Conferences, webinars and DNA finds: My genealogy weeks 1-15 October 2025

Spring is sprung and the hippeastrums are out. Only wish they bloomed more often. Lots of colour in the garden.

It has been incredibly dry here in recent months and the local wildlife is also feeling the lack of water and lush green grass in the surrounding national park. 

The kangaroos and wallabies are coming into residential areas especially where people water their lawns. Caught this rather large visitor the other afternoon at the neighbour's place. 

Books

All my book club suggestions have arrived at the library and now madly reading 'in my spare time'. One of the books has 18 reserves so no chance of an extension on that one. 

Also doing a deaccession of my family history books and looking to give them a new home. On our next trip to the Capricorn Coast I will be taking up a big donation to the Central Queensland Family History Association. 

They were really helpful with unique sources on some of my incarcerated women for my PhD thesis. Some are a bit dated but the information and context is still relevant. And yet the bookshelves don't have any noticeable gaps despite dozens of books in the box!

Conferences

This week I am off to Darwin for the Professional Historians Conference and my session on homeless women in colonial Queensland. I love Darwin so much history and then I will be off to Broome to cross off another bucket list destination. Another place with so much history.

This must have been my year for conferences as I have just been selected as a speaker at the Dragon Tails Conference in Brisbane in November. Another Ph D related session on some of my incarcertated women who partnered with Chinese men. It will be my fourth conference this year, genealogy in March in Brisbane, PhD related history in Townsville in June, the Darwin conference in October and the Chinese one in Brisbane next month. Great opportunities to catch up with friends and colleagues while travelling.

DNA update

My next DNA challenge is to identify my two unknown great great grandfathers on my father's side. I have finally identified two common families (Blakeley and Hardman) in my unknown matches for the one in Brisbane which links to my Brennan family. This gives me six potential suspects so now I need to narrow down to just one family if possible. 

At least it is not a total unknown as my Toorbul great great grandfather remains. But then someone might test and all will become clear. Hope is eternal as they say.

New Resources 

FamilySearch continues to add amazing record numbers to its collection eg over 21 million new records from seven countries as per their October newsletter. Countries include Italy, the Phillipines, American Samoa, Brazil, Haiti, Ukraine and the USA. They have also expanded their FindAGrave index with nearly four million records in the world collection.This made me think that I usually only use FindAGrave for Australia when in fact I should be using it for other countries especially in the UK and Ireland. Another thing on the 'to do' list.

Findmypast added a substantial collection of Suffolk coronial inquest records and more Middlesex baptisms from 1657-1841 which I will be searching for the very generic Walker family! More records for London included the Greater London Burial Index 1530-1812 and Archdeaconry Court of London willis index 1570-1582.

Talks

James Carnegie and Mary Finn

In addition to conference sessions, I still do genealogy talks and the annual seminar day at the Genealogical Society of Queensland was a great day. My session on prison and convict records was well received. 

A few days later I did a live webinar for Legacy Family Tree Webinars onpost office directories in MyHeritage. That session is free and you can watch it by clicking the link. I use Australia, New Zealand, England and Ireland directories as examples.

What's Coming Up

Another birthday, Christmas and 2026. Time does fly when you are having fun. 

I am booked to attend the Founding Families Connect Group for the old Caboolture Shire in November. My Carnegie family was one of the founders so I am looking forward to finally getting to one of their meetings.

Until next time, stay safe and keep researching. 

Shauna

Books, Webinars, New Resources & Other News: my genealogy weeks 16 -30 Sep 2025

 Everything seems to be speeding up or I'm trying to do more. Even the Bribie Family History Association Book Club is challenging me. See more below.

Blogs

The next instalment of my travel postings for the GSQ blog was published. Read more here and the earlier one on my trip to Ireland here.

Books

I have always been a big reader, even in primary school with all the Enid Blyton books. Totally enjoying being part of the BFHA book club and reading books I don't normally choose. 

At the last meeting six new titles were suggested so I put in a request at my local library, as they were at other Moreton libraries. Within a week I had four of the titles which of course now have to be read over the four week loan period. 

Family Baggage is about sorting a parent's belongings after they've passed. We can all relate to that.

Hoping that The Psychology of Family History will explain why I am so obsessed with researching.

