Still travelling, still talking and other news: My genealogy month July 2025

 Another month has gone past and I have been travelling again. Loved the dinosaurs out near Winton. Very hard to keep up with my usual family history commitments. Not to mention my PhD research.

Australian Age of Dinosaurs 

Blogs

I did manage to write up my guest blog post for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. Walking in Ancestral Footsteps outlines my trip to Ireland in May and lessons learned. Read the post here.

I have just finished writing the next post for August which is Still Travelling in Ancestral Footsteps. This time outlining my trip to Townsville in North Queensland then out to Charters Towers before going down to Winton and back through Longreach and Barcaldine to Rockhampton.

New Resources

One of the things I have noticed researching my prison ladies is that there are more Trove articles coming up for Charters Towers than I have previously seen. A good reminder to check for new titles added. Visit the coming soon to Trove page for details of new additions 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/announcement/2024/03/22/coming-soon-trove 

While I was travelling Ancestry released its new DNA clusters feature which I haven't had the opportunity yet to fully explore. You need Pro and over 65cM for it to work but this might help me identify the remaining two unidentified ancestors on my father's side. I have four clusters and only one is paternal and that relates to Dad's biological father. I think I need more, bigger matches but that comes back to people I am related to taking DNA tests.

Talks

CQFHA premises Jul 2025

While in Rockhampton I gave two talks to the Central Queensland Family History Association which was a great afternoon and a lovely audience. I also managed to do some research on my Rockhampton prison ladies in their library using some of their exclusive local history resources. Still to process all that into my biographical files on each woman. 

Got back in time to do another Genie Chats based on Thomas MacEntee's do over program. Hard to believe we have already completed Steps 1-7. The year will soon be over but already I can see substantial progress on some of my do over tasks.  

Also spoke on immigration records at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum. They serve the most delicious morning teas. It was timed to complement their latest exhibition on immigrants to the Pine Rivers area. 

August is Family History Month and I am giving a live Zoom presentation at the Auckland Family History Expo on Mining the archives in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. Plus I will be announcing the winners of the Nick Vine Hall awards at the opening ceremony on 1 August. 

Television

The lending library, Comet Jul 2025

Since getting home, I have been catching up with the latest Australian series of Who Do You Think You Are on SBS. I hadn't heard of all the celebrities. But there have been some really interesting stories and it shows how ethnically diverse Australia is. Yes some of us are plain UK but lots of us also trace back to Europe and Asia. Still available on SBS on Demand so don't miss out on some fascinating family stories.

What's Coming Up?

Did I mention there is another trip coming up? I had another conference program talk accepted on my PhD thesis so I will be off to the Professional Historian's Conference in Darwin in October. After that I'm popping over to Broome to tick off one of my Australian bucket list items. But I have to be back in time for the November Bribie Family History Association meeting as I am the guest speaker with a talk on using archives more effectively.

Until next time, keep on researching.

Ancestral footsteps, new resources and other news: my genealogy months of May and June 2025

Yes it has been two months but I have travelled thousands of kilometres and had some amazing adventures. These days I only travel with my smart phone which is not easy to write blog posts on. However if you are a Facebook follower than I regularly post photos of my daily doings.

Books

Still trying not to buy books but on my recent trip to Islandmagee in Northern Ireland I couldn't help myself. This is where Dad's family is from and the two books are good histories of  the area with some interesting historical post cards as illustrations in one of the books. A bit weighty for my luggage but fortunately I packed light to start with.

Genealogy Travels

On my annual visit to my family in Sweden, I had a stopover in Doha for a few days.

The spice market was amazing as were the camels just down the road from my hotel. Not something you see every day.

After my two weeks in Sweden, I decided to have a quick week in Ireland to tick off two bucket list items. The first was to visit the Roman Catholic Church in Rathdrum, Wicklow where my great great grandparents John Finn and Sarah Fegan married. The second was to visit my great great grandparents Stewart Heddles and Agnes Templeton's grave in Islandmagee in Antrim in Northern Ireland. You can read more of my Irish adventures in my guest blog for the Genealogical Society of Queensland which will be published next week. 

A hectic week but I am really glad that I made the effort and saw the countryside where my ancestors lived and decided to leave. Everywhere was green with lots of spring flowers along the road side and rail tracks. But not a lot of work opportunities apart from farming in Rathdrum or fishing in Islandmagee. Whatever there reasons, I'm glad they picked Australia to emigrate to.

St John's Islandmagee, Antrim, Northern Ireland where my GGG grandparents Stewart Heddles and Agnes Templeton are buried.

New Resources

I have had no chance to explore some of the new record releases or webinars. I haven't even kept up with genealogy society journals or genealogy magazines through the local library.

