave home, especially when they leave the country, whether they actually remained in touch.

What is particularly nice about this message is the reference to Siddie (Sidney Ambrose BULL), Annie’s son from her first marriage. I wonder what those books were that he was so proud of? It is pleasing to see that despite not being William’s son he was accepted as part of the family. Sidney would have been around eight or nine years old at the time.

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas to all the readers of this blog. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my posts. May Father Christmas makes all your wishes and dreams come true at this special time of year.

Christmas vs. Genealogy

I’m afraid to say Christmas won the day. For the third Saturday in a row I haven’t done any family history research.

I am slightly worried that I am not going to get my family tree chart printed in time for Christmas, because next week is looking quite busy, but I am sure I can find time to get to the print and copy shop.

Today an old friend and I met up for a pre-Christmas day out, featuring the cinema, pizza and slipping around on icy pavements. The film was A Christmas Carol in 3D, which wasn’t a bad film, although I am not sure it was that much different to (or better than) any of the previous films of the same name.

To my colleagues (or rather ex-colleagues now) this may come as a surprise, as I did say that the only Christmas film I was going to watch over Christmas was Die Hard. Perhaps I am not really Scrooge after all.

As Monday is the last posting day for Christmas I decided that I needed to get my Christmas cards done this evening. I am pleased to say they are all ready to be dropped into the post-box tomorrow morning, apart from the ones that I will be delivering by hand over the next few days.

Weekly Genealogy Preview (for week 51)

Week 51, that must mean it is almost Christmas and my Christmas Tree Project is not completed. Everything this week needs to be geared towards getting it completed. It doesn’t help that I didn’t get much work done on it last week or this weekend.

• Create the headshot photos and the ‘blank’ headshot photo, and link them to my ancestors.
• Make sure I have text scheme for the ancestor’s boxes on the chart defined and showing all the information I want.
• Carry on filling in the missing gaps. There are not many more that I can do from home, but I could do with spending some money on the 1911 census but that will have to wait until after Christmas.
• Check with the print and copy shop that they will be open next week and they can print my family tree in time, otherwise I am going to be in trouble.