Sunday 28 May 2017

Gold Coast Conference review, Coffs Harbour talks & Other News - Genealogy Notes 16-29 May 2017

Apologies for no Diary update last week but health and family issues took priority and it was all I could do to turn up where I was supposed to. It's been an exhausting two weeks and the next few aren't looking any easier.

Still I did manage to go to the excellent Footsteps in Time conference on the Gold Coast and caught up with lots of friends, colleagues and new people. My report on the conference is a blog post on my website - read it here. Well done to the organisers and volunteers who made it such a success. The next History Queensland conference will be in Caloundra in 2019.

I  can now reveal that my talks accepted for #Congress_2018 (note the hash tag and watch out for announcements) are What's In a Middle Name and The Public Curator: Guardian of Family History Treasure.

The keynote speakers were revealed at the Southport conference - check them out on the Congress website. Early bird registration opens soon and I know some people have already booked their accommodation! Not one to miss.

The Welcome Desk
at Coffs Harbour District Family History Society
The 6 hour drive to Coffs Harbour for my presentations at the weekend was a bit of an ordeal with traffic and roadworks and even longer on the way back home. However the day spent with the lovely Coffs Harbour District Family History Society was really good. I do love country cooking and they put on a delicious lunch as well as morning tea. They finish early so that those travelling from outer areas can still get home easily. Some great feedback on my talks, lots of raffles and happy winners. My four presentations are on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations.

On the Sunday before driving home I popped into the Society's research rooms which are a wonderful resource for their members. It was great to see such an enthusiastic group. Just a shame I couldn't stay for a couple more days but I'll be back!
The Computer Area

This Wednesday is Week 7 of my advanced family history class for Bribie U3A - time is flying with only another three weeks and it will all be over. It's been nice working with the smaller group. Due to National Family History Month preparation I'm not doing anything in Term 3 but I might consider it for Term 4 depending on how all the current health/family issues settle. We really need more societies, libraries and archives to start adding their events for August NFHM. I'm sure people have events already planned but its important to advertise them too so that potential new members here about them.

 I even managed to forget to renew my subscription to Dick Eastman's Plus Newsletter. I get the free daily updates but I also like to read the plus articles. So that was my first job today and all renewed in time for next week's edition.

There hasn't been much time for anything else but I did like Alona Tester's blog post Yes Folks, Genealogy Does Cost Money! We do have to buy certificates and documents and I do like viewing digitised records at home when I want without having travel time/costs and other expenses. Without commercial providers we wouldn't have many of these resources and do we really want to go back to those days of no easy access? Read Alona's well thought out post.

So far I only have two trips to Brisbane this coming week and a bit more time at home to catch up on everything, especially NFHM 2017. Enjoy any genealogy time you get and good luck with your searches. Until next time.


2 comments:

  1. I have included your blog in either INTERESTING BLOGS or GENERAL INTEREST in FRIDAY FOSSICKING at

    http://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com/2017/05/friday-fossicking-june-2nd-2017.html

    Thank you, Chris

    ReplyDelete