Hi All, I received my ggg grandmother's WA death certificate today and it indicated that when she died in 1919 she had been in WA for 20 years after spending 50 years in Victoria. Her husband died in 1890 in Victoria and I have been unable to locate the deaths of many of her children in Victoria so perhaps they also went to WA. My first question is why might a family move from Victoria to WA around the turn of the century. Secondly, how can I go about finding out what happened to her children. The surname is quite common THOMAS as are many of the first names. As the index does not include parents names I do not know what to do next. Any suggestions much appreciated. Thanks Michaela Morgan Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

----- Original Message ----- From: "Michaela Morgan" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 5:15 PM Subject: [AUS-WA] Help please? > Hi All, > > I received my ggg grandmother's WA death certificate today and it indicated that when she died in 1919 she had been in WA for 20 years after spending 50 years in Victoria. Her husband died in 1890 in Victoria and I have been unable to locate the deaths of many of her children in Victoria so perhaps they also went to WA. > > My first question is why might a family move from Victoria to WA around the turn of the century. Secondly, how can I go about finding out what happened to her children. The surname is quite common THOMAS as are many of the first names. As the index does not include parents names I do not know what to do next. > > Any suggestions much appreciated. > > Thanks > > Michaela Morgan > Hobart, Tasmania, Australia > Hi Michaela The answer to your first question may summed in one word"Gold" It was very common for this to happen.My grandfather and his brother came over and went to Coolgardie. Secondly,if you have the names you may like to try your luck at the Registrar Generals Office in W.A. or even try posting a message on the Kalgoorlie Region list, someone there may be able to help. Good Luck, Graeme [Perth]

Hi Michaela The Gold Rushes began in WA in the 1880's with discoveries at Roebourne, Halls Creek and other nearby areas in the Far North West of WA in the 1880's. Though these fields attracted many fossickers the lack of Water and distance of these feilds made them unattractive to most. With the Discovery of Gold at Coolgardie in 1892 and By Paddy Hannan and two companions at Kalgoorlie in 1893 80 km's east Of Colgardie followed by finds east and North of Kalgoorlie such as Darlot in 1895, Sons of Gwalia, Leonora circa 1897 and many other finds in the eastern goldfields around this period all over including Southern Cross meant Gold was being found in an area West, South (Kambalda/ Norseman) East of Kal at Bulong to Leonora and even further North covering a hugh area. It is estimated that the population of WA increased fourfold eg 250,000 to 1,000,000 in just ten years. A lot of work for men was also available through the railways during these years as rail lines began to spread across the state (Many were unfortunately abandoned in the 1950's and 1960's) But if kept going would be saving millions on road maintenance and cheaper freight and transport costs nowdays. It is highly likely that your ggg grandmother had some sort of family or some of her children living in WA. What Thomas family is she from? Regards Michael Cheeseman 2x great grandson of Joseph Samuel Thomas b 1855 Staffordshire d 1934 WA Arrived 1897 from NSW to work for WAGR Dorset Parish Transcriptions website Webmaster http://www.rootsweb.com/~engdorse/Dorset.html Western Australian Genealogical Society member # 4520 since 1993 Convict and Historical Research Group member since 93/94 http://www.wags.org.au/mid/4520.htm Perth Dead Persons Society Member http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/research/che01.html Rootsweb List Admin since 1999 Rootsweb Email Lists I am admin for: Australia: AUS-AIF (1914-1918 The Great War), Western Australia: AUS-WA-ABORIGINAL, AUS-WA-ALBANY-REGION, AUS-WA-CONVICT (colonial convicts, Parkhurst boys and their families), AUS-WA-GERALDTON (Region), AUS-WA-KALGOORLIE-REGION, AUS-WA-NORTHERN-REGION (Northern half of WA), AUS-WA-PENSIONER-GUARDS (Army/Marine Pensioner guards, Warders and families) AUS-WA-SOUTHEAST, AUS-WA-SOUTHWEST, AUS-WA-WHEATBELT UK county: DORSET_SOMERSET_WILTSHIRE (list pending) Surnames: ARCHER-UK, BLACK-UK, BOULTON, BUNTER, CHANT, CHAPPEL, CHAPPELL, CHAPPLE, CHEESEMAN-UK, CROXFORD, CORNWALL (Surname), DOGGETT, FREEBODY, HANCHARD, HILE, HYLE, LARKE, LARK, MUDFORD, NOAKES, NOSSIETER, OLDFIELD, SARGEANT, SAMUELS, TOMLINSON-UK, THOMAS-UK, WAKEFIELD-UK -----Original Message----- From: Michaela Morgan [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, 24 March 2003 5:15 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AUS-WA] Help please? Hi All, I received my ggg grandmother's WA death certificate today and it indicated that when she died in 1919 she had been in WA for 20 years after spending 50 years in Victoria. Her husband died in 1890 in Victoria and I have been unable to locate the deaths of many of her children in Victoria so perhaps they also went to WA. My first question is why might a family move from Victoria to WA around the turn of the century. Secondly, how can I go about finding out what happened to her children. The surname is quite common THOMAS as are many of the first names. As the index does not include parents names I do not know what to do next. Any suggestions much appreciated. Thanks Michaela Morgan Hobart, Tasmania, Australia ==== AUS-WA Mailing List ==== Q: Why do WA's cyber-genies hang out at the Perth DPS & use DPS-CHAT-L ? A: Check out: ' http://www.perthdps.com/dps-chat.htm ' ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.461 / Virus Database: 260 - Release Date: 10/03/03 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.461 / Virus Database: 260 - Release Date: 10/03/03

Michaela, My grandmother went to WA from Victoria before the turn of the century with her aunt and her family. Her aunt's husband was a carpenter and he went to work on the building of Fremantle harbour. Perhaps your ggggrandmother went to WA to be with one of her children who did a similar thing. And there was my grandfather, along with thousands of others, who travelled from Victoria to WA in 1891 for gold. Toni Dudgeon McKay in Artarmon, NSW >