Genealogy Notes 28-30 June 2012 - Expo exhibitors

The last three Diary entries, (Day One, Day Two, Day Three) have described what was happening over the three days of the Unlock the Past genealogy and history expo in Brisbane. This blog will have a look at all the exhibitors although I didn't get that much of a chance to look around because of all the good speakers and sessions.

This list is in no priority order just how I walked around the exhibition area. First up I saw the Royal Historical Society of Queensland of which I was a member for many years before moving south. They had their journals and publications on sale and tempting to many visitors. Next was the Genealogical Society of Queensland and their special interest group Convict Connections was especially eye catching and selling almost everything from soaps and Tshirts to publications including their latest release on the prison hulk Phoenix.

History Queensland was next and promoting the various member societies and around the corner was the State Library of Queensland with an array of their very useful and free guides on a wide variety of subjects of interest to genealogists. Find and Connect Queensland was next helping people who may have been separated from families in the past for a variety of reasons. Next door was Queensland State Archives and they had some interesting banners outlining German and Chinese history in Queensland as well as their handy fact sheets.

The National Trust of Queensland had quite a few interesting handouts on various buildings and I was particularly interested in the Queensland at War exhibit and was not aware of the website (so something else to follow up when I get back to Melbourne). As most of my ancestors were in a number of Brisbane's early gaols and prisons I have always had a fondness for the Queensland Prisons and Penal Historical Association and it was good to see their new publication and they even have a Facebook page.

The Friends of Toowong Cemetery Association were promoting their ghost tours and if I ever get back to Brisbane for a holiday then I will definitely try and do one of their tours. The Australian Scottish Community Association was a drawcard for anyone with Scottish ancestors and I particularly liked talking to the ladies from the Caloundra Family History Research Inc because Caloundra is one of the places on our short list of places to move to. I couldn't possibly live anywhere that didn't have a family history society close by.

The next part of the exhibition area was devoted to other local and family history groups including the Centenary Suburbs Historical Society, Ipswich Genealogical Society, Toowoomba & Darling Downs Family History Society, Nepean Family History Society (they were probably the ones that had traveled the greatest distance to be there), Baptist Heritage Queensland, the Gold Coast Family History Society, the Moreton Bay section of the Fellowship of First Fleeters, Genealogy Sunshine Coast, the Brisbane City Council Archives, the Professional Historians Association (QLD), Brookfield Historical Society, Coopers Plains Local History Group, Judy Webster (professional researcher), Genealogists for Families Project, and Graham Jaunay and his research business Adelaide Proformat.

On the Research Help Desk were Kerry Farmer, Eric and Rosemary Kopittke, Carole Riley and Helen Smith fielding questions most of the time and in that same space were Gould Genealogy and History with all their tempting publications including the excellent range of Unlock the Past publications. Jill Ball also had a table in that area where she capably demonstrated how easy the Flip Pal mobile scanner was to use and I saw lots of people walking around with them. At the end was Clean Cruising a partner in the Unlock the Past genealogy cruises.

Another area busy every time I looked was the Find My Past tables with Find My Past UK, Australia and New Zealand, Scotlands People and the British Newspaper Archive searches and questions. Inside History Magazine and Irish Wattle were also kept busy and I was interested to chat to a new group (for me). Blackbird reunites descendants of South Sea Islanders in Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Samoa and Peru. Foto Masters were helping people with photo restoration queries and I finally got a chance to see the new History Queensland magazine that I had heard about.

FamilySearch also helped people with on the spot questions and searches, Stephen Dando-Collins talked about his books and willingly sold and autographed copies to new fans, and the National Institute of Genealogical Studies was there promoting a range of courses (which reminds me that I need to finish my Google course before 15 July). Customised Heritage Tours were there and I was interested to see that they are taking a tour to WDYTYA Live Event next February and I would love to go but the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise doesn't really get back in time for me to get there.

