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The Ratbag Encyclopedia

Family history, Western Australian history, or just history

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Western Australian History

Bio: Edward Hales Taylor

August 14, 2023November 12, 2023

[CONTENT WARNING: This biography features CLOWNS]

Western Australian History

I’m sure this is all completely normal

August 12, 2023November 16, 2023

There was nothing particularly unusual about the citizens of Perth suing each other in the civil courts during the 19th Century. It was more out of the ordinary not to be embroiled in some sort of legal action at any given moment. On Tuesday, 9 May 1854, it was publican and horse breeder George Haysom’s turn to appear before the Commissioner of court as a defendant.

Dyson Tasmanian History

The One that Got Away

December 28, 2022December 29, 20222 Comments

Much as I would dearly love to visit Tasmania again and wallow amongst the microfilm, that’s not going to be possible any time soon. Then, thanks to a lead not affiliated with any of the “official” sources of knowledge, I learnt that a certain religious sect have in their possession the documents I seek

Dyson Tasmanian History Western Australian History

Four days with the Establishment

December 10, 2022November 12, 2023

Convict James Dyson was assigned to work for the Van Diemen’s Land Establishment for all of four days between 2 and 5 October 1837. What happened next will not surprise you in the slightest.

Dyson Tasmanian History

Bio: Samuel McKee

December 9, 2022November 16, 2023

A Vandemonian Maverick (but weren’t they all?)

Dyson Tasmanian History

Bio: Lt Pearson Foote (RN)

December 5, 2022November 16, 2023

Apart from being an inspiration to future Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi, there must be a whole lot more to the man than is currently understood.

Dyson Genealogy Tasmanian History

Bio: David Williams

December 2, 2022June 5, 2023

Van Diemen’s Land settler William Patterson was winding up his affairs in that colony when convict James Dyson was assigned to him about 14 July 1837

Dyson Places Tasmanian History

Bio: Henry Nickolls

November 30, 2022June 5, 20231 Comment

The Master of Corra Linn On, or just before 7 December 1837, Henry Nickolls, master of the Corra Linn estate […]

Dyson

A departure from Van Diemen’s Land

September 13, 2022September 15, 20224 Comments

I’m a bit shocked to realise that it’s been six years since that I first posted a transcription of James […]

Dyson

Unreliable Witness

March 11, 2022March 11, 2022

The Dyson family grave site in East Perth Cemetery.

Older Posts
  • Bio: Edward Hales Taylor
  • I’m sure this is all completely normal
  • The One that Got Away
  • Four days with the Establishment
  • Bio: Samuel McKee
  • Bio: Lt Pearson Foote (RN)
  • Bio: David Williams
  • Bio: Henry Nickolls
  • A departure from Van Diemen’s Land
  • Unreliable Witness
  • Perth City Council Minutes 1858-1875
  • Tales of the Moffatt
  • Researching a Convict Ship
  • Locating the United Service Tavern
  • Rank Hypocrisy
  • Are you … kidding me?
  • Bio: Richard Edwards (jr)
  • How 2020 ended…
  • A little bit of war profiteering
  • New Government House
  • Reconstructing old Perth out of cardboard (so it lasts, this time)
  • What has been left unsaid..
  • Going to the Fairies…
  • Grave Matters
  • Won’t you think of the children?
  • Boom time.
  • Alias Hoffington
  • Rename Canning Bridge
  • Choose your own Adventure
  • A Trial on Trial
  • Pavement Archaeology
  • Dyson’s hat
  • A Tale of Three Cities
  • On a Roll
  • Dyson’s Corner (the Second)
  • Our George Dyson
  • Thomas Dyson: The Canny one
  • The Fate of The First Wife, Part III
  • The Fate of the First Wife, Part II
  • The Fate of the First Wife, Part I
  • On Cemetery Hill
  • I demand the right to be labelled a bastard
  • Recognise this face?
  • Astley 3: The Gallant Ship Australia
  • Astley 2: For Sail
  • Astley 1: Orphans of a Perfect Storm
  • When the apocalypse comes
  • The Stranger In the Mirror
  • An Anthemic Ancestor
  • The Smoking Gun
  • Happy Gunpowder Treason Day
  • Dyson’s Hotel
  • Dyson’s Corner (the First)
  • Winterbottom’s End
  • The Sons of Australia: Foundation and Foulkes
  • Under the Establishment
  • I hate Maitland Brown
  • Francis Armstrong: Thesis
  • Thurso
  • Aberdeen
  • Literally —ing the Patriarchy: Introducing Jane.
  • Kill the Joke (AKA: “You had to be there”)
  • Steam Powered Luddites
  • Timber!
  • The Little Boy Lost: Enter Drewy.
  • Know your Guv’nor
  • Secret Squirrel Business
  • Rottnest Island #1: It’s a start
  • Leetown to Auchterarder
  • CSI Halifax
  • Hello Sailor…
  • “The Poste Restante”
  • Going Postal: The great family rift.
  • All the girls love a soldier
  • In Old Hobart Town
  • Dorothy Dyson Dances
  • Joseph Dyson the Elder: The Respectable one
  • Are you my Mummy?
  • Stuffed
  • Stones in Cumberland
  • Twenty-one Children
  • Too outrageous a coincidence?
  • A Dark Deed in a Damp Land
  • Van Diemen’s Land
  • The Lancashire Hotpot
  • An introduction to the Dysons

