About me




Let me take you back to when I was just nine years old. I would sit on the floor of my grandparents' kitchen in the house which is now mine, listening to my Grandpa tell me stories about his parents and his grandparents. The names and places would roll of his tongue, so sharp was his memory, and I would write down everything he told me. In years to come, when Grandpa was no longer there, those notes - which I still have today - started me off on a quest in search of my many, many ancestors - and still the quest continues.

More than forty years later I have published a number of family histories, conducted cemetery tours, taught classes in family history research, assisted countless hundreds of people in discovering their temporarily 'lost' ancestors, organised family reunions and collected thousands - yes, thousands - of old family photos.

My first family history, the story of my own Proctor ancestors, The Grand Old Man of Kooreh (1998) was shortlisted for the Alexander Henderson Award for family history writing. I have since produced A Second Chance: the story of George Taylor and Staff, Melbourne (2005) and co-researched and co-written 150 Years of Public Schooling in Mortlake (2008), Women of the Mount (2009) and Families of the Mount (2010), the latter two volumes being histories of the pioneers of Mortlake and district. In 2013 I researched and produced Help soon came: a centenary history of the Mortlake Urban Fire Brigade. In 2014 I produced The Grand Old Man of Kooreh - Revisited, an update to my 1999 history of the Proctor family.

I live in Geelong, Victoria, and also at Mortlake in the south-west of the State. I am Secretary, Research Officer and Newsletter Editor for the Mortlake and District Historical Society.

I am a member of both the Genealogical Society of Victoria and the Society of Australian Genealogists.

A teacher of English and Language by profession and a genealogist by inclination, I have never lost my enthusiasm for research but, more importantly, have never lost my passion for unravelling the stories of those who came before me. As family historians, we are custodians of our forebears' stories.

And I am able to help you on your own quest to find out about the people - and the circumstances - from whom you are descended.



Craige Proctor
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