Genealogy notes 22 Oct - 3 Nov 2013 family memories

Oops this Diary is a bit behind but the last 10 days have been action packed. We've finally finished all the modifications to the side of the house, the shed is finished, the electrician is gone and I can now start to tidy up all the gardens surrounding the driveway. Having various tradesmen on site meant I couldn't hide away in the study but I did manage to get some photo scanning done using my handy Flip Pal. It is so good that you can take it anywhere and just sit and scan photos while overseeing the pouring of concrete!

One of the things I've been wanting to scan for a while is an old album of my mother's. She turns 80 next year and I'm putting together a bit of a show and tell of her life. There are no baby photos as most were lost in various Brisbane floods but I do have some interesting ones from her teens including some early photos of Dad too. There was even an early birthday party (not sure who's party) but quite a few of my cousins were in it as children.

There was also a trip to Brisbane as I was speaking at the North Brisbane branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland. I told them all about my favourite Google tools for genealogy including Alerts, Blogger, Images, Videos, Maps, Language Tools, Picasa, Books and My Library. Most of the attendees had not used any of these tools so I hope they all do a little experimenting with some of them. As usual the talk is on my website Resources page (scroll down to Presentations). I only have one more talk for the year and that is for the Bribie Island family history special interest group on 14 November. It's a two parter - first up I'm doing a new talk on Searching & Searching (highlighting different ways to search on familiar sites) and the second part is the Google tools talk.

I also spent some time doing amendments and indexing my new book for Unlock the Past. Their editor, Rosemary Kopittke, can spot a comma out of place at sixty paces! If I've got a typo, she will find it as well as make suggestions on wording if something is not quite clear. It is great to work with someone that focussed and efficient. I have another couple of research guides still in draft mode and I'm still hoping that they will be all finalised in time for the 4th Unlock the Past cruise next February. I just wish there were more rainy days, all this beautiful sunshine and blue skies makes me want to be out in the garden or in the pool instead of labouring over a laptop!

Blogs that I've caught up on include some of my state archive favourites - Public Record Office Victoria often lists new additions to their online catalogue as well as small stories on various resources. The November blog is on immigration and famous people of the past and they have Dame Nellie Melba and Saint Mary Mackillop of the Cross on passenger lists - see them here. State Records New South Wales (SRNSW) has Archives Outside which is a blog for people who 'love, use and manage archives' and there is always something interesting. I also like their newsletter Now & Then which is for researchers and is published every two months. Check out the October issue here.

Writing about SRNSW reminds me that I received my copies of my GG grandmother's probate file and also the probate file for her second husband. Charles Chick predeceased Helen Chick and not surprisingly, left everything to her. Readers may recall I was particularly excited to find that Helen had left a will as I hoped it would finally throw some light on Helen's relationship to her only child, my great grandfather James Carnegie. Well I'm still very much in the dark!

Helen left everything to her sister Clara and if Clara had predeceased her, Helen's estate was to go to her nephew John Carnegie Davis, Clara's son. Clara was still alive so she inherited but why no mention of James. Did James ever know his mother Helen? Was he simply raised by his grandparents John and Helen Carnegie as their son, but then he is not mentioned in their wills. Yet he did work with his grandfather on their oyster leases in Pumicestone Passage (thank goodness for detailed oyster inspector reports or I wouldn't even know that fact). I'm not sure if I will ever know but this discovery has given me more information so perhaps there is still more to discover, somewhere!

Another must read blog is Geniaus and I was interested to see that she hosted a Google+ hangout during the week. I had every intention of listening in but the builders distracted me by staying late, which meant dinner was late and of course, I forgot about daylight saving time. From what I've seen elsewhere on social media it was a big success. Read about Geniaus' account of the event's success here. I have this neat little device now which allows me to plug into my laptop and the sound is transmitted direct to my hearing aids so I can hear easily. I'm not sure if the microphone is good enough for a Google+ hangout, something to experiment with I suspect. At least it allows me to hear webinars and podcasts better too so all was not lost in planning to join the hangout even if I totally ended up missing it.

It really is exciting all this modern technology and different ways to research now. When I started in 1977 I was writing letters using carbon paper so that I would have a copy myself, and it was snail mail overseas with international reply coupons. You had to visit libraries and archives in person (usually during the week which meant a sickie from work) and you had to find what you wanted in the card catalogue without the benefit of indexes. The microfilm copies were wet copies which have now totally faded beyond all recognition and the staples have rusted! Definitely not the good old days!

This coming week sees me edge closer to another one  of those milestone birthdays but it's also a time to remember my grandmother who died on my birthday 19 years ago. This year it again coincides with Melbourne Cup so we're off to a Cup Day function to celebrate but I still think I prefer all those early birthdays when it was still Guy Fawkes Night (Mum apparently watched the fireworks at the Exhibition grounds before having me that night). Each year Dad used to make a bonfire down the back with a scarecrow and lots of fire crackers (we backed onto bush land so we were always ready with the hose but still a bit risky which is probably why the authorities changed it to a day in June before totally banning it). Still great memories of birthdays past.

I've got a couple of tricky brick wall queries to immerse myself in this week and I'm looking forward to doing some serious research as well as some more writing for Irish Lives Remembered and Inside History magazine. A busy week ahead and best wishes for your research too!

Genealogy notes 15-22 October 2013 - Australian archives conference

I've been a bit quiet the last week or so as I went to the Australian Society of Archivists conference in Canberra and came home extremely tired and still trying to shake my chest cold. As it was the Bribie Festival at the weekend I spent a quiet couple of days in bed so I wouldn't miss any of the festivities and I'm happy to say I'm feeling much better.

But back to Canberra which was my home for a number of years and I always love going back. This time I stayed at the Capital Executive Apartments (free mini Kit Kats in the fridge every day) which was only a couple of blocks from the free bus stop that takes visitors around to the major tourist attractions including the National Museum of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the National Film and Sound Archive and the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House to mention just a few stops. It was a great way to travel around Canberra and to get to the conference venues.

I had planned to tweet during the archives conference but for some reason my Twitter app and my phone are no longer compatible (even reloading didn't help) so I missed out on tweeting and seeing tweets from other attendees. The hash tag was #ausarch2013 so you can see what others posted there, including photos. The irony was that for the first time I decided to travel light and left the IPad at home, otherwise I would have used that.

You can read my report on the archives conference here and I have to say that the catering at the conference and the social events was so good and so plentiful that I didn't bother with dinner at night, but then I was also struggling with the time difference as well. It's funny it took me years to get used to daylight saving, now I'm having trouble getting used to not having it!

The conference satchel was a useful reusable shopping bag and had all kinds of brochures including a copy of Wartime, the official magazine of the Australian War Memorial plus a copy of the ASA's Archives Matter! publication  (copy online free). I also arranged for the inclusion of a flyer on National Family History Month 2014 as I hope to encourage more archives to participate in NFHM next year.

From a genealogy perspective I found a number of the sessions interesting as the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia talked about their future directions. Trove is just going to get better and better and it will be harder than ever to drag ourselves away from our laptops. Ancestry.com.au was the principal sponsor and Inside History Magazine was another sponsor together with a number of universities and the major archival institutions.

