26 replies to this topic

[Tjapaltjarri]

Hi there,

I've been trying to use this page to send the Project the details of some
8 DNA relevant contacts that I've made with relatives in the hope that they could follow these up through official channels but keep getting a message to say that their server is not set correctly.

Has anybody else had this problem?

Thanks,

Howard

[Fedelmar]

which address are you using?

[Tjapaltjarri]

Fedelmar, on 06 October 2010 - 07:57 AM, said:

which address are you using?

Sandra

I'm using the contact page on their website. http://www.defence.g...tactinquiry.cfm

I cannot find a corresponding email address for enquiries on their site, but maybe I'm not looking in the right place.

Many thanks,

Howard

[Fedelmar]

I understand that the AFPG ceased operating on 26th August.  As yet I am unaware of how they propose to continue receiving enquiries other than from direct family.
At best you could always provide your research to Tim and I as we are still working on the project.

Bright Blessings
Sandra

[Tjapaltjarri]

Thanks Sandra,

It seems a bit odd when they describe their activities on the web page as Phase 2 of 5 and continue to invite family to submit information via the contact page which appears not to work.

A kind soul has given me a contact email at the Australian MOD so I will make inquiries by that route in the first instance.

I am just looking to see if there is a more direct and effective way to turn the family history research into submitted DNA samples.

Best,

Howard

[Tjapaltjarri]

Fedelmar, on 06 October 2010 - 10:56 PM, said:

I understand that the AFPG ceased operating on 26th August.  As yet I am unaware of how they propose to continue receiving enquiries other than from direct family.
At best you could always provide your research to Tim and I as we are still working on the project.

Bright Blessings
Sandra

I did send Tim an email with the details of brother George Bell Balsdon's son and grandson who are still alive and well in Northumberland and have newspaper cuttings and correspondence from their relatives in Australia concerning James Balsdon's death, They would be pleased to hear from him,

I did not get a response. Either he's very busy or it has gone in the Spam bin !!

best,

Howard

[Fedelmar]

Tim hasn't mentioned receiving an email from you so it probably ended up in the spam folder.

Send it via our website at www.fromelles.net

Bright Blessings
Sandra

[Tjapaltjarri]

Fedelmar, on 07 October 2010 - 10:25 PM, said:

Tim hasn't mentioned receiving an email from you so it probably ended up in the spam folder.

Send it via our website at www.fromelles.net

Bright Blessings
Sandra

Have done, but await the result - my experience of communicating via that site is not very positive !!

Best wishes,

Howard

[Fedelmar]

Interesting ... haven't heard of anyone else having problems.  
I will mention to keep any eye out for it.

Bright Blessings
Sandra

[Fedelmar]

Thanks for sending me a copy of the email Howard.
I can see now why you haven't had an answer.
The emails is dated October 4th which is four days ago.  Tim lives in Qld and has been in Vic for the last 5 days.  He works for the next three and then will have to clear the backlog of email that has piled up over that period.

Bright Blessings
Sandra

[Tjapaltjarri]

Thanks Sandra,

Mumbles to self, "festina lente, festina lente"

I had suggested that might be the case. The old boy is 91 though.  

Best,

Howard

[ajrichar]

Tjapaltjarri, on 08 October 2010 - 10:50 AM, said:

Thanks Sandra,

Mumbles to self, "festina lente, festina lente"

I had suggested that might be the case. The old boy is 91 though.  

Best,

Howard

Howard, if you have any hassles getting hold of the right contact within the Department of Defence (Australia), please let me know.

[Tjapaltjarri]

ajrichar, on 10 November 2010 - 06:00 AM, said:

Howard, if you have any hassles getting hold of the right contact within the Department of Defence (Australia), please let me know.

Thank you,

I will bear it in mind.

Over the past month I have sent through to Major Kerr at the Australian MOD the contact details and family trees relating to 8 or 9 of the 23 fallen on the list who remain to be identified and who were born in England and for whom I have traced DNA relevant relatives. I still have 1 or 2 more for whom my only way of contact is via Facebook, (they not being in the phone book); and who steadfastly refuse to answer my messages.

He has indicated that while he personally has moved to another post he is continuing to action relative enquiries.

I have not been receiving any responses of late but am not unduly worried as I expect the Major is otherwise occupied - he said he might be. If it goes much beyond New Year I may come back to you on this.

Best,

Howard

[Auimfo]

Howard,

I'm in Canberra at the moment and will be attending a Fromelles Retrospective conference on Friday.   If you'd like to email me the family trees and descendant information, I can ensure it gets handed personally into the right hands.

The Australian Fromelles Project Group (of whom Jason Kerr was a mamber) has now been disbanded and the identification of the remaining Pheasant Wood men is being handled by the Department of Defence's 'Unrecovered War Casualties' Office.

Cheers,
Tim L.

[Auimfo]

Howard,

I'm in Canberra at the moment and will be attending a Fromelles Retrospective conference on Friday.   If you'd like to email me the family trees and descendant information, I can ensure it gets handed personally into the right hands.

The Australian Fromelles Project Group (of whom Jason Kerr was a mamber) has now been disbanded and the identification of the remaining Pheasant Wood men is being handled by the Department of Defence's 'Unrecovered War Casualties' Office.

Cheers,
Tim L.

