There are a number of good sites with information on Hill End, Tambaroora and the surrounding areas. As a general guide use a well-known search engine such as Google or Trove and search on “Hill End” and “Tambaroora” as a search terms. Don’t forget to use inverted commas around the search term “Hill End” to just get material relating to this place. Not putting these in will result in a search for both the terms “hill” and “end” and will result in entries not necessarily relevant to your search. There are also locations called “Hill End” in Brisbane (Queensland) and Victoria so you will need to exclude these from your search.
AS well as checking out all our Resources the following websites provide specific information relating to the area are a few good places to start:
Photographs (the Holtermann Collection)
In the early 1870s Bernard Holtermann used funds from his successful mining ventures to embark on a project of photographing the chief gold mining areas of New South Wales and Victoria with the idea of exhibiting them overseas. This collection of photographic glass negatives was rediscovered in 1951 by his grandson, having been stored in a backyard shed in North Sydney.
In 1952 it was presented to the Mitchell Library and is now able to be viewed on the State Library of New South Wales website. The full story of the Collection in Kodak’s Australasian Photo-Review journal can be found on the website devoted to Keast Burke.
To view over 3500 photos listed in the collection go to the State Library of New South Wales website Manuscripts, Oral History and Pictures Catalogue, or follow our instructions here.
State Library of New South Wales Discover Collection
The Holtermann Digitisation Project undertaken by the State Library of New South Wales has been completed and their “Discover” collection webpages have been archived here.
The link on the right hand side of the page to the digitization project blog, especially the curatorial thread, reveals that there were a lot of interesting and unknown snippets that came to light during the project. It also highlights the hard detective work and diligent research that has been carried out by the library staff in chasing up all the small leads presented by the new information constantly being revealed in the photos.
Cemetery headstone records
It appears that there were at least 5 cemeteries which served the residents of Hill End and Tambaroora since the 1850s. Two of these have only been recently located, using old maps and records and further investigation is currently being undertaken on these sites. Another cemetery, the Chinese cemetery, located to the south-west of the Roman Catholic Cemetery catered to the needs of the “celestials”. It is marked on old maps but it appears that no records exist of just who was buried there. There are no headstones left in this area.
There are two cemeteries still in existence and in use. Located at Tambaroora, the headstones for both the General Cemetery and the Roman Catholic Cemetery have been recorded and are available on the Australian Cemeteries Website.
Post Office Directories
These are lists of the residents, with occupations, which were produced to facilitate the delivery of mail in NSW. As many inhabitants were itinerant they may not be listed here but it is a good place to start.
Check out our Post Office Directories in the database section of this website where we have the following selection:
- Bailliere’s Official Post Office Directory of New South Wales 1867
- Greville’s Post Office Directory for Hill End & Tambaroora 1872
- Sands Post Office Directories 1903 – 1933
Hill End & Tambaroora Family History
Maintained by volunteer Daphne Shead, who lives in the area, this website has lots of good information and links to Hill End research. With Hill End and Tambaroora being of such historical significance Daphne aims to provide a place to do the research and to store the data, a place where like-minded people could gather and compare their research and hopefully a place where people from all over Australia could find answers about their Hill End ancestors.
Tambaroora.com
This web site maintained by Warwick Taylor, has been designed to supplement the many publications which have already been written on the region. Hill End has been the dominant name when associating gold to the area. This web site gives a more in depth understanding of the size and importance that Tambaroora played in the recovery of the gold in the region.
History Hill
This is Hill End’s premier student and visitor educational facility and museum. Here you will find lots of general information and photos of Hill End & Tambaroora.