An onsite exhibitor was Gale Cengage Learning and most of us would be familiar with the digitised collections of Gale newspapers that we can access with our e-resources cards from the National Library of Australia and our local State Library. It's been a while since I looked at the Gale products and they had paper copies of information sheets including Nineteenth Century Collections Online, State Papers Online Eighteenth Century 1714-1782, Archives Unbound, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Part II: New Editions, Daily Mail Historical Archive 1896-2004 and later this year they are releasing The Chatham House Online Archive. Gale subscriptions are not cheap and you usually can access them via your local library or State Library and perhaps via e-resources as mentioned earlier. I usually only look at the London Times Digital Archive 1785-2007 but its quite obvious they have many more resources of interest to family historians. Browse their extensive catalogue and don't just look under Biology and Genealogy, there is also lots to interest under History and other topics. Then see what's available at your local library.

The first weekend of the Bribie Festival was great and we went to a 1960s cocktail party on Saturday night at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum. Some attendees came in 60s fashion and that brought back many memories! On the Sunday we went to the expanded markets and watched the dragon boat races and other activities. There are events all week and more markets next weekend so lots of visitors to the Island this week which is good.

All the dreadful fires in NSW at the moment are bringing back the memories we have of the Canberra fires in 2003. Even now I still feel the fear that we had that day when we were hosing our house and gardens and trying to watch out for embers. Fortunately for us they were able to stop the fire from crossing the main road and into our street. While living in Melbourne we were nowhere near a natural forest but I had my escape plan and what I would save all ready to go. Here on Bribie we have also decided not to live too close to the national park but I haven't as yet set up a new back up system and escape plan with what I definitely want to try and save. House fires sadly happen too so this has gone on to my must do list. We can only hope and pray those brave volunteers get the fires under control soon and some rain would be good.

I have emails to catch up on, blogs to read, articles to write and my new research guide to index. But I have my new issue of the Journal of One Name Studies from the Guild of One Name Studies so I think perhaps a cup of tea and a nice read is in order. Happy researching this week.

Genealogy Notes 5-14 October 2013 - genealogy magazines

Never thought I would say this but I've done very little genealogy over the last week or so as I've still been laid up with whatever the dreaded virus was! I've even lost interest in Twitter, Facebook and blogs so if you've been wondering where I've been, it's only been my bed, not very exciting.

But there has been a little excitement here and there and I did drag myself down to the local newsagent to buy a copy of a new Australian genealogy magazine Family Tree Tracker but apparently it's a once only publication. I was alerted to it when I read Alona's blog Family Tree Tracker Hits the Shelves and she gave a detailed description of the contents. Alona is a great person to follow as she always knows what's going on! I was a bit surprised that a once off magazine was actually in a Bribie Island newsagent but I happily paid my money and of course couldn't resist looking at the UK magazines they have.  As usual one had an article on an area of interest so that was two magazines but at least I had more to read in bed.

It's not cheap buying one off UK magazines and I was looking at some of the US genealogy magazines online and noted that I could get a year's subscription (digital) for US$19.95 which is approximately $22.00. I have a GGG grandfather in the US and a GGG grandfather in Canada so it will be interesting to see what information is in the magazine over the next year. My Oct/Nov 2013 issue of US Family Tree Magazine arrived promptly and with a free digital gift - 49 Ways to Discover Your Roots. Now I might finally track down when those two GGG grandfathers died.

Another blogger I like to read is Cassmob and her blog Kenya and Kiva on her recent travels to Kenya caught my eye as I've always wanted to go to Africa (I blame John Wayne in Hatari for those who can remember that far back). I'm also a member of Kiva's Genealogists for Families Project and as I had enough credit for another loan I decided to help a Kenyan woman this time. At the moment Kiva is offering free loans (funded by other benefactors) so if you want to know more check out  http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/shauna1522. Amazingly I'm on my 37th loan of $25, most of which has been with my original $25 plus a few free gift loans and it all does amazing work helping other families.

The really exciting news is that I submitted two papers for the 2015 AFFHO Congress and both papers have been accepted. Lots of other well known speakers have also said that their papers were accepted so it looks like being a great event in 2015. Start planning to go now.

I'm off to Canberra tomorrow for the Australian Society of Archivists conference. I wish I was a bit more perky but it will be good to see all my old colleagues and to hear all the latest news. Ancestry.com.au is the principal sponsor and Inside History Magazine is also one of the sponsors. Looking forward to catching up with both of them. It seems to be a lot cooler down that way again so trying to work out what to take in my little carry on bag is a bit of a challenge.

Well have a good time researching and I hope to return fit and well from Canberra in time for the Bribie Island Festival at the weekend. Until next time.

Genealogy Notes 25 Sep - 4 Oct 2013 digitised newspaper success

Just as well I wrote up my two reports of the NSW & ACT conference quickly (here and here if you missed them) as I've been laid low with a dreaded virus since. On the good side I've managed to catch up with all my unread issues of the QFHS Queensland Family Historian and the GSQ Generation plus I have been reading Oceans of Consolation by David Fitzpatrick. This book is based on personal accounts of Irish migration to Australia from 14 families and no, I'm not lucky enough to have my ancestors within that collection. But what those various families experienced is probably similar to what my Irish ancestors went through so it is good background information and helps to provide more context to my research.

I also indulged myself with some genealogy searching in my more wide awake moments and I'm so glad I did. Trove is forever turning up new things in my family history as new papers are being digitised and added online all the time. I'm sure I've looked for my gg grandmother Helen Chick/Ferguson/Carnegie many times before but this is the first time that I've found a probate reference for her which was two years after her death. She died in Queensland where she spent most of her life but she did spend a few years in New South Wales with her second husband Charles Chick. I've not thought of looking for a will and probate for her in QLD or NSW (as she never appeared to have had any property or to settle anywhere for long) but the references in Trove quickly sent me to the State Records NSW website to check their online catalogue for probate references to Chick. Not only was there a probate reference for Helen but there was also one for Charles so after a quick dash for the credit card, I order both probate packets and I now sit patiently waiting for the postman.

The news that Findmypast.com.au now had Irish newspapers also aroused my interest and a quick search for Jeffers of Portadown revealed a number of entries which I believe belong to my gg grandmother Maria Jeffers' family. Being able to do a keyword search on a digitised newspaper is so fantastic as we probably wouldn't find some of these stories simply winding through microfilms. When I feel a bit better I'm going to spend more time looking for some of my other ancestors.

While on the subject of historic newspapers, there is an offer (until the end of the year) from Historic Newspapers - they are offering a UK 5  pound credit with findmypast.co.uk with every newspaper order. More information on the offer here. Readers may recall I was offered a review copy from Historic Newspapers last year and I have to say they do make an unusual and different present for someone as they even come packaged in tissue paper in a gift box. Christmas is fast approaching!

Speaking of presents for genealogy loved ones, I also received display copies of the latest releases from Unlock the Past. I always have the UTP titles for sale at my talks and seminars and of course, the first two UTP titles were my own books! Now there are dozens of titles from a whole range of authors. You can check out all the new (and existing) titles here. Some of them are even available as e-books. I was supposed to have my new book with them by the end of September but I simply haven't been able to think, let alone write, with my stuffed up head!

