Where did February and March go? I know February is the shortest month but it just whizzed past me and then Easter slipped past in a haze of chocolate and hot cross buns. April is also fast running away from me but I have been head down in the PhD. Totally absorbing, at least the research is.
AFFHO
My voluntary position as convenor of the Nick Vine Hall awards has now kicked in for 2026 and I have collated and sent off the entries to our three judges. I'm much happier being the convenor as judging is difficult with so many great family history journals produced by AFFHO member societies. The winners are announced in Family History Month in August.
Books & PhD
I'm reading mostly academic texts and articles for my PhD on incarcerated women in colonial Queensland. Not a lot of previous research has been done but I need to know more about the police, courts and prison system.
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| Boggo Road women's laundry ca 1903 via State Library of Queensland |
Academic writing is more complex with its rigour on citations and terminology as I discovered by submitting an article on my vagrant women for Circa, the journal of the Professional Historians Association. Thankfully two very kind peer reviewers and the editors gave me great advice and helped my polish it up into a publishable article. It was published just at Easter and if you want to read my article, along with other interesting history articles, visit the PHA website and click the Circa link. It's free.
So many new things to learn with the PhD. For example, at an earlier meeting with the tutors they suggested a biometrical analysis of my women looking at their teeth and tattoos. What a rabbit hole, although more like a sink hole but fascinating and gave me a different perspective from just the offences.
I now have a database of about 1700 women, with just over 200 women's stories written and over 200,000 words in my first draft which obviously is not yet finished and will need to be severely edited down to the required 100,000 words. Not to mention amended, and added to as I discover more. Every book and article seems to suggest new directions. Focus is now my middle name.
Speaking of books, my Australian Genealogy Online is still bringing in a nice little royalty payment from Gould Genealogy & History. Doing a new edition last year was worth while.
Conferences
RootsTech has been and gone and the good news is that the recordings are still there to watch. I only did one prerecorded talk on cemeteries and burial records in Australia. But there are lots of other sessions I would like to watch if I ever get those spare minutes.
My plans for attending the NSW & ACT conference in Port Macquarie in September have firmed up. So looking forward to a road trip down the Pacific Highway to one of my favourite places. Not to mention catching up with friends. In the good news department, my talk on digital pathways in the archives is on the program. Now to save up to pay for petrol to drive there and back, with a few stops along the way. May as well make it a holiday too.
New Resources
I'm loving the new Queensland papers in Trove although it does mean I have to do another search on all my incarcerated women in case of any updates.
The five part series on AI from Fiona Brooker and Andrew Redfern for Legacy Family Tree Webinars almost made me want to quit the PhD so that I can explore family history more with AI. So much to learn and such a fast paced technology.
Talks
My two workshops at Noosaville received really good feedback. Genealogy apps and blogging was of interest to a full house with lots of questions. I do prefer sessions in person as you can relate with the audience much easier.
I have started Genie Chats again with my Bribie friends and also ran a five week Genie Chats with Caloundra Family History Research on English genealogy. These are great opportunities to keep me up to date with new resources and for finding new bits of information on my own families. Otherwise I probably wouldn't find time to do any of my own family history.
I had a trip in person to Caloundra for my case study on writing and editing a family history. My hope was to finish the Cornish Connections draft by the end of Easter and get that uploaded into NED (National E Deposit) so it will be accessible online and free to use. Didn't happen due to my spending so much time on my PhD stats. At least it is still on the 'to do list'.
I don't have too many talks lined up this year as the focus is the PhD but there are a few, mostly on Zoom which saves on travel time. History Queensland have asked me to speak at their AGM in May and it is being held at the Bribie RSL which is nice and handy. I'm going to talk about how I locate and identify my women with all their aliases and variant spellings of names. Tips and tricks for finding women lost in the prison system but also applicable to everywhere else.
What's coming up?
We are booked to go to England and Scotland in June to visit family history locations. Only downside is we are on Qatar airlines through the Middle East so a bit of a wait and see at the moment. I haven't booked accommodation yet, in case our flights are cancelled but things are so unpredictable at the moment.
Until next time, happy searching and enjoy our autumn weather. My Easter orchid is blooming again after it did an early bloom in January. When the flowers finished I split the plant into two and repotted it. Rewarded with more blooms in each pot and I just love the colours.
Regards, Shauna