OpenBook Howden was there for anyone interested in publishing their research, the Ryerson Index (deaths and obituaries) is always worth a look and finally Johansen Systems for anyone with European ancestry. As you can see there was something for everyone and I think most people bought at least one book and everyone took home lots of flyers, leaflets and guides. I know my suitcase is going to be heavier when I pack it later tonight.

For me the value of a genealogy expo is not only the speakers and the exhibition area, it is also the ability to talk to and meet new friends and colleagues and to be part of the overall buzz that always seems to be present at a genealogy event. Now that I have done all my reporting type blogs I will start to think about my overall review of the expo and that will get finalised after I return to Melbourne tomorrow.

On Monday I'm participating in the Audrey Collins tour event at the State Library of Victoria so I'm looking forward to that. Some months I just seem to be on a never ending family history merry go round! But I love it!

Genealogy Notes 27 Jun 2012 - Day 3 Unlock the Past Expo Brisbane

Well the first  two days of the Unlock the Past Brisbane expo went amazingly quickly and the cold rainy weather has continued but that hasn't stopped all the eager attendees who are swarming around the exhibits and waiting outside presentation theatres. Day 3 was also a full on day with presentations in all three theatres and the Research Area going all day.

I had heard Carole Riley's talk on social media for genealogy before so my first session was Stephen Dando-Collins talking about his books including 'Captain Bligh's other mutiny' the Rum Rebellion. He's an interesting speaker and makes writing books sound very easy!

For my second session I decided to go to one of the free sessions and I'm glad I did. Jill Ball gave a great three part presentation on webinars (GeneaWebinars), Flip Pal mobile scanners and Picasa for genealogists. It was a practical session with Jill taking the mystery out of these areas and showing how simple it really is to use these great tools for our family history research. My only gripe was that it should have been longer and part of the paid talk series so that more people could have had the opportunity to attend. The great news is that Jill's slides for all three talks will be on the Unlock the Past Resources page soon.

Other sessions were Audrey Collins on the English census, Rosemary Kopittke on government, police and education gazettes and in the Research Area Kerry Farmer was demonstrating Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic.

Session 3 I gave my mining ancestors talk so I missed another Dan Lynch live from the USA talk on Google,  Pauline Williams from the Genealogical Society of Queensland on writing your family story, Lee Butterworth spoke about Find and Connect, and in the Research Area Graham Jaunay helped date photos and Rosemary Kopittke demonstrated Family Photo Books.

If I wanted lunch and  a bit of a break I had to skip the next session and the lure of those potato pies was too great so I happily settled down to one of those and a jumbo size latte to help keep the cold at bay. The great thing about the lunch area was that you were able to talk to others at the table and some people seem to have travelled quite a distance to attend. Just a pity that the weather wasn't more friendly!

Lunch meant that I missed Paul Parton talking about Family Search, Stephanie Ryan from State Library of Queensland on military records for WW1 and WW2, Sue Reid from Queensland Family History Society on finding people who died in Queensland and Clean Cruising talking about the Unlock the Past genealogy cruises. Jill Ball was in the Research Area giving all kinds of techno advice to people.


My sixth and last talk of the Expo was next with It's Not All Online with the other sessions being Graham Jaunay on old handwriting, Dan Kelly on book typesetting and printing, Rosemary Kopittke on Scotlands People and Carole and Helen demonstrating The Master Genealogist in the Research Area.


The final session was Audrey Collins talking about will forgeries, organised crime and identity theft in the 1840s and Eric Kopittke on internet resources for German research. I opted for Eric's talk which came with a useful handout of resources and as always Eric makes it all sound quite simple if you approach it in a logical fashion. Some of his online map sites were amazing.


I went back into the Exhibition area to say goodbye to people and while it is sad seeing everything packed up, it's also good to know that you will probably see them all again next year or every second year depending on how often a particular event is held. As we are genealogical gypsies/grey nomads we are able to attend more of these events than others plus it gives us the opportunity to visit families in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. Yes that's right, we have family and friends in every state which is probably why we can't pick a place to settle down ourselves!


