Friday 7 June 2013

Genealogy notes 27 May - 8 Jun 2013 - discovering relatives & photos

Well our two weeks of travel went well but I was surprised to find that for most of the time I was without mobile phone access (thank goodness that contract is up in August) and even my wi fi struggled just outside of Bundaberg even though we were only a 5-10 minute drive from the CBD! As it was a family history trip I wasn't too concerned with online access as we were kept busy visiting places our ancestors lived and talking to relatives and looking through old photo albums. I've come home with some cute baby photos of Max, photos of his parents in their courting days not to mention their wedding photo and even some photos of his maternal grandparents. His maternal grandmother's photo album has ended up with his aunt's eldest daughter who lives in Kingaroy so there is another trip on the horizon as that is the album most likely to have photos of their Bribie Island home and holidays there.

My Flip Pal mobile scanner got a work out and the batteries went flat but having learnt from past mistakes I had another set of batteries on hand! Now of course I have to upload all the images to the laptop, tag and label them which all takes time. However the trip proved you really do need to track down all the oldest living relatives because you just don't know what they may have that relates to your own direct families.

The trip down the Mary River as part of the anniversary celebrations for the 140th anniversary of immigrant ships to Maryborough was great and it wasn't hard to imagine what my Norwegian ancestors thought as they sailed up the river so long ago. There is still not a lot of development along that stretch of the river and it was amazing to see the flood debris so high up in the trees courtesy of the dreadful floods earlier this year. What really brought home the extent of the floods to us was the sight of a wrecked yacht in the middle of a cane field. The Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute has already started planning for next year's anniversary celebration and we may try to attend again just because we had so much fun this time.

Of course coming home meant that I had lots of emails to catch up on and I was pleased to see a few more events for National Family History Month. Some states have quite a few events now but others have yet to list any. It was great to see Australian Family Tree Connections feature the NFHM banner in their June issue and in Genealogy News there is a piece on NFHM and the suggestion that local genie societies have a display at their local newsagents who usually stock all kinds of genie magazines. It certainly sounds a good way to advertise your society and perhaps even gain a few new members.

I have to put a few things into place next week which I hope will also capture researchers and societies attention and get more people talking about what they are going to do this coming August! Stay tuned.

One of the exciting pieces of news for me was the announcement that Queensland now has cheaper certificates ($28) and historical images ($20) which can be downloaded direct from the website. I haven't had a chance to try out the new QLD BDM website yet but I've always been a fan of Victoria's BDM online access and the ability to instantly follow a lead without having to wait for a certificate to be posted. Although you have to be careful to not get too carried away!

As usual I have my e-newsletters  to catch up on and I only wish I had some way of retaining a lot of this information easily although I do save them for searching later, assuming I can remember what newsletter I read it in.Not to mention the time it takes to look at all the URLs mentioned and going off on tangents!

For those who like to follow my travels we spent two days at Mooloolaba (where we almost ended up buying) and visited Underwater World and did a cruise on the canals which was fascinating. It even goes near Jake and Elle's home (runner up in recent My Kitchen Rules) and it just goes to show that local tourism benefits from having celebrities in the area. From there we were heading up to Hervey Bay (where the MKR winners were from) but we decided to spend a night in Tin Can Bay and visit Rainbow Beach as well.

We are members of Top Tourist Parks so we booked into the Tin Can Bay Tourist Park for one night and ended up staying for three nights as there is more to do in Tin Can Bay then you initially think. Next time we visit we will have to take the boat so that we can explore the waterways more. The owners advised us that it is actually easier to get to Fraser Island from there than going up to Hervey Bay so we booked into a Fraser Island Adventure Tours day tour to Lake McKenzie. It is only an 8 minute barge trip from Inskip Point to Fraser Island so definitely a quicker trip but I still managed to spot two dolphin pods on the way over.

The 4WD trip up the beach was great but it got a little bumpier once we started heading inland. We had a great BBQ at the lake and even spotted a dingo walking around Central Station (another tourist and picnic area) and as we came back out onto the beach for the trip home there was another dingo eating a coconut (or at least that's what it looked like). It was a great day and the bird life was amazing and you do have to watch those kookaburras - the man next to us had his BBQ sausage taken off his plate while the guide was busy warning us to watch out for them!

