400th post!

This is our 400th post! The first post was on November 5, 2007 - thirteen and a half years ago. In that time so much has happened in the world of historical research and resources; the main change is the huge increase in freely available on-line content - photos and newspapers. Trove, the National Library of Australia's website, is one of the best resources - pages and pages of digitised newspapers containing a treasure trove of local and family information, it has really transformed research of our recent (last 170 years or so) history.

Most of the posts have been written by me, Heather, the Local History Librarian here at Casey Cardinia Libraries. This blog has covered so many topics and sometimes I go back to an earlier story and add to it or improve it and sometimes I forget I have a story and then Google a topic and the blog entry comes up! Sometimes I Google a topic and find the information has been used on another site, without attribution, but that is just one of those things - some people think that if information or images are on the Internet then they can be reused anytime or anyway.

So what are my favourite stories? Hard to say, this is a bit of an electic list of some of them.

Arcuate Ridges - the sand ridges which are the remains of ancient lake beds - the town of Cardinia is built on one. Read about them here. I loved geography and history at school, maybe that is why I found this topic so fascinating.

Aerial photographs - I love aerial photos - these ones here of Doveton, Eumemmerring and Hampton are some of my special favourites.

Basalt columns at Narre Warren, see here. I just found this so interesting.

Quolls - I was really pleased with this story about Quolls which were once very common in this area. It really tells us how habitat loss due to settlement has disastrous implications for wildlife. Read it here.

Unexpected connections. I come across unexpected connections all the time between people and places, not always significant connections, just interesting. An early one was when I found that Captain Robert Gardiner, early European landowner at Berwick was the great grandfather of the Sir Robert Helpmann, the ballet dancer. I just found that to be such a fascinating connection. Captain Gardiner also had a connection to the Burke & Wills expedition. I did the post on Captain Gardiner in April 2008, so it was one of my earliest 'connections'. Read it here.

Family history - I like stories which combine family and local history, so for that reason I really liked the story on the Tulliallan property, see here.

Two highlights - the blog was commended in the Victorian Community History Awards in 2010 (see here). I was so excited. Secondly, the Hollins Children's Centre in Pakenham is named for Sister Hollins, one of the first Infant Welfare nurses in the area and I suggested that name! I am still thrilled, you can read about Sister Hollins, here.

I'll be honest, I love all the stories, I am very proud of this blog. I love local history, a friend told me once that I had an innate religious curiousity into the parochial and obscure and that is true. No part of history is too obscure or parochial - that's what local history is. Everyone has a story, every thing has a story and this blog tells and shares these stories. Thank you for supporting it! Heather Arnold.