New Resources

One thing I learnt from the North Ireland DNA school was that DNA Painter has a whole lot of new tools since I last had a look. Now that Dad's paternal side is definite, I want to try and follow up some strange ethnicities in my mother's family. The paper trail does not lead there. Are there more skeletons in my family? Surely not.

Ancestry regions and Mum's Germanic Europe and Welsh percentages.
Similar results in FTDNA and MyHeritage.

Have been loving the use of AI full text searching in FamilySearch. This is going to break a few brick walls for people I think. Also noted that Ancestry is trialling a similar feature for transcribing original documents. It's a fast moving field and I have booked into the GSQ's event with Andrew Redfern in November.

I also did the GSQ's webinar on We Are XYZ and there are huge possibilites for that. Technology is brilliant but sometimes I wish it didn't move so fast. 

The other day I experimented with using the microphone in Word to write a story on one my my incarcerated women (PhD thesis) instead of keying it. Wow, so good for my arthritic thumbs. 

Talks

Next week there is the GSQ annual seminar and I am first speaker with an introduction to convicts and criminals, all in 45 minutes! Luckily the records are similar. One of my favourite topics and the idea behind my PhD thesis.

Wonder which one is my GG grandmother Brisbane Women's Prison ca 1902

The following week is a webinar for Legacy Family Tree Webinars on using post office directories in MyHeritage. 

On the first Friday in November I am the guest speaker at the Bribie Island Family History Association meeting. Topic is Mining the Archives. Also planning one of my Go Fishing sessions as I have been told some members have missed them this year.

Excited to be doing a 20 minute pre recorded video for RootsTech 2026 on burial and cemetery records in Australia next March. Registration is already open and free unless you are going to Salt Lake City in person. I'd like to but I am already planning to go to England and Scotland next year. 

My Carnegie GGG grandparents grave in the historic Toorbul Cemetery.

What's Coming Up

Finally I am going to be home for a meeting of the Founding Families of Caboolture Shire. This group are descendents of original families which includes my Carnegie, Davis and Bishop connections. Looking forward to meeting others in the group.

I'm off to Darwin for the Professional Historians Conference where I am giving a session on females vagrants (homeless women) in colonial Queensland. After that off to Broome to cross off another bucket list place I have always wanted to visit.

Until next time, stay safe and well and keep on researching. Shauna

Family History month, talks, conferences and other news: My genealogy weeks Aug to 15 Sep 2025

Last month was another travel month with three weeks in Bali. Lots of great food, and good books to read. But time to get serious again with my studies and family history.

Blogs

Managed another guest blog for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. This one continued on with my walking in ancestral footsteps only this time in North Queensland. Read the blog here.

Books

Mostly read books and articles relating to my Ph D thesis in Bali while I lazed around the pool.

Conferences

AFFHO's Family History Month was a great success and the opening and closing presentations are online so don't miss Andrew Redfern, Jane Smith and Anne Young's inspiring talks.

Virtual conferences are so good. No travel and no having to pay for accommodation. But you do miss the personal interaction.

In the first two weeks of September I attended the North of Ireland Family History Society summer school on DNA. The sessions are recorded and you have a month to watch them. So far have watched four and they have been brilliant as a refresher and as something new. Finding time to watch is the hard part. 

On a really positive note, I won a mitochondrial full test DNA kit from Family Tree DNA which more than covered the cost of the summer school. However I did the full test back in 2021 but I can have a credit for another product but I have decided to donate the value in autosomal kits for the Islandmagee DNA project (where Dad's paternal family was from).

St John's Church Islandmagee Antrim May 2025

Also attended the Scottish Indexes conference with another great line up of speakers on various aspects of Scottish research.

Finally I virtually attended the NSW & ACT annual conference which was held down in the Illawarra. Some familiar faces in the audience and some of the speakers were really excellent on AI and DNA in particular. Again there is time to watch the sessions again over the coming month.

RootsTech 2026 - yes fast approaching on 5-7 March next year. Registration opens on 24 September 2025. Not long to go and in person and online.

Family History 

Not much new research done as I am still editing the final draft of my family history on my Carnegie/Stratton line. The draft has been written over the last 20 years and I haven't included some sources so I have to go back and identify them. Plus my style of doing endnotes has changed so I have had to decide on a final style sheet and then make all the amendment. Getting there slowly as the date on the front cover indicates!