From our caravan park it was an easy walk to the foreshore and again the bird life was amazing and a guided walking trail helps you to know what the local trees are as well as some of the history. We also went down to the wild dolphin feeding at the Barnacles Dolphin Centre and this is a real draw card for tourism to Tin Can Bay. I hadn't realised they even did it there as I usually think of Monkey Mia in WA and Tangalooma here in QLD. It was a big crowd on Saturday morning and from there we headed up to Maryborough in time for the anniversary celebrations. Then we had a few days in Bundaberg before heading home.

It's great being able to travel and do genealogy things together but now that I'm home it's time to knuckle down as I have a talk on immigration records coming up at the end of the month for the Genealogical Society of Queensland and then two weeks later it is out to Chinchilla for two talks on Trove and Google. See my website Events page for details. They are predicting rain all next week so that is perfect weather to do some family history research and writing. I hope you find the time too!







Sunday 26 May 2013

Genealogy notes 16-26 May 2013 anniversaries & family visits

Well the other half's trip to his brother fell through so there was no 4-5 days of pure genealogy bliss by myself but I've managed to get a few things done. I'm off this week to Maryborough for the 140th & 150th anniversary of immigrant ships into Maryborough, Queensland. My Gundersen ancestors arrived on the Humboldt in 1873 so I'm participating in a cruise down the Mary River to Hervey Bay (the trip in reverse). The anniversary celebrations have been organised by the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Centre and the cruise leaves on Saturday there will be displays of family tree charts and other memorabilia associated with the various voyages.

I've also spent a bit of time (well ok a lot of time) on Trove looking up reports on the arrival of the Humboldt. I did look at newspapers back in the old microfilm days but it's obvious that I didn't pick up everything! It is so much easier now just putting in a keyword, a date or even the name of the newspaper. I'm really looking forward to the trip and the anniversary celebrations.

From Maryborough it's on to Bundaberg to visit Max's 92 year old aunt and hear her stories of the Burstow family on Bribie Island. I've dragged out the Flip Pal mobile scanner just in case she has any photos or documents. It's funny if I don't use something regularly I forget how to use it! Still the scanner is easy to use and it's just a matter of getting back into the swing of scanning. Something I should seriously do when we get back.

Max's brother is bringing their father's WW2 photo albums up with him when he visits in June so I'll definitely have to do those. That also reminds me that I still have to get my Uncle Gordon's WW2 albums from Mum to scan. I'm starting to hope that Bribie Island does have a winter so that I can stay indoors and do some of these tasks but so far the weather has been absolutely perfect and we are still in shorts and t shirts and I even went swimming a day or so ago.

I'm still rolling out National Family History Month but there is still only a trickle of events coming in even though I know of societies who have already organised NFHM events - but they haven't added them to the calendar yet. I'm hoping a full page advert in the next Australian Family Tree Connections will get people started to talk about it more (thanks to AFTC for their sponsorship) and I know that other sponsors Ancestry.com.au and findmypast.com.au are both featuring NFHM in email newsletters to their subscribers.

I've been spending some time working on new research guides but you can spend a lot of time thinking and writing and still have little to show for it at the end of the day. Then when I think I have all my URLs up to date I find something has changed - still I would never want to go back to researching pre internet!

The events section of my website has been updated to show what talks I have coming up June to December 2013 and it's a bit quieter than usual for this time of year but then people don't know me as much up this way! I'm happy to have two talks in NFHM - in Canberra with the Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra and also here on Bribie Island at the Bongaree Library. The thought of Canberra in winter brings back some chilly memories for me but it also coincides with a WW1 advisory committee meeting at the National Archives of Australia. It will be a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues. And of course there is the launch of NFHM in Brisbane so August will definitely be a travel month.

I've just downloaded our photos from the cameras and put them on the chargers and am now about to back up the laptops in preparation for the trip. I've got a small pile of genealogy journals and magazines that I wanted to catch up on not to mention all the e-copies on my laptop and tablet! It's only a short but busy trip but I'm still hoping for a few hours of quiet time. Housework in a caravan doesn't take as long as at home!

As I walk in my ancestors footsteps this coming week, I hope you all find time for a little genealogy research too! Until next time wish me luck on finding some old family photos this trip.




