Geneastats from 2023 & Other News: My Genealogy Weeks 1-15 January 2024

The first two weeks of 2024 have seen devastating storms, flooding and incredible heatwaves almost in a rolling pattern. Now another cyclone seems to be looming off our coast. Stay safe everyone, out thoughts are with all those impacted.

Blogs

Each year I do two guest blog posts for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. I picked January and July for my efforts. This means the January guest blog is lined up and ready to go in early February. I will be interested in all feedback on my 2023 thoughts. A direct link will be in the next edition of this Diary blog.
 

Books

I have so many books to read now. There are those for sheer pleasure, those for genealogy and family history and those for my Ph D research.

Not sure if I mentioned it last year, but we have started up a Bribie Family History Association Book Club and we have been reading The Ancient Paths by Graham Robb. Not an easy book to read but quite fascinating and the archival references are amazing. We operate via the Moreton Bay Region Libraries which makes it very easy to operate a book club.

Plus I try to keep up with the digital genealogy magazines that I can borrow from the local library.

Conferences

The AFFHO Congress is coming up in 2025 and they have released the dates for that. It will be held in Brisbane which is good news for all the locals. The last one was on Norfolk Island which was a much smaller affair due to the remoteness of the venue but still an excellent conference. 

The Congress theme is “Connections: Past, Present and Future” will be held in Brisbane on 21 – 24  March 2025. The venue is Brisbane Technology Park, Clunies Ross Court, Eight Mile Plains and is situated next to hotel accommodation. Save the date and I will be staying onsite as battling highway traffic each day to and from would leave me a total nervous wreck. Everyone is always in a rush and there is usually a bingle or two to slow traffic down further. Plus that would give me an extra four hours a day to chat and mingle with friends. Much more pleasant.

Unlock the Past is having its final genealogy cruise in December 2024 and that has some big name speakers and sails out from Sydney. Booked and will probably give a talk or two depending on how the final program develops.

The NSW/ACT Association of Family History Societies usually have an annual conference about September. There is nothing on their website yet about 2024 so hopefully that will be announced soon.

New Resources

It is almost mind blowing to read some of the statistical accounts from the big genealogy databases on how much is added each year and 2023 was no exception.

FamilySearch added over 30,000 newly digitised books to their online collection which now stands at 586,813 digital books online. I just did a search for Islandmagee in County Antrim, Island. It has returned a number of volumes including the Brennen Chronicles (one of my family lines is Brennan for Islandmagee). Another book mentions the Cain/Kain family of Islandmagee, another one of my family lines. In fact there are 33 pages of references to all kinds of books and journals. I would hate to be searching for a big parish. 

There are now over 18.36 billion historical records online for over 70 countries. A big addition was the digitised 1931 census for Canada. One of my Scottish families went to Canada and I would love to find some DNA matches to confirm that this is one of my family lines. 

MyHeritage also had a very big year and I can't sum it up anymore than their own image of achievements. You can read more about these statistics in the January blog post. I'm beginning to think we could do genealogy 24/7 and still not use all the resources out there. 

And all the others Ancestry, Findmypast, The Genealogist, Irish Roots, Geneanet, WikiTree and others added to their collections. There is so much out there now  that it is often hard to decide where to search first. 

Online trees can be a real time saver but you have to remember to check them carefully and go back to original sources. Recently I found a tree that was exactly what I wanted but they had a different surname for the wife (which was different from the marriage certificate) but absolutely no explanation for this discrepancy. It is so frustrating when people don't give sources and don't add a note that explains such a major difference between the marriage certificate and their tree. 

Nick Vine Hall (NVH) Awards

It is going to be exciting to be part of the NVH Awards for 2023. We have three new judges, revised criteria and all member societies of AFFHO are encouraged to enter one of their 2023 journals/newsletters.

My main job over the next couple of months will be promoting the awards and encouraging editors to submit. Of course members of individual societies have to write up their own stories for publication so make sure you write at least one article this year for your society editor. Don't be shy and who knows it might lead to further information on the family.

Talks

My first talk for 2024 will be for Monash Library in Melbourne in the first week of February. They are a great group and have hybrid meetings. The session is Researching Australian Ancestors and anyone can join but you need to register and what out for daylight saving time if you live this side of the border.

Then it will be up to Caloundra for my annual appearance there. Another great group and not just because they all wear purple shirts. So friendly over afternoon tea. The talk will be Researching Family in Ireland Online. 

