Genealogy notes 14-18 Oct 2012 Denilquin & Wagga genealogy events

Trying to keep up with this Diary while travelling around in the caravan giving genealogy talks is harder than I thought and it doesn't help when you are in areas with no internet access. I had thought my new mobile wi fi would find a network anywhere but that doesn't seem to be the case but I am getting ahead of myself!

Back to the rest of the Deniliquin genealogy muster report. In the last Diary I gave a general overview and talked about the speakers. To me what really adds value to genealogy events is all the exhibitors who are usually a mix of commercial people and not for profit organisations who hold resources of interest to family historians and genealogists. There was a fantastic number of exhibitors in Deniliquin which kept people occupied for hours when they weren't attending talks or chatting to others.

There were the usual suspects including Gould Genealogy & History, Unlock the Past, State Records NSW, Public Record Office Victoria, State Library NSW, State Library of Victoria, Archival Access Victoria, Guild of One Name Studies, Inside History Magazine, Irish Wattle, Keith Johnson and the Biographical Database of Australia, Ballarat Heritage Services, Joy Murrin, Mostly Unsung, Pixel by Pixel, Creative Memories, Nepean Family History Society and their bookstall, Dave Evans and his Mining Accidents database, GSV's Scottish Ancestry Group, Openbook Howden and I always enjoy catching up with my friends from these various places. Local exhibitors included Charles Sturt University Regional Archives, genealogy and family history societies from Deniliquin, Shepparton, Echuca/Moama, Cobram, Yarrawonga, Bendigo, Swan Hill, Griffith, and Wagga Wagga plus the Huguenot Society of Australia, Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Victorian GUM and Garry Baker a local author and publisher. Perhaps those who travelled the furtherest (apart from us) were the Convict Connections group from the Genealogical Society of Queensland.

Both Ancestry.com.au and FindMyPast Australia & New Zealand had free access to participants over the two days and I didn't see those chairs vacant very often! There were also frequent demos of the Flip Pal mobile scanner and information on the next Unlock the Past genealogy cruise in February 2013. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone!

After a day of rest (catching up with things like the laundry) we then moved on to Wagga Wagga were I was giving a talk at the monthly meeting of the Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society. When I lived in Canberra I remember giving a few talks to this group and it was great to catch up with old friends again. It was also great to see that they had to get out more chairs as more people turned up than they were expecting - that always makes a speaker feel good. As usual my presentation It's Not All Online leaves people talking as I try to get people to think really broadly about all the possible places to look for ancestors. The talk is based on my research guide It's Not All Online: A guide to genealogy sources offline. There are versions of this talk on my website Resources page, scroll down to presentations.

As it was a late night we gave ourselves an extra day in Wagga Wagga to see the sights and simply relax. Then we were back on the road heading for Ulladulla where I am giving an all day seminar (3 talks). This drive took us past areas we knew quite well having lived in Canberra for a few years. We stopped and had lunch in Bungendore (made and toasted our own sandwiches, which is easy when travelling in a caravan) and so avoided our usual stop at the Braidwood Bakery!

We decided to stop for the night in Nelligen on the upper reaches of the Clyde River as it is one of those places we have always wanted to stop at but were always too busy to find the time. Tourist brochures describe it as the place where you can forget about your computer and your mobile phone and just soak up the natural beauty and watch the wildlife. Well that's certainly true as my you beaut mobile wi fi couldn't find a network anywhere!

The next day we made our way to Ulladulla but I'll save that for the next Diary entry. Until next time safe travelling!

Genealogy notes 4 - 13 Oct 2012 Deniliquin Genealogy Muster

Well we made the trek back down the Newell Highway for the 5th time in the last few months. Instead of staying at Toowoomba and Goondiwindi like we normally do, we did a bigger day and stayed at Yelarbon for two days. Yelarbon is a very tiny town not too far from Goondiwindi and used to be on the now closed railway line. The local council has set up the old railway station with toilets and a shower and the town are trying to attract caravaners and motorhomers to stay there for a night. At only $10 a night with power it's a good deal and it certainly brings revenue into the town as most of the people staying there also go to the shop, the pub for a great meal (we had one of the best ever pizzas), and buy petrol. A great way to try and keep some of these small country towns going!

From there we moved on to Narrabri again (so that we could have dinner again at the RSL's wonderful Outback Shack restaurant) and Forbes where the temperature dropped to zero and we realised we had left all our warmer clothes and blankets back in Queensland. Amazing the difference in temperatures within a few days of travel! From Forbes it was an easy drive on to Deniliquin for the genealogy muster.

