Many of John Franklin and Harriet Tull's descendants who attended the Franklin Reunion on the Saturday afternoon.
Family trees were put up for the children of John Franklin and Harriet Tull. John Charles Franklin's line was the largest, taking up the length of a whole wall and displaying five generations of family members.
Dr Meg Dillon, (Social Historian) has assembled the efforts of a number of researchers including that collected by a small group of Franklin descendants into a comprehensive document detailing the known and confirmed knowledge of John Franklin. The efforts of this research were presented at the Franklin Reunion over the Labour Day weekend. While this research was extensive it was unable to definitively answer the question of 'Who was John Franklin?" Research will continue in the hope that one day an important document will be uncovered at the Public Records Office or some other repository that will shed important new light on his origins and his connection with the Yea district in the 1840s.
As a member of the research team I would particularly like congratulate the other members of the research team and the quality of their investigations and materials in spite of not receiving any support or assistance from the TCAC. Research such as this provides a priceless asset to all Taungurung people and not just to the Franklin family.
Carol Sonogan, Linguist and Researcher, delivered an informative and thought provoking presentation at the recent Franklin Reunion. Details of Carol's presentation can be found on the following link.
Sandra Smith Aunty Irene's close friend and colleague standing next to Irene's memorial plaque at the Frog Pond, Yea Wetlands
Family, friends and associates gathered near the frog pond at the Yea Wetlands on Sunday to pay their respects to Aunty Irene Lawrey who passed away almost two years ago. A permanent bronze plaque was put in place near the frog pond (Irene's favourite spot) to honour Aunty Irene and serve as a remininder of the esteem in which Irene was held for her work and dedication to the Franklin family.
The opportunity for Dr David Chalmers to present his findings was well received at the recent Franklin family reunion with many people hearing about his research and findings for the first time. His research and hypothesis sparked much interest by many of the older ‘Franklins’ who expressed a desire to visit the sites and gain first had experience of the landfall and environment.
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Two years ago Bernadette Franklin and Loraine Padgham (as representatives of the Taungurung) were invited to attend the launch of the culmination of six years of research undertaken by Prof. Chalmers at his Strathbogie Ranges property.
Prof. Chalmers had been researching the unusual arrangement of stones on his property and concluded that they could have been established by the Nira Balug people (a clan of the Taungurung) to herd kangaroos up the hill, into a race, where they were trapped and separated for slaughter or breeding. He compared the 'Euroa men' rock drawings found in the Strathbogie Ranges and theorised that the rock drawings could actually depict the local Aboriginal people herding and corralling kangaroos.
Other interesting stone arrangements were shown to the group and speculation was made that one stone arrangement was in fact a calendar made in the shape of a giant bird - possibly Bunjil - with it's beak pointing eastward towards the rising sun. Through cavities in the adjacent caves, sunlight could penetrate and shine on the back wall of the cave accurately depicting the time of the year.
