Genealogy notes 8-14 October 2014 - More Great Seminars & Backing Up

Since last Diary I have had a great time on the Gold Coast at the Angling for Ancestors genealogy seminar. It was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and to hear some great talks. My report on the seminar is here and fellow geneablogger Helen Smith also did a report and you can read it here.

I was all set up to tweet and Facebook this seminar as usually I am a speaker and don't get the chance to just sit back and do comments while in progress. However I was a tad over eager - I put my fully charged mobile wifi and Ipad in my handbag the night before so that I would not forget them. It was a bit of a rush in the morning so I did not check that all was ok. Sadly somehow the on button on my wifi was activated in my handbag and when I pulled it out to start tweeting I realised it was about to go flat! Of course, the charger was back home. Just as well I still had by trusty pen and notebook.

Over the years I have been watching the developments in the big subscription databases such as GenesReunited, Ancestry.com.au, MyHeritage and Findmypast.com.au and the amount of indexed and digitised records continues to grow. But what is also fascinating is how they have become more interactive and allow people to store their family information online and put them in touch with others researching the same families.

Early on I put my family data into Genes Reunited and have had many many contacts over the years. I had limited information in Ancestry for years but earlier this year I put all of my information there although I still maintain a separate genealogy program which has all the up to date information and sources etc. As with Genes Reunited, I have found relatives this way and shared information.

I have limited information in MyHeritage but it put me in touch with relatives in Ireland that I suspect I would never have found any other way or certainly not as easily. This is a program that I want to look at more but at the moment I have been looking at Findmypast's family trees which I first put data into back in 2012. I have just uploaded a gedcom of Max's families and it only took one minute and 44 seconds to load nearly 2000 people. I certainly could not re-enter that data anywhere near as quick. Plus you can attach records, photos and it will even calculate kinship for you. Read about the new and improved Findmypast family tree here.

Now that we are living in Queensland Max is interested in knowing more about his mother's Queensland family although he does already know some of his cousins. Surprisingly we have also found that his paternal grandfather has family here too. We have chosen the public option as we want people to find us but have also chosen to suppress the living.

So why have your data in so many places (and there are more choices than those listed here)? Because I have found relatives in all four of these subscription sites it shows that people are choosing different systems but if you only use one of them, you miss the others. Full membership of all four of them is expensive although you can choose free or limited options and of course, some of them are also available to use in libraries.

If anything happens to my laptop, or my backup disk, or my remote hard drive, at least some of my data is available on all of these sites. However I also use BackupMyTree which is a free MyHeritage application which allows me to store my data online (outside of MyHeritage) and there is no public access to it. Another plus is that each time I update my genealogy software program it automatically syncs to BackupMyTree.

So my data is retrievable (although the scanning of my photos and documents continues) and we are waiting for other family members to contact us, hopefully. Whenever I start playing with my own families, you know that I am procrastinating and this time it is finalising my new research guide for Unlock the Past. I always agonise in the final stages of a guide, am I too boring, have I missed something, got it wrong or whatever else. Fortunately their wonderful editor usually soothes all those silly nerves.

There will be one more Diary before we are off on the next Unlock the Past cruise and the Norfolk Island history and genealogy conference. Happy researching until then.

Genealogy Notes 1-7 Oct 2014 Online but Not Online

Another super big week but a highlight was the Queensland Family History Society seminar on asylums, prisons and hospitals at the weekend. I gave two talks Family Skeletons or Just Old and Sick: Looking at Asylum Records and Missing an Ancestor? Try Looking Behind Bars. As usual both my presentations are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations. The other speaker was Pauleen Cass on hospital records and her presentation can be found on her blog Family History Across the Seas under the Presentation page.

Alex (Family Tree Frog) has done an in-depth review of the day (read it here) so I won't repeat any of that here. What I do want to say is that I took the opportunity to do a quick survey of the audience and their online habits. When asked the general question is everybody online most hands went up, although surprisingly a few people still don't use computers. My next questions were about who used Twitter, read or wrote blogs, Google+ and Facebook and Facebook was the only one where more than a few hands went up. It seems that most only used their computers for email, web searching and not for social media although both Pauleen and I did try to encourage them during the day.

I also took the opportunity to mention that Pauleen, Jill Ball (aka Geniaus) and myself are the official bloggers for Congress 2015 in Canberra in March 2015. This is the must attend genealogy event in Australia/New Zealand every three years. We will be using social media to promote Congress and its wonderful sponsors over the coming months. But if people don't use social media it is hard for us to get all the exciting messages out in a timely way.

After every talk I usually pick up a few followers or my blogs are viewed by more people so obviously some people do go home and at least have a look. I have been using social media for just over five years now and can't imagine how I could possibly learn about all the great new resources without finding out through social media. In Australia the genealogy community does not seem to have embraced social media. Do people know what they are missing out on?

I noticed this lack of engagement with social media during National Family History Month too. Or have I got it wrong? Is it there and I just haven't picked up on who to follow?

Pauleen also took the opportunity to mention that we are both members of the Kiva Genealogists for Families project and it was good to see a few other hands go up for that. If you would like to join us follow this link. $25 can make a big difference to other families and I have relent my $25 over and over.

A great day. QFHS have really embraced the online world - they even sent Pauleen and I virtual thank you cards by email using Jacquie Lawson notecards.

This coming weekend I have the Angling for Ancestors genealogy weekend with the Gold Coast Family History Society with key speakers Jan Gow QSM and Graham Jaunay. I am not speaking so will be quietly sitting back and absorbing the knowledge. There will be a review of the day coming up next week.

Week 24 of my personal genealogy blog challenge is on post office directories - read about it here.

My LibraryThing cataloging is going slowly and having to do three trips to Brisbane took away a lot of time. It is not that far but an hour there and back plus time waiting around for appointments means that virtually a whole day is gone by the time we get back.  Now that the weather is so gorgeous I have been swimming every day and doing some more gardening. No rain also means time spent hosing all our gardens, thank goodness we have bore water.

It is just over a week until my next Unlock the Past cruise so the focus will be finalising my five talks for that plus I have another five talks for the Norfolk Island conference to finalise too. My two papers for Congress 2015 are due at the end of November and while I have been thinking about them  I have yet to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard to be more specific.

Amazing how fast this year has gone. Until next week, enjoy your genealogy research and why not try and encourage more of our Aussie geneamates to try social media. If we all recruited just one person that would make a difference. Until next time.

