Can you help our research?

 

Our thanks to all the families, friends and descendants that have helped us with fact-checking and photos for our publications. 

If you can help us with the following information or have insights into any of our published stories, we’d love to hear from you by email or on our Facebook page:

Ella McGoldrick, soprano – Grave Tales: Qld’s Great South West (due out Oct 2019)

  • Ella was a star in her hometown of Toowoomba and making a name for herself on the national stage, when she accidentally fell to her death. We have a small head shot of Ella from the newspaper in 1916, but would love a shot of Ella on stage or with her family. Her brother was Reverend Father William McGoldrick who was based at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Toowoomba for some time.

Baillie Henderson Hospital (Willoburn Mental Asylum), Toowoomba – Grave Tales: Qld’s Great South West (due out Oct 2019)

  • We are seeking any photos of the asylum in the era 1900-1930, especially involving the Fancourt McDonald family and Dr Reginald Whishaw.

Murphy Creek railway disaster (outside Toowoomba) – Grave Tales: Qld’s Great South West (due out Oct 2019)

  • We would love to feature a wedding photo or family photo of Patrick McCarthy and wife Jane originally from Rosewood;
  • John Frederick Freese and his wife, Anna, also originally from Rosewood; and,
  • Barbara and James Little of Laidley.

The Wood family – Grave Tales: Brisbane Vol 1

  • Does anyone have a photo of Grace, Meta or Rosita Wood from Coorparoo?

 Dawn Peters – Grave Tales: Great Ocean Road

  • Who is Dawn Peters and why does she have two broken headstones reading “Someone cares” in the Lorne cemetery?

Jack (John) Denholm/Denham – Grave Tales: Great Ocean Road

  • Does anyone know the family tree/ancestral line for John (Jack) Denholm/Denham, the young man who died on the La Bella in Warrnambool?
  • Were his parents Lewis and Ellen and did they emigrate to Australia?
  • Did John (Jack) have any siblings?

Mollie Thompson – Grave Tales: Bruce Highway

  • Are any of Mollie’s descendants open to sharing their thoughts about what happened to Mollie?
  • Does anyone have a family photo?

Sarah Riches, Ladies of the Lighthouse (Cape Otway) – Grave Tales: Great Ocean Road

  • Would any of Sarah’s descendants have a photo of Sarah, or Sarah with her family – husband Thomas Riches, and four sons, James, Edward, William, John?
  • After spending years in the Sunbury Asylum, Sarah the mother of nine children who followed her husband to Australia for a new start, lies in an unmarked grave somewhere in Sunbury General Cemetery.

Mary Birch – Grave Tales: Bruce Highway

  • It has been a struggle to find an image of Mary Birch, of Birch Carroll and Coyle fame. Mary was an influential businesswoman of her era, and also at one staged was a lessee of Rockhampton’s Criterion Hotel. We’d love to find an image of this amazing lady.

Eliza Emily Donnithorne – Grave Tales: Sydney

  • Believed to be the possible inspiration for Charles Dickens’ character, Miss Havisham in Great Expecations, no formal portrait or painting seems to exist of Eliza, which is unusual given she was from a well-to-do family. Has anyone seen one?

Photo: The Goltz clan.