Local History, Remembrance Day & Other News - Genealogy Notes 19 Oct - 18 Nov 2017

Well four weeks slipped past again in a blur and my brother assures me that all family drama will be over by Christmas and I can start 2018 again fresh! I'm still trying to work out where 2017 went and having spent last weekend going through all Mum's photos I'm left wondering where the last 60 something years have gone. I'm left with a small box of photos that I want to keep and some that I will digitise and the rest are in a bag for my brother to go through. He seems to have taken more photos than me over the years but then he had two children so you would expect more.

Memorial to the Kennedy Regiment,
Army Museum North Queensland,
Townsville, Sep 2017

I did manage to write one blog post - Remembrance Day 2017 and the Kennedy Regiment, Queensland which is appropriate as Mum's father Henry Price and his brother Les Price were on the Kanowna when it left Townsville for German New Guinea at the start of World War One.

My tutoring sessions at Bribie U3A on advanced family history are going well and it is hard to believe there are only two more sessions before the end of term four. Both are on brick wall solving and already one attendee has broken down her brick wall which is good. Not sure why but I am always surprised by other people's brick walls, some are absolutely fascinating and I suspect our ancestors never thought that one day their descendants would come looking for them. The tutoring has been fun and it will be a continuing course next year with many of the attendees staying in the class. We have even been given a bigger room.

From 13 December 2017 users of FamilySearch will be prompted to register for a free account or sign in to their existing account to have access to the free expanded benefits of FamilySearch. This is due to the need for FamilySearch to be able to assure all its partners that its content is offered in a safe and secure online environment and signing in to accounts fulfills that need. I set up an account a while back to add in some family names but haven't done anything since. Signing in will probably prompt me to do more than just search for something. The hardest part will be remembering yet another password as I don't like using the same password for everything. Read more about the changes here.


The Royal Historical Society of Victoria have published a useful online guide Writing and Publishing Local History: A Guide for First Time Authors and Historical Societies, written by Rosalie Triolo, Helen Doyle and Katya Johanson. It is free to download or you can buy a paper copy from the RHSV Bookshop for $30.

Ravenswood Hotel, Sep 2017

Catching up with my National Trust of Australia news and the 2018 Australian Heritage Festival theme is My Culture, My Story and they are currently looking for events to go into the calendar for April/May next year. There will probably be lots of interest for family history too so make a note to watch out for the calendar. The Festival starts on 18 April 2018.

With everything that has happened this year I have given considerable thought to what I want to carry over into the New Year. After coordinating the last 5 National Family History Month's in Australia from 2013-2017 I have stepped down as the voluntary coordinator.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the societies, individuals and sponsors who helped me achieve all that I did over the five years. So much of what is done in the family history world is done by volunteers who try to support societies who exist to help individuals both in person and online. The answer is not always on Facebook and it is not always instant and free.

Support your local societies before we lose more of them and the services they offer such as meetings, seminars, libraries and special interest groups.

Best parma in Queensland,
Ravenswood Hotel, Sep 2017

With my haphazard blog posts of late I was also planning to end this blog but as my brother said, things will be better in 2018 and I might regret killing it off. So possibly monthly posts as we go into the Christmas/New Year period and not a lot of family history usually happens then as we all get caught up in the festive spirit. We can then see what the New Year brings.

So on a more positive note I've drawn up a list of three things to focus on in 2018:

•  a regular schedule of blog posts for my own genealogy development in 2018 which will appear on my website, 
• again writing regular blogs and articles for Going In-Depth after my sabbatical (which has taken far too long) 
• and getting back to my DNA research and the mystery grandfather. 

There will be one more Diary post before Christmas so until then have fun searching and why not think about what you want to focus on in 2018.