Genealogy Notes 23-30 Sep 2014 - LibraryThing & Guest Blogging

Extreme satisfaction this week as I am finally tackling something that has been on my To Do list for years if not decades. But more on that later. First up I want to start with some blogging news. Week 23 Electoral Rolls was this week's challenge in my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014. I am a big fan of electoral rolls for solving where people move to.

I also did a guest blog for the Genealogical Society of Queensland and took the opportunity to convince a few more people to start blogging their family stories. Read my post here. It really is a fantastic way to find lost lost relatives and get to know other Geneabloggers.

From time to time I am asked to do a book review and past reviews can be seen on the Resources page of my website (towards the end of the page). My next book review is a bit out of the ordinary as I have been asked to review one of Nathan Goodwin's genealogical crime mysteries which sounds absolutely fascinating. Hiding the Past is Nathan's first book in this series and a review on Amazon said A good reminder that you just never know what you will find once you embark on an ancestral hunt! I know that feeling so looking forward to a good read.

Which brings me to what I have been doing most of the week.

In the last 40 years since I left home, I have carted my genealogy, history and other cannot part with books, including novels and cookery books from home to home, city to city, state to state. Packing up and moving nine times you tend to jettison a lot of stuff along the way, so I hate to think what my house would have been like if I had not had a wanderlust.

So now that we are in the home we are never moving from, I am fulfilling my lifelong ambition to have all my books catalogued and easily findable no matter what bookcase they are in throughout the house. One of the attractions of this house was that two walls of the study have built in book cases, in fact I could not go past this house once I had seen the study which also overlooks the swimming pool area and our palm and fruit orchard. Although the birds are a bit of a distraction!

Over the years people have given me all kinds of suggestions on how to do this but I have gone with LibraryThing which is free and many geneafriends also use. I think there is something nice about being able to see (virtually) what other people have on their bookshelves and already I have two LibraryThing friends.

Setting up the account is easy and to add your books you simply select a group of libraries that you think will have the books and then you enter the ISBN and hopefully one of your libraries has the book and you get all the library cataloguing details which saves a lot of keying in of author names, titles etc. You can add your own tags and there is a private comments field where I enter the Bookcase number and shelf number.

I gave all the bookcases and shelves numbers which allows me to know which shelf a particular book is located on. Many of my research guides and other finding aids are small pamphlett size and hard to spot so this means I will be able to grab something quickly once I look it up on LibraryThing.

So all very positive and exciting and somewhat addictive. I have spent hours doing this and rearranging my books. But like everything, there are two sides to cataloguing your library collection.

I am using the National Library of Australia (NLA) as my main library choice with support from various State Libraries for my Australian books and similar libraries overseas for my New Zealand, UK and USA books. With legal deposit I expected to find most of my books in the NLA or the relevant State Library but I am surprised at how many of my books are not where I expect a copy to be held. With one of my books, in desperation I tried the University of Queensland and they had a copy so universities are now my fall back position.

You can enter books in manually but I prefer to have all the cataloguing details as well and it is quicker if you can find it already in a library somewhere.

But that is not what is taking me the longest time. I am rediscovering each and every one of my genealogy reference books and some of them are quite ancient and precomputer and internet times. It is fascinating to read them and see how we did genealogy in those far off days. At one point I was going to say they were all superseded and simply toss them, but there is some good advice and the records are the same, just the way we look for things has changed. So the weeding and decluttering  is not quite going to plan.

It will probably take me months to do all of my books so I will give updates from time to time on progress. LibraryThing is my new best friend and we won't be parted anytime soon!

For those in Brisbane don't forget the Queensland Family History Society seminar on Saturday with Pauleen Cass (Family History Across the Seas) and myself talking about asylums, hospitals and prisons. Should be a great seminar and if you are in the Gold Coast area, I am also attending the Angling for Ancestors seminar although I am not talking. Graham Jaunay and Jan Gow are the two speakers for that day long genealogy fest so I can just sit back and soak up all their genealogy knowledge! Blog posts to come on both seminars.

Until next week, happy genealogy searching or in my case, LibraryThing.

Genealogy Notes 15-22 Sep 2014 more lovely awards & great blogs

Well it has been a big week for receiving some wonderful tributes for my blogs and my presentations. First up I received a One Lovely Blog Award from Alex Daw (Family Tree Frog) for this Diary blog and if you have not seen my response, read it here. My second One Lovely Blog Award was from Helen Smith (Helen Smith's Keyboard) for my other family oriented blog SHHE Genie Rambles and my response is here.

As part of the Awards we each nominate other blogs that we like to read or admire and that  way we all get to find out about all the fantastic blogs out there. It really is good to see so many people using blogs to tell their family stories and make them accessible via Google.

The highlight of my week was finding out that I was the Gold Medalist Rock Star Genealogist in Australia and New Zealand in John Reid's (Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections) annual survey. The Top Ten list for ANZ is also a line up of some of our best bloggers and speakers although a few northerners also made the list probably due to their down under tours with Unlock the Past in the last few years.

All this recognition has inspired me to get back to blogging and I have managed to restart my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014. Week 22 is on Family Letters and Correspondence and I share two family letters that I am fortunate to have found during my research.

My next big project is a new research guide and I am trying to get a section each day as well as finalise my two talks for the Queensland Family History Society seminar on 4 October. One talk is on asylum records and I have done a version of this presentation on a number of occasions as it is based on my guide My Ancestor Was In An Asylum: Brief Guide to Asylum Records in Australia and New Zealand.

My second talk is on prison records and I was surprised to find that the last time that I only spoke about prison records was in 2002! Normally I combine it with convict records so my October talk is a reworked version of one of my most popular talks over a decade ago. It has been interesting updating it (although my family stories haven't changed) but so much has changed online!

My talks for the next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise and Norfolk Island genealogy conference in late October are also done but I will probably keep tweaking them between now and then. I have a couple of new talks which is always a little nerve wracking as you never know if people will like them and find them useful.

At the weekend I took my own advice and finally decided to tackle my Irish brick walls (yet again). In 37 years of researching I have yet to learn anything more about my Irish GGG grandparents apart from their names.In my brick wall talks I tell people to try tracing siblings if you can't track back a direct ancestor so over the years I have managed to identify some siblings but never traced them.