I still have to write up the exhibitors and doing my overall review but hopefully that will be in the next day or so. Today is a rest day and we are taking my mother and my ex mother in law to lunch for a catch up chat and last night we visited Max's Aunty Mavis who has just turned 101 and is still up and about and loving life in Sinnamon Village. Truly inspiring and the stories she tells! Until next time.

Genealogy notes 26 Jun 2012 - Day 2 of Unlock the Past Brisbane Expo

Well Day 2 of the Unlock the Past expo was another full on day and I had trouble finding time for lunch and the group Geneabloggers photo.

My first session was Audrey Collins talking about online newspapers and periodicals and I just love the information you can find in digitized newspapers these days. The other session was Graham Jaunay with an introduction to family history research.

From Session 2 there were 4 choices for the rest of the day making it hard to decide what to go to. I had no choice as I was doing Family History  on the Cheap with other options Cassie Mercer talking about Captain Starlight, John Graham on the Ryerson Index, Geoff Morgan on Finding Frank and Horace and Graham Jaunay helping to date photos.


I missed Session 3 as I was chatting to people after my talk and I was also a bit desperate for a cup of tea (all that talking). Choices were Rosemary Kopittke on Find My Past Australia and New Zealand (and I had wanted to hear that as the site has changed considerably recently but I will probably catch that talk elsewhere on the Audrey Collins tour); Carole Riley on Australian land records; Jill Ball talking about Google+ and Blogs (and some expo photos are now appearing in her blog)  and I really would like to learn a bit more about how Google+ works and finally in the Research Area Kerry was demonstrating Legacy Family Tree and Eric and Graham were doing Reunion for Mac.


With no scheduled lunch break in the program attendees had to decide which of the next two sessions they would miss if they wanted time out. I went to Graham Jaunay's sesson on Irish genealogy but other choices were Kerry Farmer on convicts, Alan Phillips on the next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise and Saadia Thomson-Dwyer on immigration records at Queensland State Archives.


Session 5 for me was an Ask an Expert hour which turned into 90 minutes with 3 people asking me about various things. I was especially pleased to be able to tell one woman the name of the ship and date her ancestor arrived on as she had been unable to find it. As he was of Swiss origin and had arrived in Victoria, I thought of checking the National Archives of Australia naturalization records. There was a reference to him and even better they had digitised the memorial (5 pages) and it gave her all the relevant details. It's really nice when you can do that for someone on the spot.


However I missed the live presentation on Google your family tree from Dan Lynch in the USA, Eric Kopittke on German ancestry, Neville Buch on writing professional history and Jill Ball on Picasa and Flip Pal mobile scanner. As my expert session went over time I also missed the next session with Audrey Collins talking about the London Gazette (which I have used myself), Jack Ford on Brisbane in WW2, Stephanie Ryan on family history at the State Library of Queensland, Paul Parton on Google Earth for family historians and in the Research Area Graham Jaunay was again doing dating photographs.


I couldn't miss the last session because I was giving my talk on the National Library of Australia and using TROVE but that meant I missed Judy Webster on Black sheep and vanishing relatives, Helen Smith on online learning and Rosemary Kopittke on MyHeritage. I received some lovely feedback on my talk as people left and I wandered out to find that it was still chilly and still raining. It seems the weather will start to improve at the weekend but by then I will be on my way back to really cold Melbourne!


Throughout the day I managed to say hello to various people and even made one of the Geneablogger photos. Hopefully we will link all our various expo posts so that you can see what other bloggers thought of sessions I missed. Day 3 is starting in a few hours so I need to get my skates on, get dressed, breakfasted and through the Brisbane traffic in time for Stephen Dando-Collins talk at 9.30. Max told me his first talk was good so I don't want to miss this one. 


As well as writing up Day 3, I have to do a round up on the exhibitors and as usual I will do an overall expo review which will be posted on my website. Stay tuned.