Baby Farming and the Infant Life Protection Act

Although this address by Helen Doxford Harris concerns events during 1890-1900, the issues raised are equally relevant to Port Phillip Pioneers – How did working class women cope if they were sole parents? Most working class women could not afford to go to a...

Records of Early Policing in Victoria

Police Historian Gary Presland described early policing in the Port Phillip District and provided sources of information for reasearch. In May 1836, Police Magistrate George Stewart arrived in the Port Phillip District with Sergeant John Shields and Constable Timothy...

Victoria’s Early Church Records

A few years ago [this was written in 2005] the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages announced plans to release on CD the images and indexes of pre civil registration church records. Since then a number of articles on the subject have appeared in the...

Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan

Roman Catholic Priest Patrick Bonaventure Geoghegan was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was baptised in March 1805. After he was orphaned at an early age some of his relatives sought to have him raised as a Protestant, however a Franciscan priest arranged for his...

Prelude to Eureka

As we approach the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Eureka Stockade much is being done to remind us of the events of 3 December 1854. Unfortunately a lot of what is said and done will be at the expense of the settlers of the Port Phillip District era. Dr....

Dating Family Photographs

Having published a book titled “Dating Family Photos 1850 – 1920”, Lenore Frost gave us some helpful information about old photographs. Early photos were the Daguerreotype, the Ambrotype, the Carte de Visite, Cabinet photos, and postcards. The...