So using the National Archives of Ireland for wills and census records, Findmypast for a wide range of Irish records for County Wicklow, FamilySearch, Ancestry and Roots Ireland I managed to put together a reasonable framework for two of the siblings. If I purchase marriage certificates it should prove they are siblings but that won't advance me back. It is unfortunate that Irish death certificates are not more informative. I now have possible deaths for all four of my Wicklow GGG grandparents but unless a family member was an informant purchasing a copy may not actually confirm it.

I have always been a bit of a gambler so I will apply for photocopies (the cheaper option to certificates) and see what I get. Nothing ventured nothing gained so wish me luck. I still have to look at my four GGG grandparents in Northern Ireland but that will have to wait for another free weekend.

There have been lots of useful Tweets and Facebook posts too and quite a lot of these are picked up in Geniaus' The Australian Genealogists Daily which I subscribed too as it usually provides a good snapshot of relevant tweets.

Time for some lunch and exercise - some days it is too easy just to sit at the laptop and do that last bit of research or read one more blog or check Twitter for new sites! Until next time happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 5-14 Sep 2014 exciting new resources

Just back from a relaxing week long holiday at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast where I revisited many of my childhood holiday haunts. Over 50 years on there is a lot of change but it is amazing how simply being in a place can bring back memories long forgotten. But then some things haven't changed and you wonder how they have survived all the development around them. Fleay's Wildlife Park is now under National Parks Management and surrounded by suburbia but is an amazing refuge for some endangered species and they still have their platypus display, one of my most vivid childhood memories.

The only genealogy (apart from childhood memories) I did was to check in with Twitter and Facebook each morning to note any exciting news (more in a moment) and to take time to vote in John Reid's (Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections) Rockstar Genealogists survey. Voting is now closed so it will be interesting to see the results of his third year of doing this global survey. The other thing I had to do was thank Alex Daw (Family Tree Frog) for nominating Diary for a Lovely Blog Award - see my response here.

I know some people think that spending time on social media is a waste of time but it is where I catch up with most of my genealogy news. For example, through Facebook I found out that Findmypast.com.au now has the NSW will and testament books online from 1800 to 1952. Totally fantastic news and now that I am home, looking forward to some serious searching.

Another exciting resource is the 1894 and 1897 women's suffrage petitions which were indexed by the Queensland Family History Society in a project with the Queensland Parliament and now all online to search free. Again discovered via Facebook.

Through Cassmob's blog Family History Across the Seas, I discovered that Diary was listed in Jill Ball's (Geniaus) list of  50 Best Genealogy Blogs published in the latest issue of Inside History Magazine. Given that I was away from home, I had to wait patiently till we got home and collected our mail. There are some great blogs on the list and I don't know how Jill manages to keep it to 50. It is an honour to be among such great company.

One of my Twitter discoveries was Connected Histories 22 digital resources for British History 1500-1900 and one of the ways I pick up these genealogy tweets is by looking at Jill's The Australian Genealogists Daily. I find this so useful as a catch up that I retweet it each day and also post it to Facebook.

This weekend was the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies annual conference and this year it was hosted by the Illawarra Family History Group with the theme Illawarra Remembers 1914-2014. This is a conference that I try to get to every other year and as I went to the one in Canberra last year, Illawarra was just a little too hard to get to this year. However, next year it is being hosted by the Port Macquarie & District Family History Society which is where we almost settled. I think everyone enjoyed the conference as I have seen some very happy faces on Facebook.

This coming week I have to seriously finish all my talks for the Unlock the Past 6th cruise in October (5 talks) after which I am going to the UTP Norfolk Island Conference (another 5 talks). Some are revamped talks but I am also doing some totally new talks and that takes a good deal of preparation.

I also want to get back to my personal blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 and regular Diary updates. And perhaps a spot of research with some of those lovely new resources. Happy researching until next time.

Lovely Blog Award

Diary is usually my blog for my genealogy news and adventures and my other blog SHHE Genie Rambles is where I place all my personal stories and write about my families. However I have to make an exception as my long time geneafriend Alex Daw of Family Tree Frog has nominated Diary for a Lovely Blog Award which is really exciting. Alex's enthusiasm for genealogy is as keen as mine and it is always terrific to visit her library and give talks to all her genealogy library members. Thanks Alex.

Here are the Rules for the "One Lovely Blog Award":

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link to that blog
2. Share Seven things about yourself - refer below
3. Nominate 15 bloggers you admire (or as many as you can think of!) - also listed below
4. Contact your bloggers to let them know that you've tagged them for the One Lovely Blog Award

Seven things about me:

1. Throughout my adult life, I have moved around a lot (at least 9 homes and 3 cities) and recently settled into our 'retirement' house on Bribie Island. Will it be the last? 

2. Our family always had a thing about visiting animal sanctuaries and it is something that I still do. And yes that is my one and only baby brother.

3. I always wanted to be a librarian but after leaving school I applied to the Brisbane City Council for a library position but was told that I was not the kind of person who worked in libraries. Disappointed I joined the Queensland Public Service, got married and a few years later discovered genealogy, which totally changed my life and a few years further on again, I found myself working at the State Library of Queensland with the person who told me that I was not the kind of person who worked in libraries. Small world!

4. Fishing is another one of those long term passions I seem to have inherited and my father was a keen fisherman all his life. He would have really loved the boat we recently purchased to fish around Bribie Island which is where Dad first taught me to fish.

5. Another lifelong passion is reading and I can read anything but losing myself in a good book is a fantastic way to spend a few hours. Over the years I have bought thousands and every time I move, lots go to the local charities. I have always been a member of a library and regularly borrow books but somehow having to give them back seems wrong. Which is probably why I keep buying books! 

6. My son seems to be following in my footsteps and I do not expect to see grandchildren any time soon. My parents used to despair that they were never going to be grandparents as both my brother and I were tardy but then we did not know that cancer would come along and take those years from our father. One of my favourite shots of Dad taking photos of my son dancing with Mum at my brother's wedding.

7. Travel is also something that I have done all my life and I am currently writing this in a unit at Surfers Paradise where I used to go with my family in the early to mid 1960s. It does not seem like 50 something years ago but then I look outside the window and yep, a lot of years have changed this place. Amazingly the Pink Poodle is still here!

6 Bloggers I admire

This is tricky as the genealogy blogging world is a very supporting community and many of the people I regularly read have already been nominated . I tend not to read other blogs as I simply do not have the time but one area that I do dip into is Australian history. So although I am allowed to nominate up to 15 bloggers, I am going to do 3 history and 3 genealogy. But check out everyone who has been nominated for a Lovely Blog Award as there are hundreds and hundreds of interesting blogs out there.

