Genealogy Notes 30 Jul 2012 - 9th Family History Feast

Despite the heavy traffic on the freeway, I made the trek into Melbourne in good time for the 9th annual Family History Feast (previous years' podcasts are also available at that link). It doesn't really seem nine years since Anne Piggott (National Archives of Australia), Anne Burrows (State Library of Victoria) and I (then Public Record Office Victoria) sat down (over lunch) to start planning the first ever Feast. Like all events, it needed a name and Anne Burrows reminded people yesterday that I had come up with the name. So for posterity and the record, I will briefly say how Feast came about.
Some of you may have seem the 1987 Danish movie Babette's Feast which is based on an Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) novel. She also wrote Out of Africa another favourite book/film of mine. The movie Babette's Feast also won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It's a great story and if you want a plot spoiler read about it here but to me, what the two Anne's and I were trying to do back then, was to bring to our clients a 'feast of family history'. I think that we have achieved that over the years and although Anne Piggott and I have moved on, our place in organising Feast has been taken on by other NAA and PROV staff members who assist Anne Burrows.
Enough memories, on to a report of the day. As usual the presentations were included on a PROV USB given out as you registered and there was the usual goodies bag - this year a stylish blue PROV bag with brochures from Museum Victoria, PROV, Immigration Museum Victoria, Geelong Heritage Centre, Bendigo Regional Archives Centre, State Library of Victoria, National Library of Australia and TROVE, National Archives of Australia, Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies, Founders and Survivors, Victorian Association of Family History Organisations (VAFHO) and their 4-5 May 2013 conference Under the Southern Cross and the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials (AICCM). It was great to see so many supporters.
After a welcome from Anne, the audience were introduced to the new CEO and State Librarian Sue Roberts who spoke briefly about her background. I was the next speaker with Google Genealogy - Are You Making the Most of Google? which from verbal reports was well received. I was a bit mortified that I had the wrong title on my presentation that was included on the USB stick given out to attendees. I checked the talk endlessly but not the cover slide!! I have put the 'correct' presentation up on my website on the Resources page (scroll down to Presentations).
Next was Daniel Wilksch from Public Record Office Victoria who talked about Old Records, New Access and it was good to hear that by the end of the year they hope to start putting the digitised inquests to 1925 up on the PROV website. It will take about 12-18 months to put them all up which is a sobering reminder of just how huge that wills, probates and inquests digitisation project with FamilySearch was when it started back in 2004. Daniel also invited people to start making more use of the PROV Wiki to help make access to records more easy.
After lunch Mark Brennan from National Archives of Australia talked about Pictorial Records in their collection and although I was familiar with PhotoSearch and Faces of Australia (227 images and found under Snapshots of the Collection), I had not heard about Destination Australia. It is 20,000 images of migrants post World War 2 and it is interactive ie you can add in your own stories or comments. In fact, NAA is looking for more active online participation by users, especially with their pictorial records.
Last Feast speaker for the day was Susan Long from State Library of Victoria Pictorial Collection who talked about photo albums, their history and meanings. I liked her comment that albums hold 'the DNA of history' and she pointed out that photos within albums still have their original context where as when they are digitised, they lose that context unless there is an attempt to keep the digitised images within that context.
For the last few years the Victorian Association of Family History Organisations (VAFHO) have been holding their annual Don Grant Family History Lecture at the end of Family History Feast. This year the speaker was Professor Janet McCalman on Vandemonians in Victoria. Janet is associated with the Founders and Survivors Project which is linking Tasmanian convicts to their World War 1 descendants where applicable.
Carmen was the official SLV blogger for Feast and her reports can be found on the Library's Family Matters blog.
At the end of a long but stimulating day, the lucky seat prizes were drawn and Anne announced that 5 August 2013 would be the date for the 10th Family History Feast. Although I will be in Queensland then, I will have to make a quick trip to Melbourne as I wouldn't want to miss something that has been part of my life for so long! Roll on National Family History Week - I'm having a great time!

