to the Ratbag Encyclopedia.
Latest research:
On a Roll
Was your ancestor a member of the Sons of Australia Benefit Society (1837-1897)?
Dyson’s Corner (the Second)
Joseph Dyson became a husband and a father (though not necessarily in that order) during the year 1872. It was time for him to strike out and get a house of his own. Thus the second Dyson’s corner was formed.
Our George Dyson
A brief overview of George Dyson’s life, the most accomplished Dyson you’ve never heard about.
Thomas Dyson: The Canny one
When Thomas Dyson was a young boy, he shot the son of his father’s main business rival in the head. After that, his fortunes could only improve.
The Fate of The First Wife, Part III
Fanny Dyson’s end was horrible and no-one comes out of this event looking good.
The Fate of the First Wife, Part II
The new evidence
The Fate of the First Wife, Part I
This is a reconstruction of the last years of the life of Mrs Frances (Fanny) Dyson, the first wife of James Dyson, and mother to his first four children. This is a very different narrative to the one that which has heretofore been told, and has been accepted as the truth for nigh on one …
On Cemetery Hill
A visit to the Old East Perth Cemetery, where generations of Colonial Western Australians have been laid to uneasy rest, including all too many Dysons.
I demand the right to be labelled a bastard
The government has censored our vital documents!
Recognise this face?
Consider this a sequel to the article The Stranger in the Mirror where I bemoaned the lack of available images of the earliest generations of the Dyson family in colonial Western Australia. Of the patriarch, James Dyson—at best, we have an identikit image based on his alleged convict record. Of his two wives, and the vast …
All the articles:
An introduction to the Dysons
The Lancashire Hotpot
Van Diemen’s Land
A Dark Deed in a Damp Land
Too outrageous a coincidence?
Twenty-one Children
Stones in Cumberland
Stuffed
Are you my Mummy?
Joseph Dyson the Elder: The Respectable one
Dorothy Dyson Dances
In Old Hobart Town
All the girls love a soldier
Going Postal: The great family rift.
“The Poste Restante”
Hello Sailor…
CSI Halifax
Leetown to Auchterarder
Rottnest Island #1: It’s a start
Secret Squirrel Business
Know your Guv’nor
The Little Boy Lost: Enter Drewy.
Timber!
Steam Powered Luddites
Kill the Joke (AKA: “You had to be there”)
Literally —ing the Patriarchy: Introducing Jane.
Aberdeen
Thurso
Francis Armstrong: Thesis
I hate Maitland Brown
Under the Establishment
The Sons of Australia: Foundation and Foulkes
Winterbottom’s End
Dyson’s Corner (the First)
Dyson’s Hotel
Happy Gunpowder Treason Day
The Smoking Gun
An Anthemic Ancestor
The Stranger In the Mirror
When the apocalypse comes
Astley 1: Orphans of a Perfect Storm
Astley 2: For Sail
Astley 3: The Gallant Ship Australia
Recognise this face?
I demand the right to be labelled a bastard
On Cemetery Hill
The Fate of the First Wife, Part I
The Fate of the First Wife, Part II
The Fate of The First Wife, Part III
Thomas Dyson: The Canny one
Our George Dyson
Dyson’s Corner (the Second)
On a Roll
A Tale of Three Cities
Dyson’s hat
Pavement Archaeology
A Trial on Trial
Choose your own Adventure
Rename Canning Bridge
Alias Hoffington
Boom time.
Won’t you think of the children?
Grave Matters
Going to the Fairies…
What has been left unsaid..
Reconstructing old Perth out of cardboard (so it lasts, this time)
New Government House
A little bit of war profiteering
How 2020 ended…
Bio: Richard Edwards (jr)
Are you … kidding me?
Rank Hypocrisy
Locating the United Service Tavern
Researching a Convict Ship
Tales of the Moffatt
Perth City Council Minutes 1858-1875
Unreliable Witness
A departure from Van Diemen’s Land
Bio: Henry Nickolls
Bio: David Williams
Bio: Lt Pearson Foote (RN)
Bio: Samuel McKee
Four days with the VDL Establishment
The One that Got Away
I’m sure this is all completely normal
Bio: Edward Hales Taylor
Central Perth in cardboard
Shadowy Spouses
Flame out
Missing an Allpike link?
Thompson’s Swamp
Jane Develing no more.
The point of no return.