What's Coming Up

Bribie Family History Association is having its first meeting for 2024 and our guest speaker is Sue Reid an excellent presenter on researching newspapers. Afterwards some of our members meet for lunch. No doubt we will be busy sharing our success stories over the summer break. 

Our AGM is coming up in February and here is a happy snap of the current committee hard at work.

My monthly meeting with my Ph D tutors is also challenging especially when they ask to see what I am working on. 

Last month it was my database of incarcerated Queensland women 1850-1900 and this time it is my research plan for Queensland State Archives and my Bibliography to date. It is only seven months since I started so quite full on. 

Take care over the next few weeks of summer weather. A good opportunity to stay inside with a good book, either digital or print. I'm almost preferring digital to my surprise. New skills, new ways of doing things. Until next time, happy researching. Shauna

2023 ending, 2024 beginning & what's new: My genealogy weeks 15 - 31 December 2023

2023 went by in a blur. So many great things happened and keeping this Diary helps me to remember just how much I do in a year. 

Blogs

Jill Ball aka Geniaus has again offered her Accentuate the Positive Geneameme for 2023. Another great way to think about what happened in your genealogy research in 2023. Read my response here.

I have a guest blog for the Genealogical Society of Queensland coming up in January. The big question as always, will be what to write about.

Books & Magazines

For various reasons my attention has been drawn to Charles Dickens and his association with Australia. To my shame, I suspect, I have only ever read Great Expectations for school. To redress this I am currently reading Tom Keneally's That Dickens Boy. Not quite a Charles Dickens novel but a great insight into the Dickens family. It may even inspire me to read a real Dickens book again.

Books are piling up around me, season gifts and Ph D works plus the number on my IPad is growing at an alarming rate. It seems I may have been converted to the convenience of the ebook. 

Also using Moreton Region libraries more and their app Libby which lets me read all those genealogy magazines as part of my library subscription. Not to mention all the ebooks they have.

Conferences

Not too many on my horizon this year. However, there are lots of webinars and online sessions that I can catch up on. 

Legacy Family Tree Webinars have just announced their 2024 program. Good to see the Down Under series continues with some good Aussie/Kiwi speakers. You can register to watch live for the whole year and its free to watch for the first week after the session. Check it out here.

New Resources

The Australian Home Beautiful
Vol 29 No 7 July 1950

Findmypast added new Kent records, plus opened up more redacted entries in the 1939 Register. There are almost 188,000 of these previously closed records now open. Family history is indeed never ending. Over 90,000 more newspaper pages have been added.   

Trove Treasure in December 2023 and January 2024 and for all our holiday cooking, they have now digitised over 100 classic cookbooks. Confession time. I can spend hours looking at cookbooks, not necessarily cooking, just looking. I can't wait to explore this new collection of cookbooks. 

Or you could read all those wonderful magazines that have also been digitised. Remember the 1950s and all those wonderful hot winter puddings. I loved the pineapple upside down cakes although mine never quite looked like the recipe image.

Over 800,000 images were added to Trove in 2022-2023. More will be coming in 2024 and here is a preview list. Good to see the community cooperation between Trove and regional genealogy societies as well as school and local history groups.

NSW

• Border Morning Mail (1952) [Albury City Libraries]
• Coolamon Farmers' Review (1910-1917) [Coolamon and District History Group]
• Coolamon-Ganmain Farmers' Review (1906-1910, 1917-1918) [Coolamon and District History Group]
• The Pastoral Times and Deniliquin Telegraph (1895-1950) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• The Seagull (1957-2015) [Tweed River High School]

SA

• Australijos Lietuvis - The Australian Lithuanian (1948-1956) [Australian Lithuanian Archives]
• People's Weekly (1890-1926) [State Library of South Australia]
• Port Lincoln Times (1982-1986) [Port Lincoln History Group]
• Seasider (1956-1963) [National Trust of SA - Wilunga Branch]
• South East Kingston Leader (1962-1976) [Kingston Branch of the National Trust of SA]
• The Standard (1959-1965) [Prospect Local History Group]

