Genealogy notes 20 Apr - 2 May 2013 military tributes

Well the last two weeks have flown and we enjoyed our time in Maryborough although getting both the caravan and the motorbike back took us a few days. We also decided it was time to finish unpacking the boxes we had hidden inside wardrobes and cupboards. So with laptops unplugged we have been sorting ourselves out more in the new home and also tackling the garden which is a lot more high maintenance than our previous place.

The upside of this was that we found Max's outdoor work boots which we have looked everywhere for (but not in amongst the photo albums which is where we found them). How they ended up in there will probably remain a mystery but the unpacking of all his photo albums meant time out for a trip or two down memory lane. It also reminded me of how much I still have to scan as I haven't even finished my own photos and albums! Now hoping for some cold rainy days but today is simply gorgeous and I have other things to catch up on.

I have managed to get some genealogy in and participated in the Trans Tasman ANZAC Day blog challenge and my entry this year was on John and Sarah Finn's three sons, John, Robert and Denis Patrick who all enlisted and served overseas in France during WW1. You can read their stories on my website here.

While reading the latest Lost Cousins enewsletter (they have been going for nine years now, amazing how quickly that has gone) I realised that I've never added Max's families to this database. No one has ever contacted me about my own families but he seems luckier than me so that's another job on the never shrinking genealogy to do list.

After we got back from Bali Max had a 'spooky' incident in that he saw someone who looked just like his brother walking down the road here on Bribie. He stopped because the resemblance was too great not to ask a question or two. It turned out that the man and his wife were visiting from England and had been staying with friends at Ningi and it was their last day before leaving. Not only was there a strong visual resemblance but his surname was Spencer, the same as Max. How incredible that the surname was the same!

The sad thing was he didn't know his family history but his daughter had been doing some research. So when Max came home to tell me about this almost surreal incident, the first thing I asked was 'what was his name, address, how could we contact them' etc but in his excitement Max hadn't thought to ask but he did give them his name and email address so let's hope they contact us when they get home. Although I might add his Spencer names into Lost Cousins and see if I can find the daughter. Nothing like that ever happens in my family!

Most of my spare genealogy time has been spent on National Family History Month 2013 contacting sponsors and organising prizes for our lucky drawer for genealogy and family history societies who enter their NFHM event on the web calendar and promote it as part of NFHM. It's looking good so far and I already have almost a dozen events on the calendar but only from Queensland and Victoria.

I have almost finished the 2013 campaign letter and flyer which I will be emailing out to libraries, archives, historical societies and genealogy and family history societies next week. With a $0 budget I will be asking people to print their own flyer to put on their noticeboards and to spread the word about NFHM to their own networks.

I'd also appreciate it if all my online friends could mention NFHM to their societies or libraries because word of mouth is also a great way of spreading the news that all of August will be focused on genealogy and family history! Not to mention those great prizes for participating societies.

The other thing I have been working on is the list of 31 genealogy activities for individuals and 31 activities for genie societies - this will be optional and people can choose how much or how little they want to do during the month.

On the good news front the local Bribie Island branch of the Moreton Bay Region Libraries has said that they would be keen to do something in August for NFHM so that is great. We are still organising a date for me to give a talk and they will probably do other talks as well. So one library on board, more to follow.

More good news is that the National Archives of Australia Brisbane office have agreed to hold a launch for NFHM so I'm busy arranging a speaker and thinking about a program for the launch. It will be nice to see the launch held outside of Melbourne where it has been launched for the last six years. Also nice that I'm organising it for my home town and I can invite all my old genie friends!

Next week is shaping up to be the busiest genie week I have had in some time. On Monday there is the Bribie Island U3A family history meeting, and on Tuesday and Thursday the Bribie Island family history interest group (no website) meets and on Wednesday night the Bribie Island historical society meets. They are all monthly meetings but just happen to all fall into the one week in May!

I'm still surrounded by unpacked boxes in my study so enough rambling and back to the unpacking I go! At least next week I'm guaranteed genealogy time with all those meetings to attend - stay tuned and happy researching.

Genealogy notes 14-19 April 2013 Immigration anniversaries

This post on Diary is coming live from Maryborough Queensland where I am currently staying onsite at the Ulysses AGM 2013. Regular readers will know that Max is the motorbike enthusiast not me but while he is out riding, I can usually be found doing genealogy! This is my first full time AGM mainly because it was also an opportunity to visit the area where my Norwegian gg grandparents lived when they first arrived in Queensland.

While chatting to my long time friend Kay at the Maryborough Family Heritage Research Institute, she reminded me that 2013 is the 140th anniversary of the arrival of the Humboldt into Maryborough carrying my Norwegian ancestors Anders and Aase Gunderson. Sadly their two children died on the voyage out and we can only imagine their grief and their confusion arriving in Queensland, a land very different from where they came from in Norway.

The Humboldt wasn't the only ship arriving in 1873 and to celebrate their 140th anniversaries plus the 150th anniversaries of the ships arriving in Maryborough in 1863, the Institute is organising a cruise on the catamaran Spirit of Hervey Bay (normally does whale watching tours during Jul-Nov) down the Mary River followed by dinner at the Hervey Bay Boat Club at Urangan and a bus trip back to Maryborough! It's on Saturday 1 June and we simply couldn't resist this commemorative event so we have booked two seats and will travel back up this way in late May. Descendants from the various ships are being encouraged to send in family trees for display on the day so I need to get onto that when I get back home next week. Anyone interested should contact the Institute.