I did manage to put up a new blog post on my website, Researching the State Library of Victoria from Afar which was a guest blog for their Family Matters blog. It really is amazing just how much information is available on our State library websites so check them out for whatever States your ancestors were in.

For those who don't follow me on Twitter and Facebook I'm going to start recording in this Diary some of the links I share through those social media forums. Perhaps I will just simply list them:
The Community Archive: National Register of Archives and Manuscripts, New Zealand
Founders and Survivors (Tasmanian convicts project)
Twisted Twigs on Gnarled Branches Genealogy (some great genealogy sayings and often funny and true!

Finally I would like to thank my two Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra friends for helping me out with a National Family History Month 2014 task. I've arranged for a special flyer to go into the conference satchel for the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) Conference which is in Canberra in just over a week. Being sick I hadn't got around to getting the flyer printed and posted off to meet their deadline. My two friends arranged the printing and delivery for me for which I'm really grateful. As national coordinator for NFHM, I'm a one person band but that doesn't work so well, when the band needs a tune up! I still haven't heard from AFFHO about my evaluation and recommendations post NFHM 2013 but I'm hoping to set up the 2014 website soon.

After being sick for over a week, I'm off to the doctor's again - I'm rarely sick these days and I find it frustrating not having a clear head and more energy. Still catching up on my reading and lying in bed with the IPad and Trove isn't all that bad either. But I am attending the ASA conference week after next so I do have to get better for that. Happy researching! 

Genealogy Notes 21-24 September 2013 NSW & ACT Genealogy Conference

It's been a busy few days and this Diary update is covering my time at the NSW & ACT genealogy conference in Canberra, hosted by HAGSOC. My report on Friday's Family History Fair is here and my report on the conference sessions is here. There was just so much happening I've divided it up into smaller pieces.

The conference is a full day on the Saturday and a half day on the Sunday which allows some of the attendees to get home the same day depending on where they live. The venue for all the sessions was the Hellenic Club and they also did the catering which was plentiful and delicious. Morning and afternoon tea was a treat and lunch had a great variety of sandwiches, wraps, rolls and fruit as well as tea and coffee.

During the breaks everyone was busy either catching up with others or visiting the exhibitors (see my Fair report above for who was there). I particularly liked catching up with some of my social media friends who I have never met before but instead of calling them by their real names, I tend to still think of them as per their blog or twitter names! Here are a few of them and they have also done blog posts so check some of their conference posts out too!
Geniaus (aka Jill Ball) who also posts lots of photos as well
Helen Smith (From Helen V Smith's Keyboard) also a keen photographer
Branches Leaves and Pollen (aka Amy Lehmann)
Jenny Joyce (Jenny's Genealogy Blog)

The conference dinner was really good - 3 courses with two soups to start with, then either chicken or steak for mains and dessert was apple crumble or berries. Everything came out smoothly and got cleared away just as efficiently. It was buy your own drinks and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The live entertainment was also good but the microphones didn't seem to want to behave so I felt for the performers who just went ahead without the microphones. The show goes on as they say!

It was a bit of a late night, I'm usually an early to bed, early to rise person so I was a bit weary the next morning. I remembered to check out of the hotel and take my suitcase with me as I was going straight to the airport after lunch. It was all a bit hectic over lunch with everyone trying to eat and then head off. Exhibitors were trying to pack up and people saying their goodbyes. I missed catching up with a few to say goodbye, especially some of my HAGSOC friends but they were all busy or celebrating the end of the conference.

The taxi ride to the airport was uneventful, I had time for a quick glass of champers in the Qantas Club then I was on a very small plane back to Brisbane. After collecting my luggage which seemed twice as heavy as when I left, I had to find my way to where the buses picked people up. Brisbane is still a new airport for me and this was my first time getting a bus home. Found the right spot and the bus turned up about 30 minutes later. Then it was an easy drive up the Bruce Highway to Morayfield where I left the bus to be collected by the Bribie airport shuttle who then drove me to Bribie Island, and right to my door! A very long day.

The last two days I've been writing up all these blogs and diary entries as well as looking at all the information I brought home, the books, brochures and my notes. I've also been reading other people's blog posts on the conference and it is good to see what they have noted, especially if I didn't get to the session myself. There is enough here to keep me busy for weeks! Hope you have enjoyed these conference write ups and do check out some of the links, there are some great genealogy sites out there. Happy researching.

Genealogy notes 19-23 Sep 2013 Day One of NSW & ACT conference

The last three days have been genealogy packed as I attended the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies annual conference in Canberra - Limestone Plains to Marble Halls. My Friday started before sunrise as I got up early to make sure I had everything before the Forrest Airport Shuttle Transfers arrived at 5.55am. They had another pick up at Beachmere so I enjoyed the scenic drive till we picked up the other passenger then it was back to the highway and straight to the airport. A quick breakfast in the Qantas Lounge then onto the plane for Canberra. There were no delays this time and I arrived to a wet and chilly Canberra where I realised I'd forgotten to pack a jumper but I did have a shawl in my suitcase.

A quick taxi ride had me at my hotel the Quality Inn at Woden just a few minutes walk from the Hellenic Club where the conference was being held. It was too early to check in so I left my suitcase and headed to the free family history fair which was held in conjunction with the conference. There were free talks every half hour throughout the day from 10am to 3.30pm and I missed the first four as I didn't arrive until about 11.30am.

A full report on the fair and all of the exhibitors is on my website blog SHHE Genie Rambles.

After the fair finished I caught up with some genealogy friends at the Hellenic Club bar while we waited for the Meet and Greet which kicked off the conference. It was well attended and there was lots of finger food and buy your own drinks. Lots of talking and catching up with people.

I have to admit I slipped out about 8pm for a couple of reasons. It had been a long and tiring day plus it was a Friday night and I'm a Phryne Fisher fan. I simply love Kerry Greenwood's series on the female detective and usually I don't like TV or movie adaptations of my reading loves, but this TV series on Phryne Fisher is an exception. This episode was set in Queenscliff in Victoria, one of the places we liked to go when we lived down that way.

Then it was a good night's sleep as the next day was full on and the conference dinner in the evening. Stay tuned for more news.

Genealogy notes 12-18 Sep 2013 Victorian Resources Online & more

Another busy week and although I no longer live in Victoria, my thoughts have been all about Victorian family history research this week. Why? You may recall that I was doing a guest blog for Family Matters, the genealogy blog of the State Library of Victoria. Good news, Using the State Library of Victoria from Afar is now published. It's written for all those who can't personally visit the SLV and it highlights some of the great genealogy resources they have online for free. If you want still more Victorian links check out the very end of the Resources page on my website - it has a list of all my favourite Victorian websites for family history.

Still want more Victorian resources - Findmypast now has the index to Victorian passenger lists 1846-1899 online and I am always amazed at the variety of Australian and New Zealand records that is now searchable in their database - see latest list here. Public Record Office Victoria also has a lot of online indexes and digitised records including wills and probate records so another great free site to visit.

I've always been a fan of the One Place Studies website and now there is a society that you can join if you are researching a one place study. Family history and local history often intersect so check out if anyone is doing a study of one of your places of interest or if you have lots of information on a particular place, you might want to see what others are doing with their studies.