Tuesday 14 May 2013

Genealogy notes 3-15 May 2013 hooked on digitised newspapers

Well the last fortnight has made me realised what's wrong with living in paradise! Living on Bribie Island is like being on a permanent holiday - the weather has been fantastic so lots of swimming, fishing, walking, biking etc not to mention the pubs and clubs with their cheap meals and free entertainment. Not surprisingly we have had three lots of visitors in the last fortnight (funny no one ever visited us at Hoppers Crossing) so not much genealogy has been done!

As we are about to head off to Bundaberg to visit an elderly aunt to capture her memories of holidays to the family cottages here on Bribie Island in the 1920s and 30s, I have spent a bit of time on Trove looking for bits and pieces on the Burstow family to help stimulate her memory. Although on the phone she seems totally with it for someone who is approaching her 92nd birthday but then her sister is heading for 103 this year and she is an inspiration! Definitely good genes in that family.

But Trove, although wonderful, is a trap. I managed to spend the whole day looking for info on the ten Burstow children and their families and I found all kinds of information which then sparked searches in online BDMs for both Queensland and New South Wales, as well as online cemetery databases in Brisbane and Moreton, not to mention the Queensland State Archives and State Records NSW. In fact I had so many leads I then spent the next day doing more Trove searches and before I knew it, it was dark and I was fumbling around in the dark trying to remember where the light switches were. Two days gone!

If the other half hadn't out bike riding and fishing I probably wouldn't have spent so much time but now that more regional newspapers are online in Trove, I really need to do that kind of searching with all my families.

We went to the Bribie Island historical society meeting and I was fascinated to chat with someone who knew a lot about my Carnegie ancestors and what is in the Society's database on them. It seems they know info I don't and of course, I have info that they haven't but I have promised them copies. When I was doing this research back in the 1970s and 80s the Society didn't even exist and it wasn't established until 2008 which is quite late for a historical society. Most local areas have had a historical society for decades. Again this highlights that you do need to revisit your research as things change, especially over 35 years.

The other thing I realised after going through my paper files of documents on the Carnegie family is that I haven't put all the info into my family history program and I've forgotten a lot as well. There are lots of things I could follow up now that weren't easily searched way back then. So as I sort my info out for the historical society, I'm also going to input the data myself and follow up some of the new leads. If I do that for all my families, my son's and my partner's, I'm going to need more than another 35 years!!

But what has been really nice about this massive overdose of genealogy research over the last few days is that I'm still as passionate about it as I was when I started back in 1977. The only real difference is that now it is more instantaneous and you can follow that trail now instead of waiting for the mailman!

I still have some research enquiries, reviews and articles to do and I'm procrastinating there because I really like the research more than writing but I do need to keep this part time business moving along. Plus I'm partway through a couple of new books which I should finish but I seem to get to a certain point and then I start to procrastinate over the finish. I'm obviously not an athlete as I'd never get to the finish line!

The other half is planning a trip to see his brother and will be away for 4-5 days which will be the perfect opportunity for me to catch up on the business side of things or will I succumb to the lure of Trove and my own personal research?

On the reading side I simply loved the latest edition of Inside History magazine with its Irish theme. I only have two more parts to my Missing Irish Loved Ones Downunder for Irish Lives Remembered which is a bit sad as I've loved doing that series. I took out two books on medieval genealogy from the local library as I love that period of history and have a few Cornish lines that wander into that era. Research and reading - probably my two biggest time consumers!

Lastly just a quick mention of National Family History Month - I've finished the campaign letter and poster and sent it off to all key genealogy and family history umbrella groups for further dissemination but sadly no influx of events on the NFHM calendar yet. The campaign letter and poster will next be sent to key historical society bodies and archives and libraries as I'm hoping to raise the profile in a variety of sectors. So don't forget to make your local society aware of NFHM and ask them to do an event this year even if it is something as simple as calling the August monthly meeting 'NFHM meeting'!

Well that beautiful sunshine is calling me for an afternoon walk to the beach - it's either that or bring up Trove again and I really should get some sun and exercise after the last few rainy days. Until next time happy searching.

