Gloria Thank you for the email, I have all the information regarding the Brisbane side of the family as William is my mother's grandfather, what I have had problems with is finding him in England and now I have found him listed in the Police Gazette as being charged in Cooktown and doing 2 months time at the Rockhampton Goal and when he was discharge he appears to have gone back on board a ship and then deserted in NSW before he came to Brisbane. Maybe he was here before but I can't find him before he married here in the late 1870s and he died in 1882. The bit about the Lodge is interesting as there was nothing to indicate he had been a member but those types of records are not usually held at State Archives as they are not a Government Dept. I now have to check the Cooktown Court book (If Archives have) it to see if there is any other what other information there is on him. I couldn't answer before as I had a crook modem and Telstra had to replace the one they put in when they changed the phone lines over to the fibre optic cabling courtesy of Anna Bligh as the new hospital being built for the Mater wanted the land where the old Exchange was situated. Thanks again Barbara -----Original Message----- From: Gloria Sheehan Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 8:09 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [AUS-QLD] Re a William Wathen deserted from the Kate Conley 1875 Hi Barbara I had a quick look at the BDM's and found your grandfather Archibald as well as three siblings, two of whom appear to have died before William himself passed away. Would that be correct? The state archives at Runcorn might have more dedicated information than the state library at Southbank, although I've always found the latter excellent. However the QSA holds a lot of original documentation. Because the "Kate Conley" only plied up and down the east coast of Australia, I don't know what the QSA might hold in respect of other records for her but I do know that when I was researching my great grandparents, who arrived on the "Earl Russell" in 1864, I was able to locate records of the court cases of a couple of the crew members from that voyage as well as other reports. If that was indeed your William who was a member of the Loyal Orange Lodge and for whom the fundraiser was held in August 1882, I wonder if the QSA might hold any of those records or direct you to where they might be held. Maybe there could be something in there that might help. I know nothing about lodges but guess there would be some sort of membership record that might hold a clue. The Loyal Orange Lodge looks to still have its office in Merton Rd, Woolloongabba so it might be worth a call. Gloria Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... Thank you! ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message