On a sad note we came across an injured emu and called the local wildlife rescue who were very prompt coming out but unfortunately couldn't do anything for the poor emu. At least it didn't continue to suffer in the cold and wet conditions. The bird life out in western NSW is amazing and we have seen so many baby birds but of course not all make it. We've even discovered babblers who are really cute and have a very distinctive call.

But on to the muster. There was a welcome function for speakers and exhibitors at the council library on the Thursday night which was well attended and it was great to catch up with quite a few old friends and colleagues. The Friday was full on with speakers during the day and the evening plus all the exhibitors to wander around. The venue (Deniliquin RSL Club) was great as there was lots of room and even with a couple of hundred people each day it never seemed really crowded and with meals onsite it was a good choice. We even had dinner there both nights as it was two for the price of one if you ordered before 6pm and the meals were huge and great value.

In fact it was a very cheap genealogy event all round as it was only $10 to get in each day and you could attend all the talks if you wanted to. Ancestry and FindMyPast were available free for the two days and lots of the exhibitors had records and resources that you could use not to mention asking them questions. There were lucky door prizes every so often and the big raffle drawn at the end. I didn't win anything but then I never do so I wasn't too disappointed.

I went to Joy Roy's talk on Scottish emigration which was a wide ranging historical account of why the Scots left their country which was interesting but I prefer talks which have a more direct relevance to my own research. From searching in Scottish newspapers I know that my Carnegie ancestors came to Queensland because the Emigration Commissioner had been over in Scotland telling everyone about the free acres of land they would get if they came to Queensland. It was a deal they couldn't refuse!

I had heard Mark Grealy from Archival Access Victoria before so I wandered around the exhibitors before heading to lunch with some Yarrawonga friends. After lunch it was Rosemary Kopittke on the world collection of FindMyPast which I heard in Townsville the previous week so I skipped that one too and spent time talking to David Evans from the Guild of One Name Studies (GOONS). I got so caught up in our chat that I missed John Cann's talk on court and prison records held at State Records NSW. However I did end up joining the GOONS and registering one of Max's family names (Burstow) as a one name study, something that I have been wanting to do for some time.

After dinner I went to David's talk on how to do a one name study while others went to the Family Tree Maker workshop.  The last speaker of the night was Neil Smith on an overview of Australia's military heritage. It was a very big day but I think everyone went home quite happy.

The Saturday followed the same pattern with speakers and exhibitors keeping the crowds interested. I started with Anne Burrows talk on genealogy at the State Library of Victoria and my talk on Google Genealogy:Are You Making the Most of Google?  was the second talk of the day. This received really good feedback and attracted a very full room which was great. In the afternoon David Berry from State Library NSW was on but I unfortunately missed his talk as I was trying to sort out a problem with my Legacy Family Tree program with Rosemary (I was doing something silly but then it's always easier once you know how). The final talk of the muster was Wayne Doubleday on the Charles Sturt University Regional Archives and I've always been a fan of regional archives and I have even been there a few times too so it was good to see Wayne promoting the amazing range of records they have there.

The only hiccup I noticed was the laptop going out during Rosemary and Anne's talks on both Friday and Saturday. This was a technical issue with the battery going flat so it pays to make sure the laptop is actually connected to power! From my own recent experience I know how disconcerting a flat battery can be to a speaker trying to give a presentation.

 It was a really great two days and as always I've learnt new things, made new friends and want to know when the next Deniliquin Genealogy Muster will be! The organisers did a fantastic job and are to be sincerely congratulated. They also brought a fair bit of revenue to the town too I suspect with people paying for accommodation, food, petrol and so on. Well done everyone involved!

As this Diary entry is getting a bit big I'll save all my comments on the exhibitors for another Diary entry, hopefully tomorrow. We are off to Yarrawonga to stay with friends before heading to Wagga Wagga where I am speaking at the monthly meeting of the Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society. Happy researching!

Genealogy notes 24 Sep - 3 Oct 2012 Townsville genealogy expo

Nearly two weeks since my last Diary post and it's been full on as usual. We have been moving around different caravan parks on the Sunshine Coast while we look at houses and so far we haven't seen anything that totally meets all our criteria. It is amazingly time consuming - first finding ones we want to look at and then travelling to them etc etc. Still we can't live in a caravan forever, can we? At least not with his toys and my family history!

