Hello all (again) I am doing a collective response (at this time) to all those who have responded to my request for biographical info and pics of the women who signed. I hope to get individual responses away to you in the next week or so, but work commitments and "life" presently prevent this. Could I just clarify and respond to a couple of the things mentioned in the responses..... * Once sufficient is collated to make it worthwhile I will put the database up through one of the societies/groups I am involved with for "web" access. So fear not another database to search is looming in the wings ....... * At this point - (though this may change) I am principally concerned with the signatures that appear in the Gippsland region and not of those women who had connections with Gippsland but signed elsewhere - but - as I said this may change and really depends on just how much information comes forward. In the ideal world we would have a database of ALL women who signed. (one day ..... maybe) * The error with the Goochnan entry for Picnic Point (which I also believe to be Goodman) was one of the first things I noticed when I looked at the digitised images. I beleive that there are a couple of other errors also. This is by no way a criticism of the magnificant job that has been done with the transcribing. It is purely "local knowledge" (and almost forty years of dealing with hand written records) that gives me an advantage when reading old documents. I am sure that other local researchers are in the same position to confirm the names. * The rational and actual physical process of who and how the petition was signed is of great interest. One of the things that I find most interesting is that areas of a remote and isolated nature (like Omeo, Walhalla and Orbost) have a high percentage of signatures - while other areas with denser settlement patterns and population and an easier terrain - like Sale - have no signatures. Thank you all .... I will be in touch individually to follow up on the information. Debbie Squires