I want to finish it before the next gathering of Founding Families, the descendants of original families of the Caboolture Shire meet in October. That is organised by the Caboolture Family History Research Group which I keep saying I should join and check out their resources. 

New resources

Where to start? There is so much happening everywhere. What has really blown me away is that FamilySearch now has full text searching (with AI) as a menu item under records. I particularly like looking at probate records as you get everyone mentioned in the will, not just the deceased. How incredible is that for finding lost people in our family trees.

Talks

In August I gave a talk at the Auckland, New Zealand Family History Expo (virtual) on mining the archives. Talking about some of my tips and tricks on making the most of your searches in online catalogues in Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Also had a few slides for finding European archives.

What's coming up?

Home through September so I hope to catch up with quite a few things on my to do list. I have two genealogy talks in October and a presentation at the Professional Historians Association conference in Darwin at the end of October. That should be good and I am taking the opportunity to come home via Broome, a place I have always wanted to visit.

Hard to believe that Christmas and the New Year are heading towards us at the speed of light. Enjoy your research time before that silly season arrives. Until next time Shauna

Still travelling, still talking and other news: My genealogy month July 2025

 Another month has gone past and I have been travelling again. Loved the dinosaurs out near Winton. Very hard to keep up with my usual family history commitments. Not to mention my PhD research.

Australian Age of Dinosaurs 

Blogs

I did manage to write up my guest blog post for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. Walking in Ancestral Footsteps outlines my trip to Ireland in May and lessons learned. Read the post here.

I have just finished writing the next post for August which is Still Travelling in Ancestral Footsteps. This time outlining my trip to Townsville in North Queensland then out to Charters Towers before going down to Winton and back through Longreach and Barcaldine to Rockhampton.

New Resources

One of the things I have noticed researching my prison ladies is that there are more Trove articles coming up for Charters Towers than I have previously seen. A good reminder to check for new titles added. Visit the coming soon to Trove page for details of new additions 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/announcement/2024/03/22/coming-soon-trove 

While I was travelling Ancestry released its new DNA clusters feature which I haven't had the opportunity yet to fully explore. You need Pro and over 65cM for it to work but this might help me identify the remaining two unidentified ancestors on my father's side. I have four clusters and only one is paternal and that relates to Dad's biological father. I think I need more, bigger matches but that comes back to people I am related to taking DNA tests.

Talks

CQFHA premises Jul 2025

While in Rockhampton I gave two talks to the Central Queensland Family History Association which was a great afternoon and a lovely audience. I also managed to do some research on my Rockhampton prison ladies in their library using some of their exclusive local history resources. Still to process all that into my biographical files on each woman. 

Got back in time to do another Genie Chats based on Thomas MacEntee's do over program. Hard to believe we have already completed Steps 1-7. The year will soon be over but already I can see substantial progress on some of my do over tasks.  

Also spoke on immigration records at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum. They serve the most delicious morning teas. It was timed to complement their latest exhibition on immigrants to the Pine Rivers area. 

August is Family History Month and I am giving a live Zoom presentation at the Auckland Family History Expo on Mining the archives in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. Plus I will be announcing the winners of the Nick Vine Hall awards at the opening ceremony on 1 August. 

Television

The lending library, Comet Jul 2025

Since getting home, I have been catching up with the latest Australian series of Who Do You Think You Are on SBS. I hadn't heard of all the celebrities. But there have been some really interesting stories and it shows how ethnically diverse Australia is. Yes some of us are plain UK but lots of us also trace back to Europe and Asia. Still available on SBS on Demand so don't miss out on some fascinating family stories.

What's Coming Up?

Did I mention there is another trip coming up? I had another conference program talk accepted on my PhD thesis so I will be off to the Professional Historian's Conference in Darwin in October. After that I'm popping over to Broome to tick off one of my Australian bucket list items. But I have to be back in time for the November Bribie Family History Association meeting as I am the guest speaker with a talk on using archives more effectively.

Until next time, keep on researching.

Ancestral footsteps, new resources and other news: my genealogy months of May and June 2025

Yes it has been two months but I have travelled thousands of kilometres and had some amazing adventures. These days I only travel with my smart phone which is not easy to write blog posts on. However if you are a Facebook follower than I regularly post photos of my daily doings.