The only genealogy in my life at present was the Unlock the Past Townsville genealogy expo which to me was exhausting and disappointing. Exhausting because it was a long trip. We had to travel down from Tewantin to Burpengary where we left the caravan and then we had to travel on to Brisbane. Max dropped me off at the airport and then continued down to the Gold Coast and northern NSW where he was catching up with friends. On boarding I caught up with Alan Phillips and he kindly let me have his window seat which was great as it allowed me to have a close up look at my Carnegie ancestors land at Toorbul which is still largely undeveloped. It was great seeing it from the air.

The trip to Townsville was only two hours and we were met at the airport by Rosemary and Eric and a hire car to take us to our motel. Dinner that night was a blast from my past as we went to the Townsville Sizzler - these were a favourite family eating place while I was growing up and Mum still likes me to take her to the Mitchelton Sizzler for lunch when I visit. They were advertising a Pale Yak ale which I thought was a new Queensland beer but it turned out to be a Victorian ale; still it went well with my fisherman's platter.

It was an early start the next morning as we had to get set up before the doors opened at 9.00 am and about 70 people were expected. As usual people were early and started swarming around the display tables and talking to other people. I was the first speaker at 9.30 am with my It's Not All Online talk and just before I started I realised there was no microphone. While someone went to get that sorted, I started my talk to keep to the timetable. A few minutes later the microphone arrived and I swapped over and that's when my problems started.

The microphone kept fading in and out and the audience including the organisers all believed it was me not holding the microphone correctly so I had a number of people come up and tell me to hold it this way, people continually telling me they couldn't hear me and the organisers clearly indicating from the back of the room that they were blaming me for the poor quality of my presentation. BUT I knew it wasn't me as I have given lots of talks over the last 30 plus years without those problems. All of these interruptions also impacted on my delivery of the talk as it broke the flow of my thoughts. Afterwards during the break I was subjected to a lecture on professionalism, other comments I won't repeat here and how if people pay good money, they expect to get someone who knows how to give good talks and hold a microphone. Needless to say I was hurt, disappointed, angry, frustrated and at a loss as to what was wrong.

While I was outside trying to calm myself back down, someone suggested that it was the battery in the microphone that was at fault. He was spot on and when the battery was replaced both Eric and Rosemary were able to do their talks with no microphone issues at all. Eric's talk was on locating German ancestors and each time I hear it, I think with Irish examples and resources it could easily be a talk on locating Irish ancestors. Rosemary's talk was on the new Findmypast.com.au site which seems to change almost every day so I picked up some more hints on how best to use the new website which has heaps more records in it too.

After lunch it was my turn again with my making the most of Google talk and it was with some trepidation that I picked up the microphone again. I held up the faulty battery and explained that this had been the culprit in the first session and that we wouldn't have the same issues this time and thankfully we didn't. So the audience and the organisers could see that I did know how to give a good talk. Although some people did come up and apologise for their earlier comments it still doesn't really take away the hurt of the words in the first place. Other people also apologised for the actions/comments of the rest of the audience and still others actually said that they liked both my talks and got a lot from them. So there were some good moments too.

Rosemary finished the day with her talk on Scotland's People. The exhibitors were Unlock the Past and the range of UTP publications continues to expand and they were also demonstrating the Flip Pal mobile scanner which seemed to be very popular with people. The Family History Association of North Queensland had a display table as did the Townsville City Council library. It was held at the Townsville RSL which meant that it was easy to get something to eat at lunchtime.

After the talks were over, we quickly packed up and Alan dropped Rosemary, Eric and I at the airport for our flight back to Brisbane. They kindly dropped me off at Mum's for the night and the next day Max joined us. I also got to catch up with my son and his girl friend over breakfast, they are house hunting too so we commiserated with each other on how hard it is to find what you want in the area you want at the price you want to pay. My brother came over at lunch time so that was good and we had a quiet evening with Mum.

Next day it was back up to Burpengary to get the caravan and we are currently in a caravan park on the Maroochy river, another nice area of the Sunshine Coast. We leave here on Saturday to head back down south for the Deniliquin genealogy muster, talks in Wagga Wagga at their monthly meeting and Milton/Ulladulla and then the Cornish Cultural Celebration in Nowra. I'm giving talks at all four events so I'm hoping for no more microphone dramas!

