ABOUT
Jacqui Donegan
For 20 years, I worked as a journalist but always wanted to know more.
My favourite place was in the archives, keen to find out the ‘back story’ – the factors that led to the present.
I qualified as a social historian (University of Queensland) and trained as a museum curator the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, working on some incredible exhibitions.
Why were they ‘incredible’? Because they questioned the role of ordinary, everyday people and revealed how they shaped history.
Since then, I’ve completed a doctorate in History at the Australian National University and Harvard Business School.
I now work as a historian in Canberra, specialising in archival research, family history, cultural heritage, and digital content.
The combination of a journalism background and historical discipline means I’m forensic in my inquiries.
THE PROCESS
Researching a military ancestor can be a little daunting and, even after researching hundreds of cases, I’m never quite sure where a lead will go.
But, there is a process to follow and, with careful attention to detail, a life story emerges.
The first place I start is the information provided by my client. There’s usually an artefact, some family recollections, or a piece of evidence such as a newspaper report, a photo or a birth/death certificate.
From there, I head to the Australian War Memorial and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
This then enables me to move on to the National Archives of Australia and other repositories.
When the information needs piecing together, sometimes a family tree can be a useful framework for making connections and detecting patterns.
The key is not to be deterred by a roadblock.
Often I’ll backtrack on the research process to look again with new insights.
It also helps to broaden the net. At this point, I’ll search for an official commemoration and citations.
By now, I have an idea of where your ancestor lived before and after his/her military service. I’ll hunt around in the local library, check the town’s war memorial, and speak with the Returned & Services League.
To this end, it’s also worth doing some oral histories; sometimes older residents have personal insights that official documents cannot yield.
It’s quite an adventure, exciting and incredibly rewarding. Are you ready to know more about your military ancestor? Contact me and I’ll get to work on your story of service.
THE PROCESS
Researching a military ancestor can be a little daunting and, even after researching hundreds of cases, I’m never quite sure where a lead will go.
But, there is a process to follow and, with careful attention to detail, a life story emerges.
The first place I start is the information provided by my client. There’s usually an artefact, some family recollections, or a piece of evidence such as a newspaper report, a photo or a birth/death certificate.
From there, I head to the Australian War Memorial and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
This then enables me to move on to the National Archives of Australia and other repositories.
When the information needs piecing together, sometimes a family tree can be a useful framework for making connections and detecting patterns.
The key is not to be deterred by a roadblock.
Often I’ll backtrack on the research process to look again with new insights.
It also helps to broaden the net. At this point, I’ll search for an official commemoration and citations.
By now, I have an idea of where your ancestor lived before and after his/her military service. I’ll hunt around in the local library, check the town’s war memorial, and speak with the Returned & Services League.
To this end, it’s also worth doing some oral histories; sometimes older residents have personal insights that official documents cannot yield.
It’s quite an adventure, exciting and incredibly rewarding. Are you ready to know more about your military ancestor? Contact me and I’ll get to work on your story of service.
THE BRAND
My brand represents the research I do and how it benefits the community.
Each day, I work with archival materials to trace the story of a veteran.
The stories that emerge are unique, but initially service records can appear the same, parchment colour yellowed by time. It’s amazing that many of these documents have made their way back from the frontline more than 100 years ago to the Base Records Office in Melbourne, then into safe storage in Canberra.
The meticulous level of detail shown by clerical staff and men in the field yields the secrets of the past. Deciphering their handwriting and abbreviations can be quite a task but it’s always worth the effort.
Each time I open a folder at the National Archives of Australia, I subconsciously take a deep breath and wonder about the secrets that might unfold. I’m careful to handle the papers gently, to keep them in the original order, and hand them back just as they arrived.
The ink on these records is muted; red is the most enduring tone and it stands out among the faded black ink and pencil. In my experience, red ink was reserved by record keepers for the most salient of information – a death, an important addendum or a correction – and it was used on Red Cross Wounded & Missing files.
Lastly, I chose a deeper tone of red to represent what Australia’s founding father, Henry Parkes, termed the ‘crimson thread of kinship’, the shared bloodlines within the colonies.
It’s remarkable that in 1914 Australia organised a mass mobilisation to take part in the First World War (and earlier with the Boer War) and its people were catapulted to the other side of the world. Yet they managed to keep in touch with loved ones and in many cases find their way home to family and friends. As the old saying goes, blood is thicker than water.
I’ve chosen three ‘medals’ to represent the arms of the Australian Defence Force – the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.
Military awards and decorations have been awarded since ancient times and the Australian military follows the imperial tradition, using campaign and service medals to recognise service, gallantry and bravery.
The ‘medals’ in my brand are rendered generic to encompass the broad roles that Australians have fulfilled in multiple conflicts, both in the battle zone and on the home front.
Whether your military ancestor was an Anzac at Gallipoli, a nurse in New Guinea, or a pay clerk in Melbourne, their service is worthy of investigation and commemoration.
I can help you ‘salute’ your ancestor, to recognise and respect their contribution and to reunite you with their story.