VIC

• Gippsland Farmers' and Glengarry, Toongabbie and Cowwarr Journal (1923) [Latrobe City Libraries]
• Sun News Pictorial (1922-1954) [State Library Victoria]
• The Journal: Glengarry, Toongabbie and Cowwarr journal (1923-1929) [Latrobe City Libraries]
• Yarrawonga Mercury and Lake Rowan, Tungamah and Mulwala News (1882) [Yarrawonga Mulwala Historical Society Inc]
• Yarrawonga Mercury and Mulwala News (1882-1897) [Yarrawonga Mulwala Historical Society Inc]
• Yarrawonga Mercury and Southern Riverina Advertiser (1897-1905, 1921-1927) [Yarrawonga Mulwala Historical Society Inc]

Talks

My list of talks for 2024 so far are now up on the Events page of my website. As usual I am looking forward to presenting and catching up with friends at these events.

My Genie Chat sessions here on Bribie are continuing in 2024 and the first term will look at English genealogy.

What's Coming Up?

January is traditionally a quiet time and there are lots of little catch up tasks on my list. Like sorting out all my travel and family photos from this year. I tend to download them into subject folders and promise myself I will get back to delete the not so good and identify the ones I want to keep. No surprises but I rarely do that so I have quite a bit of tidying up just in my photo folders.

Alice Price and her daughters

I could mention the scanning word, but there are too many projects there. I managed to sort Mum's photos into categories and give my brother some that related to his children. But the little piles of scanning are still sitting on the shelf behind me. In the photo above I am reasonably sure that my son could not identify anyone. Even I'm not sure if that is Mum on the far left, she was a lot younger than her siblings. I do know the rest - from left to right Alice Price nee White, her daughter Beryl, daughter in law Peggy, daughter Mavis and daughter Hazel. 

The Genealogy Squad and Cyndi Ingles has her Filing Friday Facebook challenge and occasionally I have set aside a Friday to just tackle things like filing and scanning. Could I keep it up every week? No for starters the Bribie Family History Association has its monthly meeting on the first Friday. Then there is lunch afterwards. But 3 out of 4 Fridays might make a difference to my photo projects. Have a look at their last post for 2023 and the plan for 2024.

Thank you to all my readers over the year - I have not been as regular with blogging as I hoped. Travel took up quite a few weeks and you can follow those travels through my Facebook page. Your ongoing support of this blog is very much appreciated.

I hope that you have all had a fabulous genealogy time in 2023 and that 2024 will be equally fabulous. Stay safe and well until next time, Shauna

Parties, Books & Other News: My Genealogy Weeks 21 November - 14 December 2023

 It's party season as every society and group wind down for December and January. 

One of my new projects in the latter half of the year was setting up Genie Chats where a group of locals join me for 90 minutes on Zoom on a Wednesday morning. We record the sessions for those who can't make that time. I decided to throw a Christmas morning tea at my place and it was good to catch up with all those who attended. Lot's of great food and I think when we say 'bring a plate' it should be 'bring a small plate'. But all delicious and the weather was kind.

Dessert at the
Slimmers Christmas party

Also attended the Bribie Family History Association lunch at Botanic at Bribie RSL. We occupied two tables and again great chats and delicious food and drinks. 

The Bribie Slimmers lunch was chicken and ham with potatoes, pumpkin, beans and gravy. For dessert there was the most delicious pavlova. 

Then there was the Bribie Island Historical Society party which was catered by the RSL. The fish fry was magical and all the other plates of hot food and sandwiches were nice. The bar had white and red wine flowing but the orange juice ran out quickly. Less people are drinking and of course, someone has to drive home.

Blogs

As per usual, I am participating in Jill Ball's annual geneameme Accentuate the Positive which is a recap of our genealogical highlights during the year. I'm part way throught with some questions easier to answer than others. I hope to finish it by Christmas.

Another annual blog challenge I accept is the Genealogical Society of Queensland's guest bloggers list. The lovely Bobbie has me signed up for two guest blogs - one in January and one in June.

I do seem to have lost my blogging mojo. Instead of writing up family stories as a blog post, I am more concentrated on my draft family histories which are largely written. The hard part is adding in sources and adding citations which weren't noted at the time I wrote the draft. I'm getting there but the moral of this story is, note your citations as you go. Ever so much easier.

Books

I have bought more books in the last month than I have all year. Many of them are connected to my PhD research but also some for pleasure. Plus as our local library was closing for a couple of months for building renovation, I ordered in a number of books. Fascinating. Searching the catalogue turned up books in other Moreton libraries which I probably would not have looked for. 