As the next few weeks are almost non stop travelling these Diary entries may be less regular but I will try and report on each event as I go. I keep telling myself that life will be normal from the start of November when we will be based permanently in Queensland but I suspect in reality it won't be until we have a house and everything is unpacked and easily found! Until next time.

Genealogy Notes 5-23 Sep 2012 - I'm still here, more or less

Apologies to all my regular readers for the last 20 days missing in action but it has been a pretty full on time. I won't bore everyone with all the last minute moving dramas but will say that our entire life is now inside two shipping containers currently waiting for us in Brisbane. We left Melbourne after a final dose of cold, wet and windy weather and headed up the Newell Highway stopping at Finley, Forbes, and Narrabri in New South Wales, then across the Queensland border to Goondiwindi, Toowoomba, Burpengary and finally into Mooloolaba! But we could only stay a few days there as it was almost school holidays and they were booked out so we are now at a caravan part just outside of Tewantin. We leave there Thursday and are yet to decide where to go next as it will still be school holidays!

Nothing much has been happening on the genealogy front although ironically I have received four small job offers since I left Melbourne but they all came just a bit late which is a shame as some of it would have been interesting and a bit challenging. I have mentioned to do the next installment of my article series for Irish Lives Remembered and I did see in the latest Inside History Magazine that they had published another one of my Q&A pieces I do for them from time to time.

I was a bit disappointed to find out that the Unlock the Past Queensland Coast roadshow was cancelled due to personal issues although I totally understand that family matters come first. The only part of the roadshow still happening is the Townsville day on Saturday 29 Sep 2012 so I have to check my talks later today. I'm always amazed at how often websites change. Rosemary, Eric and I will be flying up on the Friday, doing the roadshow on the Saturday and then flying home Saturday night so a really full on two days. My problem is I don't have a home so I don't know where I will be going Saturday night post airport so we need to sort that out over the next day or so.

I was thrilled to receive an email a few days ago asking if I would mind someone promoting my latest book Trove: Discover Genealogy Treasure in the National Library of Australia! Of course I don't mind, I'm sure all authors would love to have their books promoted! It was from the editor of the VAFHO (Victorian Association of Family History Organisations) newsletter and she also does the newsletter for the West Gippsland Genealogical Society. Words like 'excellent' and 'must have' really cheered me up as I have been finding it hard not being connected to my laptop 24/7!

My other new book Finding Ancestors in Church Records: A Brief Guide to Resources is also attracting some feedback. One Victorian friend worried me when she said she was having trouble finishing the book - she then went on to say that was because she was too busy hopping online to check out the resources and look for her own ancestors! Both books came out the week before our move so I haven't really had time myself to look at the final product.

Nice to see that the National Family History Week page on Facebook is still attracting a few new likes. When I get a little more time I have to get back to planning what to do in 2013. I'd like to see that page have more activity all year round.

I've also missed tweets, blogs, Google+ and Facebook and there is no hope of ever catching up but the priority at the moment is trying to find a new home. But it is amazing how many houses don't look like their photos on the internet, there are a lot of clever photographers out there, they can even move gardens from the right side to the left side! Still it's early days although it would be good to find something before we head back down south for the Deniliquin Genealogy Muster on 12-13 October.

I will be blogging the Townsville day so look out for that and hopefully I will find some time this week to catch up with my emails, heaps of online genealogy newsletters that I haven't read and some must read blogs. Those who know me will recall that I have always said that it was my genealogy passion that kept me looking so young. Well I've only been genealogy deprived for three weeks and already I have more grey hair than when I was dyeing it back in the 60s so that I could look like Leon Russell (Mad Dogs & Englishmen) for those who were around then! Maybe a hair cut will help or just some dedicated genealogy time!

Stay tuned.

Genealogy Notes 29 Aug - 4 Sep 2012 Sydney adventures

Well today is the eve of our last day in this house. In 24 hours the removalists will be here and we still have lots of things to do but I simply have to take time out to report on the Sydney trip and my two talks at the Society of Australian Genealogists. I simply love visiting Richmond Villa (the Society's home and where talks are presented) in The Rocks area which is so historic. As usual my two talks on church records and Victorian resources are on my website under the Resources tab, scroll down to Presentations and if you scroll all the way to the end of the page you will see some of my favourite Victorian links.

I had two new publications out last week and Unlock the Past tried to get copies to my Thursday talk but they arrived after most people had left but quite a few of Thursday's attendees also came on Saturday so I still managed to get a few sales on Finding ancestors in church records: a brief guide to resources ($15.00) and Trove: discover genealogy treasure in the National Library of Australia ($14.50), both available from Gould Genealogy & History along with my other publications.