Books

Still trying not to buy books but on my recent trip to Islandmagee in Northern Ireland I couldn't help myself. This is where Dad's family is from and the two books are good histories of  the area with some interesting historical post cards as illustrations in one of the books. A bit weighty for my luggage but fortunately I packed light to start with.

Genealogy Travels

On my annual visit to my family in Sweden, I had a stopover in Doha for a few days.

The spice market was amazing as were the camels just down the road from my hotel. Not something you see every day.

After my two weeks in Sweden, I decided to have a quick week in Ireland to tick off two bucket list items. The first was to visit the Roman Catholic Church in Rathdrum, Wicklow where my great great grandparents John Finn and Sarah Fegan married. The second was to visit my great great grandparents Stewart Heddles and Agnes Templeton's grave in Islandmagee in Antrim in Northern Ireland. You can read more of my Irish adventures in my guest blog for the Genealogical Society of Queensland which will be published next week. 

A hectic week but I am really glad that I made the effort and saw the countryside where my ancestors lived and decided to leave. Everywhere was green with lots of spring flowers along the road side and rail tracks. But not a lot of work opportunities apart from farming in Rathdrum or fishing in Islandmagee. Whatever there reasons, I'm glad they picked Australia to emigrate to.

St John's Islandmagee, Antrim, Northern Ireland where my GGG grandparents Stewart Heddles and Agnes Templeton are buried.

New Resources

I have had no chance to explore some of the new record releases or webinars. I haven't even kept up with genealogy society journals or genealogy magazines through the local library.

The best way to find out what is new is to subscribe to the free newslettes which usually provide a montly update. 

PhD Incarcerated women in colonial Queensland

Slowly plugging away with the biographies of my 1750 women who were incarcerated in Queensland gaols between 1850 and 1900. So many interesting stories and it is going to be hard to decide who goes into the thesis. I keep telling myself you have to write a 100,000 thesis not just do the research, which of course is the fun place.

Talks

A busy time with a talk on my North Queensland incarcerated women at the Australian Historical Association conference in Townsville. 

Two talks at the Central Queensland Family History Association premises. It has been a few years since I have spoken at their library and I am looking forward to catching up with everyone again.

After my travels I have a talk on immigration records for Moreton City Libraries at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum. A great place to visit especially if you have any ancestors in that area.

What's Coming Up?

More travel as I leave on Friday for North Queensland and the Australian Historical Association conference in Townsville. On the way up we have stops in Rockhampton and Bowen. Yes I want photos of the Big Bull and the Big Mango. But I am going to meet a second cousin in Bowen who has also been researching the Price family history. 

My involvement in the AHA conference is three fold - one I am a speaker on women incarcerated in North Queensland gaols, two I am chairing an interesting session on Chinese migration issues and thirdly I will just be sitting back and listening to some fascinating presentations. There are multple streams which means you need to mak a decision as to which one to go to.

After the conference we are doing a trip out to Winton via Charters Towers and Hughenden. Checking out the Dinosaur Trail as well as other historica places. Coming back via Barcaldine to Rockhampton where I will be researching some of my Central Queensland women at the Central Queensland Family History Associatin library. Lots of my names appear in their online index so I'm hoping to discover some treasures.

Then home via Tannum Sands where we are catching up with friends. 

Hopefully there will be another Diary post about mid July. Have fun researching until then, Shauna

Travel adventures ahead, books, talks & other news: My Genealogy Weeks 1-30 April 2025

 Another great few weeks progressing my family history drafts and following up new ideas from the AFFHO congress last month. 

Plus the research on my 1750 women for my PhD is ramping up and I am loving discovering their stories. Although often sad if not tragic. 

My gardening friend has given us a plant whose flower is truly unique. Meet the Bat Plant! I just hope that we can coax flowers out of it just as she does. So weird looking.

In a review of my commitments I decided to stand down from President of Bribie Family History Association after two years. Prior to that I was running Bribie Genealogy on my own for however many years so well and truly time for new perspectives. 

Handing over committee meetings, admin of the Facebook page and BFHA blog, and the organisation of the speaker program and TechGirl at meetings will be a big timesaver. I can simply sit back and enjoy the meetings. Definitely less stress.

