Great-grandpa was born 5 years before this continent was named Australia

In 5 mins I (Philip Elton Hillis Wilson) very easily found on the Aussie National Archives site the enlistment papers for my grandfather's 1902 Second Tour of Duty in the Boer War http://bit.ly/9kCXam. He, George Hillis, a dairyman of Parramatta, was born in 1878. His own father, my great-grandpa, was born in 1819, two years after Napoleon died and 5 years before the name 'Australia' was adopted for this continent -- 31 years after European settlement. On my paternal side, my family is 8th-generation Australian.

Categories: australia, genealogy