Online e-newsletters received during the week include Queensland State Archives' qsa bulletin highlighting some great new indexes and other news (latest issue here) and Lost Cousins another free online e-newsletters with a broad range of info on the UK and elsewhere (latest issue here). I also received my back issues of History Queensland magazine - somehow the renewal of my subscription went astray during the big move so I have four issues to catch up on with that!

It's probably obvious (in hindsight) that this Diary doesn't capture all the info links I share via Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus and I know that not everyone follows me in all those media so some people are not aware that I was nominated in the recent Rockstar Genealogists survey. This is organised by John D Reid through his Anglo-Celtic Connections blog.

Can't think why I didn't mention it in this Diary as I was quite excited at the time that someone had nominated me. Well I was even more excited this week to find out that I had won the Silver Medal in the Australia & New Zealand section with good friend Chris Paton picking up the Bronze Medal (even though he lives in Scotland). I was really delighted to see another good friend Jill Ball announced as the Gold Medal winner! I noticed that Chris picked up the Gold Medal for Canada as well (he does seem to get around)! Getting nominated is great recognition and picking up a medal is a true honour and I'd like to congratulate all the nominees, and medal winners in all the different countries and John for organising the poll and having a Downunder category.

Quite a few of those nominees and winners will be on the 4th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise next February so I think that's going to be a fantastic trip and I'm already excited at the thought of listening to great speakers and learning more about all kinds of genealogy and family history resources.

In two days I'm going to be at the NSW & ACT Family History Organisations annual conference, this year in Canberra with the theme Limestone Plains to Marble Halls. I will be posting on Twitter and Facebook while at the conference and when I get home I'll write up a report on the conference as usual. There is a family history fair on the Friday and my plane arrives early enough for me to spend the afternoon there so it will be interesting to see how many books I buy! One thing about travelling by plane, it does make you think about how you will get everything home.

I've another great weekend of genealogy ahead of me so now for a spot of grocery shopping and housework so that the family doesn't miss me too much while I'm gone! Until next time happy researching.

Genealogy notes 4-11 Sep 2013 - news from genealogy journals

Amazing another week gone and I'm happy to say I've been catching up on my genealogy magazine reading, in print and online! I tried to make a resolution that I would read everything the day it arrived, no more stockpiling but of course that isn't realistic. Some days I don't log online and I only collect the mail once a week from the post office so already I have mini stockpiles! Still I've tried to read everything that has come in this past week, or at least flicked through it before adding to the reading pile.

September is probably a bad month to start this new resolution as that's when my quarterly journals arrive - so I have the latest issues of Generation from the Genealogical Society of Queensland, the Queensland Family Historian from the Queensland Family History Society, Ancestor from the Genealogical Society of Victoria, the September issue of Australian Family Tree Connections and the Sep/Oct issue of Inside History Magazine. That's a lot of reading and a lot of new things to look at online as well if you follow up the tips you find reading these types of journals.

There were two things that struck me flicking through Ancestor - one is that they have a new CD which is a digitised version of all their newsletters and journals since 1948 to 2011. I love these digitised compilations as you can still have all the issues (without them occupying heaps of space) and it is all easily searchable. I already have copies of both GSQ (30 years of Generation) and QFHS (1979-2010 compendium) journals on CD which is great as every time I moved over the last two decades I've given away my print journals. I'm now thinking of buying the GSV Ancestor journals on CD, although I don't have too many print copies with me as I only moved twelve months ago. I only kept the last few years.

The second thing I noticed was that GSV now have a membership category for young members (18-25 years of age) and they are referring to them as Next Generation Genies. I think this is a great idea and I don't know if any other Australian societies have done the same. Anyone know? I've been saying for ages that societies need to look at attracting more younger members and to start using social media as that is where you find them. This was something that really struck me during National Family History Month and the lead up to it. There are some interesting young people out there reporting on their genealogy research via social media. One person I was pleased to finally meet up with was Caitie who uses Tumblr to record her research, has a Facebook page, uses Twitter and even records genealogy research videos on You Tube. Find her on Twitter here.

Inside History Magazine isn't something you flick through so I've saved that for a quiet time (ie no one else around) so I can curl up on the lounge with a cup of tea and my mag!  Of course I can't do that (at least not easily) with my online magazines as I usually read on my laptop, although sometimes I'll use my IPad. The free September issue of Irish Lives Remembered focus is on Cavan where one of my Irish ancestors came from so that was a must read. This issue also has the start of my new series on Finding the Irish Downunder and the first part is on Queensland. I also caught up with my news from Ancestry and Findmypast and Dick Eastman's blog gives me a daily update - there is just so much new information coming out all the time.

I wrote a guest blog for Family Matters, the genealogy blog from the State Library of Victoria so that should be coming out soon. I was contacted by some distant relatives because they are finding me through my blog writing - my Finding My Long Lost Jeffers Cousins Online just keeps on giving me new relatives despite the fact I wrote it in Feb 2010! I did a follow up titled Letters Home My Irish Families and that put me into contact with even more relatives. The other contact was related to Max via his Barwick grandmother and she actually writes a family genealogy newsletter so she sent some samples and they are fascinating and full of information on the family. So we are signing up for a subscription. More to read!

I also finalised the evaluation report for AFFHO on National Family History Month and included a number of suggestions and recommendations for NFHM 2014. It will be interesting to see what they think of my report and my plan for a 12 month approach to planning NFHM in future. Looking at my diary I realised that next week is the NSW & ACT family history associations conference Limestone Hills to Marble Halls in Canberra. I'm already registered with accommodation close by so that I can easily walk to the venue each day. It will be great to catch up with all my old friends and colleagues as I missed last year's due to our big move.

Last night was the Bribie Island Historical Society meeting which was interesting as usual and we have the Bribie Festival coming up in October along with the 50th anniversary of the Bribie Bridge. We're going to the 60s cocktail party which should be a buzz, pity I didn't keep any of those memorable clothes! I'm off now to the Bribie Island Family History Group meeting where Dawn Montgomery from the Queensland Family History Society is going to be talking about one of my favourite indexes - the Ryerson Index (death notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers). Tomorrow we have a heritage walk at Godwin Beach which will be interesting - there really is a lot to do if you are interested in history, genealogy and heritage.

I hope everyone is finding some time for their own research and until next time, keep on top of that reading!

Genealogy notes 30 Aug - 3 Sep 2013 Last days of National Family History Month

Friday was a big day with the exhibition launch of the Bribie Bridge exhibition at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum in the morning and my last talk for NFHM at the Bribie Island Library in the afternoon. There was a great turn out for my talk on It's Not All Online: Where Else Can I Look? which is based on my book It's Not All Online: A Guide to Genealogy Resources Offline. As usual I have put a copy of the slides on the Resources page of my website - scroll down to Presentations. There were lots of questions and the Library provided afternoon tea.

But before that I took the opportunity to draw the NFHM sponsors prizes draw and the Momento photobook competition and the winners were:

Winner of the Momento Photo Book competition - Melissa Haddon, VIC

Winner of a Findmypast.com.au one year world subscription - Newcastle Family History Society, NSW

Winner of an Ancestry.com.au one year subscription - Botany Bay Family History Society, NSW

Winner of an Ancestry.com.au one year subscription - Yarrawonga Family History Group, VIC

Winner of a Gould Genealogy & History voucher - Port Macquarie & District Family History Society, NSW

Winner of a 2 year subscription to Inside History Magazine - Holroyd Family History Group, NSW

Winner of a 2 year subscription to Inside History Magazine - Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra, ACT

Winner of a 1 year subscription to Australian Family Tree Connections - Genealogy Sunshine Coast, QLD

Just so those in the audience didn't feel too left out, I had a lucky door prize with a copy of my last book Finding Ancestors in Church Records: A Brief Guide to Resources and some copies of Inside History Magazine.

