Unlocking family stories - Trove part 2

When preparing notes for a session in the library on Using Trove for Family History Research I checked Trove for references to George Mackillop / George Mckillop who was living in Australia in the 1830s.

A search for George Mackillop in a General Search, the name in inverted commas, provided the following results:

• two books - was an article written by George about Australia published in 1839 (NLA) while the other was a book - Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip - containing information about him (this book has been digitised and can be downloaded from the State Library of Victoria.
• correspondence - a series of letters between George Mackillop and John Clark which have been digitised and are available from University of Tasmania
• correspondence to Colonial Office in London including mention of George Mackillop (RHSV)
• map - sketch of Mr Mackillop's route in Australia - copies at NLA and SLV - also available online
• articles in newspapers

Copy of map held at NLA

Because names can be spelt in different ways a search for George Mckillop in a General Search, the name in inverted commas, provided the following results:

• three books with reference to George Mackillop (NLA, SLV & Sale Library) - one has been digitised
• a photo of a memorial cairn in Omeo in recognition of George Mackillop, James McFarlane and George Prendergast (Pendergast) - Monument Australia 
• archived websites - some mentioning George Mackillop
• journal articles about other George Mckillops
• newspaper articles

A search in Pictures, photos, objects section of Trove for "Mackillops bridge" or "Mckillops Bridge" produced a number of images of the bridge.

Part of Frank Hurley Collection NLA

A search in the digitised newspapers provided detailed description of the Mackillop home which was advertised for sale in 1836 and in 1840 a detailed list of furniture for sale. Details are listed in another section of this blog.

The searches showed the variety of material available on Trove collected from many institutions and resources as well as the need to check different spelling and forms of names to locate material. They also demonstrated the need to repeat searches from time to time as new material is constantly being added.