Genealogy notes 5-11 April 2014 talks and travels

My time at the moment is taken up with doing some new talks. Later this month I am giving two talks at the Inverell Family History Group seminar day. One is on researching women ancestors and the other is on blogging, both topics where you can probably talk for hours! Then in May I have four talks - one on Bribie with the local society, one in Adelaide (part of Carol Baxter's research and writing history seminar with Unlock the Past) and two in Brisbane at the Genealogical Society of Queensland's seminar. Details on the Events page of my website.

I often wonder if people realise how much work actually goes into a 45 minute presentation. It is almost like writing an article or a book except you have to do it with less words and still get the message across. I also try to do the presentations so that attendees can go home and try out their own searches. Still it will be good to have some new topics available in the future. Recycling talks makes sense!

I have done another installment of 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014. Week 12 is on Gazetteers and their use in family history. One thing about doing a personal blog challenge is that you soon realise how quickly a week goes and where did those last 12 weeks go? But on the positive side I have done 12 pieces looking at various examples from my own family research and revisited research I last did decades ago.

Time has also been spent doing more articles for Inside History Magazine - I really love working on their 'archives series' as there are so many great places to research beyond the usual suspects. Some of the 'ask an expert' questions they send my way are truly challenging and sometimes I believe our ancestors do not want to be found! I am still thinking about my talk last month to the local historical society on my Carnegie family - why did the security alarm go off twice during my talk? This month's speaker was not interrupted once!

I have made my travel arrangements for the 6th Unlock the Past cruise and we are also going to the Norfolk Island conference so airfares and accommodation booked for that too. Both events are going to be good and next week I am going to do my early bird registration for the AFFHO Congress 2015 in Canberra next March. That is a fantastic program with so many good speakers and presentations.

Does anyone feel that we are starting to live on our phones, tablets, laptops? One of my emails this week was from the British Newspapers Archive inviting me to download their free app so that I can view daily fascinating historical articles, images and adverts on my phone for free. Or you can read these daily stories on their Facebook page! How tempting is that? I simply love reading and searching the historic newspapers  but if I also had access on my phone I would never get any work done but then it could come in handy when sitting around waiting for the doctor. If I don't log on to Trove everyday for a quick search I feel like I am missing something.

We had a very bad storm here last Sunday and we lost power due to trees falling down all over the island. No power meant no charging phones, tablets or laptops so one lesson learnt was keep everything fully charged! Luckily we were only without power for a few hours but dinner on the gas BBQ by candlelight was interesting and we must buy a better torch. As I write this there is a category 5 cyclone bearing down on the Queensland coast near Cooktown and I sincerely hope that everyone stays safe although the property damage will probably be massive. Mother Nature can be very destructive and it is a sobering reminder to us all to make sure that we have our precious heirlooms and research backed up and stored somewhere safe.

Finally I have started promoting National Family History Month and sending out invitations to participate to genealogy and family history societies, archives, libraries and so on. Don't forget to like the Facebook page if you have not done so yet. Happy researching until next time.

Genealogy notes 27 Mar - 4 Apr 2014 National Family History Month Aug 2014

This week I am travelling and it is hard to keep up with things on the road, especially in the caravan. Before we left I was madly trying to finalise sponsorship details for National Family History Month in August as there are only four months to go. As the voluntary national coordinator I have to do all the sponsorship arrangements, look after the website and put the events up in the calendar and then all the publicity and promotion via social media and our sponsors networks. Almost a full time job especially in the last few months before August but it is one way that I can give back to the genealogy community for the fantastic career and life it has given me over the last four decades (almost)!

I have put a blog on my website about progress on NFHM to date - read about it here and note all the fantastic sponsors and prizes. August is starting to look really good and I would appreciate all the help I can get in spreading the word about NFHM in Australia and New Zealand.

It is funny but whenever I travel I seem to receive requests from clients for research yet when I am home it goes quiet. Anyway from this trip I have a couple of research inquiries to look forward to when I get home. Although brick walls, which these two inquiries are, are not always easy to solve, I will at least be able to provide a fresh set of eyes and perhaps ask different questions and perhaps suggest new avenues to look. Always love a genealogy challenge!

My 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 personal blog challenge is on hold this week. I had also hoped to get some work done on my new talks for the Inverell Family History Group Seminar at the end of April but not to be. I was tempted by the Noosa Everglades tour (check out that photo the kangaroo hopping across the water) with The Discovery Group which was a fantastic six hour trip up the Noosa River. The next day the Eumundi markets beckoned and they have to be one of the best markets in south east Queensland. The Noosa Ferry tempted the following day and we toured down to Noosa Heads and Hastings Street and the famous Noosa beach. Not sure what today will bring but it is another glorious day so perhaps a spot of swimming and maybe even some fishing!

Before I finish just an insight into why we should publish our family stories. I wrote an article on film and radio archives in the Jul-Aug 2012 issue of Inside History Magazine with no response. The magazine then reused the article as a guest blog in Jan 2014 which then meant it was searchable by Google. Before we left I received a letter from the UK and it contained information that I had never heard before. A bit of a bombshell for the family I was writing about and I have not mentioned it to them yet as I am still exchanging details with the family in the UK. But without Google and publishing the story online I would not know this information about our family. Stay tuned!
 It will be back to normal next week but in the meantime don't forget to check out what's new with National Family History Month 2014! Until next time, happy researching.

Genealogy notes 19-26 Mar 2014 what's new

Another busy week writing articles for Irish Lives Remembered and Inside History Magazine. We have had a few rainy days recently so I caught up with recent issues of both magazines. As usual there was lots of news and great stories to read and my to do list got bigger. Irish Lives is moving to a new bi-monthly format starting in May/June with no April issue but it is still free online.

My personal blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 continues to progress and Week 11 was Newspapers and the previous 10 weeks were on a variety of topics, all still on my website. I was pleased to learn that Campaspe Regional Library have taken up the challenge.