Blogs

Of late my blogging has been less regular mainly due to too many commitments. However I have just discovered that this Diary blog is the front runner in a list of Australia genealogy blogs.  Closely followed by the Genealogical Society of Victoria and GeniAus. Check out the list of Australian bloggers and discover more interesting blogs to follow.

Given that accolade I am going to try and keep that position and be more informative and timely. Although finding time is probably my biggest issue.

Books

Moreton Libraries continues to assist my PhD research and it is often surprising how many books I want to read are within the library itself. If not, they get them in for me on inter library loan. How fantastic and makes remote research so much more accessible.

The Bribie Family History book club is looking at Kate Morton books at the moment. I hadn't read her before and mine is set around the time of the First World War (almost Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs). The other members have different books so our next catch up will be chatting about the different story lines and time periods. 

Conferences

My next conference is in July in Townsville with the Australian Historical Association where I am giving a paper on my North Queensland ladies. It's been a while since I have spoken at an academic conference but I am looking forward to the other sessions and meeting like minded researchers. Will also be doing some research in both Townsville and Rockhampton and meeting up with a cousin in Bowen. 

May even get out to do Australia's dinosaur trail visiting Hughenden, Richmond and Winton. Plus we can't go past without saying hello to Muttaburrasaurus at Muttaburra.

Talks

Can't linger too long on our travels up north as I have to be back in Moreton for a talk on immigration at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum in mid July.

It was good being part of the Legacy Family Tree Webinars 24 hour marathon and I am still catching up on sessions I want to view.

Received my goodie bag as part of the RootsTech 2025 media group. A handy bag and some very nice note cards. 

What's coming up next?

My little grandson is turning 3 and so I am off to Sweden for birthdays and Mother's day. Shame they live so far away but I do get a European holiday each year. 

After I leave them I am heading over to Ireland and will be travelling around Wicklow after my Finn and Fegan ancestors then up to Belfast for my Heddles and Brennan ancestors on Islandmagee. Always love walking in my ancestors footsteps when I can.

Until next time stay safe and happy researching. Shauna

Congress 2025 review, blogs, books, & other news: My genealogy weeks 16-31 March 2025

 Another busy fortnight with four days away in Brisbane for the Connections conference. Fresh on the heels of the cyclone we have had another extreme weather event which has flooded Queensland from top to bottom. So many people and animals have been impacted. Truly heartbreaking.

Blogs

I was thrilled to see my Diary blog listed at No 37 in the top 100 genealogy blogs compiled by FeedSpot considering that I have been struggling to keep my blogging mojo. There are some old blog favourites in this list as well as some new ones to check out.

Books

Yes I said no more books so only buying three at the conference was progress, more or less. Glenville Pike's local history Croydon Gold is of interest to my PhD, The Scots and their fish by G W Lockhart might help me understand my Scottish salmon farmers and Kay Ryan's What's in a name? a journey of immigration, infidelity and incarceration is a local history with some connection to my PhD topic.

Conferences

I have written a review blog of the Connections conference on my website. See it here with some links to websites that might be of interest.

The next AFFHO Congress will be in Wellington, New Zealand in 2027. Seems a long time in the future but never to early to start planning to attend. At least for this conference junkie.

 New resources

Excited to see these New South Wales newspapers due to appear on Trove soon.

• Adelong Mining Journal and Tumut Express (1858-1860)
• Border Post (1856-1860) [Albury City Libraries]
• Cootamundra Liberal (1888-1906)
• Germanton Times and Tumbarumba Advocate (1884-1885)
• Junee Democrat (1899-1904)
• South Coast Register (1926-1948) [Shoalhaven Libraries]
• Tumbarumba Times (1906-1955)

Check out the what's coming soon to Trove page here.

Talks

For the Legacy Family Tree Webinars 24 hour marathon I am giving a session on using MyHeritage Downunder for genealogy research. A little bit of Australian and Canadian research and a look at the new Cousin Finder. Register free here for my talk or any of the others over the 24 hours.

What's coming up

My next task for AFFHO is to organise the judging of the Nick Vine Hall awards for 2025. Collating the entries and then sending them off to the judges. They then do the hard work and I collate the scores in July in time for Family History Month in August.

Don't miss Legacy Family Tree Webinars 24 hour marathon coming up on 3/4 April 2025. Sessions are in time friendly zones or you can watch later for the following week.

Until next time, happy researching. Shauna