Genealogy Notes 20-23 Jul 2012 - Cemeteries & Copyright

Last Friday I attended the AGM of the Victorian Association of Family History Organisations (VAFHO) and after the AGM there were two excellent speakers. Unfortunately it was not a huge crowd for this free seminar which was a shame as both speakers really deserved a much wider audience. Perhaps it was the fact that it was at the AGM and that always frightens people off as they think they might get 'volunteered' for something.

The first speaker was Celestine Sagazio, historian and manager of the Cultural Heritage of the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust talking about the history of the Melbourne General Cemetery and highlighting some of it's more famous citizens. Like all cemetery talks there were the sad ones but more often than not, the audience was laughing at the epitaphs and Celestina's photographs were equally interesting. I don't have any interest in the cemetery but her time went very quickly.

The second speaker, after a short break for refreshments, was Lesle Berry talking about copyright and family history. Lesle had also done a handout of the various points in her talk so that made note taking much easier. Not surprisingly there were lots of questions at the end of the talk with people wanting individual advice. Some people also confused privacy requirements with copyright and of course there is also reproduction rights usually exercised by libraries and archives. The Australian Copyright Council has a great range of brief guides and even one for family history in their Find an Answer section.

I forgot to mention last week that the National Library of Australia asked me to take a sneak preview of their new family history video which was great to see and I'm looking forward to seeing more over time. It has now been launched along with can I borrow from the library, what's online and can I get copies of items from the library. Check them out here.

The other exciting thing I'm trying to catch up with is the launch of FindMyPast Australia and New Zealand's long awaited World Collection with access to 'billions of international records all in one place'. It now includes Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Ireland and the United States of America. The press release also said that Australian and New Zealand content will soon be doubling so I'm looking forward to that announcement.

I'm still working on my talk for the launch of National Family History Week on Friday and all of these new online developments has me reflecting on what it was like starting my family history 35 years ago next month. The possibility that I could one day sit at home and have access to all this fantastic material online would have been more in the realms of magic than reality.

For those following our moving saga, we now have the quotes from the removalists and the news that we still need two shipping containers (despite all our giveaways and garage sale). I now don't really need to keep trying to thin down my study and book collections. It won't make any difference to the cost and I feel that I've already gone through enough pain parting from much loved areas of my life. So now it's just a matter of packing and trying to keep out anything that I'm likely to need in the next few months or more. How hard can that be?

Till next time and don't forget to check out all the exciting events coming up in the next few weeks on the National Family History Week calendar for your State or Territory.

Genealogy Notes 14-19 July 2012 Family History Q&As

It must be Murphy's Law in operation - just at the moment when I should be busy packing up for the move to Queensland all these exciting things start happening in my genealogy life. However some things are too good to not do so I willingly accepted Inside History Magazine's invitation to be their first guest expert on their Facebook family history Q&A sessions to be held on Thursday nights 8.30-9.30pm EST. All I can say is that the hour went so fast with questions on immigration, adoption, Ireland and the golden rules of genealogy. Long time friends Brad from Ancestry.com.au and Helen from Helen V Smith's Keyboard buoyed my confidence with their support. It seemed to go well apart from my accidentally shutting down my Facebook page a few times in my excitement to find links to help answer the questions. I look forward to more of Inside History's Q&A sessions with other guest experts as well (sneak hint - next week it's an expert from TROVE)!

New South Books have also sent me a book to review - Children of the Occupation: Japan's Untold Story by Walter Hamilton which looks fascinating but that will definitely have to wait until we're on the road in early  September.

Today I'm heading off to the Victorian Archives Centre for the Victorian Association of Family History Organisations (VAFHO) AGM with two guest speakers Celestina Sagazio, historian and manager of the Cultural Heritage of the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust talking on the Melbourne General Cemetery and Lesle Berry, national co-ordinator of National Family History Week speaking about the importance of copyright to family historians. Before the AGM there is also a quick committee meeting and it will be my last VAFHO meeting which is a little sad as I have been involved almost continuously since I first arrived in Victoria in 2003.

