Almanacs are a valuable resource for local, family and social historians as
well as for researchers in other fields of Australian history. This 1929 edition
was the 78th year of publication, and contains 675 pages of information.
As with earlier issues of Moore's Almanac, this volume was designed to be a
reference work, it is full of everyday information, and it certainly would have
been one to have on your shelf in it's day. The book is divided into various
sections, the first being the Almanac, which includes a Calendar, Government and
Public Service listing (which lists hundreds of office holders names
together with their position), Law and courts register (listing name and
position of each person mentioned), the Ecclesiastical and Other Societies lists
the various churches and groups in New South Wales together with the church
leaders of each denomination. There is a Postal Guide, together with details of
Postal Towns, Taxi Cab Fares, and all the Tarrifs of the day,
The major portion of the book is the Country Directory (over 500 pages in
length). This contains details of hundreds of New South Wales country towns,
together with brief geographical information on each as well as the services
(businesses) offered at each along with the owner of the business.
Using this information you can find out that in 1929, at Wrightville, the
loal postmaster was A. Single, and the storeowners was D.A. Paul. At Wongarbon,
which is 275 miles from Sydney and 11 miles east of Dubbo, they had a population
of approx 400, and the town had two banks, a butcher, baker, hotel, several
stores, a brick kiln, and even a local cricket and football club.
As genealogists we like finding out the names and dates of family members,
but don't dismiss the social history aspect of it. Historians in other fields
would already know that understanding the era gives us a far better perspective
of just what life was our ancestors. This guide provides a wonderful record of
life as it was in New South Wales in 1929.
High quality scanned images of the whole of the original book. This CD has
been bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed,
enlarged and printed out if required.