Thursday 2 May 2013

Genealogy notes 20 Apr - 2 May 2013 military tributes

Well the last two weeks have flown and we enjoyed our time in Maryborough although getting both the caravan and the motorbike back took us a few days. We also decided it was time to finish unpacking the boxes we had hidden inside wardrobes and cupboards. So with laptops unplugged we have been sorting ourselves out more in the new home and also tackling the garden which is a lot more high maintenance than our previous place.

The upside of this was that we found Max's outdoor work boots which we have looked everywhere for (but not in amongst the photo albums which is where we found them). How they ended up in there will probably remain a mystery but the unpacking of all his photo albums meant time out for a trip or two down memory lane. It also reminded me of how much I still have to scan as I haven't even finished my own photos and albums! Now hoping for some cold rainy days but today is simply gorgeous and I have other things to catch up on.

I have managed to get some genealogy in and participated in the Trans Tasman ANZAC Day blog challenge and my entry this year was on John and Sarah Finn's three sons, John, Robert and Denis Patrick who all enlisted and served overseas in France during WW1. You can read their stories on my website here.

While reading the latest Lost Cousins enewsletter (they have been going for nine years now, amazing how quickly that has gone) I realised that I've never added Max's families to this database. No one has ever contacted me about my own families but he seems luckier than me so that's another job on the never shrinking genealogy to do list.

After we got back from Bali Max had a 'spooky' incident in that he saw someone who looked just like his brother walking down the road here on Bribie. He stopped because the resemblance was too great not to ask a question or two. It turned out that the man and his wife were visiting from England and had been staying with friends at Ningi and it was their last day before leaving. Not only was there a strong visual resemblance but his surname was Spencer, the same as Max. How incredible that the surname was the same!

The sad thing was he didn't know his family history but his daughter had been doing some research. So when Max came home to tell me about this almost surreal incident, the first thing I asked was 'what was his name, address, how could we contact them' etc but in his excitement Max hadn't thought to ask but he did give them his name and email address so let's hope they contact us when they get home. Although I might add his Spencer names into Lost Cousins and see if I can find the daughter. Nothing like that ever happens in my family!

Most of my spare genealogy time has been spent on National Family History Month 2013 contacting sponsors and organising prizes for our lucky drawer for genealogy and family history societies who enter their NFHM event on the web calendar and promote it as part of NFHM. It's looking good so far and I already have almost a dozen events on the calendar but only from Queensland and Victoria.

I have almost finished the 2013 campaign letter and flyer which I will be emailing out to libraries, archives, historical societies and genealogy and family history societies next week. With a $0 budget I will be asking people to print their own flyer to put on their noticeboards and to spread the word about NFHM to their own networks.

I'd also appreciate it if all my online friends could mention NFHM to their societies or libraries because word of mouth is also a great way of spreading the news that all of August will be focused on genealogy and family history! Not to mention those great prizes for participating societies.

The other thing I have been working on is the list of 31 genealogy activities for individuals and 31 activities for genie societies - this will be optional and people can choose how much or how little they want to do during the month.

On the good news front the local Bribie Island branch of the Moreton Bay Region Libraries has said that they would be keen to do something in August for NFHM so that is great. We are still organising a date for me to give a talk and they will probably do other talks as well. So one library on board, more to follow.

More good news is that the National Archives of Australia Brisbane office have agreed to hold a launch for NFHM so I'm busy arranging a speaker and thinking about a program for the launch. It will be nice to see the launch held outside of Melbourne where it has been launched for the last six years. Also nice that I'm organising it for my home town and I can invite all my old genie friends!

Next week is shaping up to be the busiest genie week I have had in some time. On Monday there is the Bribie Island U3A family history meeting, and on Tuesday and Thursday the Bribie Island family history interest group (no website) meets and on Wednesday night the Bribie Island historical society meets. They are all monthly meetings but just happen to all fall into the one week in May!

I'm still surrounded by unpacked boxes in my study so enough rambling and back to the unpacking I go! At least next week I'm guaranteed genealogy time with all those meetings to attend - stay tuned and happy researching.