Saturday was the last day of National Family History Month and I took Geniaus' Bloggers Geneameme challenge. Here is my response here - all about how we got into blogging in the first instance and how and why we do it. For the full list of those who took up the challenge click here and it was great to see and read so many responses.

Sunday was Father's Day and both our fathers have passed on and Max's kids live in SA, NSW and the NT so there were phone calls, Skype talks and text messages. What did we do before technology? To amuse ourselves, we went to various markets open and doing good business by the number of people around. I did try to take him to lunch at the RSL but it was bookings only and then we thought fish and chips on the beach, but all the take aways had queues out the door!  There were more people than we have ever seen at all the beaches and picnic spots on both sides of the Island. Who would have thought Bribie Island got that busy?

Monday was spent contacting the various NFHM sponsors and prize winners and putting them in touch with each other. There were some very happy and excited winners and not everyone seems to have caught up with the various changes I've made to NFHM this year. I'm currently writing an evaluation for AFFHO and making some recommendations and once that is all approved I will start promoting NFHM 2014 so that sponsors, individuals and researchers can put it in their diaries.

Today I have spent time looking at the proofs of the first part of my new article series for Irish Lives Remembered. I've also done some brief reports on NFHM for Inside History Magazine and Australian Family Tree Connections, both sponsors of NFHM. The rest of the day I'm going to finalise my report to AFFHO as I'd like them to discuss it at their next meeting.

Tomorrow I hope to get back to working on my next couple of books. I've got two on the go and they've been seriously interrupted first by our big move and second by NFHM which took up more time than I originally thought but it has been worth it.For those who like stats, there were 244 events held by 91 organisations listed in the NFHM web calendar - I know there were other events as well but there is no easy way to identify all of them. I hope everyone enjoyed the month and remember August 2014 is NFHM next year and the new URL is www.familyhistorymonth.org.au. Happy researching until next time!

Genealogy notes 27-29 August 2013 - 31 activities for NFHM & more

On the news last night I was shocked when the weather person announced only 3 more days of winter (what winter here in the ever sunny blue skies north) but that means only 3 more days of National Family History Month! So I put my skates on and finished my blogs based on my 31 activities for researchers and 31 activities for genealogy/family history societies challenge during August. The final 16 challenges for researchers will give everyone something to do way past August as will the final 16 challenges for genealogy/family history societies.

I would have liked more time myself to actually do some of the challenges I posed for others but keeping up the social media promotion of NFHM during August has kept me busy as well as the odd publicity opportunity. My talk at the Bribie Island library tomorrow made the Bribie Island and Mainland News including a photo of me and a blurb about NFHM and that it is all going to happen again in August 2014!

Well known geneablogger Geniaus has drawn up another geneameme to finish up National Family History Month - see The Blogger's Geneameme. I'm planning to do it on Saturday when I have my talk and the NFHM sponsors prize draw all finished and I can relax a little more.

Back in July I completed the Unlock the Past genealogy cruises survey and that entitled me to a 50% discount of an ebook purchase from their Gen-ebooks before 31 August.  As that date is fast approaching, I looked at their ebooks this morning and made my choice and even ordered their current free ebook offer. Within minutes of placing the order I had all my new ebooks (now safely placed on my virtual to read shelf)!

Now off to practice my talk for tomorrow and make sure I have everything I need for tomorrow. We are going to an exhibition opening at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum tomorrow morning so I need to be organised today. Enjoy the last few days of NFHM 2013.

Genealogy Notes 21-26 Aug 2013 Last week of National Family History Month

It's unbelievable how fast August has gone - we are now into the last week of National Family History Month. I hope everyone has been attending events, doing blogs, following people on Twitter or Facebook, finding time for some of their own research and anything else remotely genealogy related! Check out the National Family History Month web calendar and home page for ideas this last week. The Momento photo book competition closes today so it's not too late to put in an entry - details on the NFHM home page. I'm getting some great suggestions for NFHM 2014 so if you want to suggest something, enter the competition!

My last talk for NFHM is on this coming Friday at the Bribie Island library, this will be my first talk on Bribie so it will be interesting to see what the turn out will be. That's where I will also be doing the NFHM sponsors prizes draw and then contact all the winning societies and of course, promote the prize draw winners in the hope that we get even more genealogy and family history societies hosting events next year. Sponsors are also on my list to follow up and I'm even hoping to attract some new sponsors for my new ideas in 2014!

After that I have to write up a report for AFFHO on NFHM 2013 and include recommendations for 2014. I would like to see a whole 12 month awareness campaign so that everyone finds out about it in plenty of time to either host or attend an event. Many libraries and archives plan their event calendars twelve months in advances so we need to make it easier for them to participate.

History is in the air here on Bribie Island at the moment. At the Bribie historical society meeting the other night I bought the new book on the Bribie Bridge which turns 50 in October and at the weekend I bought another book on the Bribie Surf Life Saving Club which has just turned 90. We found lots of entries for Max's Burstow and Eldridge families as they were involved with the club back in the 1930s. The Club had a lot of its photos and other memorabilia on display at the clubhouse and a steady stream of visitors over the weekend.

I've received two UK certificates this week which confirmed what I knew but gave me details to go back another generation but still finding it a bit tough to find them in the census - common surnames should be banned! Still I keep chipping away at it. Every time I look at Trove I find new stories on the family and with new digitised newspapers coming online all the time, it's really worthwhile.

As part of my ongoing rearrangement of my new study, I'm going through all my old paper files and its amazing what I have forgotten I have on file (but it is 36 years this month since I bought my first filing cabinet so maybe it's just old age rather than too much stuff). Not everything has been entered into my genealogy software (mostly the basics) and I'm starting to realise I need to capture all the other bits and pieces of information as well. I've rearranged all the old photos and albums into a scanning priority order, another job I need to get back to now that we have resettled.

So that is my dilemma - I want to do more research on my families using all the modern resources (I can easily spend all day on Trove alone) but I really need to get e-control of all my paper based 'stuff ' before it's too late. Being surrounded by filing cabinets and book cases is a little intimidating not to mention overwhelming. It's not too hard, I just need to do it file by file, album by album (but the tricky part is that each one triggers new ideas to search and I get side tracked). The only good part is that I know I'm not alone and that others share this burden. I'm going to try for an hour a day (or at least 7 hours a week) - wish me luck!

Enjoy the rest of National Family History Month 2013!

Genealogy notes 13 - 20 Aug National Family History Month good news update

This Diary update was meant to go out last Friday but I lost my connection to the internet and it has taken five long days to get it back. It's been really frustrating with an upgrade of infrastructure here on BribieIsland. The Telstra tower is moving from 3G to 4G. We even put in a few, time consuming calls to their overseas call centre and it was only when we went to the local shop that we heard about the upgrade.This morning I checked with the shop again to be told it would be finished by tonight but as luck would have it, the call centre people gave us a follow up call and we found that coverage was back in our area and they helped us to tweak our wi fi to the new system and I'm back online. We don't realise how much we rely on the internet until we don't have it eg we needed a phone book at the weekend but we don't have paper copies as I simply look it up online!