It should go without saying..
(but unfortunately it needs to be): All content created by Alan Thompson @2016-2023 unless otherwise acknowledged. Copying for private research purposes is fine. Republishing on another platform without prior permission is not.

It should go without saying


(but unfortunately it needs to be): All content created by Alan J Thompson @2016-2023 unless otherwise acknowledged. Copying for private research purposes is fine. Republishing on another platform without prior permission is not.

Warped Time Productions

Alan J Thompson © 2016-2024

All the articles:

  • Bio: Edward Hales Taylor
  • I’m sure this is all completely normal
  • The One that Got Away
  • Four days with the Establishment
  • Bio: Samuel McKee
  • Bio: Lt Pearson Foote (RN)
  • Bio: David Williams
  • Bio: Henry Nickolls
  • A departure from Van Diemen’s Land
  • Unreliable Witness
  • Perth City Council Minutes 1858-1875
  • Tales of the Moffatt
  • Researching a Convict Ship
  • Locating the United Service Tavern
  • Rank Hypocrisy
  • Are you … kidding me?
  • Bio: Richard Edwards (jr)
  • How 2020 ended…
  • A little bit of war profiteering
  • New Government House
  • Reconstructing old Perth out of cardboard (so it lasts, this time)
  • What has been left unsaid..
  • Going to the Fairies…
  • Grave Matters
  • Won’t you think of the children?
  • Boom time.
  • Alias Hoffington
  • Rename Canning Bridge
  • Choose your own Adventure
  • A Trial on Trial
  • Pavement Archaeology
  • Dyson’s hat
  • A Tale of Three Cities
  • On a Roll
  • Dyson’s Corner (the Second)
  • Our George Dyson
  • Thomas Dyson: The Canny one
  • The Fate of The First Wife, Part III
  • The Fate of the First Wife, Part II
  • The Fate of the First Wife, Part I
  • On Cemetery Hill
  • I demand the right to be labelled a bastard
  • Recognise this face?
  • Astley 3: The Gallant Ship Australia
  • Astley 2: For Sail
  • Astley 1: Orphans of a Perfect Storm
  • When the apocalypse comes
  • The Stranger In the Mirror
  • An Anthemic Ancestor
  • The Smoking Gun
  • Happy Gunpowder Treason Day
  • Dyson’s Hotel
  • Dyson’s Corner (the First)
  • Winterbottom’s End
  • The Sons of Australia: Foundation and Foulkes
  • Under the Establishment
  • I hate Maitland Brown
  • Francis Armstrong: Thesis
  • Thurso
  • Aberdeen
  • Literally —ing the Patriarchy: Introducing Jane.
  • Kill the Joke (AKA: “You had to be there”)
  • Steam Powered Luddites
  • Timber!
  • The Little Boy Lost: Enter Drewy.
  • Know your Guv’nor
  • Secret Squirrel Business
  • Rottnest Island #1: It’s a start
  • Leetown to Auchterarder
  • CSI Halifax
  • Hello Sailor…
  • “The Poste Restante”
  • Going Postal: The great family rift.
  • All the girls love a soldier
  • In Old Hobart Town
  • Dorothy Dyson Dances
  • Joseph Dyson the Elder: The Respectable one
  • Are you my Mummy?
  • Stuffed
  • Stones in Cumberland
  • Twenty-one Children
  • Too outrageous a coincidence?
  • A Dark Deed in a Damp Land
  • Van Diemen’s Land
  • The Lancashire Hotpot
  • An introduction to the Dysons

Albert Grigg Andrew Drewy Dyson Applecross Astley Benjamin Mason bigamy Canning Bridge children convict Dewhirst East Perth Cemetery Fanny Hoffingham Francis Fraser Armstrong Fremantle George Shenton gofundme Halifax Huntly Ireland Jack Grigg James Dyson Jane Dyson Joseph Dyson Lancashire London Maitland Brown Melvile Moffatt Murray Street Newmarket No Place Inn Perth restoration Scotland Sons of Australia South Perth Stephen Hyde Strutt Sydney taxidermy temperance Thomas Dyson Van Diemen's Land Wesley Church William Elsegood

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