New Access Releases, Book Reviews & Other News - Genealogy Notes 1-7 Jan 2016

Happy New Year and welcome to 2016. Diary has had a bit of a makeover and when I can decide on a personal new look, I will post a new image of me too.

I love the first week of January because BDM Registries and State Archives open up another year of records to access. Already I have some new data from Queensland BDMs which I then use to search Trove. This often allows me to pin down an exact date of birth, marriage or death (assuming I haven't already found it in Trove) or to discover the names of children born in collateral lines.

This year Public Record Office Victoria received some excellent coverage from ABC News with their new releases for 2016 but then with a headline 'Bigamy Madness Murder: 75 year old files opened' it was sure to get people's attention. If you missed it, read about it here.

What this means is that we should all have a look to see what's new. A bit time consuming every yearas I have research in most States but there are lots of exciting new finds waiting to be discovered.

I finished my book reviews - somehow they take longer to write up than actually reading the books. Both were a great read and as usual I could not put down The America Ground: a genealogical crime mystery by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. It is the fourth Morton Farrier, forensic genealogist story and I can't wait for the fifth. Read the review here.

The other review was Hazel Edwards memoir, Not Just a Piece of Cake: Being an Author which was easy to read and inspirational. It triggered many memories from my own life and family experiences and it shows that memoirs do not have to be written from birth onwards in chronological order. Read the review here.

So far I am sticking with my resolution to not commit myself to anything ongoing this year but I have been very much tempted by Dear Myrtle's Finally Get Organised weekly checklists for 2016. The first week looks good so I will probably follow on an ad hoc basis rather than signing up.  The benefit of registering is that it does make you more aware of keeping up with the checklists and how much you do always depends on you but with last year's health issues dragging into 2016 I need to be more of an observer.

There are other great blogging participation programs out there so have a Google or check Geneabloggers. A real Aussie one is Trove Tuesday where people blog about their finds on Trove every Tuesday using the hash tag Trove Tuesday. Speaking of Trove, there are lots of great new titles coming up in the next six months. Have a look here to see what will be available by June 2016. The North Queensland papers will be fantastic for my own research.

Where I am speaking between January and June 2016 is now on my website Services & Events page and although I have only have three events listed I am giving ten talks! The second half of the year will be busier including talks during National Family History Month.

Speaking of which, this coming week I have to really start thinking about National Family History Month in August and the new website we will be showing off at the end of January. There has been a good response from some of our usual sponsors but I still need to follow some up and of course, new sponsors are always welcome. I feel sure that our new logo and website will make NFHM 2016 the best ever yet.

It's been a big week with some welcome rain and for the first time in the three years we have been here, we have seen green frogs. Full grown not just babies so very exciting and I have to report they are not the easiest to photograph. Every time I tried to take a photo he hopped further away, it was almost as if he knew.

A big day of gardening down the back revealed a dreaded cane toad, thankfully we have not seen many. It was humanely dispatched according to RSPCA guidelines. The coming week will be warming up so I'm planning on staying inside and doing some genealogy research in the new resources. Have a good genealogy week and hopefully some exciting discoveries! Until next time.

Townsville Cemeteries & Other News - Genealogy Notes 24 - 31 Dec 2015

Well the last week of 2015 went quickly in the blur of Christmas, Boxing Day and the lead up to New Year's Eve. Not a lot of genealogy happened but I did receive some contact from distant cousins on different family lines. One had found my website and blogs on the Jeffers family from Portadown, Armagh and the other my Finn family via Facebook.

Perhaps my most fantastic genealogy discovery in all of 2015 was the family bible of my GGG grandmother Sarah Fegan nee Cane. I only got to see this wonderful treasure because a distant cousin on a collateral line had read my blog posts on the Finn and Fegan families of County Wicklow, Ireland. We met, exchanged information and I held this bible in my hands and felt a connection to someone who had only been a name with basic information on my family tree. It was a fantastic moment.

I have lost count now of the number of times I have made contact with people I suspect I could never have tracked down (at least not easily) simply because they have done a Google search. It really is fantastic but I know lots of people who have no online social media presence. Imagine how much we could discover if everyone blogged their stories or posted interests on social media.

The other wonderful thing about Facebook for genealogy is that 'friends' post links to new resources or to things they have discovered which can be of relevance to my own research. Just this week the link for the Townsville cemeteries was in a Facebook post by the Queensland Family History Society and my mother's family were from Charters Towers and then Townsville. Mum's sister Alice died in 1920 as an infant but I was never sure which city and as it was not a direct line I had not purchased her birth or death certificates. A quick check of the Belgian Gardens cemetery list revealed that Alice Dorothy Price was buried there and that she was only seven months old at the time of her death.

A bonus was that she was buried with her aunt Elizabeth Ann Price who had died at the age of 26 years. I had purchased Elizabeth's death certificate as I was curious to see what she had died of. Therefore I knew she was buried in Belgian Gardens but not that she shared a grave with the niece she never lived to see. There were other Price family members there and I was able to add new information on collateral lines. It was good to revisit this family and I probably would not have done it without the Facebook prompt.