Genealogy Notes 29 Jul 2012 - Nick Vine Hall Awards 2012 announced

In the last Diary I mentioned that these awards were announced at the launch of National Family History Week last Friday but as some winners had not yet been contacted, I couldn't reveal all. Well I am now cleared to tell all.
For those not familiar with the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) annual Nick Vine Hall awards, there are two categories. Category A is for the best journal produced in 2011 from an organisation of less than 500 members and Category B is the best journal from an organisation with over 500 members. Each winner receives a wall plaque, a certificate and a cheque for $300. The Editor of each winning journal also receives a certificate. The runner up in each category receive a certificate and a cheque for $100.
The Awards are named after Nick Vine Hall a well known genealogist and family historian who died in 2006.
Now the moment you have all been waiting for!
The winner of Category A for 2012 is Cape Banks Family History Society in NSW for their journal Kith & Kin. The runner up is the Armidale Family History Group also in NSW for their journal Dust of Ages.
The winner of Category B for 2012 is the Genealogical Society of Victoria for their journal Ancestor (which has won a lot of awards over the years from memory) and the runner up is The Heraldry & Genealogical Society of  Canberra for their journal The Ancestral Searcher.
Congratulations to everyone and it is a shame that not everyone can win as it really is a big job getting a journal out every quarter or however often it is published.
I'm a bit weary from attending Family History Feast at State Library of Victoria today so my report on it will be in tomorrow's Diary. I was really pleased to see that the Library had a Twitter hashtag #fhfeast and an official blogger, Carmen whose blogs are already starting to appear online in their Family Matters blog!
Now time to go and get dinner ready. Till next time.

Genealogy Notes 24-28 July 2012 - National Family History Week

I must be having fun as time is simply flying. As I was the person honoured with launching National Family History Week 2012 I wanted to have a really good launch speech so I spent quite a few hours trying to work out what I wanted to say. I was fortunate in some respects in that 2012 is also the 35th anniversary of my becoming fascinated with researching my own family history having watched the television miniseries Roots way back in 1977. This gave me a theme of back then (in what almost seems like the dark ages) and the now (the whiz bang techno age). The hours spent on it were worthwhile as those present all said it was interesting and that it brought back memories. You can read it here. And if you've got any ideas on how to make my one wish come true, I'd love to hear about it!

The launch itself was sponsored by National Archives of Australia, Ancestry, FindMyPast and FamilySearch and was held at the Victorian Archives Centre in North Melbourne. As always, NAA was lavish with its catering from Cafe 99 and there were a few people who lingered over the delicious afternoon tea. The Victorian Director of NAA, Ross Gibbs welcomed everyone and as Ross and I have known each other for decades, he was able to tell the audience anecdotes from my archival past which was a trip down memory lane.

Alan Fincher, the Victorian GSV delegate, was representing the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) who are the organisers of National Family History Week and Alan paid a tribute to Lesle Berry who has co-ordinated the Week since it's inception seven years ago. Lesle has stepped down from the voluntary position but was unable to attend the day.

Alan's other role was to announce the winners of the various Nick Vine Hall awards which were presented by Nick's widow, Patricia Barth from Family Tree Scriptorium. Although all winners were announced, I can't say who yet because apparently not all had been contacted. I've delayed doing this blog waiting on an email to say that I can  include the winners, but it still hasn't turned up yet. So stay tuned for all that exciting news.

It was good being able to say goodbye to so many Victorian friends at the event and I'm starting to be a little sad about leaving but then I've done it so many times before, I know that I will end up in another equally good family history environment.

I've been working on some articles and blogs which I hope to be able to announce soon too and I'm looking forward to Family History Feast at State Library of Victoria on Monday.No doubt there will be more genealogy friends to say goodbye to, so I've made a note to wear the waterproof mascara!

On Tuesday the packing boxes will arrive so then it will be serious packing time. We've got lots of little boxes now ready to go into the bigger boxes. The other half has gone off to Bali for ten days with one of his sons so as well as the moving 'stuff' I'm hoping for a little family history research time! It's not likely that I'll get much time once we are living in the caravan.


Finally don't forget to check out the NFHW calendar of events for each State and Territory, there's sure to be a genealogy event near you or within a reasonable travelling distance. I've going to quite a few in the Melbourne area so hope to see you there.