I have also caught up with media releases from Findmypast.com.au and I was really excited to see that they have just added another 8,000 South Australian records including naturalisations, land owner records, cemetery inscriptions and destitute women. Ancestry.com.au advised in their March update that 900 million records for 27 (or 67 - both numbers are in the media release) countries were added thanks to their collaboration with FamilySearch. Most of the countries are not of interest to me but the numbers are still staggering.

MyHeritage advised they have gone into partnership with Billion Graves (where people can upload images of gravestones) and MyHeritage record matching technology will be able to tell their users is any images match someone in their family trees. The records will be free on both sites and individual and societies are encouraged to contribute. Read more about the project here.

All of the major subscription sites have a wealth of information on them that we could never imagined pre internet days. Not to mention all the free sites such as FamilySearch and the UK Online Parish Clerks. Collaborative projects between all the players is great to see as it makes it easier and better for all family historians and genealogists. The hard part is keeping up with all the new information which is why it is a good idea to subscribe to their e-newsletters or blogs.

Queensland BDMs advised that a full range of historical birth register images is now available between 1906 and 1914. Images for the period 1891 to 1905 to follow. Death historical images are complete except for the period 1953 to 1964. The RBDM historical website features a table detailing the availability of historical images here.

I have accepted an opportunity to speak at the June meeting of  Caloundra Family History Research Inc and it will be good to catch up with friends there as we nearly settled in that area. If I had not decided to spend my birthday on Bribie we probably would have ended up on the Sunshine Coast. I have also done my bookings for the 6th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise and the UTP genealogy conference on Norfolk Island which is in October. Both events should be really good.

When you organise something you should always plan for the unexpected but sometimes it can take you by surprise. Our weekend visit by some members of the Professional Historians Association (Queensland) went very well with some great feedback. We had everything organised by the time they arrived, we had done a dummy run of the tour, pre-cooked the BBQ and had everything set up. We had allowed an hour and a half for the tour around the historic spots of Bribie Island, what we did not anticipate were the number of questions everyone had. Each stop took longer and longer and we fell seriously behind our timetable so much that we had to skip the stop at Bongaree.

Even with that we had lost most of our lunch time and after a hasty BBQ lunch at our place we arrived a little late at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum for a talk by the President of the historical society. Again I was amazed by the number of questions (and I think the President was too). In the conversation afterwards it was mentioned that people are not always tourists in their own home towns and that they may not think that other people's history is of interest  or of benefit to themselves. I think we can learn from these types of get togethers and of course they are also great opportunities to meet new people and network. I am going to make a more determined effort to try and attend similar events in Brisbane (which is after all my own old home town)!

Next week we are having a mini holiday in the caravan. It was going to be work free but I still have quite a few new talks to work on for April and May. I am still waiting to finalise sponsors for National Family History Month 2014 and I had hoped to have all that done before I left.  More news on NFHM in April.

Just as well Max likes to sleep in as I can get lots done as I am an early riser but it gets a bit tricky in the caravan. It is hard to use the keys on the laptop without making a sound and in the dark! Still if we have a quiet weekend I might get more done before we leave. Until next time, happy researching!

Genealogy Notes 12-18 Mar 2014 topographical dictionaries

Last Diary I was nervous about giving a presentation on my Carnegie family to the Bribie Island Historical Society meeting. Well the talk went well and a number of people told me it was interesting but the security alarm went off twice during the meeting. First time was about half way through the talk (was this the family trying to stop me telling their secrets?) and the second time was just as I started taking questions and being told information from those present. A few people said that they could tell me more but it was hard to hear over the security alarm so they promised to email me - I hope they do. First time only security turned up and the second time both security and the police, so it was definitely the end of the meeting.

The next day I went to a presentation at the Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group meeting where a member was giving a talk on 'Build a Family Picture of the Period That One is Researching'. This was all about placing the family into the context of their time and community and looking at timelines so that you know what was happening in the family and in the wider context. The speaker mentioned using Samuel Lewis' Topographical Dictionaries published from 1837-1849 which I remember using at the State Library of Queensland back in the 1980s. Fantastic information on the places I was researching and it struck me that these publications should be online now.

So during the coffee break, out came my phone and a quick Google search later I had located free online copies of both Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionaries. The one for Ireland published in 1837 is on Ask About Ireland and the one for the England published in 1848, Scotland published in 1846 and Wales published in 1849 is on British History Online plus there are lots of other good resources on both websites. I have also added new places to my family history since the 80s so yet another thing added to my to do list. We should always be able to learn at least one new thing from every talk or meeting we attend which is a great incentive to make the effort to attend local genealogy and family history society meetings.

I am still keeping up with my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 and Week 10 is on Occupation Records and I used John Carnegie my oysterman is the main example but there are other useful hints in the post as well. The previous weeks are all on my website if you want to catch up with the challenge.

New Zealand friend Seonaid (Kintalk) has issued her annual ANZAC Day blog challenge and this is something that I have done each year, honouring different military ancestors. As this year is the anniversary of the start of WW1 it would be good to have more people participating.

Another friend and colleague Mark from the City of Sydney Archives made an exciting announcement about the Sands Sydney Suburban and Country Commercial Directories being free online from 1858 to 1933. There are other great resources online as well for anyone with Sydney interests. Quite a few States now have these directories or almanacs online and a quick Google search will find them or try the relevant State Library website.

My final talk for the Moreton Bay Region Libraries it tomorrow at North Lakes and I am happy to say that they have asked me to do some more talks in the second half of this year which is great. I am finding out so much about where we live now! I am also very pleased to announce that they have asked me to be their National Family History Month speaker this year. Details still to be finalised.

Speaking of NFHM I have been delayed a bit trying to finalise sponsors and prize donors but I hope to have the 2014 NFHM flyer out in early April. Then it will be full on trying to promote NFHM and getting as many societies, libraries, archives and so on organising events for August. NFHM is an initiative of AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations) and it is a not for profit organisation and it really does need sponsorship to continue to fund the basic costs associated with organising and promoting this annual event. I am the voluntary coordinator and do this in my 'spare time'. One day I will find out what that is! But getting back to sponsors, if there are any potential sponsors out there please contact me for details.

