At 10:00 22/12/03 +1100, Marlene wrote: >Hi Listers, and Season's Greetings to all, >Just to add to this subject...being fairly new to this List and to Rootsweb Lists in general, I was also wondering about the protocol on answering requests. But, I came to the conclusion that the whole idea of subscribing to these lists is to talk back and forth about family history subjects related to the area that interest you so that everyone can be included in the 'discussion'. In addition, it also gets a little confusing to know what you've sent to the list and what to an individual and sometimes we 'List watchers' only get half the story! I think it's a very quick matter to delete the messages that aren't relevent to my field of interest. >If we all just sent messages back and forth to each other in the background - then this List would become redundant and we would end up with no list activity at all - except perhaps for a few NEW queries from time to time. I have already noticed on this list where someone recently said something like - there doesn't seem to be too much being discussed on this List. Perhaps, if we all had the chance to read what people are discussing and researching, then we'd feel included and all learn something. >Congratulations to Danielle, >Best wishes, >Marlene I agree Marlene, I'll repost some of my current interests here now. I can't do family trees for nutz. And when it gets more remote than my granparents I get confused trying to comprehend relationships, so I'm not a good family historian of the 'geneological' type but I make up for it by being also interested in the history of the places and the times. I'm interested in the convicts of the Sydney colony, including Molly Morgan who wasn't a relative of mine but came on the same ship as my ancestor Ann Reffin (Experiment, 1804). I'm also particularly interested in the Castlereagh area. Generally I'm interested in things such as in "Dharug and Dungaree", the history compilation on Penrith area; and also in the mass relocations of the Irish/Celts in general ~ the protestanisation of them in England-Scotland, and re-plantation back into Northern Ireland, and the later migrations to the new world of the Americas (Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Buffalo Bill .. practically all of the frontiersmen were Irish, and the "hillbilly/redneck" culture of the US in the Appalachians, and less so in Texas etc., is claimed by many to directly descend from the many Irish who went there. Am also organising a meeting at Castlereagh next year to commemorate the arrival of Ann Reffin, from whose union with David Burns, many people (of a wide range of surnames) descend. This will commemorate the passing of 200 years from when Ann's transport ship sailed into Sydney Harbour, carrying many other female prisoners besides herself to the young penal colony. I also hope that it might lead to some standing links between the various surname family history groups who can trace back to her. Ann married David in Australia and most of the offspring and spouses moved to Castlereagh where there was association by intermarriage to the Lees and others. As many on this list know, Mr John Lees donated a sacred acre of his land to Wesleyanism which came to the colony in 1812. John Lees then built there a small Wesleyan chapel, the first in Australia (maybe the first in the southern hemisphere???). I'd be interested to see a small museum arise for Castlereagh, as it is such a historic area. The area, although small, is highly significant in Australian history. It has the first Wesleyan chapel and the first Catholic cemetery (non-offical and started at a time when Catholicism was still suppressed or not recognised officially in the colony -- but nonetheless still the first), the first academy of higher learning (Castlereagh Academy) which was well regarded and was run by Rev. Henry Fulton who buried Ann and later on was buried close to her. A student of the small Castlereagh Academy also produced the first Australian-published native-born poetry, and a poem "Fair Castlereagh" which contains possibly one of the first laments for the change to the environment through the cutting down of the bush. Next year, 2004, is also the 200 year celebration of the Castle Hill or Vinegar Hill uprising of a significant number of Irish convicts working on a prison farm. Quite a number of Irishmen has been transported or exiled to New South Wales following the failed 1798 Irish war of independence. Ann's convict husband David came here with one shipload of this group of transportees and apparently had been sentenced in Dublin for involvement or sympathy with the 1798 uprising although no papers survive to show definitively why he was sent to Australia. [David himself was not associated with the uprising, and in fact was given a job as a Constable not long after his arrival in Australia]. Well, that very quickly is some of my interests again. Seasons Greetings, John Byrnes (Strathfield)