The weather has been absolutely perfect here and we visited the Maryborough Heritage Markets on Thursday and witnessed the discharge of the cannon at 1pm (a regular event). Only this time there were hundreds if not thousands of Ulysses members also checking out the markets and Maryborough's various heritage sites. There was even a competition for the best themed Ulysses shop front window which were good to see and most places were offering discounts to members as well.

Max even made it into the local Fraser Coast Chronicle after he test rode one of the latest Honda Gold Wing motorbikes. He was so excited we bought 3 copies of the paper and ordered the photo from the newspaper! It will look good in his family history.

There are almost 4000 Ulysses members at the AGM so that's a fair bit of money they are contributing to the local economy at shops, accommodation, petrol stations, hotels and where ever else one spends money. When we went down to Hervey Bay for the afternoon, the Esplanade was simply swarming with motorbikes exploring the Bay. The Maryborough Show Grounds is an excellent venue with lots of casual dining places, a temporary restaurant Bayfusion serving excellent meals, an internet kiosk, and even an IGA.

There are a huge number of traders selling all sorts of motorbike stuff but there are also fishing, massage, soaps, clothing and other trade stalls. Most attendees are in tents but there are also quite a few caravans, motorhomes and other RV vehicles. Others are staying off site at motels and other accommodation venues. The AGM dinner has seating for 1200 also on site in a temporary pavilion and the Piazza also seats about 1200 for more informal dining and happy hour.

I'd like to see a genealogy conference organised like that!

I came up here thinking I would get lots of research done but I've spent more time sight seeing and talking to people. I did manage to send off my next installment on Irish Loves Ones Downunder to Irish Lives Remembered and I've been working on my 2013 Trans Tasman ANZAC day blog challenge by Kintalk (held every year). This year it will be on my father's three uncles John, Robert and Denis Patrick Finn who all went to WW1.

Kay also lent me Bryan Sykes The Seven Daughters of Eve (the astonishing story that reveals how each of us can trace our genetic ancestors) but I don't think I will get that finished before we leave. I'll have to bring it back when we come up again for the immigration anniversaries.

Needless to say I haven't had much opportunity to do anything more with National Family History Month 2013 but hopefully people are starting to think about how they can get their local society, library or archive more involved now that it is over the whole month of August.

Next week is also shaping up to be a busy one but at least I will be home with the computer set up all the time! I know it doesn't take that much time to get the laptop out and set up the modem but when it's a beautiful day like today, the temptation is to be out and about. Or even have a quick Nana nap (these late nights are a bit taxing)! Till next time.

Genealogy notes 6-13 Apr 2013 National Family History Month

Well the last week has flown and all the things I thought I would do, I didn't end up doing. It turned out to be visitor week first with my brother coming up for a couple of days and then 3 friends from where we used to live in Melbourne. They are travelling by motorhome and motobike on their way up to Maryborough on the Fraser Coast for the Ulysses 2013 AGM there next week. As it is so wet here on Bribie Island, they are having a few dry nights with us and then will all be heading up to Maryborough together tomorrow. So next week's Diary will be live from Maryborough, Queensland not to be confused with Maryborough, Victoria in the central goldfields area!

I haven't done much personal genealogy this week as I have been wearing my voluntary coordinator hat for National Family History Week  and I'm pleased to announce that this has just been extended to the whole month of August! This also brings us into line with New Zealand who have had a NZ National Family History Month for some time.

So now we have to remember National Family History Month (NFHM). The last week has seen me struggle to learn how to manage a Joomla website and emails plus the website content. All so different from my own website but I seem to have done all the changes and I must thank the previous coordinator Lesle Berry for all her help with my numerous questions this past week. The only things not changed yet are the domain name and the Facebook page name which both take a bit longer to do.

As NFHM doesn't have it's own blog (yet although I'm hesitant to start yet another blog) I will briefly outline here what will be happening. I will be approaching various sponsors (or hopefully some will approach me) for prizes to go into a big draw for all genealogy and family history societies who put a NFHM event into the NFHM event calendar. Each Australian state and Territory has its own calendar and there is also one for New Zealand. Societies don't have to be a member to enter into the prize draw. I'm hoping this will encourage more societies to repackage their monthly meeting or a library open day into a NFHM event/s.

I would also like to see lots of libraries and archives hold an event/s over the month as well and remember it is important to add these events to the NFHM event calendar so that everyone can see what's on in their local area. Don't forget to check the surrounding postcodes as there may be a great event in a neighbouring suburb.

To keep enthusiasm and awareness high throughout the month I'm working on a list of 31 activities for individuals to help further their own genealogy research and another list of 31 activities to help genealogy and family history societies raise their own profiles and hopefully attract some new members over the month. It would also be good to have more societies join AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations).

As well I'm hoping that all my geneablogger friends will be doing their blogging,  Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and whatever other social media they are into. I think this is a great opportunity for us to really make genealogy and family history a focus during August because for me a week was too short and it was over before I realised it. Plus there were often competing events in the shorter time period. Now it will be a true feast of genealogy over 31 days as I'm sure some of the physical events will also appear in attendees blogs and other social media.

I'm happy to take on any suggestions and already I have had one person ask that headstones and the information on them be highlighted. This is a great idea as I have some wonderful examples in my own research of information I would never had known if not for the tombstone.

Well I have to get back to packing for Maryborough, so put your genealogy thinking caps on for what you are going to do in NFHM in 2013 and don't forget to ask your local societies, libraries and archives what are they doing. Don't forget to add the events to the NFHM calendar and if you haven't yet ticked Like on the Facebook page, please do. I want everyone talking genealogy and family history in the lead up to August this year. Please join me! Till next time safe travels!