This weekend we are hosting a meeting of the Professional Historians Association (Queensland). We are giving them a drive around some of the interesting historic features of the Island and I have drawn up a tour guide so hopefully no one will get too lost. My main worry is all the roundabouts on the Island - we only have one set of traffic lights and all the other intersections are roundabouts. After the tour it is back to our place for a BBQ lunch and after weeks with no rain, it is forecast for Saturday! This could make things a little cosy inside as we were planning an outdoor setting under our palm trees. After lunch it is a tour of the Bribie Island Seaside Museum and a talk by the President of the Bribie Island Historical Society. A big day but I am sure I will learn lots more about Bribie and reconnect with all my old PHAQ friends.

A couple of my articles have been published in recent editions of Irish Lives Remembered (free online) and Inside History Magazine (a great sponsor of NFHM and a fantastic magazine which only gets better and better). I have more to write plus some new talks I need for April and a few other priority work items so next week looks like being busy too.

I celebrated St Patrick's Day and my Irish ancestors with a Guinness and lamb casserole and mash. No time to do an Irish blog but I did buy myself the cutest little leprechaun (about 15 inches high, with a green jacket, green boots and red cap and a pint in his hand) and he now resides in the palm tree outside my study window near the bird feeder. Talk about distractions, every time I look up now I find myself starting to think about other things! Until next time, happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 4 -11 Mar 2014 presenting a life story

Well another week over in the blink of an eye! A good part of my days were spent scanning, editing, naming and searching for photos. The end product so far is a Powerpoint presentation of 49 slides (multiple photos on most slides) to show the family at my mother's 80th birthday party in a month's time. It seems so little for so much time spent and it is still not quite finished as there are some gaps I would like to fill. It might have been quicker just to write her life story but then it probably would not be as interesting.

Photos are always more involving than words and they seem to invoke more memories than words. Having smuggled some of Mum's early photo albums and more recent photos out of her house for the project, I am finding that it is also a trip down memory lane for my brother and I. Sorting through all the photos took hours as there was no real order (most were just stuffed into plastic shopping bags) and then there were the frequent stops to remember the times the photos depicted. Both good times and bad times.

Mum's life has been fairly typical and nothing out of the ordinary - she went to school, married, had a family, worked, retired, became a widow, enjoys seeing her grandchildren grow up and has spent the last few years battling ill health. She looks older than her 80 years and I look younger than my years but in some of the photos I found for the early to mid 1970s we could have been sisters, we looked so close in age.

In the presentation I have early photos of Mum and her siblings, there is the engagement and wedding and early photos of my brother and I, then our school years, teenage years, our marriages (multiple) and our children from babies to adults. I also tried to get photos of Christmas for most years but there are gaps for various reasons. I have tried to have photos of everyone at different stages of their lives and I really do think that the family will enjoy seeing it at the 80th birthday surprise party.

Mum never wants a fuss and for those who might think I have just spilled the beans, Mum would never touch a computer and I do not think she even knows anyone with a computer. Which is a shame as I think she would be able to communicate a lot more with her family if she had an IPad, email, Facebook and so on. Anyway I have another few weeks to tie up some loose ends make sure it all flows smoothly on the day.

I am still keeping up with my personal blog challenge, 52 weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014, and Week 9 is on inquest records.  I have been fortunate (in a black humour kind of way) in that many of my direct ancestors and their siblings or other descendants have died in accidents, died in asylums or died suddenly resulting in a magisterial enquiry into their deaths. Witness statements in inquest files can provide some fantastic information so it is always worth following up if you suspect an inquest was held.

There is a fantastic seminar coming up on 11-12 October. The Gold Coast Family History Society is holding Angling for Ancestors and guest speakers are Jan Gow QSM and Graham Jaunay in a full day of talks. I have heard both speakers before so it should be a great day. On the following day there are tours to the Mudgeeraba Light Horse Museum and the Gold Coast Hinterland Heritage Museum, both places I would like to visit. So we have booked ourselves in a for a Gold Coast weekend.

My talk at the Redcliffe Library as part of the Moreton Bay Region Libraries genealogy program went well and a lady came up to me afterwards and said that she had first heard me speak at North Brisbane in 1981! That is 33 years ago and the only time I ever start to think I might be getting old is when people say things like that to me. Or I look at my adult son. One of the nice things about talking in South East Queensland again is that people still remember me so there is usually at least one friendly face in the audience. The final talk is next week at the North Lakes Library.

Just a reminder that the National Library of Australia's Community Heritage Grants 2014 applications are now open and close on 2 May 2014. The grants are provided to assist with the preservation of locally owned, but nationally significant collections of materials that are publicly accessible including artefacts, letters, diaries, maps, photographs, and audio visual material.

I'm way behind with my reading, both in print and digital but on a positive note I have had new family contacts as a result of putting my family stories on my website and using them as examples in my blog series. It is proof positive that advertising your family through blogging works yet at the Redcliffe talk yesterday only the librarians put up their hands to reading or writing blogs. It would be really nice to know how many people went home to check out my blogs and other links I mentioned.

Tonight is my presentation on the Carnegie family to the Bribie Island Historical Society. In some ways it is similar to what I have done for Mum's 80th. It tells the story of the family but I have also included slides on neighbouring families to make it more interesting to a wider audience. Doing this has highlighted some gaps in my research, uncovered new information and made me question some of my earlier assumptions. I had previously written up in draft form the whole Carnegie story but trying to condense it down into dot points and images really does make you focus on critical points. Perhaps this is something I should do with my other families as I revisit my research? Till next time, happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 24 Feb - 3 Mar 2014 - More talks, more blogs

Last week I was on a high because my Diary blog was listed in Randy Seaver's (Geneamusings) best of geneablogs and I am really happy to say that my SHHE Genie Rambles blog on The Future of Genealogy on my website also made his weekly list - details of Randy's weekly list here. I am also pleased because that blog article has attracted more readers than my blogs usually attract so that means it is a topic of great interest to many people. I think it is a great time to be researching family history with online resources and the ability to use social media making it easier than ever. But we should still use standard research methodology and remember that not everything is online.