I finally wrapped up my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2015 - it was a hard decision to combine the final nine topics but I want to start 2016 fresh. Read Final Post to discover the remaining topics. Thanks to everyone who followed this blog challenge and commented with their own tips and sources.

 I love this time of year as my hibiscus blooms really well, although it has been very dry. The incredibly windy conditions, coupled with the dry spell, means that we have lost quite a few palm fronds so there is a bit of garden work coming up this weekend. I also need to repot my orchids after their beautiful blooms in 2015, they seem to have doubled in size since I last looked.

Early morning or late afternoon jobs which mean that I can settle down in the heat of the day to catch up on my reading of e-journals. When one of my subscription journals comes in, I download and save to read another time. I'm usually busy doing something else to read them immediately.

But so often I forget to go back and read - it is not like the physical pile of journals, magazines and books which is a constant reminder to catch up. I need a better system to work out what my e-reading priorities are - perhaps if I do a list as they come in and then cross the issue off when I have read it? Does anyone have a system that works?

I have avoided any new resolutions or aspirations for 2016 as 2015 was so full of unexpected events that totally hijacked my genealogy intentions, as well as every other aspect of my life. At this stage I am going to go with the flow and embrace the opportunities as they come up and thanks to my social media presence, I suspect I will be very busy with lots of great genealogy discoveries in 2016.

May everyone have a fantastic genealogy adventure in 2016. Until next time.

What's Coming Up in 2016 - Genealogy Notes 16 - 23 Dec 2015

It was the second last week of 2015 and what seems to have been pretty much  a regular thing for 2015, I spent most of the time at hospital, with doctors and specialists and all I can say is that I think nurses are pretty wonderful people. In fact anyone associated with helping people get better are fantastic and all dedicated to their jobs. Until you see them all in action you don't really appreciate the effort of everyone to keep our hospitals moving along smoothly.

My plan for 2016 is not to see so much of them (fingers crossed) but while I was 'hanging around' I did start to think about all the good things coming up in 2016.

First up is the Unlock the Past cruise to New Zealand and Australia (10th cruise) for those booked on that geneafest of speakers and talks. Check out the program here. If you are not on board, don't despair as there will be a number of bloggers who will be bringing regular updates via Facebook, Twitter plus their blog posts.

If you are lucky enough to live near one of the ports of call, then you can attend the day sessions and hear international speakers Judy Russell and Paul Blake. Simply called the Judy Russell and Paul Blake Downunder seminar tour with Unlock the Past, it visits Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. To see who is actually presenting at each venue visit the website for more details.

We were spoilt for genealogy conferences in 2015 and the only major one in 2016 is the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies' annual conference in Camden, New South Wales in September.  The theme is Cowpastures and Beyond. I'd like to get to that one if I can but it is a long drive or a flight to either Sydney or Canberra and then hiring a car. A lot easier when they are closer to home or there are major transport options. However when I lived in Canberra I loved visiting Camden so it would be good to see it again. The dates are penciled in the diary.

What is with us every year is National Family History Month in August and 2016 will see a new logo and website as we have contracted our friends at Inside History Magazine to undertake the work for us. I can't wait to see the new look. Quite a few of our 2015 sponsors have agreed to be part of it again so that is fantastic news too. But of course NFHM is only a success if societies, archives and libraries put their events into the NFHM web calendar so stay tuned for the announcement of when it opens for bookings and the new website is live.

History Queensland is not having a conference in 2016 but there will be another in 2017 and I have been asked to be on the planning committee so there will be meetings to attend in 2016. I am also on the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations' committee through NFHM so a few Skype meetings for that throughout the year too.

In addition many of the genealogy and family history societies around where I live have regular education sessions and meetings with guest speakers so there is usually something happening that I can attend. Have you checked out what societies are nearby and what their 2016 programs are? Don't forget local libraries and archives also may have education days. Some may be free and some pay to go but usually you learn lots and its a chance to chat with other like minded researchers.

In person events are great but there is also lots online with free webinars, free podcasts etc as well as paid events and on most days all the links posted on Facebook or Twitter by genie friends would keep me fully occupied if I so chose (but someone has to do the housework). So lots of genealogy things to do coming up in 2016.

During my enforced bed rest I managed to read both Nathan Dylan Goodwin's The America Ground and Hazel Edwards' Not Just a Piece of Cake: Being an Author. Both were great reads and I have yet to write the reviews. I also have to finish writing articles for Inside History Magazine and The In-Depth Genealogist as well as finish my Australian Church Records module for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies all by the New Year. Not being 100% well is a pain in more ways than one. I'm almost nodding off as I type this and it is only 10.30 in the morning. Still several hours to go before my afternoon nap!


Flowers cheer me up and I know it is a while since I actually spent time 'smelling the roses,' but they seem to have undergone a major colour transformation since I last received any. Still the roses are bright and colourful and that will be my mantra into the New Year.

My last Diary post of 2015 will be in a week's time and I wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas with your families and friends. May Santa be genea generous and if not, try Trove as you are bound to find something you like there on the family! Until next time.