Guide to the Notebook of George Kershaw (as filmed by the AJCP), 1840-1855

Summary

Collection number:

M435

Creator:

Kershaw, George

Extent:

20 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Memorandum book with short diary entries, lists of income expenditure and family biographical notes. The diary entries August-December 1841 describe weather conditions and daily routine on the voyage to Australia. There are lists of his earnings and places worked while a plasterer in Liverpool 1840-41 and Sydney 1841-50, and the earnings of William A. Kershaw 1841, 1845-46. At the end of the notebook are religious lecture notes, recipes and a list of distances travelled and places visited while constable at Braidwood, and an inventory of pistols, ammunition and other property given to him when sworn in as constable. Finally there are details of the birth and death of his parents, wife and children.

Biographical / Historical:

George Kershaw was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1801. He married Selina Hirst in 1823 and they had several children. He worked as a plasterer in Yorkshire and recorded that he had a fall from the top of one of the walls of York Castle in 1834. In 1840 he and his family moved to Liverpool. They sailed to Australia on the Columbine in 1840-1841 and Kershaw immediately found work as a plasterer in Sydney. Among the many buildings that he worked on during the following years was Government House, which was completed in 1845. In 1849 Kershaw moved to Braidwood where he joined the Police Force. Selina Kershaw died in Braidwood in 1855 and there is no information about Kershaw's later life. He died in 1878.

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn593615] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

The original notebook is now held in the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2000. Collection Reference: MLMSS 624. For further information see George Kershaw at the Mitchell Library, Sydney (http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110323161?_ga=2.129485125.892842083.1534298057-1132199829.1532646375).

The Mitchell Library also holds a picture of George Kershaw (http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110344597?_ga=2.29433462.892842083.1534298057-1132199829.1532646375).

Conditions Governing Access:

Available for Access.

Conditions Governing Use:

Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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