Thursday 18 April 2013

Genealogy notes 14-19 April 2013 Immigration anniversaries

This post on Diary is coming live from Maryborough Queensland where I am currently staying onsite at the Ulysses AGM 2013. Regular readers will know that Max is the motorbike enthusiast not me but while he is out riding, I can usually be found doing genealogy! This is my first full time AGM mainly because it was also an opportunity to visit the area where my Norwegian gg grandparents lived when they first arrived in Queensland.

While chatting to my long time friend Kay at the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute, she reminded me that 2013 is the 140th anniversary of the arrival of the Humboldt into Maryborough carrying my Norwegian ancestors Anders and Aase Gunderson. Sadly their two children died on the voyage out and we can only imagine their grief and their confusion arriving in Queensland, a land very different from where they came from in Norway.

The Humboldt wasn't the only ship arriving in 1873 and to celebrate their 140th anniversaries plus the 150th anniversaries of the ships arriving in Maryborough in 1863, the Institute is organising a cruise on the catamaran Spirit of Hervey Bay (normally does whale watching tours during Jul-Nov) down the Mary River followed by dinner at the Hervey Bay Boat Club at Urangan and a bus trip back to Maryborough! It's on Saturday 1 June and we simply couldn't resist this commemorative event so we have booked two seats and will travel back up this way in late May. Descendants from the various ships are being encouraged to send in family trees for display on the day so I need to get onto that when I get back home next week. Anyone interested should contact the Institute.

The weather has been absolutely perfect here and we visited the Maryborough Heritage Markets on Thursday and witnessed the discharge of the cannon at 1pm (a regular event). Only this time there were hundreds if not thousands of Ulysses members also checking out the markets and Maryborough's various heritage sites. There was even a competition for the best themed Ulysses shop front window which were good to see and most places were offering discounts to members as well.

Max even made it into the local Fraser Coast Chronicle after he test rode one of the latest Honda Gold Wing motorbikes. He was so excited we bought 3 copies of the paper and ordered the photo from the newspaper! It will look good in his family history.

There are almost 4000 Ulysses members at the AGM so that's a fair bit of money they are contributing to the local economy at shops, accommodation, petrol stations, hotels and where ever else one spends money. When we went down to Hervey Bay for the afternoon, the Esplanade was simply swarming with motorbikes exploring the Bay. The Maryborough Show Grounds is an excellent venue with lots of casual dining places, a temporary restaurant Bayfusion serving excellent meals, an internet kiosk, and even an IGA.

There are a huge number of traders selling all sorts of motorbike stuff but there are also fishing, massage, soaps, clothing and other trade stalls. Most attendees are in tents but there are also quite a few caravans, motorhomes and other RV vehicles. Others are staying off site at motels and other accommodation venues. The AGM dinner has seating for 1200 also on site in a temporary pavilion and the Piazza also seats about 1200 for more informal dining and happy hour.

I'd like to see a genealogy conference organised like that!

I came up here thinking I would get lots of research done but I've spent more time sight seeing and talking to people. I did manage to send off my next installment on Irish Loves Ones Downunder to Irish Lives Remembered and I've been working on my 2013 Trans Tasman ANZAC day blog challenge by Kintalk (held every year). This year it will be on my father's three uncles John, Robert and Denis Patrick Finn who all went to WW1.

Kay also lent me Bryan Sykes The Seven Daughters of Eve (the astonishing story that reveals how each of us can trace our genetic ancestors) but I don't think I will get that finished before we leave. I'll have to bring it back when we come up again for the immigration anniversaries.

Needless to say I haven't had much opportunity to do anything more with National Family History Month 2013 but hopefully people are starting to think about how they can get their local society, library or archive more involved now that it is over the whole month of August.

Next week is also shaping up to be a busy one but at least I will be home with the computer set up all the time! I know it doesn't take that much time to get the laptop out and set up the modem but when it's a beautiful day like today, the temptation is to be out and about. Or even have a quick Nana nap (these late nights are a bit taxing)! Till next time.



Friday 12 April 2013

Genealogy notes 6-13 Apr 2013 National Family History Month

Well the last week has flown and all the things I thought I would do, I didn't end up doing. It turned out to be visitor week first with my brother coming up for a couple of days and then 3 friends from where we used to live in Melbourne. They are travelling by motorhome and motobike on their way up to Maryborough on the Fraser Coast for the Ulysses 2013 AGM there next week. As it is so wet here on Bribie Island, they are having a few dry nights with us and then will all be heading up to Maryborough together tomorrow. So next week's Diary will be live from Maryborough, Queensland not to be confused with Maryborough, Victoria in the central goldfields area!