I have also accepted two more talks. Due to illness of another speaker, I have been asked to do a second talk at the Inverell Family History Group seminar in April. They have asked me to do something on blogging and why you should do it or not. This is a great topic and I am looking forward to convincing them why I think it is a good thing! Unlock the Past have asked me to do a talk on newspapers and their use for family and local history research at a Research & Writing History Seminar in Adelaide in May. This is a seminar being conducted by Carol Baxter over two days with a couple of other speakers as well. Normally I would not go to Adelaide for one talk but we were planning a visit to the grand kids so it ties in nicely with that. Details of talk dates etc are on the Events page of my website.

My personal blogging challenge, 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014, is progressing and in Week 7 Local Histories I showed why it is important to check all information, even if it is published in a local history. and Week 8 was on diaries and how they can give you an image of daily life for our ancestors. I do not have any family diaries in my records, I use other peoples diaries so if you have not considered the idea before, have a look at Week 8 Diaries.

My newspapers talk at Bribie Island Library went well and tomorrow it is Narangba Library on Google Tools for Genealogy. Moreton Bay Region Libraries run a fantastic program of talks for genealogists and family historians in the shire. We went to the exhibition launch for Blood Brothers: an ANZAC Genesis at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum and we will have to visit again as it is quite a substantial place (part of Old Petrie Town) with lots of buildings to see.

The Queensland BDMs have been adding new products over the last few months including the Australian Imperial Force and WW2 images. If you have not had a look for a while, it might be worthwhile to see what the site looks like now. See here for their family history information. They are also conducting a survey to see how they can further improve their services. It is refreshing to see that they actively seek feedback and perhaps more importantly, actually then make changes based on that feedback. If you would like to do the survey, click here.

We have agreed to host a meeting of the Professional Historian's Association (Queensland) (PHAQ) at our place in just over two weeks time. As well as providing lunch we are also giving them a tour around the historic places on Bribie Island before taking them to the Bribie Island Seaside Museum for a talk and tour of the museum. It is a good way for us to become familiar with the Island's history and I am putting together a leaflet in case anyone asks us to do the same again. The Bribie Island Historical Society (BIHS) do have a leaflet but we do not have time to do all of those things plus there are some sites that I want to take PHAQ to that are not on the BIHS leaflet.

My talk at the BIHS is now only a week away so I have visited their room at the local library and checked the database for what they have on my Carnegie and Davis families. I have lots more information so I think that the members will be interested in my talk on the Carnegie family plus I mention the oyster industry and other families in the Toorbul area. It is the first time that I have done a talk based solely on my own family history so I am a bit nervous and hope I don't put too many people to sleep on the night!

This week copies of my two new publications arrived - Tracing Mining Ancestors: a brief guide to resources in Australia and New Zealand and My Ancestor was in an Asylum: brief guide to asylum records in Australia and New Zealand. Both are published by Unlock the Past and are available from Gould Genealogy & History or I have them for sale at my various talks.

With all the talks I have not had too much time for my own research but I do try to do examples from my own research in the talks so I guess that is one way to extend my knowledge of the family a little more. Happy researching until next time.

Genealogy Notes 17-23 Feb 2014 blogging catch up

Another week at the speed of light but then I have written a number of blog posts and continued my talks at Moreton Bay Region Libraries. First up I would like to thank Randy Seaver (Geneamusings) for listing one of my cruising reports in Diary of an Australian Genealogist in his weekly round up of the best of the blogs. It appeared in his best of for the week 9-15 Feb 2014 and I was really pleased to see Cassmob's cruising blog also listed. When I am pushed for time I often use Randy's best of summary to see what I should read and although it is somewhat US centric he does include some Aussie blogs in his readings.

My first catch up blog was Week 6 in my personal blog challenge 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 (it was a week late but with illness and travel one has to be flexible). The topic was Land Records and this is a great area to learn all sorts of things about a family. In my Week 6 Land Records I mention how lucky I was to find personal correspondence from my great great grandfather in his land file giving me details on the family's life that I would never ever have found elsewhere. Week 7 is due tomorrow so if you want to speed up your week, start a weekly blogging challenge!

Then it was my promised overall review of the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise - read about it here. I am already looking forward to my next genealogy cruise which is in October this year! Details here.

One of the sessions that really interested me on the cruise was The Future of Genealogy panel session chaired by Thomas MacEntee. It was thought provoking looking at what has happened in recent years and where we might be in another five years. My review of this session is here.

I gave my Google Tools for Genealogy talk at the Arana Hills Library and it was lovely being met by long time genealogy friend and librarian Alex Daw. The cup of tea was most welcome and the crowd welcoming and interested. This coming week I have talks at the Strathpine Library and the Bribie Island Library - details on the Events page of my website. At least I am getting reacquainted with the Moreton Bay Region again and I have to say it has grown a lot in the 14 years I lived down south!

I seem to have managed to get on the invitation list of the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum and they have a series of monthly heritage talks and I hope to get to some of these. Their next exhibition is Blood Brothers: An ANZAC Genesis and we have an invitation to the launch which should be good. I have lots of families in this area so I am looking forward to seeing the Museum (I don't think I have been there before or not in a very long time).
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Inside History Magazine have asked me to write some more articles on specialist articles and I have agreed to write an online course for the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. I am also hoping to finish my research guide on gaol and prison records over the next few months. So together with my blogs that is a lot of writing.

A few events are starting to be posted in the National Family History Month web calendar so that is keeping me busy too plus I am currently seeking out sponsors for NFHM 2014. Once I have that organised then the flyer can go out and we can really start to promote it.

Part of me is starting to suspect that I have a few too many things coming up in the next few months but I have my to do list and deadlines clearly noted so all should be well. The big distraction is revisiting my research and finding out new and exciting things about my families. I had a big breakthrough yesterday thanks to a Google search but I will save that for another day as I am hoping to hear from someone with even more new information. Happy researching!