1. Stumbling Through the Past by Yvonne Perkins - Yvonne has just moved to Singapore and fortunately we met at the Australian Historical Association conference in Brisbane in July 2014 just before she left. Yvonne's posts often alert me to new Australian history books that I want to read and exhibitions that I might want to go to as well as all kinds of other Australian history news. 

2. History and Philosophy in Queensland by Neville Buch - This is a brand new blog with only the Welcome blog and a piece on why it has been set up. However it is one that I intend to follow as I recently met Neville through the Professional Historians Association of Queensland and again at the AHA conference in July. We have been discussing the value of blogging and social media and the lack of it within the professional history arena in Queensland so I hope that his fellow Queensland historians take note. 

3. Historians Are Past Caring by Marion Diamond - Marion was one of my Australian History lecturers at the University of Queensland and I managed to meet up with her at the AHA conference in July and personally tell her how much I like reading her posts. She did not remember me, not surprisingly amongst all those students she must have had, but her lectures were always interesting and I am happy to say her blog posts are equally interesting.

4. Geneabloggers by Thomas MacEntee - this has probably been nominated by many others but it is almost the bible for anyone wanting to find a blog, look for blogging prompts or simply to find out what is happening in the blogging world. 

5. Inside History Magazine Blog by Cassie Mercer - one of my favourite history and genealogy magazines all rolled into one and often they feature past stories as guest blogs. This allows the stories a much wider audience as Google can search them and I have had some amazing feedback on stories I wrote that were published a couple of years ago but are now more accessible online.

6. The British GENES Blog (GEnealogy News and EventS) by Chris Paton - I have had the pleasure of meeting Chris a number of times on his trips down under and find his blog an excellent way to keep up with all the news in the UK. 

One final word from me, if you have not tried blogging your family stories, why not think about it. The new family contacts and new friends both in person and online have all made blogging a fantastic experience for me. Thanks again Alex for nominating me for the Lovely Blog Award.

Genealogy Notes 27 Aug - 4 Sep 2014 NFHM 2014 ends

Sorry Diary is a couple of days late but my internet had a melt down (too much use over National Family History Month) but full service now restored. Plus I have been super busy notifying all the prize winners and letting the sponsors know too.

The NFHM sponsors prize draw was done after my talk at Redcliffe Library. Here is a happy snap of the audience listening to my talk on the Golden Rules of Genealogy and Demolishing Brick Walls.  After the talk we had a lucky door prize draw for one of my books and some Inside History Magazines and Australian Family Tree Connections magazines and then some of the audience stayed to assist with the NFHM sponsors prize draw. Good fun all round. Photos courtesy of Moreton Bay Region Libraries.

I received some very excited emails from the lucky winners and some thanks and feedback on organising the whole month for AFFHO. You can read about the winners in my NFHM wrap up blog and it also includes some statistics on number of events and participating organisations. I thought it was a bigger month than last year and the numbers proved that. 

Then the next big thing I had to do was a report  for AFFHO and already I am thinking about what we can do next year to continue to build on this success. All suggestions welcome. 

I am still adding some items to the NFHM Pinterest board when people draw my attention to activities that I haven't picked up myself yet. 

Tomorrow I am heading to Brisbane to give a talk on Ancestors in Church to the North Brisbane Branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland. I have known some of them for decades so it will be a good catch up. Then I am planning a few days of rest!

I also hope to get back to my personal genealogy blog 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 which I had to suspend due to all my NFHM activities. It will be nice to get back to some research and writing just for my own pleasure. 

One blog that was brought to my attention was John Reid's Canada's Anglo Celtic Connections. John does the Rockstar Genealogists survey and you can see the 2014 nominations here. Other nominations/suggestions welcome but close 6 Sep 2014. There are quite a few Aussie speakers and bloggers that I like here as well as some that I have cruised with on Unlock the Past Cruises.

NFHM wrap up has consumed most of my time this last week so nothing much else to report but my genealogy life should go back to normal in the next week or so. Happy researching while I lose myself in a good novel or two and the odd nanna nap!

Genealogy Notes 20-26 August 2014 - National Family History Month nearly over

It seems to have been a really good National Family History Month so far. I have seen lots of reports on various social media sites with people sharing what they have done and learnt at the various events around the country. Make the most of the last few days of August by reading some of the blogs and follow up on the tips. One that I am going to be looking at this week is from one of my favourite online resources. Trove Tips for Family Historians by Catriona Bryce from the National Library of Australia is a must read and it was great to see that the tips came from a brainstorming session with Liz Pidgeon from Yarra Plenty Libraries.

Liz was one of my geneabuddies when I was living in Victoria and her enthusiasm for family history is fantastic and she is a source of lots of great tips. The beauty of the internet is that I can still keep in touch with Liz (and others) by simply following their blog, or on Twitter, Facebook or wherever. In some ways once we embrace social media it does not really matter where we live.

In the first two days of this week I have done three talks in three libraries and while I am starting to feel a bit all talked out, I still have one more talk to do for National Family History Month. Today I am at the Redcliffe Library and afterwards we will be drawing the sponsors prizes giveaway which closed yesterday. We are all organised and with the help of attendees I will have some good news for the lucky winners tomorrow. Good luck to all those who entered for the various prizes and thanks to Moreton Bay Region Libraries for their fantastic support in NFHM.

There is still time to register for one of the three online genealogy courses offered by the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. You can choose from Google for the Wise Genealogist or Social Media Tools for the Wise Genealogist or Connecting Family: Online and Virtually. To register for your complimentary course send an email to info@genealogicalstudies.com with the following details - your name, mailing address, email address, course name and start month. The courses start the first Monday of each month and you can select which month best suits you eg September, October etc.

I have also managed to complete Nos 16-31 of my 31 Activities for Researchers in National Family History Month. You can read Nos 1-15 here and it has been good to see others also blogging what they have been doing. A couple of examples include Geniaus with her #NFHM2014 Report Card and TravelGenee has been blogging each of the challenges.

There hasn't been much time to do anything else except NFHM related things and I will probably find myself at a loss of what to do next week. Not really because the next Unlock the Past cruise is looming - a 3 night cruise out of Sydney and the genealogy sessions without the distraction of foreign ports. It will be just like a genealogy conference and I am really looking forward to it. It is also a great opportunity to simply have a fantastic long weekend on board a luxury ship with no cooking, no housework and you don't have to make your own bed!

