Lights on or off?

Lights on vehicles

This week while exploring some newspapers in Trove I came across an article which puzzled me. Why would vehicles be able to travel at night with no lights as indicated in this snippet from the Kapunda Herald? This was 1913, so think horse and buggy. I could not imagine why a vehicle would need to be exempt and indeed why on particular nights. On looking more closely I could see these exemptions were approximately one month apart and lasted for five nights.

A quick search for the "Lights on Vehicles Act"  explained it all. These were the nights leading up to and including full moon each month. The Act had been brought into force in 1872 in South Australia and reluctantly applied across country towns in the ensuing years.

The 1877 article below explains an ingenious monetary reward method for getting the law enforced. The newspapers report many court proceedings for infringement of this Act.

Love thy neighbour, but if you need money and he doesn't have a light here's a quick earner!

LIGHTS ON VEHICLES ACT.
Act 33 of 1876 extends the provisions of Act 16 of 1872 by making them apply to all main roads in the colony, and streets and cross roads within 50 miles of the city of Adelaide, and 10 miles of any corporate town. It was enacted that all vehicles while travelling on the roads or streets indicated, between half an hour after sun down and half an hour before sunrise (four nights immediately preceding the night of the full moon, and full moon night alone excepted, shall be provided with at least one proper lamp, which shall be kept burning. 

It is also enacted that any vehicle left or placed upon any such street or road after sunset and before sunrise shall be provided with a light on the side nearest the road. The penalty for a breach of the Act is a fine not exceeding 40s. half of which shall be paid to the person laying the information, and half to the Corporation or District Council within whose limits the offence may have been committed.

1877 'LIGHTS ON VEHICLES ACT.', Southern Argus (Port Elliot, SA : 1866 - 1954), 27 September, p. 4, viewed 8 September, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96887808 

This post first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com

The road rises up

As National Family History Month in Australia comes to an end for 2015, here's a wrap up of events held at Noosaville Library.

The program kicked off with a session to guide participants through the process of researching a WWI soldier or nurse, including finding military records, cemetery and battle information.

Particular reference was made to the local Adopt a Digger program which focuses on researching WW1 Diggers and Nurses from the local Sunshine Coast region of Queensland. Attendees benefited from the in depth knowledge of Jane the local heritage librarian and Bob, family history volunteer guru.

The second session was designed to introduce the audience to a wide range family history sites available on the Internet with emphasis on free sites, the major pay sites, portal and gateway sites, archives, libraries, newspapers and so much more. During this 3 hour session various search strategies were demonstrated. Needless to say such depth of material can only be a taster of available online records but for many participants this was their first exposure to a wide range of search techniques and resources previously unknown.

Week 3 brought out the genealogy equivalent of brick walls, not always solid and can often be knocked down with the right tools and approach. Bob detailed the "nitty gritty" of

• gathering information
• understanding the data
• using the laws of probability and averages
• examining the people found
• searching many sources with a range of strategies. 

He then illustrated in three case studies how he systematically searched for clues, families, connections, and approached problems from diverse directions to obtain results.

Today's session on Irish Family History is embedded below with links to a range of sites that Bob and I have both found to be useful. Seven of my great grandparents came to Australia from Ireland, possibly even the eighth, as yet unconfirmed. Many of my husband's ancestors are also Irish.

So at the end of NFHM2015:

May the road rise up to meet you,
May the records suddenly appear,
May the lost ancestor find you,
and appreciate your care. - Carmel Galvin, 2015

 This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com 26th August 2015

Power searching videos

Learn from an expert

The ability to search the internet effectively is a skill everyone needs. There are many online courses and sites to help but why not learn from the experts at Google? If you missed the Power Searching courses presented by Dan Russell, he has now posted all the videos used in the lessons online. Each video is only a few minutes long but by viewing them sequentially one can gain a better understanding of how search works and how to become a more effective searcher.
Learning how to search Google effectively eliminates many frustrations for those not finding their desired results.

Dan has listed all the videos here: 
http://searchresearch1.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/video-content-from-powersearchingwithgo.html
Alternatively you can search for PSWG3 which will find the YouTube channel but I do recommend that you watch them in lesson number sequence to get the best result for your efforts.

Here's the first video to get you started.

One of my favourite search techniques is to use the site operator to search within a site. Dan teaches this technique in Lesson 3 1. Happy viewing and learning!

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/08/power-searching-videos.html