There's a lot coming up and my schedule of talks during National Family History Week can be found here and again it's a bit sad, as they will probably be my last talks in Victoria for a while. I've even had to start turning down invitations to speak next year as it's a bit of a hike from Queensland! Anyway I must dash or I won't be ready in time for the trip into Melbourne and today's exciting program.

Genealogy Notes 4-13 Jul 2012 - It's all happening!

I've always lived my life pretty full on but now I have so much happening it's almost too much. I won't bore you too much with the house moving side - basically it's sold, we are packing and we have to be out by 7 September. Along the way Max will be spending 10 days in Bali with one of his sons, and taking another trip to Adelaide to see his latest grandchild born towards the end of August.

I have a trip to Sydney for 2 talks with the Society of Australian Genealogists at the same time otherwise I'd be in Adelaide too. I'm not going to Bali because I have National Family History Week talks for Family History Feast at State Library Victoria (totally booked out which is fantastic) and Yarra Plenty Regional Libraries. Details of all my talks are here.

We also have to do a quick trip up to Queensland taking one of the cars, the trailer and the motorbike. If there's time we might even look at some houses! That will leave us with one car and the caravan to take on the next trip assuming the boat sells before then! I could say a lot about boys with toys but I will refrain as I will only hear 'what about all your ancestors, not to mention books too'. Moving does bring tensions out!

So all those little trips take away from our packing time and we still have heaps of stuff despite all the giveaways to friends, family, charity and the garage sale. How can two people who have downsized previously (the move from Canberra) still have so much stuff!

I'm leaving the study to last as there is a lot happening on the genealogy side of my life too. There's all the talks I have to prepare as mentioned above, I've just finished an Ask an Expert question for Inside History Magazine and exciting news (for me) is that I've been asked to write an article for the new free online Irish magazine Irish Lives Remembered. I've also just submitted the draft for my latest publication with Unlock the Past - it's to be called Finding Ancestors in Church Records: A Brief Guide to Resources. I love writing almost as much as I like travelling and giving genealogy presentations.


And to cap off a really busy week I found out that Geniaus (aka Jill Ball) had nominated this Diary for an Illuminating Blogger award which was both an honour and a real thrill. When I started this Diary just over a year ago it was mainly to replace my hand written one and I didn't really expect people to follow my genealogy adventures. When we resettle, I hope to go back to my 'more serious' blogging on the family which I do in my SHHE Genie Rambles blog. Of course, I will keep up the Diary as well.


As I said at the beginning we leave here on 7 September and we have to head for Queensland as I'm going to be on the next Unlock the Past Queensland coast roadshow which is from 25 September to 6 October visiting Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Townsville, Mackay, Gladstone and the Sunshine Coast. Full details for each place are in the links. It's been a while since I've travelled up that way and I'm really looking forward to seeing some of my favourite places again.


Then it's back down to Deniliquin for the inaugural Genealogy Muster and then across to Shoalhaven for the 3rd Cornish Cultural Celebration which I'm really looking forward to. I've always been fascinated by my Cornish ancestors.


That will be my last genealogy adventure for the year and we will hopefully be then settling into a new home somewhere. I would like that before Christmas if possible and definitely before we embark on our third Unlock the Past history and genealogy cruise in February to Fiji. I first went there in 1975 so that will be fun going back not to mention all the genealogy lectures on board. 


I really liked their blog 30 Reasons to Attend a Genealogy Cruise - I don't need 30 reasons, I just need to hear two words - cruise and genealogy - and I'm hooked! Any readers of this Diary going?


Sadly it's time to go back and do some more packing. Or perhaps I'll get the Flip Pal mobile scanner out and do some photo scanning for a while. I really don't like the idea of all our family history records in a shipping container for the next few months. Until next time, happy researching.