The best way to find out what is new is to subscribe to the free newslettes which usually provide a montly update. 

PhD Incarcerated women in colonial Queensland

Slowly plugging away with the biographies of my 1750 women who were incarcerated in Queensland gaols between 1850 and 1900. So many interesting stories and it is going to be hard to decide who goes into the thesis. I keep telling myself you have to write a 100,000 thesis not just do the research, which of course is the fun place.

Talks

A busy time with a talk on my North Queensland incarcerated women at the Australian Historical Association conference in Townsville. 

Two talks at the Central Queensland Family History Association premises. It has been a few years since I have spoken at their library and I am looking forward to catching up with everyone again.

After my travels I have a talk on immigration records for Moreton City Libraries at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum. A great place to visit especially if you have any ancestors in that area.

What's Coming Up?

More travel as I leave on Friday for North Queensland and the Australian Historical Association conference in Townsville. On the way up we have stops in Rockhampton and Bowen. Yes I want photos of the Big Bull and the Big Mango. But I am going to meet a second cousin in Bowen who has also been researching the Price family history. 

My involvement in the AHA conference is three fold - one I am a speaker on women incarcerated in North Queensland gaols, two I am chairing an interesting session on Chinese migration issues and thirdly I will just be sitting back and listening to some fascinating presentations. There are multple streams which means you need to mak a decision as to which one to go to.

After the conference we are doing a trip out to Winton via Charters Towers and Hughenden. Checking out the Dinosaur Trail as well as other historica places. Coming back via Barcaldine to Rockhampton where I will be researching some of my Central Queensland women at the Central Queensland Family History Associatin library. Lots of my names appear in their online index so I'm hoping to discover some treasures.

Then home via Tannum Sands where we are catching up with friends. 

Hopefully there will be another Diary post about mid July. Have fun researching until then, Shauna

Travel adventures ahead, books, talks & other news: My Genealogy Weeks 1-30 April 2025

 Another great few weeks progressing my family history drafts and following up new ideas from the AFFHO congress last month. 

Plus the research on my 1750 women for my PhD is ramping up and I am loving discovering their stories. Although often sad if not tragic. 

My gardening friend has given us a plant whose flower is truly unique. Meet the Bat Plant! I just hope that we can coax flowers out of it just as she does. So weird looking.

In a review of my commitments I decided to stand down from President of Bribie Family History Association after two years. Prior to that I was running Bribie Genealogy on my own for however many years so well and truly time for new perspectives. 

Handing over committee meetings, admin of the Facebook page and BFHA blog, and the organisation of the speaker program and TechGirl at meetings will be a big timesaver. I can simply sit back and enjoy the meetings. Definitely less stress.

Blogs

Of late my blogging has been less regular mainly due to too many commitments. However I have just discovered that this Diary blog is the front runner in a list of Australia genealogy blogs.  Closely followed by the Genealogical Society of Victoria and GeniAus. Check out the list of Australian bloggers and discover more interesting blogs to follow.

Given that accolade I am going to try and keep that position and be more informative and timely. Although finding time is probably my biggest issue.

Books

Moreton Libraries continues to assist my PhD research and it is often surprising how many books I want to read are within the library itself. If not, they get them in for me on inter library loan. How fantastic and makes remote research so much more accessible.

The Bribie Family History book club is looking at Kate Morton books at the moment. I hadn't read her before and mine is set around the time of the First World War (almost Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs). The other members have different books so our next catch up will be chatting about the different story lines and time periods. 

Conferences

My next conference is in July in Townsville with the Australian Historical Association where I am giving a paper on my North Queensland ladies. It's been a while since I have spoken at an academic conference but I am looking forward to the other sessions and meeting like minded researchers. Will also be doing some research in both Townsville and Rockhampton and meeting up with a cousin in Bowen. 

May even get out to do Australia's dinosaur trail visiting Hughenden, Richmond and Winton. Plus we can't go past without saying hello to Muttaburrasaurus at Muttaburra.

Talks

Can't linger too long on our travels up north as I have to be back in Moreton for a talk on immigration at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum in mid July.

It was good being part of the Legacy Family Tree Webinars 24 hour marathon and I am still catching up on sessions I want to view.

Received my goodie bag as part of the RootsTech 2025 media group. A handy bag and some very nice note cards. 

What's coming up next?

My little grandson is turning 3 and so I am off to Sweden for birthdays and Mother's day. Shame they live so far away but I do get a European holiday each year. 

After I leave them I am heading over to Ireland and will be travelling around Wicklow after my Finn and Fegan ancestors then up to Belfast for my Heddles and Brennan ancestors on Islandmagee. Always love walking in my ancestors footsteps when I can.

Until next time stay safe and happy researching. Shauna