No 30
Did you know? The year 1752 saw two major changes to the calendar. Until then, the year had always started on 25 March; now, as part of the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Day would be 1 January. Additionally, and more controversially, 11 days were lost in September in order to bring England into line with the rest of Western Europe.
Thomas Highland.
The article in the last History Room News re Thomas Highland’s house prompted me to do a little research, mainly at the request of a couple of the volunteers in the History Room.
Thomas died as the result of an accident in being thrown from the saddle and notes in the History Room records show that his death occurred on 2 April 1854 and that a Coronial enquiry was held on 4 April 1855. (Oddity number 1, a Coronial enquiry 12 months after the death). In a search of the Death registers the registration of his death could not be found. The Encounter Bay registers do not commence until 1856, likewise Wellington also starts from 1856 and Willunga from 1855. This meant that the death should have been registered in Adelaide, but a search of the Adelaide registers did not turn up anything either. (Oddity number 2, his death was not registered).
This warranted further research so when I was on duty at the Genealogical Society library one day I spent some spare time looking further into this and in discussion with other members it was stated that sometimes a death subject to a Coronial enquiry was not registered. This cleared up oddity number 2.
As for the remaining matter of the 12 month gap between the death and the enquiry, the Burial Register for the Old Goolwa Cemetery indicates his burial was April 1855 and a check with Cr Frank Tuckwell’s records came up with the actual headstone inscription which gave his death as 3 April 1855 and also recorded the burial of one of his children in the same grave. This cleared up oddity number 1.
So it appears that the record in the History Room needs to be corrected and his death should be noted as 3 April 1855.
It was also recorded that Thomas died intestate, so I also searched the Government Gazettes for an entry from the Curator of Intestate Estates, this involved searching the Gazettes page by page as the indexing can be a bit hit and miss at times. I didn’t find anything, but may not have searched far enough in the time I had. More time will be needed.
The official program is out for the SA Wooden Boat and Music Festival at Goolwa, to be held 10th-12th March www.woodenboatfestival.com.au celebrating the 10th Festival with many new highlights – 3 new music stages with top music acts, and a world first with the Ngarrindjeri traditional raft making workshops. It should be a great three days.
The Friends of the Goolwa Library will hold their usual Book Sale, the same weekend on 9th & 10th March, with a Sausage Sizzle to be held in the courtyard on Saturday 10th .
Genealogy help is available by appointment on Thursdays, to guide you through your research. Please phone the Library on 8555-7000 to make an appointment. For comments, suggestions or to receive this newsletter – email
historyroom2004@yahoo.com.au or phone me, Dawn Juers on 8555-2885.
Back copies of this newsletter can be sourced on the Alexandrina Council website –
http://www.alexandrina.sa.gov.au/site/page/cfm
Back to History Room Newsletters
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.