[ajrichar]

Tjapaltjarri, on 10 November 2010 - 06:20 AM, said:

Thank you,

I will bear it in mind.

Over the past month I have sent through to Major Kerr at the Australian MOD the contact details and family trees relating to 8 or 9 of the 23 fallen on the list who remain to be identified and who were born in England and for whom I have traced DNA relevant relatives. I still have 1 or 2 more for whom my only way of contact is via Facebook, (they not being in the phone book); and who steadfastly refuse to answer my messages.

He has indicated that while he personally has moved to another post he is continuing to action relative enquiries.

I have not been receiving any responses of late but am not unduly worried as I expect the Major is otherwise occupied - he said he might be. If it goes much beyond New Year I may come back to you on this.

Best,

Howard

No worries Howard.  Jason is the chap you needed but his involvement on Fromelles is in a part time capacity.  However, he is the person you'll need to remain in contact with (unless he advises otherwise).  Good luck with chasing up those relatives via Facebook.

[Auimfo]

Howard,

Brian Manns is now in charge of the Unrecovered Australian War Casualties Office for the Dept of Defence and has taken over the role of identifying the men from Pheasant Wood.   He's the chap you need to forward the information to.   I was speaking with him last week.

Cheers,
Tim L.

[Tjapaltjarri]

Auimfo, on 14 November 2010 - 01:26 PM, said:

Howard,

Brian Manns is now in charge of the Unrecovered Australian War Casualties Office for the Dept of Defence and has taken over the role of identifying the men from Pheasant Wood.   He's the chap you need to forward the information to.   I was speaking with him last week.

Cheers,
Tim L.

Thanks Tim,

Here's hoping Jason will have forwarded what I have sent and I can expect to hear from Brian in due course although I expect his addrss is in the same format.

Best,

Howard

[Capt_Starlight]

It is brian DOT manns AT defence DOT gov DOT au.

[Tjapaltjarri]

Capt_Starlight, on 15 November 2010 - 04:32 AM, said:

It is brian DOT manns AT defence DOT gov DOT au.

Thanks Cap'n, as I thought

[Sandraxxx]

There may be another way of possibly tracing descendants of some  Australian WW1 veterans,

You may already have heard of the Ryerson index  http://www.rootsweb....ps/papers.htm  
(This is an index for searching some Australian death/probate notices, if the death was in Australia and a death notice was published.)

It has volunteers updating this site with recent burtial/probate notices from the mainly NSW papers in Australia, but is is increasing its coverage of Australian papers and this index is linked to other sites that search other Australian newspapers.

Assuming that the person  died in Australia, you could search this index and you may be lucky enough to find a death notice that gives information about where the person lived, their age and perhaps other family members.
If you also use the births, deaths and marriages online sites for the specific Australian state you are interested in, you may be able to use both  the Ryerson index and the information from past births, deaths.

The Ryerson index  only mentions the date and which paper these articles are listed in and a very brief summary, but you can then search in perhaps the Australian National Library, or a larger state library, probably on their newspaper microfiche sections, unless the specific paper and dates you are interested is an Australian paper that has been digitised and is to be found online in the old newspaper section of the National Library of Australia site.

I hope the above information is useful in trying to trace descendants of some Australian WW1 veterans.   Regards, Sandra

[Tjapaltjarri]

Well I still haven't had a response so will now have to wait to see if any of the families I traced made contact with the Australian MOD and submitted samples for DNA identification for the present identification board.

Howard

[MelPack]

Howard

If you have done all the genealogical research to identify compatible Y and MtDNA donors, I do not understand why you don't submit the family tree in gedcom and genopro formats along with the contact details of the donor relatives to the Australian Defence Ministry.

My experience is that a good number of the donor relatives falter at the hurdle of providing a family tree thereby preventing the testing process from going ahead. The reasons for that are many. It could simply be due to a lack of experience in genealogical research or even a lack of interest per se.

At least if you package the material up then all that leaves the donor relative to do is to sign the consent form and administer the simple swab test.

Mel

[Tjapaltjarri]

MelPack, on 01 April 2011 - 03:13 PM, said:

Howard

If you have done all the genealogical research to identify compatible Y and MtDNA donors, I do not understand why you don't submit the family tree in gedcom and genopro formats along with the contact details of the donor relatives to the Australian Defence Ministry.

My experience is that a good number of the donor relatives falter at the hurdle of providing a family tree thereby preventing the testing process from going ahead. The reasons for that are many. It could simply be due to a lack of experience in genealogical research or even a lack of interest per se.

At least if you package the material up then all that leaves the donor relative to do is to sign the consent form and administer the simple swab test.

Mel

That's what I've tried to do but am getting no response from Australian MOD following the change from Major Jason Kerr to Brian Mann.

H

[Leighc]

Tjapaltjarri, on 01 April 2011 - 04:59 PM, said:

That's what I've tried to do but am getting no response from Australian MOD following the change from Major Jason Kerr to Brian Mann.

H

I just checked the DoD intranet.  Mr Brian Manns (with an "s") is indeed the correct POC.  His details are:  brian.manns@defence.gov.au ph +61 2 6265 5319 fax +61 2 6265 4041 if calling from outside Australia.
Internal calls ph 02 6265 5319 fax 02 6265 4041

BTW, UK has an MoD.  Australia has a Department of Defence (DoD)

Good luck
Leigh