I can hear a collective sigh of relief from my family, friends and work colleagues.  Why?  Because now I have someone else to share my family history discoveries with.  Well, I hope so anyway.

Over the last 15 years or so researching my family history, I have come across so many wonderful stories and characters, that I feel the need to share them.  These stories are not  just from own family. I often find myself sidetracked researching  families that marry into my own and as a result, I have gathered information on many other families from the district.   I also some favourite Western District resources that may help others with their research.

I intend to share some of my favourite newspaper articles about the Western District I have found at the National Library of Australia’s Trove Digitised Newspapers site.   These articles  reveal stories of my family and offer an understanding of the times of my pioneering ancestors from fires and floods to ploughing competitions and disease.  I have learnt so much about Western District life in the late 1800s from reading The Argus or The Camperdown Chronicle and often myself lost in their pages before snapping back to reality…oh no, its school pick up time!

My research centres on the areas around Hamilton and includes towns such as Glenthompson to the west, Balmoral to the north, Casterton to the West and Port Fairy to the south any many in between.   But I also have family links further afield in Colac, Geelong, and Ballarat.

So now when I get that genealogy itch and I need to scratch it,  I will be here and from what I’ve heard, that itch is fairly contagious, so maybe I will find you here too.