digitised newspapers

Do you know about TROVE?

2 Comments

Hello again everyone,

It’s been a while since I have posted but I am glad to say that I am back from my 4 weeks holiday back in Jersey, Channel Islands.  I had a fantastic time catching up with so many family and friends every day. I also managed to do quite a bit of family research, visiting of cemeteries and a two day trip to Guernsey with my mum. So I have plenty of new stuff to blog about and share with you. The first thing I would like to share with you is an Australian resource called TROVE. I went to listen to a speaker at the local library this morning, who explained to us how TROVE works and what it provides. I have dabbled with it a few times and found useful and interesting snippets of information. What is it? It is a collection of Australian newspapers that have been digitised for your  use. Not only is it free but you can use it without signing up.

So for those of you that have ancestors that may have been to Australia in the past this may be of some use to you. Here are some quick facts to help you:

  • it includes Australian Newspapers generally up to the end of 1954
  • it includes the first 50 years of The Australian Women’s Weekly
  • it includes photos, books, journals, maps
  • it includes archived websites (Pandora)

I typed in the surname Rabet as I know that my great grandfather travelled to Australia in 1929. This is what I came across:

Monday 3 May 1948Next issue

The Daily News – Perth WA –                          Monday 3 May 1948 Next issue

I don’t know yet if this John Rabet is related but the good thing is that now I know about him and I have another mystery to solve. But I did discover his age, which meant he was born in 1928 and the fact that he was in the R.A.N. The Royal Australian Navy.

The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 – 1929)

This image above is of another example where I have found John Rabet in the old digitised newspapers. (Don’t know yet if it is the same guy). I have taken a screenshot of how the search looks. On the left is the text which you are allowed to correct. The green section is a bit where I corrected the spellings. As the articles are so old and use old font the computer can interpret the words incorrectly.

Ann, the lady who presented the talk explained that she can spend as much as 50 to 60 hours per week on correcting the text. This is as a volunteer. I think this is wonderful and this reminds me of all the family historians I have met that are generous with their time and knowledge.

I hope you find Trove useful too and have fun scrolling thorough the digitised newspapers and more!