Normally the downtime wouldn't stress me so much but as we are in the middle of National Family History Month and I've been trying to keep momentum going via various social media forums as well as answering enquiries and other emails which is a bit tricky without the internet. I probably should upgrade my phone too.

My two blogs on 31 activities for NFHM (researchers) - the first fifteen and 31 activities for (genealogy/family history) societies - the first 15 are now on my website and I should get the remaining 16 activities for both done before the end of August. I wonder how many other people have decided to do some of my suggested activities as part of NFHM? Full details on both lists here.

The weather here on Bribie Island has been simply amazing and I'm swimming most days with a pool temperature that has increased to 24 degrees and rising. Hard to believe this is winter! But I've discovered there is an advantage to swimming and getting wet - I'm not allowed back in the house until I'm completely dry as my little wet puddles through the house make the floor slippery and dangerous. So I have to take reading material up to the pool so that I can read and dry off at the same time - this is really a clever way for me to catch up on my genealogy journals and magazines!

I've read the last two issues of the Guild of One NameStudies journal and getting back to my own one name study of Burstow is high on my list of want to do things once National Family History Month is over. I've got a lot of data entry to do which is a bit boring but worthwhile if I want to start doing something with all the data I've collected over the years. I've also been reading Inside History Magazine which I usually flick through from cover to cover when I get it and then set aside for a more leisurely read. Excellent pool side reading! My copies of the free Irish Lives Remembered magazine are on my tablet and that is also very easy reading up by the pool.

My last talk for National Family History Month is at the Bribie Island Library on 30 August and it will be a presentation based on my research guide It's Not All Online: Where Else Can I Look? We will also be drawing the NFHM sponsors prize draw and the Momento photobook competition that day as well. One of the reasons I suggested making NFHM a month rather than just a week as it was previously was so that we could do more events but I'm finding that even the month has gone very quickly!

Which brings me to my good news - AFFHO has decided to make the month trial a permanent thing so it will be National Family History Month August 2014 next year and each year thereafter.  This should help everyone with their planning in future years as it will always be the month of August. AFFHO have also asked me if I would like to be the voluntary coordinator again and even though it has been a steep learning curve over the last few months, I've learnt a lot and have even more ideas to make 2014 even better.

I've got lots to catch up on now that I've got my email and internet access back again so until next time, enjoy these last weeks of National Family History Month 2013.

Genealogy Notes 10-12 August 2013 - NFHM update and a new sponsor competition!

I have to confess to a laptop/social media free day on Saturday - it was all building my new vegie gardens and swimming in the pool to celebrate this absolutely incredible August weather we are currently having. You would never know it is winter here on Bribie Island although my memories of Brisbane in August are cold westerly winds especially at Ekka time! So having had a day of relaxation I'm now back in the excitement of National Family History Month.

First I need to share some more news from one of our sponsors, the National Archives of Australia. Regular readers will know that I have just returned from a meeting of the centenary of WW1 advisory committee. I've always been interested in the Boer War as Mum had two uncles who served in both the Queensland colonial contingents and also in the Commonwealth contingents. What I didn't know was that NAA has put the contingent lists for their Boer Ward records into ArcHive their exciting new website that allows researchers at home to help transcribe the documents and make them more accessible to everyone.

Well there are 187 Boer War records waiting to be transcribed! You can search for whatever kind of records that you might like to work on. It's a bit like an Aladdin's cave - too much choice but all good! NAA even gives a rating for difficulty eg easy or hard but looking at some of the 'hard' ones as a long time researcher I can easily read the handwriting (but then I did work in archives for a long time too). Most of these appear to be nominal rolls which make for fascinating reading while you transcribe. Why not register and give it a go!

Now for the National Family History Month update. I've added a few more entries but I think most events are now on the web calendar. I've seen references to events on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, blogs and list servs so it looks like there is a lot of genealogy going on this month! I was going to try and capture all the references but there is just too much but Geniaus aka Jill has added a widget to her blog to show all the tweets for #NFHM13 throughout August. Read her blog post about it here.

There is a late sponsor - Momento which is a online photo book company and they have offered a $150 voucher for a NFHM competition. So I have placed the competition details on the NFHM home page and I've decided to get everyone to help me think of great ideas for NFHM 2014. As national coordinator for the first time this year, it has been a steep learning curve and I've built on existing practices as well as introducing some of my own ideas. But I'm sure that there are lots of other great ideas out there so put your thinking caps on and submit an entry.

I know I have international readers so I'm sorry to say that the NFHM competition is only open to individuals in Australia. If anyone wants to submit an idea/comment please do so but you won't be eligible for the prize this year. Also entries must be within the competition time frame and must include your name and postcode. It will be drawn on 30 August when the NFHM sponsors' prizes for genealogy/family history societies are also drawn.

I rather like the idea of a competition for individuals but at this stage I'm not sure how much work I've just let myself in for. Still it's a learning experience and someone will be an excited winner. I'm looking forward to 30 August and the prize draw and notifying all the lucky winners. But that will also mean NFHM will be over and that's a bit sad but we can all start planning and looking forward to NFHM 2014. (A little birdie has told me that it will be a month again next year so that's fantastic news!)

We have more Melbourne friends arriving for a two day stay so I'm going to be a bit busy entertaining them here on beautiful Bribie Island but I hope everyone continues to have a great genealogy month with all those events across Australia and if you are stuck for something to do, don't forget my 31 Activities for Researchers & Societies for NFHM! Until next time.

Genealogy notes 4-9 Aug 2013 NFHM seminars & talks

Last Sunday I headed to Brisbane airport for what proved to be a hectic few days in Melbourne and Canberra. I'm glad I made the effort to attend the 10th anniversary of Family History Feast at the State Library of Victoria and it was a great opportunity to catch up with my Victorian genealogy friends and colleagues. I have written a  review of the day and it's significance to me on my website and if you haven't already seen it, you should read my Family History Feast Melbourne Aug 2013 blog. Why should you click on that link? The day had a military theme and all five talks were great and there are lots of links to follow up from the talks.

While in Melbourne I also took the opportunity to catch up with friends and dinner first night was in that iconic British pub The Elephant & the Wheelbarrow in Bourke Street and the second night was at Cookie after happy hour drinks at The Moat. One thing about Melbourne there is no shortage of good places to eat and drink and the weather was reasonably kind and not too cold and wet.

Then it was off to Canberra where I was the NFHM guest speaker at the Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra. Before the meeting I was shown there new (to me) premises at Cook and I was very impressed with all the rooms and meeting areas. Almost made me wish I still lived there but then I remembered how cold it was outside! My talk was on Google Tools and as well as talking about various tools, I highlighted some of the changes to searching recently. I do miss the use of the ~tilde facility and I have trouble finding things that I once found easily and now that I know the various filters are under Search Tools that helps too. But I do wish websites didn't change all the time - I never seem to be able to find things again or perhaps I just need to practice more! As usual I placed a copy of the presentation on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

While in Canberra I managed dinner with friends at Timmy's Kitchen one night and the next night at Taste of Himalaya, both at Manuka and within easy walking distance of my motel which had copies of the National Library of Australia's quarterly magazine The Library in the foyer. Great idea to bring the NLA to the attention of tourists and other travellers. But if you can't get to Canberra, you can still download The Library for free here.