But for now it is time to get ready and head off for Redcliffe. I must add up how many kilometres I have travelled this month around South East Queensland and of course if I add in the trip to Canberra for the launch it will be in the thousands. Enjoy the rest of National Family History Month. Until next time.

Genealogy notes 13-19 August 2014 - More National Family History Month news

Another busy week with one talk for Moreton Bay Region Libraries and a webinar (my first ever webinar presentation) for MyHeritage. I found it a bit strange just sitting in my study talking to my laptop knowing that there were about 120 people out there listening to me. More new technology mastered or at least experienced!

My experimenting with a NFHM board on Pinterest has been working really well (if I can say that) as I did a Google trawl looking for items about NFHM and found some interesting pieces which I was able to pin to the board. Quite a few people are following and some have even pinned my pins on to their own boards.

This week was the deadline for my next article for Irish Lives Remembered and I was sent a proof of an article I wrote for Inside History Magazine which is looking good for the next issue.

I have added a few more events to the NFHM web calendar and continue to add individuals into the sponsors prizes giveaway. There are a fantastic list of prizes to be won by individuals including 10 Ancestry subscriptions, 2 Findmypast subscriptions, 2 MyHeritage subscriptions, 2 AFFHO Congress 2015 registrations, 2 $100 genEbooks vouchers, 3 NSW transcriptions from Joy Murrin, 1 Momento photo book valued at $150, 2 Unlock the Past cruise vouchers at $200 each and $150 research services with yours truly. How to enter is on the home page of NFHM and please read the terms and conditions. The prize giveaway closed in one week - 26 August at 5.00pm. Links to all the sponsors are on the Sponsors page.

Also on offer is a free online genealogy course with the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. There are three courses to choose from and instructions on how to enrol in the course of your choice is on the Sponsors page of NFHM.

There are still lots of events to go in the last two weeks of NFHM so check out your local area and remember to see what is online as there are some interesting offers there too.

My 31 Activities for Researchers and 31 Activities for Societies in NFHM is on my Resources page and I did manage to write up my first 15 activities and you can read it here. The other 16 will hopefully be later this week.

I also managed to take up another 3 Kiva loans with my repayments from previous loans, all part of the Kiva Genealogists for Families project. That is also a good activity to do during NFHM and I must remember that for next year.  You can join me at http://www.kiva.org/invitedto/genealogists/by/shauna1522

Tomorrow I am speaking at the Deception Bay Library on Family History on the Cheap and I have not been to that Library before so probably all new people. Next week I have four talks to finish off NFHM and of course the sponsors prizes giveaway draw on 27 August at Redcliffe. I really like that I can spread some of my major NFHM  activities around - launch in Canberra, talks throughout Moreton Bay Region and the prize draw at Redcliffe. Just as well I don't mind a bit of travel.

For those not familiar with Redcliffe it was Queensland's first European settlement and September 2014 marks the 190th anniversary of settlement in the area. So a nice historical place to end my NFHM! For those reading this overseas, we really are a very young country.

I think that is all I have done the last week but then I am a bit weary! Planning a nice week off post NFHM with a week's holiday at Surfers Paradise. I haven't been there since I was a teenager so it will be interesting and something a bit different, not our usual exotic places.

Keep on enjoying NFHM and happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 6-12 August 2014 National Family History Month is nearly half over already!

Time does fly when you are having fun! I have given 6 of my 11 talks for Moreton Bay Region Libraries already and there have been some great audiences. Lots of people have gone home to try out some of my ideas for Demolishing Brick Walls or doing Family History on the Cheap. As usual I have put the presentations on my website Resources page, scroll down to Presentations.

At the top of the Resources page are my 31 Activities for National Family History Month (for individuals and societies) and it has been good seeing some people do all or only a few of the activities. One person  I know is blogging all of her activities and Fran (aka Travelgenee) has done some interesting posts on her adventures so far this NFHM. It is always surprising how people interpret a challenge and I usually pick up new ideas as well.

Pauleen (aka Cassmob) has done a NFHM 2014 geneameme challenge and again I find it inspiring to read what others are saying in response to the prompts. Read Pauleen's response to her own challenge here. Geniaus (aka Jill) has introduced us to the concept of 'geneacave' where we do our family history at home. Sure beats 'study'! And she has introduced me to the PIP process - read all about it here. Pauleen will be collating all of the responses so why not give it a go or at least read a few of them. My NFHM geneameme response is here.

Surprisingly I am still adding a few events to the NFHM web calendar and of course I am busy with entries for the NFHM sponsors prizes giveaway which closes on 26 August. So far there are no entries from TAS, WA or the NT and only one from SA - what does this mean?

NFHM is mainly promoted online with events around the country so are those places not following us on Facebook or Twitter or Google +? I have even placed notices on the main mailing listservs for all States and Territories just in case people are not into social media. But very little response for the effort of signing up to post the notice in the first place.

Or is it just because people don't want to win the NFHM prizes? It can't be that because I would love to win some of those prizes but because I am the person running the giveaway I can't enter! Sob. I hope people don't leave it till the last day or I will go demented trying to organise everything before the prize draw takes place at Redcliffe Library.

It is Ekka week here so we are planning a visit to Mum and then on to the Ekka which brings back all kinds of memories of going with my parents as a child and taking my own son to the Ekka too. At least now I don't have to contemplate those rides but I will admit to a certain fondness still for the showbags.

Next week I am doing another talk for Moreton Bay Region Libraries and my first ever webinar with MyHeritage. I am a bit spooked at this stage as I have still to master a Google Hangout so now to get myself organised and cool and collected before Monday. Deep breath needed and maybe even more than one.

The other new thing I am trying for NFHM is Pinterest and I am really surprised at how many people have shown interest in the NFHM board that I have done. The only way to learn and get to know about some of these social media sites is to dive in and have a look. You can't break anything or at least I haven't yet!

My 'geneacave' desk looks like a cyclone has hit it so time for a good tidy up before I move on to my next NFHM challenge. Have a great time this August researching your families in NFHM. Until next time.