Genealogy Notes 11-16 Feb 2014 - last genea cruising days

The genealogy cruise is over and we traveled home safely only for me to have a fall in the dining room. I have spectacular bruises and a few sore spots but nothing broken. However it has meant I am a bit tardy finishing up my cruising reports.

I missed reporting on Maria Northcote's (from Genies Downunder) talk on Using Free Podcasts on Day 4. This was an interesting session but due to a massive failure on Royal Caribbean's staff no one came down to open up the theatre and turn the equipment on. Maria had to give her talk in the dark with the help of a torch and we had to try and view her laptop screen instead of the theatre screen. I would have liked this presentation repeated at another time as it was really dependent on the equipment.

Our bus trip to Port Arthur penal establishment was good and there has been a lot of restoration and interpretation work done since I was last there in the late 1970s. We did not really have enough time to see everything although we raced around the various buildings as quickly as we could. There was a Rootstech presentation after dinner but I was really too tired to attend.

Day 8 was the last day at sea and it was another full program of talks. I went to Jan Gow's talk on how she uses Treepad to organise all her research. Next was Thomas MacEntee explaining Wolfram/Alpha for genealogy which was interesting although US centric at the moment. I need to have a play and see what Australian data is in there.

I skipped out then to attend the Captain's Corner which is where you get to meet the Captain and senior officers and find out interesting things about the ship. For example, it is 42,000 tons larger than the US Navy's largest aircraft carrier and it's ice skating rink doubles as a television studio. The ship weighs more than 70,000 cars or 30,000 elephants and if it were standing upright on it's bow, it would be slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower. For foodies, 105,000 meals are prepared each week (that's a lot of dishes) and 28,000 eggs are used, 8,000 gallons of ice cream, 18,000 slices of pizza, 1400 lbs of lobster, 20,000 lbs of beef, 600 lbs of berries, 1500 gallons of milk and so on are consumed each voyage. All a bit hard to comprehend because when you are on board you actually forget you are on a ship (unless you look outside)!

This session was followed by a history of the Royal Caribbean line and it was an interesting look at the development of cruise ships and trends on cruise ships over the years. We had to miss the end as the group photo was being taken. Due to the size of our group, we ended up having it taken on the Promenade Deck (or the main street) with the photographer looking down at us.

After lunch I listened to Kerry Farmer's talk on DNA and then it was my last talk for the cruise - Lost in Asylums: Missing Ancestors which is the subject of my new research guide My Ancestor was in an Asylum: Brief Guide to Asylum Records in Australia and New Zealand. Available from Gould Genealogy & History along with all my other research guides.

As a cheer up for being sick, Max booked me into a wine tasting and it was a nice way to finish up the day and the cruise. After dinner everyone went to Cleopatra's Needle for the prize draws and Chris Paton's final talk on British Civilian POW's in the First World War. Then there were speaker photographs and final farewells with everyone. The nine days went so fast.

There were other Geneabloggers on the cruise and here is a list that will give you lots of good reading.
Jill Ball – http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/
Pauleen Cass – http://cassmob.wordpress.com/
Maggie Clarke – http://picturethisscrapbooking.wordpress.com/
Kerry Farmer – http://famresearch.wordpress.com/
Kirsty Gray – http://family-wise.co.uk/blog/
Victoria Green – http://campaspegenealogy.blogspot.com.au/
Lee-Ann Hamilton – http://xmastree2.blogspot.com.au/
Shauna Hicks – http://www.shaunahicks.com.au/category/blog/
Tiggy Johnson – http://www.tiggyjohnson.com/
Noeline Kyle – http://familyhistorywrite.blogspot.com.au/
Thomas MacEntee – http://geneabloggers.com/
Maria Northcote – http://geniesdownunder.blogspot.com.au/
Chris Paton – http://britishgenes.blogspot.com.au/
Helen Smith – http://helenvsmithresearch.blogspot.com.au/
Alona Tester – http://www.lonetester.com/
Maureen Trotter – http://www.exploringfamily.com/
Sharn White – http://sharnsgenealogyhints.blogspot.com.au/
Jackie van Bergen – http://jackievanbergen.blogspot.com/

My suitcase handle was broken somehow so that made walking to the train station after disembarking a little more tricky but getting to Sydney airport by train is so easy. Then it was a bit of a wait for our flight back to Brisbane and then we take the Bribie airport service to get home.

I will be doing an overall review of the cruise which will appear on my SHHE Genie Rambles blog (soonish) and I will also be doing a report on the future of genealogy panel session. There are lots of things to catch up on (both genealogy and around the house and gardens) but my immediate priority are my talks for Moreton Bay Region throughout February. Full details on the Events page of my website. So until next time, happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 7-10 Feb 2014 - Days 4-7 still geneacruising!

Well it seems that Diary has recommenced and apologies to all those waiting for an update in Adelaide. I do a lot of travel and there are two things you can not guarantee - one the weather and two, illness. I have become acquainted with a shipboard virus and we are not good friends but I am feeling better than a few days ago.

First up I thought the panel session on the future of genealogy on Day 3 and chaired by Thomas MacEntee was really good (if I can say so myself). There was a change of panelists and as well as myself and Chris Paton there was Mike Murray from WA and Kirsty Gray who seems to be everywhere! So many themes came out of this session and even though I was a panelist, I took copious notes so I plan to write a separate blog on this once I get back home. Stay tuned!

After the panel session we went to the talk and guided tour of the night time sky with Melissa Hulbert so by the time we got back to the cabin it was very late and as a result we slept in the next morning.

Our fourth day was all at sea which meant sessions from early morning to after dinner. Due to the sleep in I missed the first session but made it to Helen Smith's talk on Timelines and how to use them for genealogy. My talk (which was the third for the day) was at 9.40 am was on Mapping Ancestors in Australia. As usual I have put a copy of the slides up on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

Before lunch I attended Melissa Hulbert's talk on restoring family photos using Photoshop Elements. It was an interesting practical talk and the presenter made it look really easy. I suspect that there is a fair degree of practice in there too.

