'Nor do I doubt
but that this country will prove the most valuable acquisition Great
Britain ever made.' Governor
Arthur Phillip (1783-1792) 'Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the
original term, it would have been to convert it into Australia,
as being more agreeable to the ear and an assimilation to the other
great portions of the earth.' Matthew
Flinders on naming New Holland Terra
Australis.
Welcome to Kevin's Family - Online History Site. This site has grown beyond what I had originally intended to now include Australian history and Australiana, as well as other areas of history of personal interest to me. My research into my family history has resulted in the gathering of much historical information regarding Australia, so I thought that this would give some useful background information regarding
my family's history in Australia.
I have taken myself as the starting point of this family history site - not that I am the most important person in my family, but because this is my own personal web site and I need somewhere to start. I am concerned to share information regarding myself with whoever may be interested and also to provide something of a history for the Lilley (my mother's side) and Matthews (my father's side) families. This is so, both back and forward of the date
April 6, 2002, when I began to build this site. These are not the only families covered by this site, for there are many more that play a vital role in my family's history both as relatives and friends.
This site will grow to include all manner of historically relevant materials, including a family history book (including family tree information), photos, documents, etc. With this in mind I would like to ask that if anyone has anything that they think might be relevant to this site to please pass it on for possible inclusion. This may be done by emailing me at nrbcpastorkev@yahoo.com.au If you aren't sure whether it would be of interest, please pass it on anyway. Even things of a background interest will be helpful (eg history of towns in which people lived, etc).
This site is dedicated to the memory of those who have gone before, including those of the Lilley, Jenkinson, Baggs, Blanch, Matthews, Randall and Webb families, plus many more. Before he died, my grandfather (Arthur John Matthews) asked me to create a 'Matthews museum.' This then is that museum in a manner slightly different to what he thought likely at the time. This site is especially dedicated to him and his desire for such a thing.
If you have some familial relationship to the Lilley or Matthews family as mentioned on this site, or to those mentioned in ancestral comments, etc, I ask you to please consider joining one of the many 'social networking' sites available via this site, whether it be a mail group, the 'Tracing our History' community, etc. These are places where you may perhaps be able to communicate with others in the family and share
historical references and resources with one another. You may even be placed into contact with one another for the first time in a long time. There is even the facility for sharing photos with one another. Also have a look at Tracing our History, my family history Blog site.
There is now a family social network / community that family members can join. The 'Tracing our History' community (social network
/ group) is a community specifically designed for members of my family (no
matter how distant you may be related), providing a wonderful opportunity for family members
to communicate, interact, contribute, and generally get to know and meet one
another via the World Wide Web. But the community here is far more than a family
get together site, as its primary purpose is to assist family members in
'tracing our history' together. It is a site where family members can get
together and share research into our family history in a collaborative manner.
It is a site where these two ideals meet - social networking (within the family)
and researching our history (with the family).
With the various tools available within the community and the
research already available at 'Kevin's Family - Online History Site,' can there
be a better meeting place for family members, spread out around the world, to
get together and work together in tracing our history? Is there a better place
for family members to catch up with relatives we may not have seen for a long
time and meet for the first time those that we perhaps didn't even know existed?
I doubt there is. This keeps it all relatively simple and available through a
central 'portal' if you like.
It is my intention to bring together in this one place, every
avenue of assistance and support that I can, to ensure we have all we need to
trace our history together. There are resources and sites across the breadth of
the Internet, but it will be here that the means will exist for us to pull
together all that we glean from it and make it available for all our family to
delve into.
Tied in with the 'Tracing our History' community will be an opportunity to assist in the building of our family tree. I will be creating a site at Famiva or Geni in the near future. I believe that over
time one of these two sites will prove to be the best of the large number of sites I have
investigated for this purpose. It will however still be some time until this part of the site is ready to go. I am waiting until the current information I have is included in my database and I am able to then upload the gedcom file to the site I choose.
To visit the family tree at Famiva/Geni you will first need to be
invited (which allows our information to remain private and confidential). To be
invited you will need to become a member of the 'Tracing our History' community and an invitation will
then be sent to your email address for Famiva/Geni.
The family tree on this web site will remain only so long as the one at Famiva/Geni is incomplete (while the one
at Famiva/Geni is being constructed). By visiting the link below, I'm sure you'll
agree that the family trees are already quite large and helpful in terms of
family history research. However, I am only too aware that there is still plenty
that can be added. If you are able to assist in updating the tree, contributing
information that will further enhance the tree, etc, please contribute to this
site and pass on the information. I would greatly value your assistance and it
will be of help to not only me, but to others and generations to come. Please
help me to preserve our family history as we together trace our history.
'History' is a community (social network / group) providing a wonderful opportunity for
members to communicate, interact and share with other 'history buffs (amateur
historians)' from around the world. It is a place for those that are very serious in their research, as well as those that just love reading history.
Please have a look at the community and familiarise
yourself with all that is on offer. This platform is in 'Beta' development,
meaning there is still some way to go before it is fully functional and all
features are working in a stable manner (so please be patient).
I would encourage all members of the community to become
actively involved and contribute regularly, thereby making our community all the
stronger and vibrant.
