Moonee Valley Family & Local History Blog

Over the last year or so over 200,000 pages of Australian Jewish newspapers from between 1871-2008 have been digitised and made available online via Trove. This is thanks to a collaborative project between the National Library of Australia (NLA), the National Library of Israel (NLI) and the Australian Jewish Historical Society (AJHS). The following titles can now be found in Trove: § The Australian Jewish Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1920 - 1933) § The Australian Jewish News (Melbourne, Vic. : 1935 - 1999) § The Australian Jewish News (Melbourne, Vic. : 2000-2020) § Australier Leben = Australian life (Melbourne, Vic. : 1931 - 1933) § The Westralian Judean (Perth, WA : 1924 - 1925; 1929 - 1955) § The Australian Hebrew Times (Sydney, NSW : 1894) § The Dialectic : Jewish Monthly (Fitzroy, Vic. : 1875) § The Australian Zionist Pioneer (Sydney, NSW : 1929)   § The Australasian Hebrew (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1896)   § The Australian Jewish Chronicle (Sydney, N...

We’re still in the depths of what feels like a never-ending Melbourne winter, but not to worry- our friends at Trove have some ideas to keep us cosy in these chilly months. Usually the first thing that comes to the mind of this Community Heritage Librarian when thinking of Trove is research! But there is so much more to explore, and the experts at Trove have put together some handy searches to help us make the most of the digital resources that are available. Thos. [Thomas] W. Mitchell, Victorian Attorney-general, busily knitting in his office, 1951 . Courtesy of State Library Victoria. If you’re a knitter, quilter or embroiderer, there are some fantastic vintage knitting patterns available to keep your fingers nimble and warm this winter. Some simple searches put together by Trove are available via the links below- Winter knitting patterns in newspapers Quilting patterns in newspapers Embroidery patterns in magazines and journals You can further customise your search by using the f...

Interested in getting started with researching your Family History? Join us on Zoom for a Family History Online class. Discover free online tools such as Ancestry, Find My Past and Trove and learn basic skills and techniques to discover more about your family’s past. In this 2 hour class we'll discuss how to begin researching your family history, particularly using online research tools. The content is aimed at beginners, so covers how to get started, as well as some basic tips and tricks that are important to keep your research in order and on track. The main focus of the session will be on online research tools that you can use for family history research. In particular, we'll be focusing on Ancestry and Find My Past (two fantastic family history research databases that can be accessed for free by Moonee Valley Library members), as well as the Trove website - which is, as the name suggests, an amazing treasure trove of historical information. If time permits we'll also co...

New year, new reading. The folks at Trove are always working hard to bring us ever more digital resources that we can access from anywhere with an internet connection. Despite the challenges of recent times, they have continued to deliver, as always! Check out what’s new in February . Man and two boys reading 'Australasian' newspaper, country edition , 1910-1920. Photograph by Lindsay Cumming, courtesy of State Library Victoria. Many Victorian newspapers have been digitised for the first time, and are now available to access through Trove. Several of these digitisation projects have been funded by family history organisations or local historical societies, who are now able to share their physical resources with us in digital form. One close to home example is the Brunswick and Coburg Leader , from 1914-1921- now you can discover what was going on in our neighbouring suburbs around that time! A quick search for some Moonee Valley suburbs in this publication delivers such ge...

2020 was a year of getting back into the kitchen for a lot of us, since we were all spending a lot of time at home! Quarantine cooking was definitely a way of life for some, and many of us experimented with sourdough starters, growing our own veggies, and making epic quantities of Bolognese sauce. But there’s only so many times you can face a bowl of Bolognese at the end of a long day… run out of dinner ideas? Feeling nostalgic about your favourite childhood dishes? Need some new (old) inspiration? Trove has all the answers. The wonderful folks at Trove have put a spotlight on vintage recipes, and have created a handy guide for how to find them amongst all the online resources that Trove make available. Search through newspapers and gazettes, magazines and newsletters, and even books and libraries to find a little spark of culinary inspiration. You might not even plan to cook the recipes you discover, but you will be sure to enjoy stepping back in time and seeing what food fads were t...

Group of men reading newspaper broadsheets Drawing by S. T. Gill (1818-1880) courtesy of State Library Victoria Have you noticed that Trove is looking a little different these days? Trove is a one stop shop for all your Australian research needs, and is a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and hundreds of Partner organisations around Australia. From late June 2020, Trove has been updated with a fresh new interface and a bunch of new features to help you get the most out of your research. You can read the story behind the new design and features here , before getting stuck into finding your way around the new layout. Explore the extensive collection of digitized Australian content- newspapers, government gazettes, photographs, maps, journals and even sheet music! Can’t find something on the new look Trove that you could on the old version? There some handy hints for making the most of the new layout here , along a great how-to video for a broad introduction...