Plus I have to read our designated text for the Bribie Family History Association book club, Graham Robb's The Ancient Paths. 

Thank goodness I don't have anything on for the rest of December and January.

DNA

No new exciting big matches but lots of little ones (over 20cM) are helping me to fill out Dad's side of the family. I am reasonably sure where we fit into those families but it would be good to have a nice Y match. 

Mum's DNA is continuing to throw up Welsh matches and yet I don't have any Welsh in the paper trail. Am I looking at some non parental event or is it further back on a line where I have a brick wall. Something to explore more in 2024.

Family

Christmas dinner last year
in Sweden

Hard to believe but this time last year I was on my way to my son's place in Sweden. My hopes for a white Christmas were dashed but it was frosty. Meeting my little grandson was the highlight of the year. 

The plan for 2024 is to visit them in May when both my grandson and my son celebrate their birthdays. In the meantime I have watched his first steps and now see him marching round the house as if he owns it. Amazing how quick he learnt to walk and he is definitely an active child.

New Resources

Another thing that continually amazes me is all the new records that are added each month to the various online sites. Trove had a downtime of 2 whole days and it was then that I realised I am addicted to Trove. Every day I find myself looking for something for my own genealogy, or a talk I am planning to give or my Ph D research. It has opened up so many stories for us.

What's Coming Up?

No more talks until February but I still have to prepare the talks and that can be time consuming. Check out the Events page of my website to see the dates, places and titles of talks.

With Genie Chats next year I am doing English Genealogy in Term 1.  As I am planning to travel in May there probably won't be a set subject for Term 2 but we might do a few one off topics. 

The plan is to finish at least one of my five family history drafts by 2024. They are all so close but citations are giving me grief. Queensland State Archives have new identification numbers so everything has to be updated and sad to say, some of my orginal citations are not complete.

Stay safe and well and enjoy whatever spare time the Christmas season has for you. 

Until next time, Shauna

Travels, books, workshops & other news: My Genealogy Weeks 16 Oct - 17 Nov 2023

Half this month was spent travelling in China. We did the usual things in Beijing and then went to the older areas of Hangshou and Souchou before ending in Shanghai. It was supposed to be autumn and cool but while we were there, they had some of their hottest days in years.

Touring the Imperial Palaces

The Great Wall of China

So many people, cars, bikes and very few accidents that we saw. Traffic was heavy but not gridlocked as their road systems are amazing and mostly above the ground. You only go off the freeways if you want to visit a particular place.

AFFHO & the Nick Vine Hall Awards

One of my new challenges for 2024. I have agreed to convene the NVH awards and I have a report for Council consideration at the November meeting. The plan is to have regular articles in the AFFHO newsletter to remind societies about the Awards which recognise published articles and society journals in Australia and New Zealand.

Books

Bribie Library is closed for some repairs so I ordered in a few books to tide me over until the end of January. A mix of easy reading by the pool to more heavier tomes for my PhD thesis.

Plus the book I selected for the inaugural Bribie Family History Association Book Club via Moreton Libraries also arrived. Thankfully that is not due back till February so I have time to recruit a few more people to make up our ten.

I used to hope for rainy days so I could stay inside and read. Now I turn on the aircon for these incredibly hot and humid November days.

New Resources

Roots Ireland have added some new Cork records - the exact details are in their blog post. I was hoping for earlier records but they all seem to be more later releases.

I've registered for the next Scottish Indexes conference - they are free but with excellent speakers and topics you can give thanks by making a donation. Each presentation is shown twice so you watch all the sessions at a reasonable time no matter where you live.

A Christmas wish to find a photo of my Scottish GGG grandparents John & Helen Carnegie,
buried Toorbul cemetery

Talks

We are coming up to the end of the year so not a lot happening. However, one exciting new speaking engagement for me was an appearance at the Really Useful Family History Show held in the UK but virtual. You had to buy a ticket but lots of great talks over last weekend. My slot was Saturday night and all about researching family history in Australia. From the virtual exhibition area I was able to download a society journal from a number of exhibitors and I'm looking forward to having a good read.

2024 calendar is starting to fill out and with the PhD commitment plus my local Genie Chats, I don't want to be too busy with talks. Always hard to say no when it is usually a friend asking for their society. Or it is a paid presentation as that all helps to pay for my travel expenses.

What's Coming Up?

