Monday, January 23, 2012

Bass Strait People 1790 - 1850: Aborigines, Sealers & Others

This is a great site and it's still a work in progress which means, of course, it can only get better.  We came across it in our search for a man who died in Hobart Town in 1808.  An ordinary man with an ordinary name - a man who didn't do anything spectacular enough to make him newsworthy.  William Rook was his name and William, we are told by the researcher seeking him, may have been a sailor and it was possible that he'd arrived in the colony as early as 1804.  And what do you know, as we trolled the net looking for this man, up popped this great site with its list of Aboriginal women who were taken by sealers to Bass Strait, a list that names those women and the men with whom they were associated, women not from VDL who were living with sealers in Bass Strait, and much much more.

Anyway, we found William Rook on this site,  on a list of sealers in Bass Strait and other Australian waters in 1806 and while we can't be sure, yet, that he's the William Rook we want, his presence on this list has given us a starting point.

If you're interested in early colonial history in general, the early history of Bass Strait in particular or you're looking for someone you can't find who was out here between 1790 and 1850, this site is worth a visit.

If you do take a look at it, we'd love to know what you think of it.  Please let us know. 

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