Genealogy notes 30 Jul - 5 Aug 2014 Start of National Family History Month

I always knew the lead in to National Family History Month was going to be busy but I have been flat out like a lizard drinking! It was great to be in Canberra for the launch at the National Archives of Australia, sponsor of the launch since 2006. You can read about my report on the launch here. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with old NAA colleagues and friends from HAGSOC (nice to see the PR for NFHM on their home page).

I did not have to remember why I left Canberra as it was a bit snowy on the day of the launch, although I always did love seeing the snow on the Brindabellas and the flight home the next day was pretty with all the snow lying around in southern New South Wales. By the time I got home to Bribie the cold front had moved north and I still needed a cardy!

My 31 activities for individuals in NFHM are now on the Resources page of my website and there are also 31 activities for genealogy/family history societies there too. Nothing is compulsory and you can do as many or as few activities as you want during the month. Remember there are other online events in the NFHM web calendar. Also on the NFHM website are the giveaway prizes from NFHM sponsors and details of how to enter are on the Home Page.

When I agreed to do my 11 talks for Moreton Bay Region Libraries I was only thinking it was one hour talks not factoring in travel time. Moreton must be one of the bigger shires as the travel time varies from 8 minutes to the Bribie Library to almost an hour to the Arana Hills Library where I am speaking today. I am giving 5 talks this week but only one next week as it is Ekka time. The following week is also only one talk with the final three in the last week of NFHM. The giveaway prize draw takes place at the Redcliffe Library on 27 August and I do thank Moreton Bay Region Libraries for their fantastic support during NFHM. As well as myself, they have other speakers giving family history talks too.

State Library of Victoria asked me to do a guest blog on their Family Matters blog for NFHM and you can read it here. This will be the first Family History Feast that I have missed since we first started it back in 2004 so a bit sad. But fantastic that it continues even though two of us have retired! And of course they do podcasts of the speakers so I will be able to listen once the sessions go online. Something to anticipate!

Sadly I suspended my own personal blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 as I simply could not keep it up and still get all the events etc up for NFHM but I will return to it in September. Sharon (The Tree of Me) has been playing catchups with it and I have just put links to her posts on my website. It is always interesting to see how others approach a set blog post and it is great for finding new ideas.

I have promised to blog my 31 activities for the month but haven't done so yet. One new thing that I have done is set up a Pinterest account and have boards for NFHM and Diary of an Australian Genealogist. Social media is amazing and there are so many things you can do to express yourself and your interests online. Not only did I put some NFHM photographs on Pinterest but  I also put some on the NFHM Facebook page. HAGSOC member Jeanette Hahn took some photos of the launch and has given us permission to use them.

Time for me to head off to Arana Hills Library and my third talk for NFHM and I hope everyone else is having a great time this August. Until next time, happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 22-29 Jul 2014 getting ready for National Family History Month 2014

As some of you may know I am the voluntary coordinator of National Family History Month which is an initiative of AFFHO, the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations. As it is only three days to the start of NFHM 2014 just about everything I am doing at present is NFHM related.

I am working on a few things that I cannot put up on the website until 31 July as we do not want people jumping the gun which makes it a bit hard for me as last minute stuff is always tricky. What if my internet plays up or I get sick or my laptop dies? Yes I am a worrier but I do want this NFHM to be bigger and better than previous years.

I did a media interview with the Seniors newspaper so I hope that we get some publicity in their August issue. It is often hard to attract media attention but we send out media notices and hope that it is a slow news day. All of our NFHM sponsors also help promote NFHM through their own enewsletters and social media.

Events are still going up and the launch is all organised. Although last night's weather did not thrill me. There was some talk that it might even snow in Canberra on Friday as a cold front is coming in. It will probably be frosty and that often reminded me of snow when I lived here. But fortunately for me most of the really frosty days seem to be after I leave and return home to sunny warm Queensland.

I came to Canberra early because I was attending the launch of Discovering ANZACs but it was postponed when the Governor General went to the Netherlands following the MH17 air tragedy. So I have some unexpected free time on my hands and a return trip to Canberra at some point.

I have been a member of Genes Reunited for years although I don't often go on and see what's new. So I have been trawling for some of my family names and finding that there are quite a few new people researching the same families. I have sent contact emails and already received some positive responses and when viewing their trees it is obvious that we are descended from the same ancestors just down different lines. A timely reminder to recheck databases from time to time as new material is continually being added.

The closure of State Records South Australia's reading rooms took me by surprise as I had not seen anything about it until after the event. The city search room closed on 18 July and the Gepps Cross reading closes on 1 August which is a bit of a sad start to NFHM. State Records is relocating its public access services to the State Library of South Australia so it will be interesting to see how that works. The State Library has some great events planned for NFHM so perhaps that will help fellow family historians get over their disappointment with State Records. See SLSA list of events on their website here.

I have been following the 5th Unlock the Past cruise with lots of great photos from them on Facebook and the occasional blog from Helen Smith and Alona Tester. It has almost been like I was there but not really. They seem to have had fantastic weather judging by the short sleeves which surprised me as I always think of the north of Scotland as cold and bleak. Too much Hamish Macbeth perhaps!

When I do return home at the weekend there will be no rest as on Monday I start the first of my 11 presentations for the Moreton Bay Region Libraries to celebrate NFHM and they have other speakers too so at this early stage I think Moreton is going to take out the title of most supporting public library for NFHM 2014. This also reminds me that I will need to finalise my talks  between now and then. The Events page of my website has where I am speaking and the NFHM web calendar for Queensland has all the Moreton events listed.

Only three more sleeps to NFHM 2014 - get ready for a huge month of genealogy and family history across Australia and New Zealand. Happy researching everyone.

Genealogy Notes 15-22 July 2014 - NFHM & exciting family finds

Wow the past week has been full on with all kinds of exciting things. National Family History Month is keeping me busy with more events added and there have been some changes to dates, times, venues and even a cancellation. So remember to keep checking the NFHM web calendar for any changes. There is also a new prize sponsor - Momento photo books so keep an eye out for news about the prize draws as we get into NFHM in just over a week's time. Full list of NFHM sponsors and prizes here.

Findmypast (a NFHM prize sponsor) have been doing 100 record sets in 100 days and some brilliant records have been added over the last 100 days but the one that got me most excited were the last four sets - Nos 97 - 100 Staffordshire baptisms, burials, marriages and banns. I have oodles of Staffordshire ancestors and have had a quick play (found my GGG grandfather's marriage and the deaths of my GG grandparents amongst other things ) but there is a fishing competition on this weekend and I will be alone for two days. So I am quietly planning my Staffordshire feast of family history for this weekend!