I also managed lunch at Belluci's at Manuak with a long time friend who is convenor of this year's Australian Society of Archivists conference which is in Canberra on 15-17 October. I'm planning to go to the 2013 conference and it was great to chat about the program and speakers plus the social events that are great for networking. I've missed the last couple of ASA conferences so I'm really looking forward to catching up with old friends and colleagues.

My primary reason for being in Canberra was to attend the National Archives of Australia's advisory committee for the centenary of World War One. I arrived early so that I could check out their two current exhibitions Design 29: Creating a Capital (all about the selection of Griffin plans for Canberra) and Banned which is a fascinating look at books that have been banned in Australia. I knew about the more well known ones but I was surprised at how many were detective stories or looked to be detective stories judging by cover and title.

The advisory meeting provided an update on NAA's planned new website Discovering ANZACS (previously titled Australians at War) which is now a joint project between them and Archives New Zealand. That's a very exciting project and I can't wait to see that launched. There were reports from others including an update on Australian War Memorial projects and the convenor mentioned Inside History Magazines' project to have a database of all WW1 centenary projects - it's called World War Onelink. I managed a plug for National Family History Month as well and I think we definitely need to have a military theme next year.

Then of course it was back to the airport for the long trip home made even longer by delays at Brisbane airport which meant we didn't leave Canberra on time. While wandering around the Qantas lounge waiting to board, I found Issue 3 of the National Museum of Australia's magazine The Museum. It's a glossy publication which show cases their various collections and exhibitions and I must find time to visit there again on a future visit to Canberra. Most times I seem to fly in and fly out! Good news - it's online and some of the articles are free too - click here.

Anyway after finally given the go ahead to board and depart Canberra, Brisbane airport was still having delays and we must have been ordered to fly on past Brisbane as we continued heading north and as we passed Redcliffe I got a bit excited. We were going to fly over Bribie Island and I could see the different suburbs, the canals and the bridge but then we turned and flew back down over Moreton Island before heading into Brisbane. I obviously wasn't meant to get home early as someone forgot me and I sat around the arrivals/departures pick up area for quite a while. After a long day I eventually made it back  home to Bribie.

Today is another one of those glorious sunny, warm, blue sky winter days and I'm going to go for a nice walk and if the pool's warm enough I might even have a swim! Although I do need to sort out all the info I bought back and follow up on all those good research ideas - I wonder when the next rainy day is? Continue to enjoy National Family History Month and I hope you are having as much genealogy fun as I am! Until next time.

Genealogy notes 27 Jul - 3 Aug 2013 National Family History Month

I live a normally busy if not hectic lifestyle but this last week has completely tuckered me out! It's only the third day of National Family History Month and I'm exhausted but it's a fantastic feeling. I've put up so many new events on the NFHM web calendar although we still don't have anything happening in the Northern Territory yet. Hopefully that might change as the month progresses.

I was also busy finalising everything for the launch which was on Thursday in Brisbane. It was a fantastic day - we travelled to Brisbane early so that we could collect Kerrie Gray, President of the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) from the airport on our way through to the National Archives of Australia, Brisbane Office for the launch. I've done a blog post on the various speakers and also gave an account of the changes to NFHM 2013. The winners of the 2013 Nick Vine Hall awards are also included and don't miss all the news from National Archives of Australia. You can read about the launch and speaker talks here. NFHM is quite different from previous years and I think that we have more events than ever before but I haven't had time to count them.

The last few days have seen me give three radio interviews about NFHM - one with Christy-Lee Macqueen, Mornings Presenter with ABC North West, one with Ed Cowlishaw on Riverland Today with ABC Riverland and Mallee and one with Natasha Mitchell on the program Life Matters on ABC National. That was an interesting one hour session titled Framed: the family portrait. There is something a bit nerve wracking about doing live to air interviews - I always have the fear that the questions will be tricky or that I will have a complete mind freeze. But they all went well and I was amazed at how many people actually heard the shows, especially the Life Matters session. I'm not a big radio person myself but others obviously are.

I'm now about to pack for my trip down south. First stop tomorrow is Melbourne where I will be attending Family History Feast at the State Library of Victoria. This will be a bit of a trip down memory lane as it is the 10th anniversary since Anne Burrows (SLV), Anne Piggott (NAA) and myself (then PROV) started what has become a must attend event in NFHM. This year is another full house which is fantastic and myself and the two Annes will celebrate over dinner that night. Really looking forward to catching up with them.

From Melbourne I'm heading up to Canberra (another one of my old homes) to be the NFHM speaker at the August meeting of the Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra (HAGSOC). I'm having dinner with a few of my old HAGSOC friends before the talk so I will have to stick to one glass of wine with dinner or there won't be a talk! On Wednesday I'm catching up with an old colleague from NAA and on Thursday it's a meeting of the NAA's advisory committee for the centenary of WW1 which should be interesting. I love hearing about all the projects on the go for next year.

Somehow I will try and blog these events while I'm on the road and I know I did say that I would be doing blog posts on my 31 activities for researchers and 31 activities for genealogy/family history societies during NFHM but there may be a bit of a delay. Once I'm back on Bribie Island I'll be able to catch up again.

It's been great to see all my social media friends promoting NFHM and I really think that by the end of August everyone will know what genealogy and family history is all about. Thanks everyone. I'm also learning new skills and managed to put up some photos of the launch on the NFHM Facebook page and the number of Likes has gone up to 434 which is still a long way short of the 1000 Likes I would like before the end of August. The NFHM sponsors have all been fantastic in helping to promote the month too.

Have I done any of my own genealogy in the last week? Not a lot but one thing that was interesting is that I visited the genEbooks website (one of the NFHM sponsors) and noticed that they have a free ebook each month. So I registered which is a simple process, selected the free ebook and proceeded to check out and within a minute or so I had received the ebook via email. I also did a survey for the Unlock the Past genealogy cruises and by leaving my name I received a 50% discount on an ebook before 31 August. So when I come back I will take up that offer but sadly it will probably just go into my virtual pile of ebooks to read. The good thing is that they don't gather dust like the pile of real books I have to read!

Breaking news from AFFHO! Our Australasian Really Useful Information Leaflet is now available. This is a free, 20 page initiative of the UK based Federation of Family History Societies in association with Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations and the Society of  Australian Genealogists.

Well I have to go and finish packing and this afternoon I've been invited to a Tupperware party and I don't think I've been to one of those in over 20 years if not longer.It's a gorgeous day here on Bribie Island and I also have to water all my new herbs, flowers and other plants as they are predicting even warmer, dry days while I'm away. I'm trying not to think of those much cooler temperatures in Melbourne and Canberra!

Enjoy the next week of NFHM and remember to keep checking the web calendar as events might still be added as the month progresses! Happy researching.

