Phelan and Atkin Family History

At 5.35pm on the evening of 2 September 1948, the ANA DC3 airliner Lutana (pictured above), took off from Archerfield Airport in Brisbane on a routine flight to Sydney. It was carrying 10 passengers and 3 crew, including the pilot, Captain John Drummond. Above Coffs Harbour the captain reported that there was heavy ice on the plane, and was given permission to descend slightly. At 7.56 he reported that he was over Williamtown air base near Newcastle, and after brief further contact at 8.12pm, all looked on track for the expected 8.55pm arrival at Mascot. Except that it never arrived. Reports of an aircraft heard flying very low off Terrigal in misty rain at around 8.15pm led to initial fears that the Lutana had crashed into the sea. Several RAAF planes and civil aircraft searched the sea without luck the next day. On September 4 an oil slick near Swansea was spotted, lending weight to the theory of a crash at sea. Among the passengers listed missing was a  Mr Rossiter of 392 Uppe...

Welcome to my first post in several months! A lot has gone on in this time: made redundant after nearly 25 years at Lonely Planet, I've been concentrating on taking the opportunity of this time off to get a lot of 'digital admin' done. I've also been lucky enough to score some casual genealogical work with Jan Worthington, who was my supervisor when I did my Diploma in Family Historical Studies in 2017-18. That work has made me less motivated to spend hours on my own research, but I'm starting to get back into it. And so here we are with some new material for your reading pleasure! As you might remember I had been working on my Cowan ancestors, and had posted about my great-grandfather Joseph Cowan who was an architect and Mayor of Essendon. I am now delving into his children and their families. His eldest child was Magdalene Elizabeth Cowan (Dad's Aunty Madge). She married Herbert Rossiter, and it is through this family that we have a link to a woman who was we...