Lost and Found - An Ancestor

 

Kate Ryan's name on the Erin Go Bragh's passenger list

Like most us when we retire and have time on our hands, I've done some basic research on ancestry.

What I know is that my father's family descends from Irish immigrants, and what my father and his family believed is that they came out in the mid eighteen hundreds at the height of the Irish potato famine. 

The enduring family story, handed down by my father, was that one ancestor (presumably named Whittaker) arrived on the migrant ship, Erin Go Bragh, and subsequently married a fellow passenger, a Kate Ryan, and settled in the Drayton area. 

The problem is that there is no documentary evidence of this, as a search of the passenger list of the Erin Go Bragh, the boat my dad assumed brought him here, did not show a Whittaker. There was, however, an eleven year old girl, called Kate Ryan, on board.

One of my nephews who was also curious, did some research through Ancestry.com and came to the same conclusion, i.e., that there was no marriage between Kate Ryan and any fellow passenger.

This left an intriguing puzzle. Who was this original arrival, and when did he get here?

A different nephew who lives now in Singapore, has discovered a newspaper report which at the same time deepens the mystery, but sheds new light on the original family story.

This story, in the Toowoomba Chronicle on 31st August 1897, reports the death of a George Whittaker, (born 1837 in Kilkenny, Ireland) who was apparently my father's great grandfather. Dad's father was also called George, and according to the report, had six sons and three daughters. One of the sons was called John, which may explain a family tradition of naming the youngest son John, with no second name.

My dad was called John (always abbreviated to "Jack"), and had no second name, which always seemed curious to me.

The family belief that does stand up is that a Katherine Ryan, was aboard the Erin Go Bragh when it arrived in Moreton Bay on August 2nd, 1862. The passenger list does indeed identify a Kate Ryan who was eleven years old on arrival.

Whilst this report debunks the belief that the original Whittaker was aboard the Erin Go Bragh when it arrived in 1862, It does not dismiss the possibility that  George Whittaker married Kate Ryan. 

Back then, it would not have been out of the question for Kate Ryan to be married at age seventeen, which would have been 1868, by which time George Whittaker would have been thirty one. Family history has it that Kate was working as a housekeeper in a presbytery, and if the local priest was supportive, such a marriage would not have been unusual.

The new mystery is how George Whittaker arrived in Australia in the first place.

Obviously, further research is necessary.

And that's just my father's side....

Real Sovereignty

Polling on subs. Pic courtesy Lowy Institute

An article by Peter Varghese in the "Pearls and Irritations" weekly is worth a read.

Varghese, now Chancellor of University of Queensland, has a distinguished career as a diplomat and public servant, from 1980 until 2016. 

He served as diplomat in Vienna, Tokyo, Malaysia, and India and completed his public service career as secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2016. 

He has served in both Labor and Coalition administrations, and was appointed Senior Adviser (International) to Prime Minister John Howard from 2003 to 2004.

From 2004 to 2009, he was Director-General of the Office of National Assessments, an Australian government intelligence agency which reports directly to the Prime Minister. 

In other words, he knows what he's talking about when it comes to international trade and security, and strategic intelligence.

His essay makes the case that Australia can and should defend itself by itself, and that the old alliances have changed to the point that they are now irrelevant. He points out the advantage of our geography. He sums up Trump's administration very clearly - 

More likely than not, Trump's presidency will be judged by history as venal, incoherent, and driven by a penchant for manufactured drama.

He urges self-reliance, and points out that Trump is a naked transactionalist with no regard for historical alliances. He suggests that the US may withdraw from AUKUS, which he suggests would be a good outcome, in that it would force our government to quickly develop and implement more effective force projection.

Whilst he's not as clear as Hugh White in terms of his rejection of nuclear submarines, his thinking is similar, in that he advocates higher defence spending, and building our relationships with Asian countries to our North.

The rapidly changing situation is most likely the reason for the Albanese government's abundance of caution in relation to Trump. Perhaps ignoring his volatility is not a bad strategy.

Trump is nothing if not attention-seeking, and my teaching experience reminds me that ignoring attention-seeking behaviour works pretty well.

We live in interesting times...

Senior Driving

 

What the stats say. Pic courtesy of ABC news.

A recent tragedy in Victoria has highlighted the issue of senior drivers and safety.

This is personally relevant, gentle reader, as at age 75+ I need an annual review of my licence. In my case, my GP demands a optometric assessment. This doesn't bother me, and I reckon he's simply being thorough.

He is, or should be, expert on my general health as it relates to driving. He's been my GP for about thirty years.

I first rock up to my optometrist who provides a through assessment (including skills relevant to driving such as state of visual perception). Armed with that, I head to the GP who checks me out for muscle power, coordination, cognitive function (including attention, comprehension and reaction time). He is in the best position to compare any decline in functionality because he's been observing me for thirty years.