I also had the opportunity to have lunch with Heather, SAG's very efficient Executive Officer and to brainstorm some of my ideas with her for National Family History Week 2013. Later that day I had another chat with Brad and crew from Ancestry.com.au (a major sponsor of NFHW in the past) about some of my new ideas for a revamped program now that I am the national co-ordinator. I also took the opportunity to ask various people what they liked or wanted to see during the week as well and all these ideas will find their way into my report to AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) on ways to further highlight the week in future.

I missed a catch up with Ben and Cassie from Inside History Magazine as they were in the throes of getting their new website up and running. Plus there is a new issue due out and they've been busy with dispatch over the weekend. I hope my copy arrives before we leave on Thursday. I have to see the post office today and get our mail held until we have a forwarding address. Everyone keeps asking for one but we really don't have one - we don't even know what caravan park we will stay in once we get up to the Sunshine Coast. Thank goodness for email and mobile phones, how did they ever manage in the old days!

My travel plans in Sydney didn't go quite to schedule but when travelling you do need to be flexible so when I found I had a totally free day on Friday I took the opportunity to do a ferry trip round the harbour stopping off at Taronga Park Zoo and at Darling Harbour to see the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM). I always love visiting zoos and the Sky Safari Cable up to the top of the zoo gives one of the most amazing  views of Sydney not to mention looking down over the various animals as you go up.

I particularly wanted to see the Remembering Titanic 100 years memorial exhibition at the ANMM and it was really sad seeing all the names of those who died listed up on the wall. I found it fascinating to watch some of the outtakes from the James Cameron Titanic movie (was that really 1997, years going too fast for me) as it showed how they recreated the sinking and so on. Made me want to watch the movie again and I think I have seen all the other Titanic movies as well. None of my own ancestors were involved with a shipwreck but I have visited many memorials to shipwrecks especially on King Island (yes there is history there as well as all those yummy cheeses and lobsters).

After the Saturday talk at Richmond Villa I couldn't resist the lure of the arts and crafts at The Rocks market and spent a pleasant few hours in the Sydney sunshine looking at all sorts of wonderful things. The fact that I had to travel home by plane curbed my buying spree and also the fact that I didn't really have a home to go back to just yet!

Cleaning out the food cupboard (do I really have that many herbs and spices not to mention sauce bottles) and the fridge and freezer isn't going to get done unless I get a move on. The other half is tackling dismantling the BBQ and other similar type chores plus we have to move all the 'stuff '  we want to keep with us out to the caravan and the two cars today. Somehow I don't think it is all going to fit but it is hard to know what we might need over the next few months!

The Diary posts on our way north will probably be more like a travel log than a genealogy blog as I can't see myself getting to much genealogy in while driving the car! However I do have to review my talks for the Unlock the Past Queensland Coast roadshow in Sep/Oct (full dates, places and details here) so I'll have to find some time for that. Wish us luck with the removal tomorrow! Till next time.

Genealogy notes 18-28 Aug 2012 busy busy!

Well as the title suggests it has been 10 busy days since I last logged on. Everything seems to happen at once. I've had all the dramas of packing up the house, getting ready for my Sydney trip, finalising my next two publications for Unlock the Past and to complicate life I cracked a filling in my tooth needing a visit to the dentist, had to visit the doctor for another mole removal (fast growing and changing colour), a biopsy and thankfully not malignant this time and a specialist visit which I had put down as unnecessary but the CT scan showed something not quite right so I'm now considering when can I schedule in an operation which involves drilling a little hole in my head!

I had also been congratulating myself on having got through winter with hardly a sniffle when in the last few days I seem to have come down with a nasty chest infection. By this time tomorrow I need to be on a plane to Sydney so lots of fruit and vegies today! I'm actually looking forward to  my two talks  at the Society of Australian Genealogists as it gives me a chance to catch up with Sydney friends. I've got some meetings arranged, dinner with an old friend and after my talks I'm spending the weekend with a friend at her unit right on the Harbour to relax before the big move next week.

