~ REFERENCES ~ Header ~

Lily & Laura — Lily Lorkin Fowles & Laura Agnes Fowles Moss, Ferndale, Victoria. Circa @ 1920’s

Dear Reader, I know its tempting to ask where I’ve got information from because we all want to know. Unfortunately I just don’t have the time to cross-reference and respond to all of these requests. I’d need a website just for cross-referencing. Before sending me a request for this sort of information, could I please ask you to check the reference pages on the site first or even go onto my Ancestry.com.au pages to see whether the necessary documents are pinned/attached. With my deepest thanks.

Acknowledgement

I would like to take this opportunity to thank with full heart and gratitude the generous family members near and far who have supported me with information, photos and encouragement. We’re all from darn good stock!

Referencing

Research is like like trying to tuck a wet, kraken-worthy octopus neatly into a string shopping bag. I do a LOT of it. It takes enormous amounts of time. I’ve opened up (Dec 2019) new ‘REFERENCE and Research pages on the site’. If you go into these you will find where I have referenced material from. I don’t reference material in text unless necessary to show ownership of another author’s work that I may have used. If I’ve used information of a general nature to support my writing processes then you will find the supporting materials on the appropriate reference pages. I prefer to write my pages in my own words, in a free flowing narrative story, rather than a stringent evidence based report.

Do I like to get notifications of corrections required or additional information that may improve what is already here?

Of course! If you find something that you know is more correct than I’ve got? Or you have a photograph or information that you are willing to share for our family community? I would LOVE to hear from you. I’m user-friendly, and not the least bit precious about my work. Ps. Always happy for someone to drop me a line if they find a typo so I can correct it.

If you are choosing something from my Ancestry.com tree..

A quick word about my use of Ancestry.com.au. Please note the importance of ‘don’t take it all as gospel’. This is where I store bits of information that I am working on. I love Ancestry.com, it is my first ‘go to place‘ but I also know that the information that is saved and shared by so many people worldwide can be in error. I am eternally grateful when someone points me to the right track. Having said that quite some years ago now, I got a very testy email from someone (who clearly needed fresh air) about ‘people who must check things before adding them to their trees and not to do it again’. I did reply that since I wasn’t recording for the national archives that perhaps they were getting a bit overwrought about the whole thing. My advice to beginners is always start at yourself and work backwards. Slowly, grindingly sometimes, but absolutely essential. Especially if you don’t want to make the classic newbie mistake and find yourself errantly linked to an English Marquis when your family history is clearly agricultural subsistence farmers and labourers. – Hmm, yes I did !

Photocopies/scans of certificates

There are many scans of certificates, and photographs etc., on the site. I endeavour to source these through means where they are open for public access or from stock free sites. I’ve also paid for many of them. I include the pertinent parts for reference. Do I mind if you use them? Not at all. Family history is for sharing – our shared knowledge of our culture past and present is what underpins our human family. Other photocopies particularly in relation to the Fowles families I was provided with twenty years ago by my distant cousin Graeme Fowles. A trail-blazer in the Fowles family research, long before internet access!

Copyrighted photos found on the internet

I got this from directly from Wikipedia ……‘Photographs taken before 1 January 1955 are out of copyright and are in the public domain.‘

To use or not to use, that is the question.

There are many photographs I use that have been generously provided to me by family near and far. I also incorporate the use of stock-photos and graphics (copyright free). Some of my graphics and photos have even been artfully created by this little-black-duck! These are deemed to be used in the public domain. To that end if you find a photograph on my site that meets the above criteria and you want to use it? Go ahead, with my blessings. “Fill your boots”. Similarly any of the photos that I have taken myself on the pages you are welcome to use.

Still living?

If someone is ‘still alive’, I don’t include them on the site or their names. Saves all the issues and gives something for the descendants to do in the future.

Acknowledgement to traditional owners.

As a very proud Australian of this amazing nation of people from all walks of life, all corners of the world and all possible religions and philosophies I consider myself exceedingly fortunate to live in this country of freedom and beauty. In doing so I would like to pay my respects to the past and present traditional owners of this land, who cared for it, preserved it and its inhabitants and whose rich culture past, today and into the future give so much to what makes Australia the land that it is. In particular I pay respect to the Boonewrung people whose land I call home.

As a child I lived for a time in Broome in West Australia, the land of the Yawuru people. This was at a time long before tourism had found Broome. So much of my childhood was influenced by the diverse cultures of the people who called Broome home and I will consider myself forever fortunate beyond words for the kindness and inclusion shown to me whilst I lived there. It was in Broome that I learned as child that we are all one people and this should always be protected in our human journey regardless of where our origins are.