Saturday 27 July 2013

Please don't let me find my ancestors in this book

I had a wonderful day at the State Records NSW office at Kingswood in western Sydney. The staff there are SO helpful and the font of all knowledge. I want to be just like them when I grow up. Looking through a bunch of probate packets I found a marriage certificate and three death certificates - for free!! Bonus! One was for my great-grandmother, and the other three were a little more distantly related.

Towards the end of the visit my friend of 36 years (far out!! Am I really that old that I have had a friend for so long?), Lisa, found a 3-volume set of books called Unfit for Publication: NSW Supreme Court and other Bestiality, Buggery & Sodomy trials 1727 - 1930 by Peter de Waal (published: Balmain, N.S.W. : P. de Waal, 2007). Poor Peter must be having nightmares after reading all the cases that went into these massive books. I was only brave enough to look at two random cases, one where a man had been caught numerous times being "overly friendly" (my euphemism - use your own imagination & don't hold back) with a sow, and another case where a photographer was known to be taking nude photos of young boys. That was enough for me. The very best thing about these books was that I looked through the index at all the names and didn't find one reference to any of my ancestors. PHEW!!