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'Through the lives of two generations of his forebears, one of Australia's most respected historians tells the story of English free settlers arriving in the mid-19th century: the miners, millers, storekeepers, free selectors and railwaymen who built the Australia we know today.
''I did not look for skeletons in my family's cupboard, but once the cupboard was open, they simply fell out.'
'A widow and her eight older children are uprooted from their Hampshire farm in 1850, and thrown together on an emigrant ship with 38 distressed needlewomen from London. How they came to be on the boat, and what happened on the high seas and afterwards in Australia, is a vivid tale of family ambitions and fears, successes and catastrophes.
'In Lost Relations, historian Graeme Davison follows in his family's footsteps, from the picture-postcard village of Newnham to a prison cell in Maitland, from a London slum to a miner's tent in Castlemaine. He takes us back into worlds now largely forgotten, of water-powered mills, free selectors and Methodist evangelists. The Hewetts were not famous or distinguished, but their story reveals much about the foundations of Australia.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Another Country
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: History Australia , June vol. 14 no. 2 2017; (p. 308-310) 'In spite of the old adage, I often judge a book by its cover and this one rates rather well. It features a charming family photograph of women and children taken around 1920. There is not the smallest hint of the glamour of the jazz age decade to come, but it is arresting all the same. For it captures a fleeting moment of relaxed domestic joy and is the sort of rare photographic relic any family would treasure. The family in question is the Hewetts, and they are chief among Graeme Davison’s cavalcade of Lost Relations.' (Introduction) -
Lost Relations: Fortunes of My Family in Australia’s Golden Age : Review
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 47 no. 2 2016; (p. 331-332)
— Review of Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age 2015 single work biography 'Graeme Davison is the latest, and perhaps most distinguished, convert to the cause of family history. Davison admits that he had always deliberately avoided family history, but encouraged (appropriately!) by his family, and conceding that its appeal strengthens ‘as our past grows longer and our future shrinks’, he has finally succumbed (237). It might have seemed a challenging prospect, given a lack of letters and diaries and very little memorabilia, but there was one tantalising piece of oral tradition. Davison’s mother had told him that their ancestor, Jane Hewett, a widow, and her eight children, arriving in Port Phillip in July 1850, had climbed down the ship’s ladder and, landing at Sandridge, walked the three miles across the swamp to the city. What had been the cause of this rough introduction to what was still the Port Phillip District? ...' -
[Review Essay] Lost Relations: Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society , June vol. 102 no. 1 2016; (p. 118-120)' Family history is very different from academic history, as Davison discovered while researching his own family after a lifetime as an academic historian. Academic historians, it seems to me, ask ‘why?’ – why are things the way they are, why do people do what they do? Family historians, on the other hand, ask ‘who?’ – who were my ancestors, who am I? One is general, and relates to society as a whole; the other is personal, relevant only to a few individuals. A good family history asks, and answers, both questions.' (Introduction)
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[Review] Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age / Methodism in Australia : A History
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , May vol. 40 no. 2 2016; (p. 240-242)
— Review of Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age 2015 single work biography -
The Dread of Bad Blood
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2015;
— Review of Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age 2015 single work biography
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Family Matters : A Masterly Scholar Turns to Family History
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 372 2015; (p. 48-49)
— Review of Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age 2015 single work biography -
The Dread of Bad Blood
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2015;
— Review of Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age 2015 single work biography -
Lost Relations: Fortunes of My Family in Australia’s Golden Age : Review
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 47 no. 2 2016; (p. 331-332)
— Review of Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age 2015 single work biography 'Graeme Davison is the latest, and perhaps most distinguished, convert to the cause of family history. Davison admits that he had always deliberately avoided family history, but encouraged (appropriately!) by his family, and conceding that its appeal strengthens ‘as our past grows longer and our future shrinks’, he has finally succumbed (237). It might have seemed a challenging prospect, given a lack of letters and diaries and very little memorabilia, but there was one tantalising piece of oral tradition. Davison’s mother had told him that their ancestor, Jane Hewett, a widow, and her eight children, arriving in Port Phillip in July 1850, had climbed down the ship’s ladder and, landing at Sandridge, walked the three miles across the swamp to the city. What had been the cause of this rough introduction to what was still the Port Phillip District? ...' -
[Review] Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age / Methodism in Australia : A History
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , May vol. 40 no. 2 2016; (p. 240-242)
— Review of Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age 2015 single work biography -
The Story Behind the Story
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Inside Story , July 2015;
— Review of Lost Relations : Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age 2015 single work biography -
Another Country
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: History Australia , June vol. 14 no. 2 2017; (p. 308-310) 'In spite of the old adage, I often judge a book by its cover and this one rates rather well. It features a charming family photograph of women and children taken around 1920. There is not the smallest hint of the glamour of the jazz age decade to come, but it is arresting all the same. For it captures a fleeting moment of relaxed domestic joy and is the sort of rare photographic relic any family would treasure. The family in question is the Hewetts, and they are chief among Graeme Davison’s cavalcade of Lost Relations.' (Introduction) -
[Review Essay] Lost Relations: Fortunes of My Family in Australia's Golden Age
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society , June vol. 102 no. 1 2016; (p. 118-120)' Family history is very different from academic history, as Davison discovered while researching his own family after a lifetime as an academic historian. Academic historians, it seems to me, ask ‘why?’ – why are things the way they are, why do people do what they do? Family historians, on the other hand, ask ‘who?’ – who were my ancestors, who am I? One is general, and relates to society as a whole; the other is personal, relevant only to a few individuals. A good family history asks, and answers, both questions.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2015 winner Victorian Community History Award — Judges’ Special Prize
- commended
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London,
cEngland,ccUnited Kingdom (UK),cWestern Europe, Europe,
- Maitland, Maitland area, Hunter Valley, Newcastle - Hunter Valley area, New South Wales,
- Castlemaine, Castlemaine area, Ballarat - Bendigo area, Victoria,