Genealogy notes 20-26 July 2013 National Family History Month talks & travels

It is hard to believe that National Family History Month (NFHM) is now only a week away but obviously I'm not the only one who leaves things to the last minute. I have been kept super busy all week adding new events to every state except unfortunately the Northern Territory. I haven't found anyone up there doing anything yet. Check out the web calendar on the NFHM website for events near you.

As well as that, I have finalised my 31 activities for researchers and 31 activities for genealogy/family history societies for NFHM and the details and lists are on my the Resources page of my website. The lists are a prompt for people to undertake a range of family history related activities throughout August to further their own research and knowledge. I will also be blogging about each activity (when I get the time) to give you further ideas as well, not to mention progress my own family research. You can do as few or as many activities as you want. I would love to see others blogging about any or all of the activities over the month. Don't forget to let me know how you go.

Last night I was Inside History Magazine's guest on their regular Thursday night Q&A on their Facebook page and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to promote National Family History Month. I was kept busy over the hour answering various questions about the month and the type of events that are being held. Inside History Magazine is one of NFHM's key sponsors and their sponsorship is appreciated.

As it is now just over a week till I head south, I've also been busy working on my talk for HAGSOC in Canberra.I'm totally reworking my Google Tools talk - I started out just changing a few slides and then went on to the major revamp. There are just so many things I could focus on and keeping to within the time frame is always a challenge. I'm also doing the same for my talk It's Not All Online which is at the Bribie Island Library on 30 August.

I've been doing a massive tidy up and toss out/give away in the study again. A lot of the material is out of date or superseded by changes in technology and online access but I do find it hard to part with old genealogy magazines. The temptation is to start rereading the old UK genealogy magazines but at least now there are all organised again by title and date instead of still inside the removal boxes. Of course it also means that I end up with more things on my to do list as I follow up hints in the magazines.

On the domestic front I've managed another couple of swims as the water temperature is hovering around 22 degrees and it has been warm and sunny and it really is hard to believe it is the middle of winter. The choko vine from next door continues to fruit almost overnight and we simply can't eat or give away that many chokoes. So I came up with the brilliant idea of doing choko pickles which is another first for me. Not something high on my bucket list but the desire to make my own pickles has always been there. Surprisingly they are absolutely delicious and the neighbours liked them so much, they have put in an order for my mango chutney when the mangoes come back into season! I wonder if any of my female ancestors were into doing pickles and chutneys? It must come from somewhere.

Today is a bit wet and drizzly so we are off to the pictures to see the Lone Ranger. I used to love the Lone Ranger and Tonto as a kid so it will be interesting to see what they've done with the story line. Next time I write NFHM will be upon us. Happy days!

Genealogy notes 12-19 July 2013 seminars, cruises & #NFHM13

This past week has been a bit more like my life of old - where I did genealogy seven days a week! The trip out to Chinchilla was good and we tend to travel off the main highways to see more of the real countryside. So we usually stop at Yowie Park in Kilcoy for lunch and to watch the amazing bird life around the lake. For those not familiar with a yowie, check out Wikipedia entry for yowie.

The Coff & Co bakery opposite Yowie Park has some of the best pies we've ever eaten. In the last year we have probably stopped there at least four times and have never been disappointed. Next stop was Chinchilla where we were booked into the very convenient Downtown Motor Inn which was across the road from the RSL which was the venue for the seminar.

Sue Reid, former President of Queensland Family History Society presented two talks on using online newspapers and I had heard both of these earlier in the year at a QFHS seminar. But it's amazing how much more you take in on hearing something a second time. Sue concentrated on the big four, Trove, Papers Past, the London Gazette (with links to the Edinburgh Gazette and Belfast Gazette too) and the London Times via the National Library of Australia's e-resources.She had a handout which saved some mad scribbling down of URLs and I was again reminded that I really should look for my American and Canadian families in the many newspapers Sue included in her talk.

My two talks were on Trove and other NLA treasures and Google for Genealogy and as usual I put the slides up on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations. By the end of the day there was information overload but I think they will all be spending more time on their computers in the coming weeks. One brave person is also following me on Twitter. Both Sue and I had a range of Unlock the Past books for attendees to check out and I spent a few frantic moments signing my books!

The next day we left Chinchilla and went out to Miles which is where Max's mother and father met during WW2. She was the daughter of the Windsor Hotel licensee and he was the handsome soldier working in the area. If he hadn't gone in for a beer they might never have met and Max would not be here. It always makes me think to consider how random it was for some of our ancestors to actually meet up. As luck would have it the Windsor Hotel has recently changed hands and it was not open. However, an enquiry at the bottle shop soon saw us permitted inside to have a look at the downstairs rooms and the old photos on the wall. We also have some old photos of the family's time in Miles but it was good to walk around the streets and get a feel of what life was like back then. We also spent quite a few hours at the Miles Historical Village which has some amazing buildings and collections. We even found Max's Uncle Len's police uniforms and record of his career there!

We hadn't been able to contact Max's cousin in Kingaroy so we ended up spending the night in Esk and had a great dinner at Sticky Fingers (fantastic name for a restaurant). The next morning we explored the various antique shops in the main street and I managed to pick up some quirky things for the house. From there we went to Wivenhoe Dam and then on to Somerset Dam before arriving back at Yowie Park in Kilcoy for afternoon tea. The local tourist info centre was having a plant sale and I managed to pick up a few more bromeliads for our rainforest out the back.

Then it was home to Bribie Island as the next day we were having a luncheon cruise on the Lady Brisbane which is recreating the trips of the Koopa to Bribie in the pre bridge days. As Max's family used to come over on the Koopa we again felt like we were walking in our ancestors footsteps. It was fascinating to see the bottom end of Bribie from out in Moreton Bay - as a sand island it is very flat but it almost disappears off the horizon the further out you go. It was also good to see Brisbane's skyscrapers in the distance too. It's a small world on Bribie and we knew a few people on board so we all went for coffee after the cruise.

Most of my time at home has been spent on National Family History Month adding events to the website, liaising with sponsors and making sure the launch is progressing. It seemed ages away a little while ago but is now only 12 days away. There are some great events across Australia so I hope everyone can get to at least one event. I'm also going to be putting up my 31 activities for researchers and 31 activities for societies next week so everyone will have something to do in August.

This morning I went to my local newsagent just to see what genealogy magazines they have in store and I was pleased to see that they had Australian Family Tree Connections and Inside History Magazine - both active sponsors of NFHM. There were also some UK magazines as well and I couldn't help myself, I bought the May issue of Family Tree Magazine. After I got home I made a cup of coffee and settled down to have a good read and who is looking up at me from the page? None other than my friend Jill Ball and Thomas Macentee in a photo taken at Rootstech 2013. How's that for serendipity! I'm looking forward to meeting Thomas on the 4th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise next February and of course Jill is another one of the speakers on the cruise. In fact there are going to be quite a few Geneabloggers on that cruise. Can't wait for that.

I've received some more book royalties from the sale of my books published by Unlock the Past and I've received an exciting publishing offer which I'm still considering. The last part of my series on Irish Loved Ones Downunder was published in the July issue of Irish Lives Remembered - that 12 months went very quick. I suspect I won't get too much personal genealogy done in the next few weeks as NFHM will take up most of my time. Plus I have genealogy trips to Melbourne and Canberra coming up too but more about that next time. Happy searching.