The Josiah Cocking Diaries spanning the years 1884-1960 have been place online through the Radical Newcastle Project.
Josiah Cocking was born on the 11th May 1867 at Kadina in South Australia and died on the 27th July 1960 aged 93 at Mayfield, New South Wales.
Mr Cocking was a miner and part of the early socialist and free-thought movement of Newcastle.
He lived for a time in Wallsend and Mayfield, and wrote much verse for the local papers of the time under such pseudonyms as “Dandelion” and “Capsicum”.
For a greater insight on the life and character of Josiah Cocking please view his biography in typescript (1.73Mb PDF file) or (496kB OCR PDF file) written by his son, Mr Arthur James Cocking (1916 – 1989).
The diaries and notebook papers of Mr Josiah Cocking were deposited in the Archives, Rare Books and Special Collections Unit (now Cultural Collections) of the University of Newcastle in November 1999 by Mr Keith Cocking. The shelf listing was completed on the 3rd March 2000 by Gionni di Gravio.
The above early photograph shows Josiah with his wife Mary Jane. In his biography of his father the late Mr Arthur James Cocking dedicated it to his
Mum (nee Mary Jane Anderson) who married him, variously tolerated him,
supported him, opposed him, cajoled him, coerced him, nursed him but steadfastly loved
him and bore him 8 children.
Historic climate data never before used by researchers may provide the key to helping communities better prepare for extreme weather events, such as the recent Queensland floods.
The data, collected between 1877 and 1907, by a New England pastoralist, will be used by University of Newcastle researchers to map the future climate of the region.
“The Bureau of Meteorology did not start collecting detailed, official climate data in the New England area until 1961,” University meteorologist Martin Babakhan said.
Sample page from the 1882 Meteorological Observing Book
“This data could be applied to create an early warning system to help climatologists and meteorologists better predict the extreme weather events that we have seen across Australia in the last six to 12 months.
“The information is extremely detailed and will help fill significant gaps in knowledge, and when applied to computerised climate modelling, will help us better predict climate and weather events in that region.”
The research will help predict adverse and beneficial climate events for the agriculture industry, as well as for planning, development and business investment in rural and regional areas.
“Climate management is all about knowledge. With this information we can understand why and how our climate is changing and the likely impacts, which are vital to better understand the climate of tomorrow,” Mr Babakhan said.
Sample page from Belfield's 1877 Meteorological Observing Book
Sample page from Belfield's 1877 Meteorological Observation Book
The climate data, collected by astronomer and meteorologist Algernon Henry Belfield at his Eversleigh Station in the New England region, has been donated to the University of Newcastle Cultural Collections and it is also being archived by the University of New England Heritage Centre.
Mr Richad Belfield, grandson of Algernon Belfield, examining his grandfather's records
“Most families on the land have detailed historic data about weather and climate that can be used by scientists to answer important questions about our climate,” Mr Babakhan said.
“It is important that they come forward with this information to help fill the gaps in knowledge and answer these vital questions about our nation’s future.”
Researchers, climate change believers and sceptics will attend a launch of the Mapping our Climate collection at the University of Newcastle, Cultural Collections, Level 2 Auchmuty Library, Callaghan, at 10am on Wednesday 9 March.
Meteorological Observing Book(s) for the Years 1877 – 1907
Compiled by Algernon Henry Belfield (1838-1922)
Eversleigh Station New England District
Linked from this page are optimised PDFs for the 27 extant Observing Books compiled by Algernon Henry Belfield on his Eversleigh Station in the New England District.
The original books were deposited in the Heritage Centre of the University of New England by Algernon Belfield’s grandson Mr Richard Belfield.
The original booklets were digitised for Cultural Collections, University of Newcastle by William Oates, University Archivist at the Heritage Centre University of New England.
NB: Meteorological Observing Books for 1879, 1880 and 1881 are missing.
NB: Each PDF file is around 14-16MB in size. So you might wish to right mouse click on the link and select ‘save link as’ to download the file to your computer.
Sample page from 'Tit-Bits' manuscript a coal trimmer's diary (IMG_1951)
Day Shift – 16/11/2010 – 02:10 PM
Presenter: Carol Duncan
Interviewee: Gionni Di Gravio, Archivist, Newcastle University
University of Newcastle Archivist Gionni Di Gravio brings in an authentic coal trimmer’s diary from Carrington.
Broadcast Notes:
Tit-bits [manuscript] : [a Newcastle coal trimmer's diary] by Frederick (Fred.) Roberts of Carrington New South Wales is an authentic handwritten, leather bound diary written by coal trimmer, later crane driver, Frederick Roberts.
It spans the years 1901-1915 and describes his family life in Carrington, N.S.W.
It also provides a brief historical record of the activities of the Carrington Fire Brigade.
