My PRIORITY research areas: John WILLIAMS - wood splitter pre 1873 to 1879 Kangaroo Paddock and Burnt Gully at MARONG AND John HAYBURN, HEYBURN, HEPBURN, HEYBORN, HEYBURN or MCGINNIS, MAGINNIS, MCGUINNESS - miner/woodsplitter/hutkeeper (he used both names). 1850 to 1889 Eaglehawk, Dead Horse Gully, Campbell Forest, Marong (Kangaroo Paddock and Burnt Gully), Fletchers Creek. John HAYBURN's daughter Ellen b c. 1859 (my g/mother) married John WILLIAMS (my g/father) in 1877. I have most certificates for these families. My area of interest is to pin down the EXACT areas they lived in during this period of time, especially in the MARONG area. After the Rush was over, it seems the men took up occupations as woodsplitter and hutkeeper and stayed in the Marong area. A couple of them died at FLETCHERS CREEK and were buried in BULLOCK CREEK cemetery. Please, ANYTHING that could give me an insight into their lives. I may have to eventually pay a 'researcher' to get to some records. It will be a bit cheaper than an airfare! -- Best regards, Julie from CAIRNS mailto:tropikkal@mytown.net.au

Hi everyone, Does anyone remember the VicGold database that used to be on-line through KE Software? It was around 1997/98. Does someone have VicGold on CD? I'm researching a George BROOKER (c.1826 Cambridge, Eng), who sailed to Victoria, Aust. between 1851 & 1856, when he married Christina McDONALD in 1856. (I have the family in Victoria) I would like to know what information VicGold had - this is the reference I found off the Cambridge Family History website.. Victoria Gold Fields Surname References - Search Results Surname Forenames Date of Birth Vic Gold Ref BROOKER George 1825 B22393 'The names extracted here are of Cambridgeshire emigrants to Victoria, Australia during the gold rush. These are indexed references to the VicGold database. Although the database has been withdrawn and sadly it does not seem to have reappeared, these references may be of use. The Australian Vital Records holds the New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania information up to about 1888 and could be used for reference. ' 'The National Heritage Foundation’s VicGold database contains information about 638,000 individuals and 98, 000 families and covers Victoria's gold rush era . This information was extracted from birth, death and marriage certificates and early church records. The creation of the database was funded by Multi Media Victoria.' I've googled and some websites have implied that the Vic BDM database was built from the VicGold database. However, as far as I can see the Vic BDM's is purely BDM's. Unless they're referring to the Marine Index? *************************** Kind regards, Sherrie. Sydney, NSW.