In between sessions I have been having one on one sessions with various people and it is really interesting to see what kind of problems they have with their research. In most cases I can usually suggest a few new approaches or to try even more way out spelling variations. Most people have been extremely thorough with their research and have even brought along copies of their documents to show what they have done so far.

After lunch I attended Thomas MacEntee's session on Cloud Computing which I am basically familiar with but it was good to see how he presented it to the audience who I suspect was mostly not in the cloud. Thomas has a handout for all his talks but it is only for the exclusive use of the cruise attendees. Next was Chris Paton with Irish records online and his handout is on the Society of Genealogists site, under the Learn tab links to WDYTYA 2013. I have to say that Chris has a unique way of finishing up his talks. The slide says "Now if only there was a handy book" and under that images of his book/s on the topic. I think I will have to start doing this too as I completely forgot the other day when giving my mining talk, to mention that I have a new research guide out - Tracing Mining Ancestors: A Brief Guide to Australia and New Zealand - (see handy image)!

I was the after dinner speaker with my presentation on Newspapers Online and it was probably not one of my better presentations as I got sick while still fielding questions down the front. But people were very understanding and I have been grateful for the various tablets that have found there way to my cabin.

The fifth day was Adelaide and I never saw it as I slept most of the day and night. At least Max got to see his son and grandkids while I rested.

The sixth day was again at sea while we made our way to Hobart. Having past the quarantine period, I attended Mike Murray's Ten Top Tips for Tracing Your Hard to Find Ancestors. Mike showed how he drills down into the major databases to make more effective searches. From the panel session the other night I had been surprised to find that Mike does not believe in social media, so it was not surprising to find that he did not mention it here either. However I would have to add it as another top tip! I then gave my Family History on the Cheap talk and did another one on one before lunch.

After lunch we attended the Ice Show (hard to believe there is an ice skating rink on board) which is really colourful and beautiful to watch. But then it was back to the conference room for Thomas MacEntee's sessions on Google Alerts and Google Books. I use both of these but it was amazing to see how many alerts Thomas has and why he sets them up. My final session for the day was Jill Ball talking about Evernote for Genealogy. I have Evernote but I don't seem to use it effectively and I don't sync as often as I should but I can definitely see the potential.

One last one on one session, dinner and then bed, totally exhausted. I missed Jill's Geneareader's circle which was a pity as I usually like attending them. My book to share was Jim Faull's The Cornish in Australia as I am looking into Cornish culture and what made them different from other parts of England.

Day 7 has been a bit of a write off again as I had a bad night and missed all the morning sessions and one on one's I had booked. By the time we docked in Hobart this afternoon I was feeling a bit better so we strolled over to Salamanca Place and around the dock area in the fresh air. Today is a public holiday in Hobart for Regatta Day and the fireworks are due to start in about 45 minutes.

Tomorrow we are still in Hobart and we are booked on a bus trip down to Port Arthur a former convict settlement. It has been years since I was last there so I am hoping for a quiet night and lots of sleep. Then one more day at sea with the last of the conference talks and then Sydney and home. Time flies when geneacruising! The next Diary will not be until after I get home so until then, happy researching.

Genealogy Notes 5-6 Feb 2014 Days 2-3 of geneacruising

It is only Day 3 of the Unlock the Past cruise and I am in need of a nanna nap! In the last Diary I briefly mentioned that I was going to the meet and greet that night so I will start there with this geneacruise account. It was really amazing to see Cleopatra's Needle ( a rather large lounge area on Voyager of the Seas) packed with family historians. It must be the biggest geneacruise so far and I spotted friends from all over Australia. After Alan introduced the overseas speakers and other key people it was photo time. I ended up in the Geneabloggers, Kiva Genealogists for Families, the GOONS (Guild of One Name Studies) and Queensland photos.

I should also mention the first night dinner. Seating is allocated before hand so you don't know  who your dinner companions are until you are escorted to the table. Two old friends from the Gold Coast Family History Society were already at our table, always nice to see smiling faces, then we were joined by a couple from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, one of our favourite places and then a lady I knew from Wodonga in Victoria joined us. The 8th place was vacant so we are not sure if someone is there or it is vacant. Might allow us to ask a person to join us for dinner which would be good.

Day 2 - I was up early to get ready for my talk, have breakfast and be in the room on time for Chris Paton's talk on British and Irish Newspapers which attracted a full house and sadly some missed out. It is the only session where there was just one talk on offer, most of the other sessions have 2 or 3 speakers. As usual Chris gave an entertaining talk as well as some interesting sites to look at. He has a handout online but after something Thomas MacEntee said about his handouts and copyright I'm not going to give out their private links to handouts. I will follow it up with both of them as I have not come across private links before. Mine are always on my website which is public.

I followed Chris with my talk on Follow the Gold: Mining Ancestors which is the subject of one of my new research guides out this month Tracing Mining Ancestors: A Brief Guide to Sources in Australia and New Zealand. For some reason the screen started flickering during my talk (but not for Chris) which was a bit off putting but verbal feedback indicated that people enjoyed the talk and got some useful tips for their own research. As usual I have done a PDF of the presentation and it is on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations.

After a short break I went to Thomas MacEntee's Building a Genealogy Research Toolbox and this was not quite what I was expecting. I realised that I already have a number of toolboxes in Word, Excel, Chrome Bookmarks and Evernote and so on. It is more about how we organise and find all those useful websites that we use on a regular basis. So not the collection of gadgets like scanners, cameras, and other techno bits that I thought would be in a toolbox. There is a handout but as I mentioned earlier, I need to check that with Thomas.

After lunch it was Helen Smith talking on Document Analysis and aside from the flickering screen it was a good session. Helen made lots of interesting points about really reading a document, transcribing it exactly, citation and so on. A lot of it is usual research practice but sometimes in our excitement or haste we forget the basics and years later we will not remember what we did or why. Helen also mentioned two websites I have not come across before - Clooz3 and Evidentia. Both of these help with document analysis so now on my to do list to have a look. I missed the very beginning of the talk so not sure about handouts - something else to follow up.