Peter from Lost Cousins also drew my attention to the Staffordshire records release as I have put my Staffordshire census information into the Lost Cousins database. I need to recheck that as more census information has been released since I last added my families.

Another NFHM prize sponsor, Inside History Magazine has featured a story on Max's ancestors which I discovered over a cup of tea this morning. Max's grandmother was the cousin of Archie Barwick who features in the new documentary The War That Changed Us so looking forward to seeing that  and to learning more about Archie. It goes to air on 5 August on the ABC so perfect timing for NFHM!

At the prompting of other relatives I have put my family trees up publicly in Ancestry (a major sponsor and a prize sponsor of NFHM) and I am a bit amazed at the distant relatives that have sent me emails and new information. It certainly pays to advertise but keeping up with all the new enquiries at this time is a little hectic. Thank goodness NFHM is only a month although there are some who have suggested it should be all year!!

I also been watching the new series of Who Do You Think You Are on SBS and found Andrew Denton's story so moving but then all the stories are interesting and get me wanting to do more research on my ancestors! Just wish some of them had led more exciting lives! If you have missed an episode you can watch them online too.

The other exciting news is that I have been invited to the launch of the National Archives of Australia's new Discovering ANZACs website by the Governor General and followed by high tea so definitely not to be missed. Luckily it is the same week that I am in Canberra for the launch of NFHM, next week is going to be huge. Plus I get to catch up with all my old Canberra friends.

The 5th Unlock the Past cruise is currently underway and both Alona and Helen have managed to write some blog posts and put pictures up on Facebook so that those of us not there can still find out all the news. Read Alona's posts here and Helen's here.

Trove is having a pre NFHM event and are looking for your family stories and there are some I Love Trove badges on offer so read all the details here but closing date is 30 July so be quick!

Well that's my news for this week and I will have another Diary update on Sunday before I head off to Canberra will all the latest news on NFHM. August is going to be a fantastic month for genealogy and family history. Happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 8-14 July 2014 A History Conference and other news

Since the last Diary I have been in Brisbane attending the annual Australian Historical Association history conference. While mostly academic history I find that some of the papers presented are also of interest to me in my love of all aspects of Australian history, especially colonial times. I have reported on the conference in my SHHE Genie Rambles blog on my website and you can read the report here. There is a link to the conference abstracts in the blog post for anyone who wants to look at the hundreds of papers presented over the five days plus other links which may be of interest.

One of the issues of being away from home for five days is trying to keep up with all my usual things. National Family History Month continues to get closer and we have another prize sponsor - Joy Murrin Family History Services.  I am still trying to decide on where to have the prize draw as I like to do it in front of an audience towards the end of NFHM. Moreton Bay Region Libraries have asked me to do 11 talks during NFHM so I need to revamp those talks too before August. I also have to finish my 31 things to do in NFHM for individuals and societies - this was popular last year so I am doing a revised version for 2014.

The launch of NFHM is on track and the winners of the Nick Vine Hall awards have been notified so that they can attend the launch. This year thanks to our major sponsors Ancestry.com.au, FamilySearch and MyHeritage we can bring both winners to Canberra which is really good. I think it is nice that I have started a new tradition (but then that might just be my personal bias).

I know that NFHM hasn't even started yet for 2014 but already I am thinking ahead to 2015. Sponsors, prizes, events and where to have the launch. I have moved it from Melbourne, to Brisbane and now to Canberra. Where to next for NFHM?

Invitations to speak are always nice to receive and 2015 is starting to look very busy. But in the past week I have also received invitations for the second part of this year. Fortunately the date suggested by the North Brisbane Branch of the Genealogical Society of Queensland was free so I am doing my church records talk there on 5 September. I used to go to their meetings back in the late 70s so we have known each other for a very long time. The other invitation is still not confirmed so more news next time. Details of all my talks for the rest of the year are here.

There are also lots of new records online and special offers around. Being tardy with my emails means that sometimes the offer is over before I even see it. But MyHeritage have a free offer to search their WW1 military records until the end of July. More about the offer here. Findmypast.com.au continue to add a staggering amount of records to their database and I find reading their blog the best way of finding out what's new. Read their blog posts here. I have also been looking at the Lives of the First World War website too. Ancestry.com.au have had free access to Australian records over the weekend and the offer ends today.

So while it is nice to go away for a five day history conference, you can miss out on other good things too. And of course I brought back a stack of new reading material and it is beautiful fine, sunny and warm outside (although the early mornings and evenings remind you that it is winter) so I am tempted to go outside and have a nice read. But that doesn't get blogs written, emails answered or talks prepared. Moderation in all things is a good motto so the kettle is on, my stack of Fryer Library journals on the poolside table and I am about to enjoy that winter sunshine with a nice chai latte! Until next time.

Genealogy notes 1-7 Jul 2014 NFHM & obituaries

Well another week has flashed by and National Family History Month is fast approaching. I have been busy adding events to the web calendar (over 200 events so far) and organising the launch. I also have to report two more sponsors. MyHeritage is now a major sponsor as well as a prize sponsor which is fantastic news. Patrica Barth from Family Tree Scriptorium is now a prize sponsor and it is great to see her association with NFHM continuing. Patricia is the widow of Nick Vine Hall after whom the AFFHO awards for best genealogy/family history society journal is named.

Hazel Edwards (author of How to Write a Non Boring Family History) let me know of an interesting idea that she picked up at a recent Victorian GUM Non Boring Family History Writing workshop. The attendees had to be their ancestor and were interviewed in an oral history type situation. I have often wondered what it would be like to have been one of my ancestors but I have never actually answered questions from their perspective. An interesting concept as thinking is one thing and actually writing down or verbalizing is another. Another thing on the 'to do' list.

Week 21 of my personal genealogy blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 was on obituaries. I don't have many in my own research but when you do find one, these records can break down records. Read about it here.

This week I am at the Australian Historical Association annual conference which is conveniently in Brisbane this year. I am also going to an all day session with the Professional Historians Association of Queensland and they have some nice little side trips organised. Tours of the John Oxley Library and the Fryer Library will be interesting as it is over 20 years since I worked at JOL and more than that since I visited Fryer as a uni student.