I haven't done much personal genealogy this week as I have been wearing my voluntary coordinator hat for National Family History Week  and I'm pleased to announce that this has just been extended to the whole month of August! This also brings us into line with New Zealand who have had a NZ National Family History Month for some time.

So now we have to remember National Family History Month (NFHM). The last week has seen me struggle to learn how to manage a Joomla website and emails plus the website content. All so different from my own website but I seem to have done all the changes and I must thank the previous coordinator Lesle Berry for all her help with my numerous questions this past week. The only things not changed yet are the domain name and the Facebook page name which both take a bit longer to do.

As NFHM doesn't have it's own blog (yet although I'm hesitant to start yet another blog) I will briefly outline here what will be happening. I will be approaching various sponsors (or hopefully some will approach me) for prizes to go into a big draw for all genealogy and family history societies who put a NFHM event into the NFHM event calendar. Each Australian state and Territory has its own calendar and there is also one for New Zealand. Societies don't have to be a member to enter into the prize draw. I'm hoping this will encourage more societies to repackage their monthly meeting or a library open day into a NFHM event/s.

I would also like to see lots of libraries and archives hold an event/s over the month as well and remember it is important to add these events to the NFHM event calendar so that everyone can see what's on in their local area. Don't forget to check the surrounding postcodes as there may be a great event in a neighbouring suburb.

To keep enthusiasm and awareness high throughout the month I'm working on a list of 31 activities for individuals to help further their own genealogy research and another list of 31 activities to help genealogy and family history societies raise their own profiles and hopefully attract some new members over the month. It would also be good to have more societies join AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations).

As well I'm hoping that all my geneablogger friends will be doing their blogging,  Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and whatever other social media they are into. I think this is a great opportunity for us to really make genealogy and family history a focus during August because for me a week was too short and it was over before I realised it. Plus there were often competing events in the shorter time period. Now it will be a true feast of genealogy over 31 days as I'm sure some of the physical events will also appear in attendees blogs and other social media.

I'm happy to take on any suggestions and already I have had one person ask that headstones and the information on them be highlighted. This is a great idea as I have some wonderful examples in my own research of information I would never had known if not for the tombstone.

Well I have to get back to packing for Maryborough, so put your genealogy thinking caps on for what you are going to do in NFHM in 2013 and don't forget to ask your local societies, libraries and archives what are they doing. Don't forget to add the events to the NFHM calendar and if you haven't yet ticked Like on the Facebook page, please do. I want everyone talking genealogy and family history in the lead up to August this year. Please join me! Till next time safe travels!

Friday 5 April 2013

Genealogy notes 27 Mar - 5 Apr 2013 Canberra news

Well it's been busy on the home front and my recent visit to Canberra has made life even more hectic but I'm fast realising that my life in retirement on Bribie Island is never going to be less than action packed. Over Easter we finally go to do the 6 hour eco cruise on The Ferryman and I just love sailing past my Scottish ancestors home on the Toorbul side of Pumicestone Passage. As there was 6 hours of sailing we went almost to the tip of Bribie Island and could easily see Caloundra. The bird life is amazing and must have been even more amazing back in the 19thC before the settlers arrived.

It's a great trip and amazing value as it also included morning tea (hot cross buns, chocolate ones no less), a delicious roast chicken and salads lunch  (and I must get the wombok salad recipe it was amazing) and afternoon tea with home made cakes which were so good. I don't think we have ever eaten so much in a single place before! Well done Ferryman and I hope others do the trip because the 6 hours goes very quickly with so much to see. Definitely worth a day trip from Brisbane.

Easter was also a time to catch up with family and a visit to Mum ended up with us coming home with a car load of pot plants and all her African violets as Mum is no longer able to care for them. This was all great for our new home but it did mean that we then had to spend a couple of days planting them out in our orchard/rainforest or repotting them for indoors! My son has also been doing amazing things in his new house and has tackled his overgrown yard with amazing vigour and it is good to see them settling into their new home. We also took the opportunity to give them a few more boxes of our unwanted goods but no matter how much I declutter, we still seem to have heaps of stuff.