He then issues me with a signed chit which I laminate and carry in my car. Interestingly, my state issued driver's licence, both plastic and digital, carries no reference to this. I guess that's because my age is obvious, and my date of birth is on the licence.

It seems strange to me that Victoria doesn't follow this process. Perhaps that's under review.

To be honest, I'd have no objection to compulsory testing once a driver is 75. The medical assessments don't necessarily translate to the real world behind the wheel.

I've done, over the years, three different training programmes. The first was to make sure I was up to the task of training teachers to drive the various
Toyota Coasters my schools ran, and the other two were sessions in Mount Isa and Toowoomba respectively dealing with driving in the outback.  

Coaster

At age 78 I'm still learning, although much of that is about mastering the various driver assistance technologies installed in modern cars. To be frank, I'm not sure that they help. Touch screens really should be outlawed in favour of buttons.

Once you have learned where the buttons are, you don't have to take your eyes off the road to activate them. Touch screens - not so much....

Quarantining Care

 

Pic courtesy UQ research.

Disgust and outrage as a response to reports of child abuse in day care centres is completely understandable.

It is also justified, but I strongly doubt that the disgust and outrage will, in the long run, make any difference.

A possible royal commission is offered as a solution, and tightened regulation and enhanced supervision will no doubt result from this tragic set of circumstances.

Unfortunately these measures can be dismissed as knee jerk responses, and they follow whenever a vulnerable section of the community is abused. This holds for seniors, people with disabilities, unemployed people and refugees.

The NDIS is a novel institutional response which has tried to put one specific minority in a position if power when it comes to decisions about quality of life, but it has its own failings. Unscrupulous individuals have used it to fill their pockets.

Frankly, I don't see much difference between fraudulently cashing in on a scheme like NDIS, and paying child care centres taxpayers' money through the CCS scheme.

There is a fundamental flaw in taxpayers' money being paid to parents and caregivers for a service which in Australia in 2024 is simply essential.

Forty years of experience in special schools, where the most vulnerable children are supported, taught me that child protection is fundamental. This was in a publicly funded organisation where the motive was learning, not earning. As soon as an organisation supporting the vulnerable is run for profit, it creates the risk of putting that profit ahead of care. Care and protection are simply incompatible with making money.

This very simple proposition ought to be obvious, but given the history, it clearly isn't.

Any organisation created to care for children cannot safely be used as an earner. After all, profit depends on minimising costs and often cutting corners.When Child Care organisations become investment vehicles, it becomes obvious where the priorities lie.

There is one very simple solution. We need legislation that outlaws care for profit. If we haven't learned that from the tragedies that have dogged aged care and child care, we never will.

The child care industry should be nationalised. That is the only sure way of quarantining it from the profiteers.

The Follies Revisited

 

Pic courtesy Political dictionary

Those of you, gentle reader, who are of an age that remembers the war in Vietnam, will recall the Five O'Clock Follies.

This was a daily press briefing that was given by the US military in Saigon (most often at the Rex Hotel) providing a consistent narrative of success in the conflict.

We all remember how that worked out.

I've always believed that Americans, whilst members of a supposedly well educated community, have  a blind spot when it comes to understanding history. 

This blind spot, when coupled with what is called American exceptionalism and nationalistic fervour,  distorts their appreciation and understanding of historical fact to the point where very little of what is officially published is credible.

One of the clearest examples of this was reporting during the Follies of the destruction of the Ho Chi Minh trail. Certainly, the trail (basically a series of dirt tracks) was bombed incessantly, but what was destroyed were a series of these tracks. The VC simply created a new detour, often in hours or days, and the flow of armaments and personnel would resume.

The more primitive the infrastructure, the easier it was to rebuild it. Eventually the American public saw through the notion that "destruction" was temporary rather than permanent, and along with the shock of the 1968 Tet Offensive, they withdrew whatever support they had for the war.

I'd be very surprised if the long term outcome of the attacks on Iran will be any different. 

Elsewhere

 

The media/political/international relations scene is depressingly chaotic.

With that in mind, I'm confining my blogging to more cheerful content until things settle down - if they ever do.

Start here.

History Rhyming in Images

 

Los Angeles 2025

This post, gentle reader, is a montage of images.

Half were photographs taken in Europe during the second world war.

Auschwitz 1944

The other half were taken in Los Angeles during the last couple of days.

Los Angeles 2025

They're posted without comment, except to point out that in each case one minority group was targeted by government.

Berlin 1943

Warsaw 1942

Los Angeles 2025

During World War Two those targeted were Jews.           

During the last few days, the people targeted are undocumented immigrants.

You can come to your own conclusions.....