The Christmas tree with lights is already up and all that is left is to put  some more presents under the tree. Even if it is only for us and our inner child.

Love the lights changing colours

My Genie Chats finish for the year next week and I have decided to resurrect the Christmas party at home with the traditional goodie bag. This was something I did back in the day when we were Bribie Zoom Genies. That should be a fun morning.

The last meeting of the year for Bribie Family History Association is a Christmas Quiz hosted by Judy Lofthouse. Afterwards a number of us are staying on for lunch at the Bribie RSL restaurant Botanic. I always feel lost with no meeting in January but as we meet on the first Friday that is early in the month and too close to New Year's Day.

Until next time, stay safe and happy researching. Shauna

 

Books, Resources, Talks & Other News : My Genealogy Weeks 1-15 Oct 2024

As I write this we are having a very hot spring day and have had little rain for weeks if not months. 

The garden is suffering even though we have bore water. 

Our beautiful native birds are visiting to drink and swim in our bird baths (fresh water), a real distraction from writing this blog post. There is a bird bath just outside my office window. But I am off to China so this blog post needs to be finished. 

Books 

My Ph D thesis is in sync with my family history, so every book or article I read is relevant to one of my family lines. The temptation is to then do more family research. Plus there are so many other resources mentioned in the References and Bibliographies that I don't know what to read next. My PhD completion date is at the end of 2026 so the next three years will be fascinating. 

For example, Janet McCalman's Vandemonians is a great read for anyone with Tasmanian convicts, especially if they then went over to Victoria. 

The Brisbane History Group's publication Brisbane Diseased: Contagious Cures and Controversy (see cover photo below) has a number of relevant articles on alcoholism and venereal diseases. 

My thesis looks at prostitutes, female vagrants and female habitual drunkards in colonial Queensland gaols. One of those was my GG grandmother and I have even found one of Max's distant cousins on the Billson family line. 

Conferences 

We are booked for the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise for December 2024. It is also called the Celebrity Edge Australian Wine Cruise so I will be able to indulge both my passions. 

Seriously it leaves from Sydney, then Hobart, then over to Kangaroo Island, Adelaide, on to Melbourne and finally back to Sydney. Four at sea days devoted to good speakers and topics. May need a holiday after that!

New Resources 

Now here are some serious distractions. 

If you get the Trove newsletter, you find out what is new for the month. For example, the September list of New South Wales digitised newspapers included:

• Araluen Star and Miners' Right (1863-1864) [Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council]
• Braidwood and Araluen Express (1899-1907) [Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council]
• Daily Mirror (1941-1944) [National Library of Australia]
• Pastoral Times and Deniliquin Telegraph (1859-1861) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times: incorporated with the Southern Courier (1861) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times and Southern Courier (1861-1862) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times and Deniliquin and Echuca Chronicle (1862) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times and Deniliquin and Moama Reporter (1863) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Pastoral Times and Echuca and Moama Chronicle (27 June 1863) [Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc]
• Queanbeyan Age (1955-1971) [Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council]
• South Sydney News (1940) [Bayside Council Library]
• South Sydney Sentinel (1932-1935) [Bayside Council Library]
• Wagga Wagga Express & Murrumbidgee District Advertiser (1875) [Wagga Wagga & District Historical Society]
• Wagga Wagga Express (1875-1876)  [Wagga Wagga & District Historical Society]

Findmypast released three more Oxfordshire record sets, more baptisms, marriages and burials. Plus almost 100,000 paged from digitised newspapers. My Sweatman and Cooper families were from Deddington, Oxfordshire and my Prickett family were from Fritwell, Oxfordshire. Definitely will have to check these updates out.

Talks 

There have been talks for Strathpine Library, Legacy Family Tree Webinars and Queensland Family History Society. 

Yesterday was a talk at Caboolture Library on Gedmatch and when I get back from China I am giving a talk Researching in Australia at the Really Useful Family History Show in the UK (virtual). That is looking like a really good weekend of genealogy with some excellent speakers and topics.

That will be my last talk for 2023. The fastest year ever but then I did a lot of travel and the PhD takes up time too.

What's Coming Up?

Christmas! Not quite yet but at Bribie Family History Association we have asked Judy Lofthouse to run her Christmas genealogy quiz at our December meeting. Plus stay on for our Christmas lunch at the RSL's Botanic restaurant.