During the last week or so I have been doing a little experiment with the National Family History Week Facebook site (I'm the new co-ordinator in case you missed that news) and by placing a couple of messages on that site and my own Facebook site I managed to have a rather dramatic upsurge in statistics for the site, mainly thanks to my cyber friends. It would be really good if those reading this could also visit the NFHW Facebook site and hit the Like button (if you haven't already) as I am trying to prove the power of social media in promoting events like NFHW. I'm working on a strategic plan for 2013 and I'm hoping that we can make the week bigger than ever.

Now that all my family history files are packed away in boxed I feel quite empty. Although I have most of the data in my software program I don't have all my paper documents or photographs scanned yet so I can't just pop up and look at something. I'm also a bit worried that we won't find another home with a study as big as this one. When we do finally resettle somewhere, it will be a toss up what I unpack first - the domestic stuff or the family history!

Observant readers will notice that I've added a few pages to this blog - one on My Families and a more direct link to my other website and finally a page on the Genealogists for Families project which is a really good way of supporting families around the world.

The other thing I managed to do was finish the next installment of my articles on Irish Loved Ones - Missing Down Under for Irish Lives Remembered. The new issue is due out on 5 September and remember it is free online.

For anyone on the Queensland Coast don't forget the Unlock the Past road show is heading your way in the next few weeks. All details on my Events page and I hope to meet lots of new people on the trip.

Although it's a way off I've also been planning for my trip to Rootstech 2013 next March, looking at airfares, accommodation and registration. I've always wanted to go to Salt Lake City so this is a good chance to do it and go to what promises to be a great genealogy conference too.

Anyway the rest of the packing won't finish itself plus I need to sort myself out for the Sydney trip, will it be cold and wet like last time or will I see some early spring? Till next time.

Genealogy notes 15-17 Aug 2012 Q&As & new role

It's been a hectic few days. From time to time I am a guest 'expert' on Inside History Magazine's regular Thursday night Facebook genealogy Q&A session at 8.30pm. This week the topic was all about BDM certificates and the session will be summed up in Inside History's blog and it was good to see Jill and Helen also sharing their experiences as well as some of the people asking questions. Who would have guessed to look under Author for Arthur or my own example of where the certificate recorded the name as Union but it was really Onions (you need to sound that one out).

It's a great hour and all things being equal, Inside History will be hosting it every Thursday night at 8.30pm EST. Next week it is two people from the reference area of National Archives of Australia so start thinking about what questions you might have for them.

The next day I had to make the trek into Melbourne as I had been asked to do a family history segment on ABC Radio Australia with Clement Paligaru. They have an international audience mainly in Asia and the Pacific but  no matter what country you are researching the basics are largely the same, home sources, national archives, libraries, genealogical societies, local historical societies and of course these days the internet. Oral history also plays a big part in Asian and Pacific cultures too. The announcer was particularly taken with the idea of genealogy cruises and the next Unlock the Past cruise to Fiji in February 2013. The session lasted for 20 minutes which was a bit longer than planned but it's hard to talk about how to do it in that short time.

In the last Diary I mentioned that there was an announcement coming and of course I have since tweeted the exciting news that I have been appointed Co-ordinator of National Family History Week (NFHW) taking over from Lesle Berry who started it in 2006. It's a voluntary position and although all the action takes place over one week in August, there's lots to do during the year talking to sponsors and getting societies and others involved. NFHW has a website and a Facebook page and I have taken over administration of both.

Looking at the Facebook page yesterday I noted that there were 177 likes and this morning after I had posted a message about trying to do more PR via social media that number had gone up to 187 thanks to some of my cyber friends. It's a bit like ripples in a pond, it keeps spreading out and the more people who participate the more NFHW will be known and followed. I'd like to thank my cyber buddies who have already offered to assist and once I have had time to think about how I want to progress NFHW in 2013, I will definitely be in touch.

I was also pleased to see a couple of people in their twenties also commenting on the page. Brought back memories of when I started in 1977 and how much younger I was to everyone else. With the internet and social media it is much easier now for everyone to trace their family history and I think it would be really good if we good get more younger people involved too. I'm keen to get feedback from people on what we can or should be doing with NFHW so please let me know your thoughts.

This weekend I have to continue the dreaded packing of the study but I also want to make sure my talks for the Society of Australian Genealogists are all up to date and ready to go. I've got a huge stockpile of e-newsletters to read -I think that's worse than a stockpile of physical newsletters as it is almost invisible and it's so easy to flick an e-newsletter into a folder thinking that you will get back to it but lately I don't seem to be doing too much reading. At least a physical pile of reading makes me feel guilty every time I look at it.

Until next time.