New member

[Roger58]

Hi all
I have been tracing my family tree for about 6 mths now. Probably like most, once I hit a brick wall I leave it and follow a different line. Now I’m trying to tidy up my tree as much as possible.
The first obstacle I hit was my Grandfather, Charles Henry Bennett, Born 4/12/1882 in Islington, London.
He married Florence Duke in Nov 1903 and they had 3no children, before he left for Australia in 1911, never to be seen again! The only records I have are the ship he left on was The Ophir bound for Australia and the next was leaving Adelaide for Sydney in 1913 aboard the ship Moolton. It arrived on the 22/12/1913.
My grandmother never spoke of him again, neither did my parents and unfortunately any relatives who may have any information have passed. I’m curious to know if he went on to have another family and what may have happened to him in the end. So if anyone could point me in a general direction or if they have any info I would be grateful
Thanks

[Megan Roberts]

There are lots of Australian online resources that you can use.

The first thing to know is that each state and territory has it's own set of rules regarding access to BMDs, but if you do an internet search for each state records you will soon find your way around, and there are plenty of antipodean sleuths who are members of this forum.

Another resource to look at would be the National Library of Australia's Trove site which is a digital archive of all sorts of documents including newspapers, and it's all free to use.

[Roger58]

Thanks for that, I’ve tried ancestry search but with no luck will give this ago. Can’t believe someone would just disappear

[daleaway]

Hello,

I've done a quick search of Papers Past in New Zealand for you, using "Charles Henry Bennett", and these New Zealand listings turned up:

* Leaving an estate in Auckland worth £4,909 in August 1917

* Standing for election in Mercury Bay, Coromandel in October 1902

* Being fined 20s and 7s costs for riding his motorbike in Church Street after sunset without a light in Masterton in 1918

* Being fined £2 for using obscene language in Wairoa in 1927


I hope for your sake he's the rich one!

Dale in New Zealand

[Roger58]

Cheers Dale
My DNA test has shown up matches in both Australia and New Zealand from that time period. I have relations in New Zealand who emigrated over in the 60’s, so cant be them.
I fear from what I’ve discovered so far, it will be one of the last two!😁

Thanks
Roger