I am still immersed in a big writing project that threw me a few curved balls at the last minute so I really haven't had a chance to do much else as I definitely want to finish it before the start of NFHM. I know James Bond said 'Never Say Never' but I don't think I will go this path again. The whole point of my writing is that I enjoy it and I need to get back to that point again.

So look forward to all sorts of news from the AHA and PHAQ conference sessions in next Diary. Until next time happy researching!

Genealogy notes 23 - 30 June 2014 NFHM and writing blogs

Well the last week did not go as planned.Mum's birthday party went well and we had our little trip to Sea World and unbelievably the baby polar bear came out to play when I was standing right in front of his enclosure thinking I was going to miss him. Mum polar bear wasn't far behind him and the Dad polar bear was in another enclosure where we saw him swimming and having a good time too. So all up an excellent few days of family fun.

Then I made the mistake of deciding to rearrange some book cases and the layout of the study. I am happier with this rearrangement but it does take time regrouping and reshelving hundreds of books. We are definitely never moving again! Of course I also found books that I had not yet read so a nice little pile of them to look forward to. The other thing is that I have too many genealogy magazines and I can't bring myself to part even with the very outdated ones. I find that flicking through them gives me ideas or reminds me of things that I have forgotten about. Yet space and storage is a factor.

Some of my genealogy society memberships and genealogy magazines are only digital these days which saves space but out of sight out of mind. I need to write myself reminders to read these digital copies.

I think all of this was a bit of procrastination as whenever I get towards the end of a big writing project I always seem to find other things to do rather than tackle the fiddly bits and pieces to finish a job. Still it won't go away and that is the goal for this week.

There are two new posts in my personal genealogy blog challenge - 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014. Week 19 is Family Bibles and Week 20 is Mining Records. I am finding it hard to keep up the weekly blogs but it is really good to look at each topic and then to think about what ancestors I want to write about or look up new information on.

National Family History Month is still taking up time with new events being added all the time. I posted an update on my website - read the update here. Invitations to the launch have gone out and I have booked my flight and accommodation for Canberra. I think next year it has to be a warmer launch (but I guess that will be determined by whoever the voluntary coordinator is).

My findmypast.com.au subscription allows me to access British newspapers online and in another obvious display of procrastination I spent a lovely afternoon finding interesting bits and pieces in UK newspapers. I often do this with Trove or Papers Past so it was interesting to spend more time exploring the UK equivalent.

On Twitter I have been following all the new indexes on the Claim a Convict website. They are doing really good work and it is a must go to website for anyone with convicts. Deceased Online is another website that I follow on Twitter for updates on UK burials and cremations and of course FamilySearch is always adding to their website. Then there are all the nice links I pick up from Facebook genealogy friends and sometimes I go on Google + but keeping up with everything is tricky.

Genealogy friend Geniaus speculated in a blog post How Do You React? if anyone ever reads what we write and should we even keep writing. While I do write to share bits and pieces with my genealogy cyber buddies, I also write for myself. It is a way for me to record what I am doing, to write down ancestor stories, and to look back on what I have done over the past few years of having a website and blogging. The Wayback Machine (part of the Internet Archive) has captured snapshots of my website over the years and this Diary is archived in the National Library of Australia's Pandora web archive accessible through Trove.

So yes I do think people should keep on blogging and imagine if every genealogist and family historian blogged their family stories. We would be finding cousins all over the place and brick walls would come tumbling down which are some of the positives I have seen so far in my own writing.

And on that note I have to get back to some serious work! Until next time happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 17-22 Jun 2014 - National Family History Month 2014

This past week has been busy with lots of preparation for National Family History Month 2014 which is an initiative of AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations). I am the voluntary coordinator so I have been making arrangements with the National Archives of Australia for the launch. NAA have hosted the launch since 2006 so their support is really appreciated. Ancestry.com.au and FamilySearch are our two major sponsors this year and their is a long list of prize sponsors on the NFHM website.

Here is an image from last year's launch with Professor Cliff Pollard who spoke about WW1 nurses. Our 2014 keynote speaker is Dr Richard Reid on the Western Front 1914-1918.

Apart from launch arrangements I have also been busy checking events that ate being put into the NFHM web calendar. Spam is a problem for everyone so each event has to be approved before it becomes visible and lots of events have gone up over the last week. Any genealogy/family history society, library, archives or similar organisation can put their August events up in the web calendar. It is a great way for more people to see what events you hold.

I have also been doing a bit more promotion on the NFHM Facebook page and as of this morning there are 952 Likes so it definitely looks like we are going to hit the 1000 Likes before the launch of NFHM on 1 August. My thanks go to all my cyber buddies who help promote NFHM in their various social media circles.

I forgot to mention last time that Inside History Magazine asked me to do a guest blog on 'how to ask an expert'questions you have on your genealogy and family history research. You can read the blog post here. It is based on my own experiences trying to help people and the more clear and concise you are, the more likely someone will be able to give you the answer or suggest other things to look at.

It was a forgetful week last week as I also neglected to say that I met Rebecca Wheatley at the National Archives of Australia advisory meeting on the centenary of WW1. She is working on the Monash University One Hundred Stories Project and we were shown some very moving and emotional stories about soldiers who came home from the war. These are being put on YouTube and the link is here. Penguin is planning to publish a book of the One Hundred Stories in November 2015.

One of my favourite online newsletters is Lost Cousins which comes out every week. Another is Snippets from Queensland Family History Society and I am a subscriber to Dick Eastman's newsletter (plus edition as I like the longer articles as well as his short news stories). Dick also suggested that I put the NFHM event up on his web calendar which I have done and I must remember to check that more often myself.

My talk at the Caloundra Family History Research group went well and I was showing them some of my favourite Google tools for family history. As usual I have placed a copy of the talk on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations. Google is always changing so I need to update the talk every time I do that presentation.

I have got another busy week planned with lots of writing - there are a couple of jobs that I simply must finish before we get too close to NFHM. From 7-11 July I am attending the annual conference of the Australian Historical Association which is in Brisbane this year. There is also a Professional Historians Association Queensland day in conjunction with the AHA conference so I am going to that as well. Should be a stimulating week of history and networking.

Today we are finally getting to celebrate Mum's 80th birthday (having had to delay it several times due to her not being all that well). So I must dash as I don't think she will want to be kept waiting (we are the ones picking her up and taking her to the venue). Final thoughts - not genealogy I'm afraid but I am finally treating myself to a trip to Sea World to see the polar bears so an exciting week coming up. Happy researching.