I have also mapped out our 2024 speakers and members meetings. Maybe that is why I feel that the years go quickly? Planning the next one before the end of this year.

My first and last visit to China was back in 1996 so it will be interesting to see the changes in Beijing and I have not been to the other places on our trip. So all new and exciting.

Until next time, stay safe and happy researching. Shauna

Genie books to read, DNA cousin date & other genealogy news: My genealogy weeks 17 - 30 September 2023

Gorgeous spring weather, the only thing missing is some rain occasionally. My orange crucifix orchids are just beautiful at the moment. The hippeastrums are starting to flower too.

Yet anothe attempt to get back to a fortnightly blog post. Only a couple of days late.

Books

It has been a Kate Grenville feast this fortnight as I finished The Search for the Secret River and Sarah Thornhill the sequel to The Secret River. Both books hard to put down but you need to have read The Secret River first.

Also started reading and finished Ancestry by Simon Mawer. What a great way to write a family history. I was engrossed from beginning to end.

Borrowed all those books from the local library. Did have to put in a request as they were not on Bribie but still within Moreton Bay City Libraries collection. 

So many good books, so little time.

Bribie Family History Association

The next meeting is on Friday 6 October at 9.00am at the Bribie RSL in the Anzac Room. Our speaker is Caroline Jamieson with a talk on writing your own story. Most of us probably think we lead boring lives but we all have stories to tell and leave for our grandchildren and those that follow them.

I have been busy organising the 2024 speaker program and where has this year gone.

DNA

This week I met a 4th cousin of my Mum's and we went out to lunch and chatted about all kinds of things. However, we are not sure where the DNA link is. It is only one segment and 14cM in size. The interesting thing is that neither my brother or I inherited that piece of DNA. 

A search on Gedmatch revealed that there are 111 matches to both Mum and her 4th cousin. Sorting through those might give us some clues but as the cousin has Uren in the family, then my guess is a Cornish connection. Mum's 7x great grandmother was a Uren but that seems a long way back and perhaps the connection is closer. Stay tuned.

New Resources

Had an interesting time looking up my North Ireland families in Findmypast's new 1912 Ulster Covenant collection. There are nearly 500,000 names in the dataset. My families were out here in Australia by then but they did leave brothers and sisters behind, as well as parents.

RootsTech 2024 

I'm not going to Salt Lake City in person in 2024 (planning a trip to England and Ireland instead). 

Hard to believe but I have agreed to host a pyjama party, either live, hybrid or virtual at some point during the weekend next year. It is hard to get excited watching a conference session by yourself. Also given that the sessions will mostly be when we are asleep, the idea of a nightime party suggested itself. More thought is needed to keep myself and guests awake. Stay tuned.

Talks

Received some lovely feedback from my session on Gedmatch to the Strathpine Library family history group.Th City of Moreton Bay libraries has a wonderful local and family history program throughout the year, and free to attend.

Thank you so much for presenting your talk on GEDmatch at Strathpine Library on the 12th of September. We had some lovely feedback: 

 Lots of new information on a subject I know little about

Easy to understand presentation

The information shared was helpful.

Great Speaker
Shauna Hicks can always be relied on to give a clear explanation of the topic. She explained features of the site and showed information from the pay to view and use section which was interesting.

The speaker is always very knowledgeable and presents the information in a clear logical interesting way

Shauna Hicks presented an excellent summary of how We could use Gedmatch.

Presenter systematically explained the topic in detail, including examples.

I am giving the Gedmatch talk again to the Caboolture Library family history group in October.

Also excited about my October webinar on Legacy Family Tree. All about gold fever and looking for miners down under. That is on this Wednesday 4 October and you can register for free and watch for a week after.  Whenever I see the photo below I wonder if that's what my great grandfather looked like when he first came out from Wiltshire to the gold fields of Charters Towers.

Image courtesy State Library Queensland

My 2024 list of talks is slowly being added to. Trying to avoid being too rushed next year as my Ph D research is taking up more time than I expected. Five days a fortnight doesn't sound much but fitting that in with family events and work needs and talks is tricky. My thesis topic is fascinating, colonial women in Queensland gaols, has lots of scope and I'm discovering so many stories of women who have largely been forgotten by family and history.  

What's Coming Up?

