My grandmother Lydia Jane GROCH was born in 1906 in Hawker, South Australia. Her mother was Christina GROCH, her father was “unknown” according to her birth certificate.
In 1910 Halley’s Comet was seen by Lydia Jane whilst she was still living in Hawker, and was aged 4 years old. This was also the first time that Halley’s Comet had been photographed.
On the 8th November 1985 she received a letter from the then Premier of South Australia, Mr John Bannon, acknowledging that she had seen the comet in 1910, and advising her that there would be a dinner organised for a later date for those who had witnessed the comet twice in their lifetime. It isn’t known if she did attend a dinner, however she may not have, as nothing has been mentioned by other family, and by then my Nana was ageing and her mobility was not as good as it had been. However it is exciting to think she had witnessed all this. I knew nothing about it until I was given the original paperwork about the event, from my dad’s brother, my Uncle Dean Heneker.
“Letter from Premier John Bannon” in the collection by Vicki Lovell (nee Heneker)
http://www.ianridpath.com/halley/halley7.htm
The above link gives a brief history and dateline of the appearance of Halley’s Comet
First time Halley’s Comet was ever photographed was in 1910. – Photograph posted by aboriginalastronomy.blogspot.com
I previously worked as a Library Technician at the State Library of South Australia and then Noarlunga Library Services. I was lucky enough to work at the State Library in the Archives department, which is now a separate entity and housed at a suburban site. I've always loved English and Australian history, and began my Heneker family history in about 1980, before the advent of the internet, and now o with so many digitised records online there is a treasure chest of information out there, and it just keeps growing. One of the most wonderful treasures we have here in Australia is the Trove website, the free digitised newspapers of nearly every place in Australia, provided for free by the National Library of Australia. This has opened up so much day to day information for people searching for further information about their ancestors. I chose to write a blog as a way for me to put down a lot of information I had that wasn't necessarily easy to slot into a "family tree" as such. And I wanted to record some of the stories of the Heneker clan, and especially James Heneker (1826-1917) who arrived in South Australia as a 12 year old boy with his family. Like most of us in the genealogy community I have become obsessed and this is a never ending story. The community of bloggers, and also Facebook specialist pages has allowed me and many of us to learn from each other, and to use some of the many amazing tools that are out there now for us to use and enhance our research. My one wish?? dad Neville Laurence Heneker 1929 - 1987, this is for you, for all the things you told me, and the stories you related, often when we were up north in the Flinders Ranges, at Beltana, Hawker, Blinman and many other amazing places. I wish you were here, so I could share all this new information that has come to light. And of course for you Pa (Laurence Douglas Heneker), your stories were incredible and watching you sleep out under the stars at Arkaroola with a rock for your pillow is an image I will never forget. Oh if only we had digital cameras back then...I think of you both every time I write my words and read my books. I love you both.
Heneker - a Pioneering family from Kent to South Australia 