Before I left for Canberra I sent in to the local newspaper a small article on my Carnegie family at Toorbul hoping that they might publish it. They say it pays to advertise and I was really excited to find that it was published in the Island and Mainland News  and they included the two pictures of my ancestors tombstone in Toorbul cemetery. It's the only one left in the historic cemetery. This also led to me being contacted by the Bribie Island Historical Society and I will be going to their next meeting on Wednesday. So I'm really looking forward to that.

While in Canberra I met up with the president of AFFHO to discuss this year's National Family History Week and I have big news there but all the members of AFFHO have to be notified first so stay tuned. All I can say at this point is that NFHW 2013 will be bigger and better than ever before and I hope everyone will also follow us on Facebook NFHW as well as putting their events on the website calendar. I will also need everyone's help to promote it as we are operating on a real shoe string budget this year. Still I'm a firm believer in the power of social media and I know I have some great online geneafriends.

But now for the real reason for my Canberra trip. I'm on the National Archives of Australia's advisory committee for the centenary of WW1 so we were there for a progress report on their new Wartime Australia website. The draft pages look fantastic and are user friendly so that everyone can add in their own stories. It was also good to hear about the activities being undertaken by other State Archives and places like the Australian War Memorial. It's going to be easier than ever to trace our military ancestors and most of these projects and activities will start to roll out in 2014 and then continue through to 2018.

Another new website and exhibition planned by the NAA will feature forced adoption stories and they are calling for expressions of interest for anyone interested in assisting with the project. It is due for launch in 2014 on the anniversary of the Government's formal apology. Read the media release for full details.

While sitting in the Qantas Club waiting for my flight home I was really surprised, and delighted to find the new paper issue of NAA's Your Memento Highlights Vol 2. This paper edition features the more popular stories from their Your Memento free online e-magazine and I do have to say that I prefer reading the paper issue. All too often with the digital notifications, I file the e-mag or e-news and then don't go back to read it whereas the paper copy sits there in a pile on my cupboard making me feel guilty until I read it.

Also spotted was a new glossy paper magazine from the National Museum of Australia simply called The Museum: Behind the Scenes and Vol 2 is a great read with some really good photos and stories. I'm only sorrow that I didn't see Vol 1 but all is not lost. The issues (some articles only) are also online and Vol 3 is now out as well! Like libraries and archives, museums are also great places to find background information and context on our ancestors and where and how they lived.

An email from the local Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group (no website) also got me quite excited as it included news from the local Bribie Island (Bongaree) Library. They have a series of free genealogy talks planned for the rest of the year under the banner Finding Your Family: Who Are You? There are workshops on handwriting (reading all that old colonial writing), Irish ancestors, beginners sessions and even a session on Bribie's WW2 bunker and other military records. So I will be booking in for most of those! For those interested see their what's on calendar.

I rejoined the Genealogical Society of Queensland and received a very nice welcome back including a paper journal which has joined the pile on the cupboard! I also received my renewal notice for the Genealogical Society of Victoria and as I like using their online resources, I will be renewing but I am glad that I am a lifetime member of Queensland Family History Society as that is one less subscription to pay. Still being a member of key societies is so worth while and really does help further your family research not to mention make new friends.

Instead of buying the family Easter eggs this year, I decided to take out another $25 loan with the Genealogists for Families project and as I had received repayments on previous loans, I was able to make two further loans to needy families overseas. I'm still surprised how easily this project sustains itself. Once you have made a few loans the repayments then allow you to fund still more loans. Of course you can take back the repayments if you want, but I've never missed the original $25 I used for my first loan so why not let it keep on helping others. Occasionally I make additional loans to mark special occasions like Christmas and Easter and since I joined the Genealogists for Families project I have made 28 loans! So that's 28 families I have helped with whatever their loans were needed for.

As usual I have made this Diary too long and I really am going to have to do it more regularly (like I used to before the big move)! I've got a genealogy to do list beside me that I really must tackle. Plus the other half has just left for fishing so now is the perfect time to do some research - trying to decide what new lead to follow up is the problem. There's so much new information out there! Wish me luck and as always, best wishes with your own research.