Hi Dale, I've just got back from Mulwala after a great couple of days at the Goulburn-Murray Association of Family History Groups Expo - sold lots of books for our local Geelong District groups. I've been watching the emails but didn't want to reply until I got home and could check my references. I'm pleased you used the process to check the contiguous registrations and found they were all from the Geelong area. I was pretty convinced AYRI was actually Aireys Inlet (with the Y/I being a "different" spelling for Ayreys / Aireys). The one thing you didn't do was give us the names but having found that you were probably referring to children with the surname of BENNETT and PEARSE, I zeroed in on PEARSE because of the PEARSE Cairn at Aireys Inlet. The PEARSE Cairn was covered in the recent Surf Coast Heritage Study Stage 2 and looking at the history notes for that site, it shows that Thomas Butson PEARSE and Martha SPEERING worked the Angahook Run at Aireys Inlet from 1852 until their deaths - Thomas in 1862 and Martha in 1870. So there is no doubt the PEARSE reference was for Aireys Inlet. I don't have a direct reference for the BENNETT child but as that was also in the Geelong region (based on the registration number) and other references for this BENNETT family in the Barrabool Hills region, the odds are in favour of it also being Aireys Inlet - possibly working at Angahook Run or nearby. The Baptism entry for Charles Robert PEARSE, shows he was baptised a few years after he was born at Angahook Station. People from Aireys Inlet at that time would have travelled to their main "supply" centre, being Geelong, and hence probably registered the births at Geelong. Not sure if you were researching the BENNETT family or the PEARSE family or both, but if it's the PEARSE family you might be interested in the book "South Beach Pioneer: history of the PEARSE family" by L G McCONACHY, J B MORRIS & D J ROBINSON, published in 1985. And for other listers, I cannot stress enough that it's really a waste of time guessing the place an abbreviation might refer to - use different options to confirm the place. Hope that helps ............ Susie Z -----Original Message----- From: aus-vic-geelong-district-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-vic-geelong-district-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dale Watts Sent: Friday, 20 November 2009 8:04 AM To: AUS-VIC-GEELONG-DISTRICT@rootsweb.com Subject: [GEELONG] Place name AYRI I have some 1860's Victorian births at AYRI. When I looked at contiguous registrations they are all from the Geelong area. I have searched Google and the Zada website but can find no references to it. Any help appreciated Regards Dale Watts

Many thanks to all who helped with my request Yes the 2 families I had were Bennett and Pearse Thanks again Dale ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susie Zada" <szada@zades.com.au> To: <aus-vic-geelong-district@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 4:54 PM Subject: Re: [GEELONG] Place name AYRI > Hi Dale, > > I've just got back from Mulwala after a great couple of days at the > Goulburn-Murray Association of Family History Groups Expo - sold lots of > books for our local Geelong District groups. I've been watching the > emails > but didn't want to reply until I got home and could check my references. > > I'm pleased you used the process to check the contiguous registrations and > found they were all from the Geelong area. I was pretty convinced AYRI > was > actually Aireys Inlet (with the Y/I being a "different" spelling for > Ayreys > / Aireys). > > The one thing you didn't do was give us the names but having found that > you > were probably referring to children with the surname of BENNETT and > PEARSE, > I zeroed in on PEARSE because of the PEARSE Cairn at Aireys Inlet. > > The PEARSE Cairn was covered in the recent Surf Coast Heritage Study Stage > 2 > and looking at the history notes for that site, it shows that Thomas > Butson > PEARSE and Martha SPEERING worked the Angahook Run at Aireys Inlet from > 1852 > until their deaths - Thomas in 1862 and Martha in 1870. So there is no > doubt the PEARSE reference was for Aireys Inlet. > > I don't have a direct reference for the BENNETT child but as that was also > in the Geelong region (based on the registration number) and other > references for this BENNETT family in the Barrabool Hills region, the odds > are in favour of it also being Aireys Inlet - possibly working at Angahook > Run or nearby. > > The Baptism entry for Charles Robert PEARSE, shows he was baptised a few > years after he was born at Angahook Station. People from Aireys Inlet at > that time would have travelled to their main "supply" centre, being > Geelong, > and hence probably registered the births at Geelong. > > Not sure if you were researching the BENNETT family or the PEARSE family > or > both, but if it's the PEARSE family you might be interested in the book > "South Beach Pioneer: history of the PEARSE family" by L G McCONACHY, J B > MORRIS & D J ROBINSON, published in 1985. > > And for other listers, I cannot stress enough that it's really a waste of > time guessing the place an abbreviation might refer to - use different > options to confirm the place. > > Hope that helps ............ Susie Z > > -----Original Message----- > From: aus-vic-geelong-district-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:aus-vic-geelong-district-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dale > Watts > Sent: Friday, 20 November 2009 8:04 AM > To: AUS-VIC-GEELONG-DISTRICT@rootsweb.com > Subject: [GEELONG] Place name AYRI > > I have some 1860's Victorian births at AYRI. > > When I looked at contiguous registrations they are all from the Geelong > area. I have searched Google and the Zada website but can find no > references > to it. > > Any help appreciated > > Regards Dale Watts > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > For on-line indexes and information on Geelong and District > http://zades.com.au > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-VIC-GEELONG-DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >