Genealogy notes 6-13 Apr 2013 National Family History Month

Well the last week has flown and all the things I thought I would do, I didn't end up doing. It turned out to be visitor week first with my brother coming up for a couple of days and then 3 friends from where we used to live in Melbourne. They are travelling by motorhome and motobike on their way up to Maryborough on the Fraser Coast for the Ulysses 2013 AGM there next week. As it is so wet here on Bribie Island, they are having a few dry nights with us and then will all be heading up to Maryborough together tomorrow. So next week's Diary will be live from Maryborough, Queensland not to be confused with Maryborough, Victoria in the central goldfields area!

I haven't done much personal genealogy this week as I have been wearing my voluntary coordinator hat for National Family History Week  and I'm pleased to announce that this has just been extended to the whole month of August! This also brings us into line with New Zealand who have had a NZ National Family History Month for some time.

So now we have to remember National Family History Month (NFHM). The last week has seen me struggle to learn how to manage a Joomla website and emails plus the website content. All so different from my own website but I seem to have done all the changes and I must thank the previous coordinator Lesle Berry for all her help with my numerous questions this past week. The only things not changed yet are the domain name and the Facebook page name which both take a bit longer to do.

As NFHM doesn't have it's own blog (yet although I'm hesitant to start yet another blog) I will briefly outline here what will be happening. I will be approaching various sponsors (or hopefully some will approach me) for prizes to go into a big draw for all genealogy and family history societies who put a NFHM event into the NFHM event calendar. Each Australian state and Territory has its own calendar and there is also one for New Zealand. Societies don't have to be a member to enter into the prize draw. I'm hoping this will encourage more societies to repackage their monthly meeting or a library open day into a NFHM event/s.

I would also like to see lots of libraries and archives hold an event/s over the month as well and remember it is important to add these events to the NFHM event calendar so that everyone can see what's on in their local area. Don't forget to check the surrounding postcodes as there may be a great event in a neighbouring suburb.

To keep enthusiasm and awareness high throughout the month I'm working on a list of 31 activities for individuals to help further their own genealogy research and another list of 31 activities to help genealogy and family history societies raise their own profiles and hopefully attract some new members over the month. It would also be good to have more societies join AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations).

As well I'm hoping that all my geneablogger friends will be doing their blogging,  Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and whatever other social media they are into. I think this is a great opportunity for us to really make genealogy and family history a focus during August because for me a week was too short and it was over before I realised it. Plus there were often competing events in the shorter time period. Now it will be a true feast of genealogy over 31 days as I'm sure some of the physical events will also appear in attendees blogs and other social media.

I'm happy to take on any suggestions and already I have had one person ask that headstones and the information on them be highlighted. This is a great idea as I have some wonderful examples in my own research of information I would never had known if not for the tombstone.

Well I have to get back to packing for Maryborough, so put your genealogy thinking caps on for what you are going to do in NFHM in 2013 and don't forget to ask your local societies, libraries and archives what are they doing. Don't forget to add the events to the NFHM calendar and if you haven't yet ticked Like on the Facebook page, please do. I want everyone talking genealogy and family history in the lead up to August this year. Please join me! Till next time safe travels!

Genealogy notes 27 Mar - 5 Apr 2013 Canberra news

Well it's been busy on the home front and my recent visit to Canberra has made life even more hectic but I'm fast realising that my life in retirement on Bribie Island is never going to be less than action packed. Over Easter we finally go to do the 6 hour eco cruise on The Ferryman and I just love sailing past my Scottish ancestors home on the Toorbul side of Pumicestone Passage. As there was 6 hours of sailing we went almost to the tip of Bribie Island and could easily see Caloundra. The bird life is amazing and must have been even more amazing back in the 19thC before the settlers arrived.

It's a great trip and amazing value as it also included morning tea (hot cross buns, chocolate ones no less), a delicious roast chicken and salads lunch  (and I must get the wombok salad recipe it was amazing) and afternoon tea with home made cakes which were so good. I don't think we have ever eaten so much in a single place before! Well done Ferryman and I hope others do the trip because the 6 hours goes very quickly with so much to see. Definitely worth a day trip from Brisbane.

Easter was also a time to catch up with family and a visit to Mum ended up with us coming home with a car load of pot plants and all her African violets as Mum is no longer able to care for them. This was all great for our new home but it did mean that we then had to spend a couple of days planting them out in our orchard/rainforest or repotting them for indoors! My son has also been doing amazing things in his new house and has tackled his overgrown yard with amazing vigour and it is good to see them settling into their new home. We also took the opportunity to give them a few more boxes of our unwanted goods but no matter how much I declutter, we still seem to have heaps of stuff.

Before I left for Canberra I sent in to the local newspaper a small article on my Carnegie family at Toorbul hoping that they might publish it. They say it pays to advertise and I was really excited to find that it was published in the Island and Mainland News  and they included the two pictures of my ancestors tombstone in Toorbul cemetery. It's the only one left in the historic cemetery. This also led to me being contacted by the Bribie Island Historical Society and I will be going to their next meeting on Wednesday. So I'm really looking forward to that.

While in Canberra I met up with the president of AFFHO to discuss this year's National Family History Week and I have big news there but all the members of AFFHO have to be notified first so stay tuned. All I can say at this point is that NFHW 2013 will be bigger and better than ever before and I hope everyone will also follow us on Facebook NFHW as well as putting their events on the website calendar. I will also need everyone's help to promote it as we are operating on a real shoe string budget this year. Still I'm a firm believer in the power of social media and I know I have some great online geneafriends.

But now for the real reason for my Canberra trip. I'm on the National Archives of Australia's advisory committee for the centenary of WW1 so we were there for a progress report on their new Wartime Australia website. The draft pages look fantastic and are user friendly so that everyone can add in their own stories. It was also good to hear about the activities being undertaken by other State Archives and places like the Australian War Memorial. It's going to be easier than ever to trace our military ancestors and most of these projects and activities will start to roll out in 2014 and then continue through to 2018.

Another new website and exhibition planned by the NAA will feature forced adoption stories and they are calling for expressions of interest for anyone interested in assisting with the project. It is due for launch in 2014 on the anniversary of the Government's formal apology. Read the media release for full details.

While sitting in the Qantas Club waiting for my flight home I was really surprised, and delighted to find the new paper issue of NAA's Your Memento Highlights Vol 2. This paper edition features the more popular stories from their Your Memento free online e-magazine and I do have to say that I prefer reading the paper issue. All too often with the digital notifications, I file the e-mag or e-news and then don't go back to read it whereas the paper copy sits there in a pile on my cupboard making me feel guilty until I read it.

Also spotted was a new glossy paper magazine from the National Museum of Australia simply called The Museum: Behind the Scenes and Vol 2 is a great read with some really good photos and stories. I'm only sorrow that I didn't see Vol 1 but all is not lost. The issues (some articles only) are also online and Vol 3 is now out as well! Like libraries and archives, museums are also great places to find background information and context on our ancestors and where and how they lived.

An email from the local Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group (no website) also got me quite excited as it included news from the local Bribie Island (Bongaree) Library. They have a series of free genealogy talks planned for the rest of the year under the banner Finding Your Family: Who Are You? There are workshops on handwriting (reading all that old colonial writing), Irish ancestors, beginners sessions and even a session on Bribie's WW2 bunker and other military records. So I will be booking in for most of those! For those interested see their what's on calendar.

I rejoined the Genealogical Society of Queensland and received a very nice welcome back including a paper journal which has joined the pile on the cupboard! I also received my renewal notice for the Genealogical Society of Victoria and as I like using their online resources, I will be renewing but I am glad that I am a lifetime member of Queensland Family History Society as that is one less subscription to pay. Still being a member of key societies is so worth while and really does help further your family research not to mention make new friends.

Instead of buying the family Easter eggs this year, I decided to take out another $25 loan with the Genealogists for Families project and as I had received repayments on previous loans, I was able to make two further loans to needy families overseas. I'm still surprised how easily this project sustains itself. Once you have made a few loans the repayments then allow you to fund still more loans. Of course you can take back the repayments if you want, but I've never missed the original $25 I used for my first loan so why not let it keep on helping others. Occasionally I make additional loans to mark special occasions like Christmas and Easter and since I joined the Genealogists for Families project I have made 28 loans! So that's 28 families I have helped with whatever their loans were needed for.

As usual I have made this Diary too long and I really am going to have to do it more regularly (like I used to before the big move)! I've got a genealogy to do list beside me that I really must tackle. Plus the other half has just left for fishing so now is the perfect time to do some research - trying to decide what new lead to follow up is the problem. There's so much new information out there! Wish me luck and as always, best wishes with your own research.

Genealogy notes 15-26 March 2013 online newspapers

Well being home is a nice change but there is so much to do around our new house and we are still unpacking. Not to mention the paperwork involved in changing over things like vehicle registration, car licenses, electoral rolls and so on. And if we want refunds for the pro rata on on Victorian regos and licenses there are even more forms to fill in (once you manage to find them on the internet).

But I'm still finding time to do some research and two clients recently gave me a couple of challenges which had happy endings. I really do love it when you find something unexpected and with all the online indexes and digitised records online it can happen quite quickly.

For example, I was trying to find the death of someone in Ireland and not having much luck and then I decided what if they followed their daughter out to NSW. A quick look at immigration indexes at State Records NSW revealed a few suspects then checking the digitised passenger lists confirmed one as a real possibility. A check then of NSW BDMs then revealed a death entry in the right locality. I'm now waiting for a transcript to prove that it is the right person but I feel fairly confident.

I've also been looking at online newspapers and regular readers that I'm a huge fan of Trove and the National Library of Australia's e-resources for British newspapers. I hate to think how much time I spend reading newspapers! Then of course there is Papers Past for New Zealand which I use whenever looking into my NZ connections.

But this week I looked at the British Newspaper Archive for the first time. I'd heard about it and read bits and pieces but never sat down to look for anything. Well after a few hours of searching I was addicted to yet another online site! I found references to births, deaths and marriages I didn't have and even found a first wife of Max's great grandfather who we didn't know about as she died within the first year of marriage, probably from child birth as she was only 26. There were references to family members in the court sections and even an inquest into the death of a brother of a direct ancestor. Newspapers really can help fill out details of our families lives.

This also reminded me that I was yet to open my Christmas present which was a complimentary copy of a newspaper from Historic Newspapers. I've been waiting for the time and opportunity to really have a good look but with our moving, travels and that I haven't had the chance. Perhaps I should take off the Christmas paper wrapping and replace it with Easter paper? Anyway it has now moved down from the shelf to my desk so that I do open it for Easter!

Now that I'm back in Queensland old friends have been contacting me and I was pleased to have Merle Grinly visit this week. Merle and I go back to the late 1970s and we met through the Genealogical Society of Queensland. She also kindly gave me copies of her new publications on CD which I will review shortly (or should that be in the fullness of time?). They are

• Queensland Ship Deserters 1862-1911
• Queensland Transmissions of Real Estate by Death 1878-1940
• Wallangarra Quarantine Admission Registers 1918-1919

I have been to meetings of the Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group and they have asked me to speak in November so I'm looking forward to that. I also went to the U3A Bribie Island family history group meeting and I now have to join that. Attending meetings is a great way to find out what's new and also to share any research problems.

Next week I have a meeting of the National Archives of Australia centenary of WW1 advisory group meeting in Canberra which I'm looking forward too. I also hope to catch up with a few people to discuss National Family History Week which I need to start promoting as I'm the voluntary National Coordinator. I'm still hoping that AFFHO will decided to make it a month but I haven't had a response yet so perhaps that's not looking good.

I had all sorts of good intentions today but noticed on Facebook that Ancestry had added a whole lot of Wiltshire records to their website and FindMyPast.com.au have added a whole lot of New Zealand records. So the call of research has been too strong and I have been checking out all the new info. I really think you could do 24/7 genealogy research these days, but who would feed me? The other half likes hearing about all the new info but isn't so keen on the time that researching takes! Where as time just slips by when I'm looking online.

This afternoon it is the hairdresser as I am going to update my website - there are lots of changes I want to make and I think I really need a new profile picture too. The current one was probably taken about 8 years ago and I've aged a bit since then! The image on Diary is about 4 years old and the one on Twitter and Facebook is about 3 years old. The last few years have just vanished. So watch out for the new me!

Have fun researching, I know I am!

Genealogy notes 1-14 March 2013 reading and talking

Well I'm back from Bali and totally relaxed having had no access to TV, mobile phone, laptop or tablet while I was away. I didn't mean to be so totally cut off but I inadvertently left the phone on the charger!!

Coming home I found a small mountain of surface mail which included new issues of some of my favourite genealogy magazines - Inside History, Australian Family Tree Connections and the Genealogical Society of Victoria's award winning Ancestor. Of course there was a similar virtual  mountain of emails and online e-magazines including Irish Lives Remembered and this month it includes a 16 page Irish-Australian research supplement (wow), Queensland Family History Society's Snippets and the Society of Australian Genealogists' journal Descent along with a reminder that my subscription is about to expire! How quickly a year goes!

Then there are my e-newsletters from State Records NSW, Queensland State Archives and Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) - these are all free and don't take that long to read but they are great for letting you know what is new. For example here is the 2013 list of newly released records from PROV.

I've also rejoined the Genealogical Society of Queensland now that I'm back home and they have asked me to speak at their June seminar. I'll be looking at 19th century immigration records which is always a popular topic. The Chincilla family history group should be finalising the date of their seminar in July on online newspapers very soon and I'm really looking forward to heading out west again.

I've also been asked what topics I would like to cover on the 4th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise in 2014 and I'm working on some new topics and new books so that will all be new and exciting next February. I'm already looking forward to that especially with Thomas MacEntee and Chris Paton as the international speakers.

Also on the looking forward front, I've already booked for the NSW/ACT genealogy conference in Canberra in September. I missed last year's as I was in the middle of moving out of our Melbourne home and as this year's is being held near where I first lived when I moved to Canberra I'm keen to see that area again.

Yesterday I went to the Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group meeting and caught up with everyone there. They will probably get me to give a talk in September or November and they seem to have a fondness for something Irish! I also met the convenor of the U3A Bribie Island family history group on and she has also invited me along to their meetings which are every week on a Monday at 8.30am (who said retirees get to sleep in???). I've got medical appointments next Monday but I'm a definite starter for the following Monday.

As part of my getting back into genealogy again, I went and joined the Bribie Island Branch of the Moreton Bay Regional Council Library Service. Sadly they don't seem to have a great genealogy collection and I'm told the Redcliffe Branch is better but then that's a bit further to drive. I've written 7 genealogy guides now and sadly none are in the local library but Redcliffe has two of them and Caboolture and Strathpine have one each. When I launch the next research guide I will have to make a bigger splash in my new pond!

I'm really more interested in the local history collections so I've got to make contact with the Bribie Island Historical Society and also visit the Caboolture Historical Village which I haven't done in decades. Visiting the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology at Toorbul is also on my list but finding the time to do all of this seems to be a challenge!

In our absence and all of the rain, the weeds seem to have taken over the yard and we still have some unpacking and sorting to do from the move. Plus new things we want to do around the house. It's funny but I never believed my friends when they said they were busier than ever in retirement - now I know that it really is true but then who wants to be bored? Can someone doing genealogy ever really be bored?

As you can see I've really thrown myself back into my genealogy research and there are all those notes and new ideas to follow up post genealogy cruise that I need to work through. Stay tuned for lots more news as I settled back into genealogy in my new home.

Genealogy notes 20-28 Feb 2013 Genealogy cruise wrap up

Well it's been fairly hectic since we arrived home from the cruise - it's still raining in SE Queensland and we have spent time bailing out water from the back yard and dealing with insurance issues  from the Australia Day long weekend extreme weather event. Thankfully the house hasn't leaked as much as it did that weekend.

I did find time to do my overall review of the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise and it's on my website here. I really do think it's a perfect way to have a genealogy conference - while at sea you don't have to worry about getting to the venue and you don't need to worry about where to go for dinner!

I was really thrilled to see that my Days1-5 and Days 6-9 made Randy Seavers Best of Geneamusings for the week - that was a real honour and thanks to Jill Ball aka Geniaus for making sure I didn't miss that!

I did forget to mention that one of the geneacruisers was a friend from the Bendigo Branch of the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies and she told me about all of the new resources on their website. They also hold a great family and local history expo each year in Bendigo - this year it's on 17 March 2013 but a bit too far too drive to from Bribie Island. I'll miss going there.

I also missed congratulating Alan Phillips and his family on their great organisation of the cruise and they have just sent out their cruise evaluation form which I hope everyone completes as it does allow them to plan bigger and better cruises for us. I did mine and it didn't take long at all. Future cruises looks exciting so I did tick definitely interested!

Well it's been a mad and sometimes stressful nine months since we put our house on the market and made the move from Victoria to Queensland. There's been a lot of travel and genealogy in between not to mention packing and unpacking and repacking! But we have settled now and to help us relax and enjoy our new home, we are off to Bali for a week of absolutely doing nothing.

When I return it will be back to my genealogy and my part time business which has seriously suffered over the last 9 months on the road and in temporary accommodation. I have partly written books, articles to write, research to do and a whole lot of new talks as well. So for the next week I will be off the air, but watch out for my return. It will be back to genealogy with a renewed vigour and enthusiasm. Stay tuned.

Genealogy notes 15-19 Feb 2013 - Days 6-9 of genealogy cruise

This is a continuation of my earlier report on Days 1-5 of the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. Due to the electrical problems and two days in Noumea for repairs, we didn't get to Fiji and this meant we had four full days of genealogy sessions for the remainder of the trip. Although pretty much a die hard genealogy addict, I did find this a bit of information overload and I was a little stiff from all the sitting, especially the afternoon sessions from 1-5pm.

I did break it up a bit with one on one sessions with people who had brought along their brick walls for me to solve. Some researchers had detailed notes on what their problem was and copies of documents which made it really easy to provide feedback. Others however tried to remember from memory (which may not be that good) and mis-remembered details don't help when trying to make suggestions. I find it easier to follow other people's research if they have taken the time to list out what they have done - often that helps them to also see any holes in their own research.

Anyway what did I do over the last four days of the cruise?

Day 6 started with a talk from Stephen Dando-Collins on the mistaken identity and trials of Joe Windred which I found fascinating. I only wish my ancestors had led such interesting lives. Next was Paul Milner on finding ancestors in Ireland and even though he covered some of the basic sources I still found bits and pieces that will be useful for my own Irish research. Next was Carol Baxter talking about writing family history and Helen Smith on friendly societies. The third concurrent session was the research help zone and this was where I did some of my one on ones.

After lunch my talk on convicts and criminals was on against Jan Gow on New Zealand BDM's and Bob Velke talking about The Master Genealogist. With only a short break to change rooms or whatever, I then went to Diane Foster's talk on preservation or perish which was all about preserving our family histories as best we can. The other choices were a webinar with Geoff Rasmussen on his new book Digital Imaging Essentials and Geoff Doherty talking about the disappearing Dunnes.

By this time I needed a break and did some more one on ones but the choices were Rosemary Koppittke on FindMyPast the world collection, the second part of Geoff Rasmussen's webinar on digital imaging essentials and Bob Velke on The Master Genealogist charts and forms. The last talk of the day was Paul Milner on the English probate system.

For new readers some of the speakers will be putting their handouts on the Unlock the Past website, Paul Milner has a Handouts button on his website and my talks in PDF format are all on my Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

Day 7 was an early start for me giving my Warning Warning talk on common family history mistakes and Paul Milner followed with English civil registration and problem solving. Then the concurrent sessions started and I went to the information session on the NSW/ACT genealogy conference in Canberra in September. Rosemary Mackenzie also mentioned the AFFHO Congress in Canberra in 2015 and Alan Phillips spoke about Unlock the Past future genealogy cruises. I missed Helen Smith talking about genealogical education and Carol Baxter talking about writing non fiction narrative.

After lunch it was another marathon session of three concurrent talks over four hours so lots of choices to make as to which sessions to attend. I got caught up talking to someone over lunch and missed Louis Kessler on Jewish genealogy, Jan Gow on ten ways to do family history comparing old ways with new and Neil Bradley talking about Second Site for The Master Genealogist.

As I have been considering moving to Family Historian genealogy software I made sure I didn't miss Jill Ball's presentation and I was interested to see that Jill has also just made the change over. After my Bali trip next week I think I'll take the plunge too! The other choices were the Research Help Zone and Helen Smith talking about what caused our ancestors' deaths and I've heard this before and it is a great look at some of the old time diseases.

The 3pm session was Diane Foster talking about preserving photographs, Geoff Doherty with an intriguing presentation Oh What a Tangled Web and Rosemary Kopittke on the The Genealogist.co.uk. I went to this as I often forget there are other huge subscription databases out there. For the final session of the afternoon I went to Jill Ball's session on Geneablogging where she mentioned some great blogs to follow and even managed to mention the Kiva Genealogists for Families blog which many of us belong too. Therefore I missed Louis Kessler on GenSoftReviews and Jan Gow on genealogy in 2020 - hard to think that far ahead but if the changes over the last decade or so are anything to go by, we should be having a great time tracing our ancestors in 2020!

Paul Milner bravely gave an after dinner talk on Overcoming the Dead End Doldrums and many also went to the La Scala Theatre but it was a bit of a rush and getting good seats at the last minute is not easy. Another big genealogy day!

Day 8 offered 15 talks and we had the group photo on the stairs of the magnificent Carmen Restaurant. First up was Paul Milner on occupation and guild records which I really enjoyed as I love putting ancestors into their day to day context. After the photo I gave my mining talk but missed Stephen Dando-Collins on getting published and writing fiction from your research.

After lunch I got a lot out of Linda Elliott's free English genealogy websites (slides will be on her Mad About Genealogy website) . It really is amazing what is out there now but we should always remember that it isn't all online. This meant I missed Louis Kessler on using life events to solve genealogy problems and Carol Baxter on scandal and skulduggery in early NSW. My next session was Jill Ball on Android (andIPad) genealogy with lots of good tips on making the most of these wonderful tools. Other choices were Helen Smith on the Ryerson Index (excellent for dates of deaths and funerals) and Diane Foster on what's the difference between genealogy and family history.

My brain went into overload at this point and I fled upstairs to Deck 11 for a coffee and a biscuit (or two)  and missed Rosemary Kopittke on Scotland's People, Linda Elliott on English parish registers and two short case studies by Jill Ball and Dawn Springett. Suitably refreshed I went back downstairs to hear Paul Milner on overlooked sources for 19th and 20th C Scottish research which was most interesting. I missed Louis Kessler on GEDCOM transfers and Carol Baxter on military ancestors.

There was no after dinner session but Jill Ball had organised a session where we all got together and talked about a favourite genealogy book or one that we were currently reading. It could be a 'real' book or a 'digital' book. This was interesting and quite a few people turned up to share their books. I had to leave before the end as I'd promised to go to the theatre with some friends. Jill was planning to write up a list of books so that others can see what we are all reading!

Day 9 and it's a bit sad as we really we only have one more day left. Amazing how fast time goes when you are having fun. Paul Milner led the charge again today with a very informative talk on maps and gazetteers for  British research. I have so much home work to do after this cruise it's not funny! My talk on It's Not All Online was next and then there was a choice between Jan Gow on Collaborative Research with an incredible video from FamilySearch (I still don't really believe it but then I did see it with my own eyes) and Stephen Dando-Collins chairing a panel on historical writing.

After lunch I went to Jan Gow's digging deeper into FamilySearch and sadly missed Jill Ball talking about Google+ for genealogy. I really do need to spend the time to explore that one more. Then there was a social media panel chaired by Jill which included Louise Kessler, Ilona Tester, Helen Smith and myself all answering questions on which social media we use and why. It's a shame more cruise attendees didn't go to this as there were no competing sessions. I think people who don't use social media for genealogy are seriously missing out!!

The next round of talks included Helen Smith talking about bringing your ancestors to life and I really enjoyed this as Helen managed to find out so much about her case study from very little information to start with. Other choices were Louis Kessler on why genealogy is everyone's solemn duty and Rosemary Kopittke on connecting with families online.

My last talk for the cruise was on at 4pm and it was my military talk and I missed Stephen Dando-Collins talking about Captain Bligh and Louis Pasteur. After dinner there was a very moving closing talk by Paul Milner which encouraged us all to make sure we write down our stories and pass them on. It was a great way to end what was a stimulating and fun genealogy cruise. The prize draws were next and a few photo opportunities and then it was off to our cabins to pack and make sure our luggage was outside if we wanted it taken off for us in the morning.

I will be doing an overview of the cruise in my SHHE Genie Rambles blog in the next day or so as genealogy cruises are not just about the speakers and the talks. There is the networking and sharing as well as shipboard life and time ashore. So look out for that coming soon. Just a reminder that most of the speakers will be either putting their handouts or talks online and I've mentioned the links above. Plus lots of other cruisers will be blogging or have already done so and those blogs will give you lots of ideas and information about the cruise. Stay tuned!

Genealogy notes 10-14 Feb 2013 Days 1-5 of the Genealogy Cruise

Well I'm now safely home from the 2013 Unlock the Past genealogy cruise and I've been pondering the best way of writing up all my notes. Early on I decided to leave the laptop at home and I put the IPad and phone in the room safe so I was strictly a pen and notebook person on this cruise. Why? I do like a break from technology every so often and also this cruise was so packed with sessions, I wouldn't have had time to attend everything and then do daily blogs and experience life on board.

I will blog the genealogy part of the cruise in this Diary over two blogs and then do an overall review of the cruise in my SHHE Genie Rambles blog in a few days time. Just before we left for the airport on Day 1, I left a quick paragraph explaining my absence over the next ten days.

It was a good trip to Brisbane airport and no delays so we soon found ourselves in Sydney airport. We had planned to take the train to Circular Quay but due to maintenance over the weekend, the train was not running but there were free buses, first to Central Station and then on to Circular Quay. It took a bit longer but we were still three hours before boarding time. I hate last minute panics!

There didn't seem to be any queue at The Voyager of the Seas so we wandered over and handed in our bags and proceeded to go through customs and before we knew we were on board the ship. In fact lunch was just starting so we went up to Deck 11 (15 decks overall) and enjoyed lunch while overlooking the Sydney Opera House. After lunch it was a stroll around Deck 12 (the jogging track) where we could almost see all of Sydney from that height. I wonder what the people who live in units close to the Quay think when their view is suddenly blocked by this huge ship.

After a delicious dinner we watched the ship leave Sydney Harbour and then went down to the Meet and Greet where Alan introduced the various speakers. Having been up since before dawn, I will confess to nodding off during this session and as soon as it was over, I dashed off to my room for a good night's sleep. Sadly I missed the geneablogger photo opportunity although there was another one taken on the last day as well.

Day 2 was full on with three concurrent streams for most of the day. The first two speakers were Stephen Dando-Collins and Paul Milner who I missed as I slept in and then got delayed at breakfast. However I did make it to my first of nine talks at 11am but this meant I missed Carol Baxter talking about NSW research and Neil Bradley on Western Australian research. Mine was on Victorian research so very much a State based theme!

After an hour for lunch the three streams continued (including the Research Help Zone). I went to Jan Gow's session on Getting to Know Legacy but missed Helen Smith talking about Queensland research and Rosemary Kopittke talking about Australian Government, Police and Education Gazettes. My next choice was Louis Kessler talking about Choosing and Using Genealogy Software as I'm thinking of swapping over from Legacy. This meant that I missed Linda Elliot's talk on What to Do With The Body: A Victorian Solution - a very intriguing title so I hope someone else blogs about that session.

My next session was another Jan Gow session on Creating Your Own Reference Library. I've heard Jan talk about Treepad many times and she always makes it look so simple but then I suspect she has every aspect of her life and research well documented! The thought of cataloguing all my library books is daunting but I know that it would make life much simpler for me. Jill Ball advised that she uses Library Thing so I need to check that out and I know others use Collectorz.  A definite rainy day job.

One overseas speaker I didn't go to was Bob Velke who did a variety of sessions on The Master Genealogist and as I'm not interested in that program I missed hearing all of his talks. Rosemary Kopittke demonstrated the Flip Pal Mobile Scanner and Family Photo Book both of which I was familiar with.

The last afternoon session was me again with my Family History on the Cheap talk but this meant I missed Jill Ball's GeneaGoogling: Effective Google Searches which was disappointing as I think the more we can learn about using Google effectively, the better. Like other speakers, Jill's slides/handouts will be available on the Resources page of the Unlock the Past website in a few days time. Mine are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

The after dinner session was Paul Milner on Finding Your Ancestors in Scotland: The Big Five which I missed as we were going to the ship's evening show in the La Scala Theatre.

Day 3 was another packed day of talks, you didn't have to go to every session but from what I saw most people seemed to attend quite a few sessions each day. I was first up with my talk on Trove and Paul Milner followed with a talk on the English Parish Chest. Then the sessions divided into three and I selected Linda Elliott's talk on Researching NZ Ancestors from a Distance but missed Carol Baxter talking on Writing Family History. I've heard Carol speak on that before and I wanted to attend Linda's talk as her online name is Mad About Genealogy and that's also where you will find her talk handouts. I believe she is going to PDF her talks like me and put them on her website.

The after lunch sessions were almost like a marathon from 1-5pm with four talks unless you skipped one or two. I missed Jill Ball's Google Tools for Genealogy as I was having a one on one session with a cruise attendee and Louise Kessler was talking about Behold and Bob Velke ran two sessions on The Master Genealogist. In the second session I chose Helen Smith's talk on one name studies (the GOONS) and missed Rosemary Kopittke talking about Find My Past Australasia and Jill Ball talking about Social Media for Genealogists. My third session was with Jan Gow talking about using Ancestry in Your Pyjamas (I'll confess that I do too) and missed Rosemary Mackenzie talking about the next NSW/ACT genealogy conference in Canberra in September and the next AFFHO Congress also in Canberra in 2015. Alan Phillips also spoke about what's coming up for Unlock the Past with cruises, webinars and ebooks all sounding very exciting. The last session was Paul Milner on English Parish Registers.

The evening was free to allow attendees to go to the Ship's famed ice shows but as it turned out, these ended up being held in the day time so roster changes were made so that people didn't miss out. We went to the La Scala Theatre again and I think most people appreciated the night off.

Day 4 was in Noumea and there are no sessions while we are in port. We were supposed to leave by 4pm so I did my Ancestors in Church talk up against Jill Ball on A Genealogist's Toybox which was another talk I wanted to go to as Jill always amazes me with all her gadgets and how she uses them for genealogy. It was during this session that we found out that the ship had some technical troubles and would be staying over in Noumea for another day while repairs were made. I suppose it is always better to break down in port rather than miles out to sea but it was disappointing. It meant that we could no longer make it to Fiji and I was so looking forward to going there again. My last visit was in 1976 so it's been a while!

Paul Milner did another evening session with Scottish Kirk Session and Poor Relief Records. All of Paul's handouts are on his website under the aptly named button Handouts!

Day 5 we were still in Noumea so this meant a major roster change so we swapped the program for Day 6 when we were supposed to be in Fiji. The 4pm talks were Jill Ball talking about the Flip Pal Mobile Scanner and Picasa (which I have heard before and I love Picasa's facial recognition software) and Paul Milner talking on Welsh Ancestors. After dinner Paul did Irish Land Records.

Not going to Fiji meant that we ended up with four solid days of talks on Days 6-9 so I'll do those days in a separate blog tomorrow as this is getting quite lengthy. The good thing about most of the speakers is that they will be putting their handouts or slides online and those not fortunate enough to be on the cruise might still be able to follow the talks and take note of the various websites mentioned by everybody. I have the usual list of sites I want to visit! Part Two will be tomorrow so stay tuned.

Genealogy notes 6-10 Feb 2013 Bon Voyage

After a hectic few days finalising my presentations I'm up early this morning to catch our flight to Sydney to join the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. I'm not sure if I will do daily posts or every few days or even wait till the end. This cruise has two session streams from morning to night so not a lot of spare time for us genealogy tragics. So stay tuned as I will be learning lots over the next 9 days at sea!

Genealogy notes 1-5 Feb 2013 online newspapers

Well my genealogy year has started with a great online newspapers seminar organised by Queensland Family History Society with speakers Sue Reid and myself. I missed Sue's two talks on online newspapers and how to search them more strategically when she gave them at last year's Unlock the Past expo in Brisbane so I was really glad to finally here them. Sue also mentioned that the talks are also the basis for an upcoming article in Inside History magazine so watch out for that.

The day started with my talk on Trove and Other National Library of Australia Treasures and the slides can be viewed on my website Resources page (scroll down to Presentations). No matter where or how often I give this talk there are always lots of people who don't have an NLA library card for e-resources or aren't members of Trove so that they can do comments, tags, lists and so on. No doubt quite a few went home to investigate these wonderful free resources further! I don't do handouts (saving a tree or two plus paper weighs a lot and is one extra thing to carry when I travel to talks) but by putting the slides up on my website attendees can go home and relook at the talk and study the slides in greater detail.

Sue did have handouts for her two talks and these were included in the Queensland State Archives goodies bag given to all attendees. Sue's first talk was an overview of the big four which are all free - Trove, Papers Past,  The Times London (via the NLA's e-resources) and the London Gazette. She used a case study to highlight the wealth of information that can be found and the second part of her talk was focused on why you might not be able to find what you are looking for.

Sue's second talk was a round up of other online newspaper sites, some free and some pay to view and I found this part really interesting as some of her portal sites for America will probably useful for my own research as a GGG grandfather went to Minnesota in the USA in 1850. I've never looked for the family in US newspapers so it's now on my to do list when I get time!!

There were about 150 people from all over south east Queensland so that was a great start to QFHS's seminar program for 2013. Most people returned the evaluation forms which were mostly positive with the negatives such as signage something that the organisers can do better for the next seminar. During the morning tea break I sold copies of my books and I certainly missed Max doing this for me. It's really hard trying to answer people's questions, say hello to people welcoming me back to Queensland and sell books and give correct change all at the same time. I had to sneak morning tea during the first part of Sue's second talk I was that busy. The QFHS sales table was also kept busy so the printed book is still in demand!

Their next seminar is on Military Records for Family Historians on 20 April and the third seminar is on Convict Lives: Finding Our Founders on 1 June. Both seminars have great speakers on a range of topics withing those themes so definitely not to be missed.

I've just completed my application form to join the Cornish Association of Queensland and unfortunately their first meeting for the year is on 9 March and I am returning from Bali that day. The date is the closest they could get to St Piran's Day, Cornwall's national day but hopefully I'll be able to get to their next I'meeting. It's not that far to Brisbane and traffic is not too bad at the weekends.

Today there is a meeting of the Bribie Island Family History Group (an informal meeting group) which I will go along to. I missed the last meeting last year as I was in Brisbane but I'm hoping to attend most meetings if I'm on Bribie. The other thing I'm working on today is my next article for Irish Lives Remembered as the deadline falls while I'm away on the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. I'm continuing with County Waterford examples as I found so many in my last search for interesting examples to write about. The free January issue is now online.

Well must go as I've still got some unpacking and sorting to do before I head off to my meeting. Happy researching till next time.

Genealogy notes 24-31 Jan 2013 genealogy talks coming up

Well last Diary entry I said that things were getting back to normal now that we had moved into our new home on Bribie Island. Silly me didn't factor in ex cyclone Oswald heading down the coast and hovering over us for nearly 30 hours of relentless wind and torrential rain. I don't think I've even seen a 'weather event' that went for so long and travelled all the way down the Queensland coast and on into New South Wales creating total destruction along the way. Bribie was lucky in that we mostly had beach erosion, downed trees and palms, some roof and rain water damage and of course loss of power. Others were not so lucky especially all those within river flood plains.

We were extremely grateful for the SES coming out on the Saturday night to help secure a front section of our roof otherwise we would have suffered a lot more rain water damage than we did. So glad (in a way) that it happened last weekend and not when we are away next weekend on the genealogy cruise - we would have come home to a house completely swamped as the rain was also coming through the front door or under it I should say, as well as all the windows on the sides the wind was blowing from, not to mention the leaks from the roof in two rooms. At least the study doesn't leak and is sheltered at the back of the house.

Apart from all the mopping up over the weekend we managed to continue unpacking and it's almost finished now - the trick is to remember where we have put everything! I've tried to keep things similar to the old house and that helps. My books are everywhere but I thought it was more important to get things out of cardboard boxes and onto shelves where I can at least see them. Rearranging them can come later and this time (as this is our final move, fingers crossed) I am going to use software to catalogue and make them really easy to find! Any suggestions for a good, easy to use system?

Yesterday I realised that the Queensland Family History Society online newspapers seminar is this Saturday so it was a frantic run through of my Trove and Other National Library of Australia Treasures updating where needed. QFHS have over 130 people booked so far so that is fantastic and a great way to start their education program for the year. I also have to talk to them about when we can redo the session for the Chinchilla Family History Group (at their request) but it looks like mid year now. Stay tuned for the date if you live out that way.

Of course the other thing I have to do is check my 9 talks for the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise which is now only a week away. January was a blur with moving and everything else but I did manage to do a run through of most of them. Hopefully not too many websites have done major changes over the last month. I'm so looking forward to the cruise - I love anything genealogy so with our own conference centre on board Voyager of the Seas it will be fantastic and I also love cruising so hopefully there will be a bit of relaxation on board as well not to mention catching up with lots of genealogy friends.

No doubt there will be lots of blogs coming out of the cruise so stand by for them but with limited internet coverage that may be after the event although I do know some really keen bloggers will be doing 'live' blogging. Geniaus aka Jill Ball has asked Helen Smith and myself to be part of a social media panel to discuss why social media can really help your genealogy research. So looking forward to that as I've had so much success with people finding me via my website and my family blogs.

Don't forget that Paul Milner one of the international speakers on the cruise is doing a British Isles genealogy tour to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra so you may be able to attend one of those if you live close enough to a capital city. I always feel sorry for Hobart and Darwin as they miss these kind of tours and yet they have some of the more wonderful Australian scenery. I could probably throw in just about any major town in North Queensland there too but I guess it is a question of distance and cost recovery. Maybe in a few years, or maybe not even that long, everything will be virtual!

Well I haven't done too much else on the genealogy front except stockpile paper genealogy magazines to read and red flag e-copies I receive so that I can go back and read them. I haven't even kept up with Dick Eastman this week so that's not good! I did take time out to read the National Archives of Australia's e-magazine Memento Jan 2013 and noticed that Shake Your Family Tree Day is on 16 April 2013 (usually it's in February) so put that date in your diaries. I will be in Maryborough (QLD) that week so looks like I'll miss the Brisbane event unless I travel back down.

I may be tempting fate again but I'm going to predict that things will return to normal on my genealogy desk again over the coming week. Happy researching.

Genealogy notes 10-23 Jan 2013 Back to normal

Just as I was getting back into genealogy blogging and interacting with all my genealogy friends on various social media sites, and enjoying it immensely, we slipped back into the big black 'moving' hole. We are out of our caravan and temporary unit and into our new home at last. Overall it's been a good two weeks as I think we will be very happy here but I have to say that I'm disappointed at how much of our furniture was damaged or even totally destroyed and I suspect that happened going into and out of storage for five months.

The removal guys in both Melbourne and Bribie were excellent and so careful and helpful so the damage either occurred during transit or storage. Of course this is also where you enter the murky world of insurance and find out that your understanding is different from their understanding. Of course the company was sorry to hear that we would never use them again but I don't think they are in a hurry to find the missing wheels to our bed, or the missing TV remote or any of other missing items, not to mention fixing/replacing any damaged items.

Surprisingly there was very little damage to boxes that I had packed but then I have had lots of practice at packing over the last decade or so! But Murphy's law was in operation and the only coffee cup to break was the one Max treasured most as it was a special gift from his son. After a mild panic about not finding the filing cabinet keys we remembered we had taken them with us in the caravan which is still parked down at Burpengary. So there was a quick trip back to the mainland and thankfully the keys were there. I'm still slowly unpacking all of the study stuff and all of my books! After a week we still don't have TV, seems we need a booster whatever that is but the TV technician will be here tomorrow. But after a day of unpacking and racing around we are usually too tired to watch anything anyway but I do miss the news and weather.

Our stuff was only in storage for five months but even within that time it gets a musty smell so although people say sell first and then buy a new place, I think that only works if it is done quickly. In our case the house sold quicker than expected and before we even knew where we were going! However now that we live in Paradise I can't see us moving any time soon!

So now back to my genealogy world - during all this chaos I still managed to write Part 7 of Missing Irish Loved Ones Down Under for Irish Lives Remembered so look out for that next month. In just over two weeks  we leave on the third Unlock the Past genealogy cruise so I have to finish two more talks and then just recheck the other nine for any website changes. And thinking of those dates reminded me that I will have to write Part 8 of my Irish series as I will be away when the deadline happens!

Helen the Queensland chair of the Guild of One Name Studies is having a meeting this Australia Day weekend in Brisbane and I would love to attend but I suspect that it will be more unpacking - I would hate to go away on the cruise and come back to cardboard boxes and all that work! The meeting is at a Sizzlers and I don't know what it is with Queenslanders and Sizzlers but I know I'm home!

Helen has also issued a 2013 Australia Day blog challenge and I've accepted so I'll have to give myself a wee break time to do that. It's on first ancestors here but I've already written about mine in other blogs so I'm picking my two Cornish ancestors to write about. Hopefully those files will surface before the weekend is over.

We've been asked to repeat the Queensland Family History Society February seminar on online newspapers and Trove out at Chinchilla so that will be a good opportunity to visit Miles which is where Max's parents met during World War 2. His dad was in the army and his mother in the air force. Max hasn't been out that way before so it will be a nice opportunity to do some touring in south western Queensland.

Well I'd better get back to the unpacking but I thought I should let everyone know that the move is over and we survived and things are heading back to normal! Until next time.

Genealogy notes 8-9 Jan 2013 blogging awards

Well this morning we woke up to a blanket of smoke as the Bribie Island fire is into it's third day but this is the first day where the smoke has not been blowing towards the mainland. It's in the national park so campers have been evacuated and for the moment it's under control with back burning and eleven fire units. The cool breeze seems to have given way to the higher temperatures but we still have quite windy conditions.

After a brief excursion to the shops I'm now bunkered down for an afternoon of genealogy and working on the last four talks for the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise in just four weeks time. I'm past the half way point with five talks already finished. So far I've still got the windows open and the fan on but I'm starting to look at the air-conditioner.

Yesterday I was honoured to receive a nomination for Blog of the Year 2012 Award and you can read how I was nominated by Geniaus and my response on my website here. As part of the Award I had to nominate some blogs that I thought worthy of the Award and this was hard to narrow down as there are so many good genealogy and family history blogs out there. Also some had already been nominated by other recipients and I always think it is good to spread the encouragement around as I can't be the only blogger who wonders if anyone reads what I write. So be sure to read my response and check out those I nominated and also those nominated by other recipients.

Today's surface mail brought my copy of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly journal which I always like reading. It can be a little US centric but there aren't that many Australian members I don't think. A lot of the articles are quite global and one article that I'm keen to read is Harold Henderson's Genealogy Education on a Shoestring as most of us try to do things as cheaply as possible. A quick scan of the article looks like he is using the internet as a basis which is great as most of us have access to that eithr at home, work or the local library.

I'll finish up this blog on a sadder note as yesterday I made two more loans to the Kiva Genealogists for Families Project started up by Judy Webster and later co-captained by Joan Miller in Canada. The loans were in memory of Joan who lost her fight with cancer last week. If you would like to join the project you can click here and remember to link to the Genealogists for Families project.

Joan was one of the first people I started following on Twitter three years ago as my GGGG grandfather's Carnegie family went to Canada from Scotland and I was looking for Canadian research tips. I also liked reading her Luxegen blogs and we exchanged tweets and emails and she gave me some good advice on locating those Scottish ancestors. So I'm sad to see one of my earliest cyber geneabuddies gone but I'm glad to see so many people have taken the opportunity to take up a Kiva loan in Joan's memory which was at the suggestion of her family.

Tomorrow is the final inspection of our new home and settlement is on Monday then we have to move out of this unit and get ready for the delivery of our two container loads of furniture and other worldly goods on Wednesday. I'm going to be very relieved to see all my books and family history records again. Though I'm not looking forward to all that unpacking. Until next time.

Genealogy notes 4-7 Jan 2012 Reading catchup time!

As I'm still recovering from my recent fall, I've spent the last few days propped up on the lounge surrounded by books and magazines (heaven)! I've managed to finish Children of the Occupation: Japan's Untold Story by Walter Hamilton (his own website dedicated to the project) and my review is here.

I'm now onto Hazel Edwards' Authorpreneurship: The Business of Creativity which is aimed at authors and so far it looks like it was almost written for me and other similar writers.I think I'm going to learn a lot from this book. Stay tuned for a review soon.

Every so often our surface mail catches up with us (only one more week till we move into our new house and no more delayed mail). This time I was especially pleased to see the latest issue of Inside History Magazine which includes an article I wrote Crime Does Pay: At Least in Genealogy It Does which is all about having criminal ancestors. It's almost hard to believe that this is Issue 14, seems like only yesterday Cassie was talking to us about starting it up! There's lots of other great articles so that kept me happily entertained for a few hours.

My January 2013 issue of Australian Family Tree Connections also arrived and that's always good for finding out what talks and other events are coming up. It was also good to see in Letters to the Editor AFFHO seeking feedback on my article about making changes to National Family History Week and also advertising the Nick Vine Hall Awards. All genealogy and family history societies should consider entering their journals - after all you can't win it if you aren't in it!

My old printer up and died the other day so I had to install a new printer. This one is wi fi so we can use it in the caravan when we are travelling or according to the literature I can also send print jobs to it via my phone or iPad. All sounds very futuristic to me but at least I can print in the kitchen while writing this in the lounge room.

I was at a bit of a loss on Sunday afternoon when Trove was down (thankfully back up again today) so I started to look at some of the websites listed in the Top 100 Genealogy Websites for 2013 according to Genealogy in Time Magazine. This is UK/US centric so you won't find Trove and other good Australian sites on it but it is still worth a browse. Some of my favourites are there and some I'm familiar with it but don't visit often, and then I'm amazed at how much new information has been added since last time. The internet is great for genealogy and family history but keeping up with it is almost impossible.

Well time to get back to that reading so until next time, happy ancestor hunting!

Genealogy notes - 1-3 Jan 2013 Blogs & other things

I'm starting the New Year well with several days of genealogy related activities. It's after the festive season and still two weeks before we move into our new home so I've been indulging myself while the other half has been fishing and motorbike riding. With all that peace and quiet I've been catching up with some of my favourite bloggers. I was really impressed with Chris Paton's genealogy review of 2012 in three parts (go into his 2012 archive to locate them) and I was surprised at how much I missed not being online every day. Still I wouldn't have missed all that travelling for anything but there must be a way to balance the two!

I totally missed contributing to Cassmob and Alona Tester's blogging challenges during 2012 so I'm hoping they will come up with something new for 2013 or even a repeat - I don't mind! It's been good reading through some of their challenges and I find you can always learn from what other's are doing or even see how easy it is to tell your own family stories.


Also Kuringai Historical Society celebrated it's 50th blog post and while that probably doesn't sound like a great achievement it's actually quite significant in that Kuringai is leading where all other historical societies should be going in my opinion. Blogs are a great way to tell local stories (same for family history blogs too) without a great deal of effort or expense if you use a free blogger like Google Blogger and then best of all it's searchable by Google and anyone looking for information or events in the Kuringai area can find it and the Society. I won't stay on this hobby horse but I really do think that historical societies and genealogy/family history societies should all be getting more involved with social media outlets so that researchers can find them more easily.

While on historical societies we finally managed to visit the Bribie Island Seaside Museum which is very much set up for the tourist. It is quite modern and spacious (only opened in 2010) and gives an overview of the history of the Island and the various settlements. From my own family history research I know quite a bit of the early history but I wasn't all that familiar with Bribie's role in WW2 so I found that interesting. The Bribie Historical Society meets monthly so I hoping to go along to a meeting but it won't be until April as we will be away for the first two meetings. I hate it when dates clash!

I've made a start reading Children of the Occupation: Japan's Untold Story by Walter Hamilton which was sent to me to review by New South Books last year. Usually I try to do reviews quickly but finding reading time on the road is never easy! I'm actually finding it hard to put down so expect a review soon. I've still got three other reviews  to do and I'm hoping to get them done before the big move in two weeks. Otherwise they won't get done until we get re-organised again! No more moves for me - Bribie is stuck with me!

The other really nice thing is that I have started to do research for a client again and it's one of those tricky research questions. Is it the right family or not? Even more interesting is that it is Irish and spans Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and New Zealand. Are they all related? I think they are but not quite the way they are currently presented but it's an interesting challenge.

Finally I've also got back into blogging this Diary more frequently and I've answered another one of those Geniaus geneameme challenges (although I notice that she is now spelling it GeniAus which is even more clever). I mentioned the Accentuate the Positives 2012 geneameme last Diary entry and since then I have managed to answer (positively) all 20 questions. Read my Accentuate the Positives 2012 geneameme.

I've missed the blogging and the interaction with social media friends by not being online more often the last four months. It's only when you get back into it again that you realise what you are missing out on. So roll on 2013 I'm keen to be more genealogy active again!

Genealogy Notes 25-31 Dec 2012 Sailing in Ancestral Footsteps

Well the Christmas week has gone remarkably quickly and it's now New Year's Eve. It's been a great week catching up with family and friends and I've spent a lot of time reflecting on my Scottish great great great grandparents who oyster farmed here at Toorbul back in the 1870s. We did the sunset cruise on the Bribie Island Ferryman and sailed right past their property which is the first time I've had a good look at it from the water. It still looks like it must have done back then with no development although the land is for sale with a multi million dollar price tag for future development. However the whole of Pumicestone Passage is within a Marine Conservation Park so perhaps that development may never happen.

All I know now is that it was a fantastic trip up the Passage past Toorbul, Donnybrook and Mission Point before we turned around after a spectacular view of the Glass House Mountains at sunset. The whole time I kept thinking that they too must have sailed up and down the passage, fished and crabbed and tended their oyster leases. There's not a lot of people there now and there would have been a lot less back then. It's times like this that I really wish we could travel back in time and meet our ancestors, rather than recreate their lives through various government documents.

The further up the Passage you travel there is less evidence of people and more and more bird life not to mention the lack of noise except for the odd boat or two. Even the dolphins turned up which was exciting for those tourists on board. I'm a bit blase now as we get to see them most days from our kitchen window!

I managed to review and update my genealogy aspirations for 2013 and you can read about them here. I was really pleased with all the comments and encouragement from my blogger friends. Since then my friend Geniaus has thrown out another one of her geneameme challenges Accentuate the Positives 2012 which makes us look at all the positives in our genealogy year rather than all the things we might not have done or finished. As usual I can't resist these, so I will have to put my thinking cap on and see if I can answer her 20 questions (positively).

I've been happily reading Issue 3 of Circa: the Journal of Professional Historians which is an annual publication by the Professional Historians Association of Victoria and the Australian Council of Professional Historians Associations. Each issue gets better and better and there are some great articles highlighting the work of historians today. I've always maintained my membership of the Queensland branch, perhaps I knew I would come back some day!

I've also applied to join the Cornish Association of Queensland rather than renew my membership of the Cornish Association of Victoria. Their meetings are in Brisbane but it's not that far, especially if it's during the day. I'm still fascinated by the Cornish culture and once I get into my new house in January I want to start practicing making the Cornish pastry recipe I learnt at the Cornish Cultural Celebration in Shoalhaven back in October, hosted by the Southern Sons of Cornwall.

My January 2013 issue of Queensland Family History Society's email newsletter Snippets arrived in my inbox this morning so starting a new habit (I hope) I have read it already and noted all the helpful news and hints. Back issues are on their website here. I find with email newsletters and journals I put them into a To Read Folder but then don't always find the time to read them. A bit like the physical To Read Pile which I now have in a wardrobe. So my new habit is always to read/scan something before I file it away. Wish me luck with that one!!

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter is another one that I regularly try to read and if you don't keep up with that on a daily basis it can get away from you. Although a lot of the news is US or Canada related, it is a great way to keep up with what's happening in the genealogy world.

My other regular reads include the UK Lost Cousins monthly newsletter and Irish Lives Remembered which is a much bigger read. I also get the newsletters from FindMyPast and Ancestry to try and keep up with all the new material coming online. That also applies to the enews from Public Record Office Victoria, State Records NSW and Queensland State Archives which are the three main archives I regularly research in.

On the eve of a new year I would like to take the opportunity to thank all my regular readers and to wish them good luck with their ancestor hunting in 2013. Now I'm off to think about that geneameme challenge!

Genealogy notes 8 -24 Dec 2012 - Christmas thoughts

Regular readers will know that we have been very busy buying our new house on Bribie Island and getting ready for move in day on 14 January plus organising ourselves for Christmas this year. To make it all more complicated I had a very painfall fall in the bathroom just over a week ago. I slipped on wet tiles and down I went so this Diary has been delayed and I've spent quite a few hours visiting doctors and getting x-rays. No permanent damage luckily just stiff and sore.

I had thought I might get lots of genealogy reading done but the pain killers seem to put me to sleep which is probably a good thing but it isn't reducing my reading pile by much. I was excited to learn that Inside History magazine has a new digital only annual volume out so I quickly downloaded their app and my copy for a very modest price. I still like reading a paper copy I think but reading it on the IPad was almost as good and easier than trying to read on the laptop.

One thing I did have to finish after my fall was the 6th instalment of my Missing Down Under series for Irish Lives Remembered which is a great free e-magazine for Irish genealogy. All previous issues are available online so you can catch up if you haven't previously seen it.

I was going to review my 2012 genealogy resolutions as I do every year but that hasn't happened yet. It was almost impossible this year to achieve my goals after our sudden decision to sell up and leave Melbourne. I think I need smaller more achievable type goals or break them down into monthly goals. Otherwise I'm never going to get all my old photos scanned, organised and listed!

Happily I did manage to contribute to Cassmob's Christmas geneameme and my contribution is here. I like these kind of challenges as they make you think back and dredge up long forgotten memories.

My seminar with Sue Reid on digital newspapers for the Queensland Family History Society in February is almost sold out which is fantastic. Obviously a popular topic and everyone is keen to get researching in 2013.

I've accepted an invitation to speak on the 4th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise which is going to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart. It is doing two things I've always wanted to do - sailing through Bass Strait and doing a run from Hobart to Sydney (just like the Boxing Day race only in reverse). Plus there are some exciting overseas speakers too so I wouldn't want to miss this one.

Well I've been sitting for too long so it's time to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas with their families and loved ones. I'm spending it with my mother and other family members in Brisbane and it will be traditional as Mum thinks that is the only way to have a good Christmas. I'll just have to have the prawns and crabs on Boxing Day! Take care and enjoy yourselves until next time.

Genealogy notes 19 Nov - 7 Dec 2012 - Canberra news!

The last couple of weeks have been a blur. We moved into the rental unit and carried our stuff up all 27 steps but at least there is more room than the caravan. We finally found our 'dream' house and pending the pest and building inspection on Monday, we will settle on 14 January and then we will have the awesome job of unpacking our two container loads of 'stuff' now in storage in Brisbane. I have found it really hard writing articles for Inside History Magazine and Irish Lives Remembered without easy access to my own research files. It's not all in my database!!

We are getting into the swing of island life and attended the Blessing of the Surf at Woorim last weekend and have been sampling the various restaurants and clubs on the Island. Somehow when you are not in your own home, it seems that you are always on holidays even though we are not! The weather has been hot in south east Queensland but we always seem to have a breeze and are a few degrees cooler than Brisbane. However that didn't prepare me for two days in Canberra where it was 3 degrees in the mornings and snowing on the Alps.

Getting to and from Canberra was a bit of a marathon with the distance and time differences but it was all worthwhile. I attended the first meeting of the National Archives of Australia's advisory committee for the centenary of World War One. They really need an acronym for that! It was good to hear what they have planned between now and April 2014. The main project is a new website and the working title is Wartime Australians which will build on the existing Mapping Our Anzacs website but will include a lot more records than just the service dossiers. There will be lots of opportunities for individuals to input their own stories as it progresses so stay tuned.

As part of the overall briefing we were reminded about the various features of the Mapping Our Anzacs website and also a brief look at their Destination Australia website (which I first heard about back in August at the State Library of Victoria's Family History Feast day - you can hear Mark Brennan's talk here).

One of the hazards of this gypsy life I have been living is that I have missed all sorts of family history news and about a month ago NAA launched their ArcHive project which is where they have digitised accession consignment lists to increase access to collections. There are the usual OCR problems so they are asking the public to help them transcribe the lists (a bit like correcting newspaper texts on Trove) and quite a few people have already signed up. Another worthy project to be associated with and they have prizes!

It was strange being back in the Parkes building and attending a meeting in the Bruce Room and it brought back lots of good memories of my time with NAA - if only those winters weren't so cold! I also ran into a few old colleagues and found out whose doing what these days.

The other meeting I managed to squeeze in during my brief time in Canberra was with the President of the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO) and we chatted about National Family History Week (NFHW) which is in August each year. As the new co-ordinator I have written a discussion paper which highlights some issues and which I hope will get lots of comments and feedback. An edited version has been published in the December 2012 issue of NewsFlash and can be read here.

If you haven't yet liked the NFHW Facebook page you can do so here.

Historic Newspapers UK invited me to trial one of their newspapers so after some thought I selected the date my  GG grandfather Robert White died in Wiltshire and as I like illustrated newspapers I picked one of those. I don't expect to find any reference to him but it is just after the end of World War One and I thought it would be good to see what the news was at that time. The copy arrived quickly and I haven't had a chance to open the box but I might put it under the Christmas tree as a present to myself - I suspect none of the other family members would think of a present like that for me!

With most of January taken up with our move into the new house, I have started to give some thought to the talks I am giving on the next Unlock the Past 3rd genealogy cruise which leaves in February 2013. I'm already excited about going on the Voyager of the Seas as I have seen it on the news and current affairs programs not to mention the newspapers. So that plus the exciting genealogy program lined up means it will be another great trip.

Finally I've gotten behind with my KIVA Genealogists for Families project news because my email program was filing all the updates in the Spam folder. I've got quite a lot of repayments which means I can now take out new loans and help others. If you would like to join the project team click here for my invite link.

With Christmas fast approaching I'm not sure how much genealogy I will manage but at least I can now stop looking at real estate sites. So that must mean some free time! Until next installment, happy researching.