Next was Neil Smith talking on That Elusive Digger and this was an overview of Australasian military ancestors. It was an interesting talk with snapshots of individual soldiers interspersed throughout the session. Neil also gave the usual suspects for research including the National Archives of Australia, the Australian War Memorial and the DVA Nominal Rolls for various wars. Neil has written quite a few military books which can be found in his online catalogue at Mostly Unsung.

After a short break where I raced up to the 12th floor for a cup of tea and a bit of sunshine, it was back to the 2nd floor for another session with Thomas, this time on Pinning Your Family History. (A trip like that in half an hour makes you realise just how big this ship really is). I got a Pinterest account when it first came out but then realised it was just something else I would have to do and maintain. However, I can see the benefits from Thomas' presentation and it could certainly be used as 'cousin bait' as these sites are searchable by Google.  Other sites mentioned included Google Maps (I have tried this but I could make it much more interesting having seen Thomas' examples), What Was There, HistoryPin and Uencounter.me. Some of these sites were totally new to me which is why it is great having visiting overseas speakers. Thomas also covered copyright and his advice is to use your own images but if the people concerned are still alive then you should also get permission as not everyone wants their image online or it may not be a flattering photo, or it is embarrassing in some other way.

I missed all the other great talks in streams 2 and 3 but hopefully other geneabloggers attended different sessions to me and I will get to read about them in their blogs. The after dinner session was Kerry Farmer talking about immigration and as I have heard Kerry before, we took the opportunity to go to the comedy show in the ship's theatre. On the long trek back to our end of the ship we were a little peckish (believe it or not) so we stopped for some pizza and hot chocolate at one of the little free cafes on the 5th floor or the promenade as it is known.There is always something going on somewhere on the ship.

Day 3 was in port at Melbourne and as we lived here for 9 years we decided to simply stay on board. We tried out the spas and the swimming pool, fell asleep reading on the deck chairs, toddled into lunch and this afternoon I have caught up with emails, Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Tonight after dinner is a panel session on the future of genealogy with myself, Chris Paton and Thomas Macentee so that will give a good cross section of views from Australia, the UK and the USA. I will report more on that next Diary.

Tomorrow is another full day at sea with a fantastic line up of speakers and talks. Stay tuned for an update unless of course, you are one of my lucky fellow travellers on this cruise!

Genealogy notes 30 Jan - 4 Feb 2014 Geneacrusing!

Well the lead up to getting away for the cruise did not go to plan. It is amazing how many unexpected things crop up when you have a tight time frame. There were some things I simply had to do and others had to drop down the priority list.

Top priority was turning up for my talk at the Moreton Bay Region Library at Albany Creek on Monday. Traffic had been heavy and we were a bit later than I had planned. I like to get there early and make sure everything is working but when we arrived there was already a crowd of eager people. The library computer did not seem to like either of my two USBs and with ten minutes to spare the library staff went through a check and reboot of the computer and I was connected with a few minutes to spare! It was a good audience but I was surprised that no one seems to read or write blogs and were not into social media.

My talk was on online newspapers including Trove (as usual the slides are on my website - go to the Resources page and scroll down to Presentations) and again I was surprised that most of the audience are not members of Trove and do not do tags, lists, text corrections etc. However I think a few were going home to try it out. There were a few more signed up for the National Library of Australia's E-resources but not many and some were members of the State Library of Queensland. Again I think a few will be applying for membership. The verbal feedback after the talk was good and a few even told me they will be going to my Google Tools talk too. Always good to turn up somewhere and already know someone.

The other thing I really wanted to get done was my Week 5 Family Stories blog from my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 blog challenge. I really wanted to get Week 6 done too but that just didn't happen but I have brought along some notes to write it while on the cruise (she hopes)! I had planned to write this Diary yesterday but we remembered belatedly it was also our 13th anniversary so an impromptu lunch after the talk had us talking about the good times. Then it was the mad dash home to pack.

It's nice living on Bribie Island but to get to the airport for an early flight we have to leave about sun up, so that means an early start. Again traffic was heavy but we arrived in time for the flight to Sydney. From Sydney airport we then caught their excellent train service to Circular Quay and our first sight of Voyager of the Seas was looking up at it from what appeared to be a very small train station. I am writing this from our cabin which has a view of the Sydney Opera House but it is below us! It is hard to visualise how big this ship is until you see it berthed next to our national icons including the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

So far we have said hello to Chris Paton and the Phillips family in the dining room and we met a New Zealand lady on the train in. She is 81 years old and has flown all the way by herself to be part of the geneacruise so we discussed family history over lunch with her. My mum is about to turn 80 years old and we have not been able to convince her to travel to Bribie yet. Age really is a mind set.

In all the cruise excitement, I almost forgot my Canberra trip. The new National Archives of Australia Discovering ANZACS website is looking really good and on track for an April launch. It was great seeing old colleagues from NAA. I also met up with the President of AFFHO to discuss National Family History Month 2014 and that is moving along nicely. It will be all systems go when I get home. I also had dinner with the President of HAGSOC and again it was good to catch up on all the Canberra news. I really enjoyed living in Canberra but it was the cold in winter and the heat in summer that used to get to me. Autumn and spring were my favourite times and of course now living in the tropics means that I will not experience the seasons like that again (unless I travel south).

After I post this Diary entry it is off to the cruise registration desk to let them know I am here, then a look around the ship before lifeboat drill at 5pm. Dinner is booked for everyone at 5.45pm so we will get to meet the people at our table and after dinner we have a Meet and Greet. Tomorrow the sessions start as we are at sea all day. The next Diary will probably be from Melbourne and as we have also lived there, we are not in tourist mode although I do want to see the Victoria Markets again and ride on the free tram. There are lots of Geneabloggers on this cruise and I will try and mention their posts too. Although so much is happening I probably will not get time to read them until after I get home.

So happy researching while I bliss out on genealogy lectures for the next week or so. Until next time.

Genealogy notes 24-29 Jan 2014 - podcasts & blogs!