For today's Things to do Thursday, take a step back in time from the comfort of your own home with the Australian Women's Weekly. Centenary of Municipal Government in Essendon 1961 Historic issues of the much loved Weekly are online, thanks to Trove! The National Library of Australia has digitised issues of the Australian Women's Weekly from 1933 to 1982, in their entirety and in glorious colour. Explore some light reading from the week of your birth, or around the time of a significant historic event. There are articles, recipes, knitting patterns, crosswords, quizzes and beauty tips from throughout the decades- plenty of activities to try and new skills to learn to keep you entertained at home. https://trove.nla.gov.au/aww

Anzac Day in 2020 will be very different. Marches and other gatherings may  have been cancelled but you can still honour those who served in other ways by doing a little research and sharing the information. The starting  point is the  Australian War Memorial (AWM) which has a number of records available online including the poignant Red Cross Wounded and Missing Files. AWM also provides useful links to other sites such as the National Archives of Australia (NAA)  and the Commonwealth War Graves .  Both NAA and AWM have research guides to assist you. Memoriams are another poignant reminder of the cost of war and they can be found by searching through Trove , particularly in local newspapers. Most newspapers from 1914 to 1918 have been digitised and are available to view in full. They are a valuable reminder of that period in our history. Record the information you gather so that you can share it with others. There are many digital platforms avail...

The wonderful Trove has recently added a great new resource: the Commonwealth of Australia Government Gazette from 1901-1957 is now available, and is even fully text searchable. A notice advising of the retirement of a postmistress from Flemington The Gazettes publicized a broad range of governmental administrivia as it happened, creating fascinating snapshots of the workings of the Australian federal government. And as they are text searchable they could be an interesting source for family history. Government appointments are listed, as well the results of public service exams and the names of people taking out Australian citizens, so there is great potential to find out a little more about the lives and work of any ancestors who had interactions with the Australian government. You'll find all kinds of notices: tender statements, governmental appointments, colonial despatches and legal decisions.

Image sourced from National Library of Australia Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/National.Library.of.Australia As part of National Family History Month the National Library of Australia and Trove are working together to answer your family questions. Today from 4:00pm AEST jump on their Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/National.Library.of.Australia  and ask them anything that might help you with your family history. If you need any more help with discovering your Family History come into any Moonee Valley library branch and ask one of our friendly staff for advice.

Item source: Moonee Valley Libraries Begin investigating your own family history with these classes which will give you an introduction to the online databases Ancestry, Find My Past and Trove. Learn the skills and techniques needed to discover the details of your family’s past.  The best part, it's free! Classes will run: Tuesday, 7 June 2016 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM Sam Merrifield Library - 762 Mount Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds, VIC 3039 To book for this class click here  or call 8325 1950 Thursday, 16 June 2016 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM Niddrie Library - 483 Keilor Rd, Niddrie, VIC 3042 To book for this class click here  or call 8325 1925 Friday, 15 July 2016 from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM Avondale Heights Library and Learning Centre - 69-79 Military Rd, Avondale Heights, VIC 3034 To book for this class click here  or call 8325 1940

Recently it was announced that the Federal Government's efficiency dividend would be making cuts of $20 million from cultural institutions. One of the implications of these cutbacks has been to the National Library of Australia's Trove database.  Trove allows everyone to search collections from cultural institutions across the country. They are also the largest organisation digitising collections for institutions, as well as providing grants for libraries, museums and historical societies to do the same. Trove has been seen as a world leading database which other national institutions are now trying to copy. Trove has digitised hundreds of newspapers, maps, images as well as books and articles. It is now the first port of call for most people looking to research local or family history. Around 70,000 people use Trove everyday. However with these cuts taking place 22 jobs at the National Library will be lost, with most of these coming from the digitisation department ...

Trove is back online. After a week of tinkering Trove 7 is now live and able to be used again. Some of the updates that have been made include the publishing of the NSW Government Gazettes from 1832-2001. One of the big changes has been to newspaper searching. Gone is the map of where you would like to click, replaced with a narrowing search field that pops across the front of the screen. While this might take some getting used to, it allows for articles to be found faster than before. To discover what's new click here.  

Trove is changing! The National Library of Australia online resources database is getting a facelift and will get some improvements. To do this Trove will be shut down from 5pm AEDT on Monday 22 February until Thursday 25 February. This means that Trove will not be working for a few days while the update takes place. Some of the new features that will be coming include a simplified interface to make finding items easier, customisable viewer displays to help you see items the way you want to see them and a new browse feature to netter display results. If you are looking for help with finding resources during this time, ask the staff at any Moonee Valley Library branch to see if they have something that might help with your historical research, or you can go directly to the sites that Trove gathers it's information from. For more information about the update to Trove visit here. Trove logo sourced from National Library of Australia website: http://www.nla.gov.au/media/trove...

 Since its inception a couple of years ago The National Library of Australia’s Trove website has been a wonderful resource for anyone interested in history or genealogy. Trove gives you access to Australian and online resources including books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives and more. Information is continually being added so if you will always find something new to look at. A wonderful example is The Australian Women’s Weekly, which has been digitised from 1933 to 1982. This is a great social history resource and is full of interesting and surprising articles along with  fashion, craft and cooking guides.