Spring has sprung down under and we are out and about at conferences. Here in Brisbane we have been commemorating the 200th anniversary of the settlement of the Moreton Bay penal colony, first at Redcliffe then at Brisbane.
Books
At both the Brisbane History Group Welcome to Brisbane seminar and the Moreton Bay Bicentennial Commemoration Conference there were free book giveaways.
Couldn't resist The Ethnic Presence in Queensland and John Pearn's In the Capacity of a Surgeon. The proceedings of the Conference will be published in a few months and will include papers not presented on the day. Something to look forward to and will be a good summary of those early years in Queensland.
Conferences
The NSW ACT conference Digging Deeper in 2024, a virtual conference hosted by Port Macquarie was held on 14 September. Excellent speakers with Clive Smith, Andrew Redfern, Nick Reddan and Ruth Graham. Great value without having to travel and pay accommodation. However I do miss meeting catching up with people in person. Sessions were recorded so you can watch again which is a plus.
Also booked for the QFHS all day seminar on Family Tree Maker in person event in Brisbane in October.
Starting to think about the Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise in December. Lots of people I know are booked and it will be a nice finish to 2024. I am giving three talks on the cruise.
Looking into 2025 we have RootsTech 2025 (virtual attendance for me) and the AFFHO Congress Connections in Brisbane in March. Honoured to be presenting a session on Mining the Archives as competition for a speaking spot was very competitive. Also giving two sessions virtually at RootsTech on Australian Genealogy Online and Australian Military Ancestors.
Order of Australia Investiture
The highlight of my life so far was going to Queensland Government House to receive my OAM for services to community history with Max and my brother. The Governor is a lovely person and it was a wonderful event and champers and nibbles on the lawn afterwards was delightful. It is a small world as I was seated next to the brother in law of one of our Bribie Genealogy book club members who had received his award for services to the defence force.
PhD update
I passed my early candidate milestone so now officially a Ph D candidate. My database on 1700 women incarcerated in Queensland gaols is progressing and my research on immigrant ships the women arrived on is not as easy as I had thought.
Discovering what name they used is not always obvious - did they arrive single, married, widowed or with their parents. The use of alias names does my head in but all good training for searching indexes for variant names and spelling.
Talks
My session at Caboolture Library on Convicts and Criminals was also a part of the 200th commemorations for Moreton Libraries. A nice enthusiastic group with good feedback.
My next talk will be at the annual seminar of the Genealogical Society of Queensland in October. Another excellent program of speakers but a virtual event. More affordable and not having to deal with highway traffic.
Check my website Events page for final presentations in 2024 and what is already organised for 2025.
What's Coming Up?
Christmas and where did 2024 go? My goal this year was to complete my draft family histories and at least get first editions up on Ned and into Trove.
Good intentions but I am struggling with updating my sources to new archival online catalogue references. To be honest my citations were not as good as they should have been and time has been spent looking things up again.
Happy searching until next time.
Shauna
