Thursday 8 November 2012

Genealogy notes 31 Oct - 9 Nov 2012 travelling again

Since the last Diary entry in Lake Macquarie, NSW we have continued travelling north and stopped in Grafton overnight. It was the Jacaranda Festival fortnight so the streets were just a mass of purple flowers everywhere and a reminder that I was about to turn another year older! From Grafton we headed back to Queensland and had to remember to turn our clocks back an hour as there is no daylight saving here.

I had forgotten how early the sun rises and it is hard to block out the sunlight in a caravan so I'm waking up super early! Hopefully my body will get used to the different time zone although I do love beautiful sunrises. Of course we have to remember that the sun also sets earlier! As Melbourne Cup was fast approaching along with that special day of the year, I wanted to spend it on Bribie Island the place I first learnt to fish back in the mid 1960s. The Bribie Island Bridge was built in 1963 so it's celebrating it's 50th next year.

Pumicestone Passage has always been a special place for me but it wasn't till I started researching my family history in 1977 that I discovered that my GGG grandparents John and Helen Carnegie settled at Toorbul in the late 1870s. John was an oysterman so perhaps that's partly why I'm such an avid lover of seafood and fishing! For some stories on the Carnegie see my website My Families page.

Anyway getting back to our travels, my other half has also fallen in love with this part of Queensland. We've been here a few times but only for day visits but once you get used to island life (and a much slower pace) it seems hard to leave. We've now been in the Bongaree Caravan Park for 9 days and have just booked for another 2 weeks but sadly we have to leave mid December as it is totally booked out for the Christmas holiday period. I hope Mum wants a couple of visitors for Christmas!

We've also been looking at lots of houses for sale on the island but getting exactly what we want is not that easy although some houses are coming close. I suspect it will be a compromise and we make changes post purchase. So stand by for exciting news re our new home.

On the exciting news front, I have been asked to join the National Archives of Australia's advisory committee for the centenary of World War One 1914-1918 which is a great honour and I'm looking forward to participating in the committee. The first meeting is in Canberra in December so it will also be a chance to catch up with some Canberra friends too not to mention my old colleagues at NAA.

I also managed to send off my discussion paper and draft strategic plan for National Family History Week 2013 to the AFFHO committee who are meeting this month. I didn't have as much time to get that together as I would have liked but there is lots of scope for collaboration as planning progresses into 2013. I'm also pleased to see that people are still hitting the Like button on the NFHW Facebook page.

I even managed to finish another article for Irish Lives Remembered - their free online e-magazine has some great genealogy articles in it. Don't forget to look at back issues also available online.

Now that I know we will be here for a few weeks I'm planning to tackle the virtual mountain of e-newsletters I've filed for reading not to mention the blogs I haven't read. I'm also hoping to do a family blog for Remembrance Day but it's a bit tricky with all my family history records still in storage. Hopefully I have enough information in my database to do that. I also want to start participating in the Trove Tuesday blogs and start regularly tuning in to Inside History Magazine's regular Thursday night Inside History Magazine Facebook session. I missed last night as our days seem to blur together especially if I don't log on everyday.

Finally I will just mention that I attended the Bribie Island Family History Interest Group meeting yesterday which is an informal group which meets twice a month to help each other and to share information. Despite the new haircut and no makeup I was still recognised, perhaps it's the distinctive name (thanks Mum)! Anyway it was a warm welcome and a number of them had been to the Unlock the Past expo in Brisbane and even the seminar day we had in Nambour a few years ago with Elaine Collins from FindMyPast. There was even a lady who I knew from my time with the North Brisbane branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland. So it really is a small world.

Although I've said it before I really do want to get back into the habit of doing these Diary updates more regularly and to make them more genealogy oriented. It should be easier now we are in one place for a few weeks. Wish me luck!

2 comments:

  1. Shauna,

    I love your posts just as they are. Thank you for giving us a window into your life.

    I hope you find a nest real soon.

    Cheers, Jill

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  2. Congratulations on being asked to be on the NAA advisory committee for WW1 centenary. I look forward to hear what comes of that. Also any outcomes from the AFFHO discussion paper on National Family History Week. Best wishes Liz

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