Australia, Project Guidelines - Colonial Australia 1788-1900, Locations

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'Draft' - This is currently a work in progress and not yet approved.

The purpose of this page is to start the process to identify locations relevant to Colonial Australia and how they are integrated into the existing structures/processes, such as categories, stickers and 'location' error correction.

Colonial Australia

Current day 'Australia' was known as Terra Australis prior to 1824 when it was officially named Australia. 'Australia' will be the top level, however we recognise that for the purpose of categorisation of locations on Wikitree we will have three distinct periods:-

• Terra Australis, pre 1788;
• Colonial Australia 1788-1900; and
• Present day Australia, post Federation in 1901.

The Aboriginal Nations location structure for Indigenous Australians applies throughout.

This document is focussing on Colonial Australia and will define the approved locations to be used on Wikitree during this period.

The following colonies existed in Australia and will be our highest level location categories for Colonial Australia (1788-1900).

• Colony of New South Wales (1788-1900)
• Van Diemen's Land (1825-1856)
• Swan River Colony (1829-1832)
• Colony of Queensland (1859-1900)
• Colony of Western Australia (1832-1900)
• Colony of South Australia (1836-1900)
• Colony of Victoria (1851-1900)
• Colony of Tasmania (1856-1900)

Location Category Information Boxes (CIB) will be used on all landing-level place name categories and to new place names where there have been name changes.

Colony of New South Wales (1788-1900)

The Colony of New South Wales managed many parts of Australia before they became seperate colonies. Where this applies the 'Colony of New South Wales (1788-1900)' category will be linked to those states and territories and the details about the history included in the state/territory category description. This even included New Zealand until 1840. Refer Wikipedia.

The Colony of New South Wales was quite large and in 1826 nineteen counties were identified which formed administrative regions. These counties include many places that still exist today. Refer Wikipedia. Current day Australian places that existed within the 'county divisions' for Colonial New South Wales can be easily connected via CIB's (Category Information Boxes).

The nineteen counties were:

• 1. Gloucester - includes Port Stephens;
• 2. Durham - includes Dungog, Seaham. West of Gloucester and south to Hunter River;
• 3. Northumberland - includes Hexham, Munmorah. North to Hunter River and south Hawkesbury River;
• 4. Cumberland - includes Sydney, Parramatta, Windsor, Liverpool, Appin to the south;
• 5. Camden - includes Camden, Picton, Berrima, and the Shoalhaven River to the south;
• 6. St Vincent - includes Jervis Bay, Bateman's Bay and Braidwood. From the Shoalhaven in the north to the Moruya River in the south;
• 7. Hunter - includes Wollemi, Colo. West of Northumberland to the Hunter River in the north.
• 8. Cook - includes west of Cumberland county and south of the county of Hunter;
• 9. - includes
• 10. - includes
• 11. - includes
• 12. - includes
• 13. - includes
• 14. - includes
• 15. - includes
• 16. - includes
• 17. - includes
• 18. - includes
• 19. - includes

Van Diemen's Land (1826-1856)

The main locations during this period were:-

• Hobart Town
• Launceston

Swan River Colony (1828-1832)

The main locations during this period were:-

• King George Sound (Albany)

Colony of South Australia (1836-1900)

The main locations during this period were:

• Kangaroo Island;
• Adelaide

The Colony was also known as the Province of South Australia (1832–1842).

Colony of Victoria (1851-1900)

The main locations during this period were:-

Colony of Tasmania (1856-1900)

The main locations during this period were:-

Colony of Queensland (1859-1900)

The main locations during this period were:-

Colony of Western Australia (1832-1900)

The main locations during this period were:-

• King George Sound
• Freemantle
• Albany

Categories

The 'Colonial Australia' location categories will sit within the existing 'Australia' structure.

States and Colonies will be linked horizontally by Category Info Boxes (CIB), as will town/city landing level categories that have changed names.

A map showing the structure is in progress of development.

• [[Category:Australia]]

• [[Category:Colonial Australia 1788-1900 ]]

• [[Category:Colony]] eg.[[Category:Colony of Tasmania (1856-1900)]]

• [[Category:Town or City, Colony]] eg.[[Category:Hobart, Colony of Tasmania]]

Where a place existed that was part of a colony and later a state or territory, then that place will have separate landing level categories. For example, Albany, Western Australia (previously King George Sound, until 1831), would be linked to all three relevant higher level location categories. Please refer to the following, as an example:

Location Example

Each of the separate Australia Project Colony, State and Territories (CST) Teams will develop the lower level 'place names' that sit within the broader Colonial Australia structure for their relevant CST, in conjunction with the Australia Project Category Team.

The Australia Project 'Location Category Guidelines' page is the most up to date document relating to these guidelines for the project and can be found here.

Project Stickers

Some existing stickers can be set up to automatically populate to these categories. For the full list of templates please click here.

NOTE: This need to be set up in templates when locations and categories are decided.

• Born in the colony - will...TBA.... For more information, please refer to the Born in the Colony Project Guidelines and the associated template page.
• Australian Convicts will ...TBA.... . For more information, please refer to the Australian Convicts Project guidelines and the associated template page.
• Colonial Marines will... TBA.... For more information, please refer to the project guidelines add link and the associated template page.
• Colonial Marines who stayed will... For more information, please refer to the project guidelines add link and the associated template page..
• Came free will ....TBA.... For more information, please refer to the project guidelines add link and the associated template page..

Data Doctor Location Errors

The drop down menu used for selecting locations on Wikitree is defined by Family Search Places. To check them, please click here.

Work needs to be undertaken to decide firstly how we wish to define our locations and secondly whether any Wikitree error reports need to be developed. If you can help with this please contact Veronica Williams. Volunteers were called for in early May 2020, but so far no takers!

NOTE: The Data Doctor Location Errors will be determined once the location review is finalised.

The following are locations on Family Search identified to date. It appears they need to be searched individually. Please add others to this page or contact Veronica Williams

• Cumberland, NSW - https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=719368&text=Cumberland - it seems to be relevant to the geographical extent of colonial Cumberland county. (Gillian)

• Durham NSW - https://www.familysearch.org/research/places/?focusedId=3406246&text=Northern%20Rivers which seems to refer to a location - Durham by Bingara (not even a village on google maps) - but strangely has Northern Rivers in the URL which is a totally different area to the region covered by Durham County. (Gillian)