China! Going on a 10 day trip taking in Beijing (and the Great Wall), Hangchou and a trip on the fast train, then      and finishing up in Shanghai. I first went to China in 1996 for an archives conference so it will be interesting to see any changes in Beijing. All the other places on this trip will be new to me. So excited but then I like travel and seeing different cultures and eating different foods.

Another birthday as I inch closer to one of those birthdays with a 0 on the end. Yet I still feel like I am in my 40s except for the arthritic thumbs and a few other aches and pains.

Then it is Christmas and we will be sharing a week's holiday in the Gold Coast hinterland with one of Max's sons and his family. They are all athletic and looking forward to bushwalking, swimming, golfing, kayaking etc. I am taking a stack of books to read and exercise my brain.

Have fun researching this week. Until next week, take care Shauna

NFHM, guest blog, talks & other genealogy news: My genealogy months 16 July to 16 September 2023

Two months have disappeared just like that. But there were very busy months.

National Family History Month is over for 2023. I hope everyone had a great time at their local family history society or online with the many virtual offerings. I gave two talks - one at Caloundra on convicts and criminals in the family and the second at Noosaville on making the most of archives. Both days were well attended and with good feedback.

If you haven't seen the opening presentation by Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and Andrew Redfern it is still on the website until the end of September. All about AI (artifical intelligence) and using it for genealogy.

An added bonus for the month was that my family were visiting from Sweden and I got to spend some special time with my little grandson.

Blogs & Draft Family Histories

Sometimes I think I have lost my blogging mojo. Even if I have spare time, I don't seem to want to write smaller pieces. The exception there is my guest blogs for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. My next post is entitled The Agony and the Ecstasy with all due reference to Michaelangelo. Here is the link to my guest post 

Honestly my writing time is taken up with sorting and updating my sources in my draft family histories. I was truly slack in the early days about citing sources especially births, deaths and marriages. Still nothing finalised but working on several at the same time. When I get bogged down or bored with one, I swap to another. At this rate I won't finish anything. 

Books

My usual love of reading is now coupled with reading for my PH D on women in colonial gaols in Queensland in the 19th century. Almost a reverse of my Masters thesis which examined female philanthropists in colonial Queensland who helped fallen women. 

Now there really isn't enough time in the day.

However I must mention Kate Grenville's Searching for the Secret River an ebook I borrowed from my local library. The Secret River was a fictionalised account of her family history and this ebook tells how she went about finding her family history. An insight that we can all relate to.

Conferences

So many good geneacruises

I have booked on the next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise but that is not until December 2024. It is the 18th cruise and Chris Paton is the key speaker with a host of other overseas and Australasian speakers. 

Before then we have RootsTech 2024 from 29 February to 2 March and sadly I am not going in person. 

Instead I am thinking of hosting a live pyjama party here so that we can watch live sessions in the middle of the night! 

That might be better than watching on Zoom by myself and risk falling asleep in front of the computer.

Registration is now open. It seems a long way off but will be here in no time if the past year is an indication. 

Nick Vine Hall Awards

These awards are an AFFHO initiative to promote the publication of society journals and family stories. Previous winners are on the website. I have just taken over the organisation of these awards as I have fond memories of the chats I had with Nick Vine Hall over the years and especially when we were both in Melbourne. Lunch on the lawn outside the State Library of Victoria dodging pidgeons. Those were the days. 

I will be doing a review of the criteria for judging the NVH Awards and finding three new judges, preferably not associated with a society that publishes a journal either in print or ecopy. Once that is all sorted then it will be time to promote the Awards to societies and encourage them to enter. How hard can that be?

Talks

Thomas Price died
at the Wee McGregor mine in QLD

My last talk was for the GSQ on the Midland Counties of Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. It is interesting to have indepth looks at individual counties. 

The next one is for Legacy Family Tree Webinars on Gold Fever and Finding Miners Down Under. That is 4 October at 11am Brisbane time. The dreaded daylight saving time will be back by then.

What's Coming Up

We have a trip to China in October and I was last there in 1996. Excited to be seeing the Great Wall of China again. So spectacular and I love Chinese food. That will be our last getaway for the year. 

Finally, I have just had another basal cell carcinoma cut out of my face, just to the left of my nose. The other one was on the right side of my face. 

Seriously thinking I should have done a new speaker portrait before the surgery but too late now. All will be revealed next Thursday when the stitches come out. 

Make sure you find time for annual skin checks, so important in our country.

Until next time, happy searching

Shauna