It is not quite a week since the last Diary but I am now in travel mode! Tomorrow I am heading to Canberra for a National Archives of Australia advisory committee meeting for the centenary of World War One then back to Bribie for the weekend before heading off to Sydney on Tuesday for the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. There will be another Diary on Monday 3 February then every few days while on the cruise as lots of genealogy stuff will be happening!

On 27 January, Marian Pierre-Louis released the genealogy professional podcast interview she did with me earlier in the month. You can read about it and hear it here. It was a first for me to be interviewed by someone in the USA but we managed to find a time that suited us both!

Week 4 Memorial Cards is my blog post in my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 blog challenge on my website and I am really glad that I set myself the challenge. Already I have discovered new information by revisiting some of my older research and seeing what is new, especially online. I am also pleased that a few of my blogging friends are taking up the challenge some weeks if the topic interests them and they have the time.

There are so many good bloggers out there now, you could spend all your time reading and being inspired by others. If you are new to blogging, then Geneabloggers is a great place to find a blog in your area - look under Genealogy Blog Roll in the top menu.

It was great to see that the Claim a Convict website was re-established and it is a remarkable tribute to Lesley Eubel who sadly died earlier this month. Lesley was the original creator of the site and it was taken down when she became ill in late 2013. It is now more interactive so if you have not visited the site for a while, take a look! There are also some great resources and links to other convict sites.

While in Canberra I will be dropping off my speaker acceptance form to the AFFHO Congress 2015 'Generations Meeting Across Time'committee. I have been asked to give two talks at the Congress and it seems ages since the call for papers. A close read of the agreement states that the papers are due by 30 November 2014 (so that they can be published in the Congress proceedings) and that is not that far away! Before we know it we will all be gathering in Canberra in March 2015 for yet another terrific AFFHO Congress. I hope everyone has it in their calendars!

My first talk for Moreton Bay Region Libraries is on Monday at the Albany Creek Library. It is looking at online newspapers for genealogy research and is the first of seven talks over the next two months. I am looking forward to seeing all the libraries in the Moreton Region and hopefully I will even know a few faces in the audience! All the dates and places of my talks are on the Services and Events page of my website. Moreton have a Your History Our History program and there are some great genealogy talks coming up all over the region.

I also finished going through the final proofs of yet another research guide with Unlock the Past. That means I will have two new guides out in February but UTP also has a number of other titles they are releasing at the same time. No doubt there will be some for sale on the cruise and also on the MacEntee/Paton roadshow around Australia but you can also check the ever growing list of titles online here. Actually I just surprised myself - there are 39 titles here already without all the new titles. Given that UTP only started up in 2009 and that my first research guide was also their first UTP publication in 2010, that is a lot of publishing in just a few years!

Finally, I have also been busy scanning photos and documents, naming, tagging and filing which all takes more time than you think. Plus it is a bit boring but essential. I need more rainy days or less interesting distractions! Happy researching until next time.

Genealogy Notes 16 -23 Jan 2014 - blast from my own past

It has been a week of surprises with my brother making a surprise visit which was good as it gave us a chance to start planning the surprise 80th birthday party for our mother. We went through some old photos and starting selecting photos that we want to scan and put together as a slide show - almost a 'this is your life'. Her birthday is not till April so I have some time to scan, arrange and put it all together but the hard part is selecting the photos and it is obvious we have some gaps. Next visit to Mum's I will have to have a sneaky look in the back room to see what I can find in her collection of photos!

Another surprise was that Max and I realised we had been in our new house a whole year and I have to say that went super quick. I downloaded the real estate photos from when our house was on the market (luckily they were still there) as we have made quite a few changes especially to the gardens, driveway and side access. I need to take some new photos so that we have some before and after photos as I am sure we will not remember a few years down the track.

Fortunately I had written, before my brother's visit, my Week 3 Probates (wills and administration) blog post as part of my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records blog challenge before he arrived. Rereading some of my probate files for the blog was interesting because I realised I had not fully appreciated things listed in inventories and what they were really telling me. Items of furniture and lists of personal effects can give us an idea of where and how they lived. I also participated in Cassmob's Australia Day geneameme challenge C'mon Aussie so I am well and truly ahead on writing blog posts as compared to this time last year.

I have been working on my talk for the Bribie Island Historical Society in March on my Carnegie Family from Toorbul and in reviewing all my notes on the family, I am discovering new information and relooking at some of my previous interpretation of the family's history. This will be the first time that I have solely talked about one of my own families so I know it has to be interesting for those not related but still interested in the area in which they lived. Putting the talk together has been a challenge but a great way of telling the family's story. I might even try it for other families just for my own benefit.

I completed the National Institute of Genealogical Studies course on Connecting Families Online. I can proudly say I received 100% on the exam which was a bit of a surprise as some of the questions were a bit tricky and could have been taken two ways I thought.  Now theoretically I have some free time!

My online reading has been Dick Eastman's e-newsletter (and good to see him up and about again), Lost Cousins, Society of Australian Genealogists e-newsletter, Queensland Family History Society's Snippets and e-news from the Genealogical Society of Queensland to mention just a few.

I have been trying to trace down some Spencer descendants for Max and it now looks like there was even a Spencer family connection here on Bribie Island back in the 1930s. So that means that both Max's mother (Burstow and Eldridge lines) and his father's families have connections to Bribie even though his Mum and Dad didn't meet each other until World War 2! It is either a small world or everyone passed through Bribie at some point!

I am heading out to the hairdresser's this afternoon for a new look. Then it will be photo time as I want to update the photo on my website (now quite dated) and the one on my social media accounts is also a bit dated). I am not fond of having my photo taken but 2014 is the year for a new image all round. The last time I was going to do it was Easter 2013, we took the photos then lost the camera. Stay tuned for the new me.

Next week I will be fine tuning my talks for the  Unlock the Past Genealogy cruise and there is a quick trip down to Canberra. I am a member of the National Archives of Australia advisory committee for the centenary of World War One and a key program is their new Discovering ANZACS website. It will be good to see what progress they have made since the last meeting.

Happy researching this week.

Genealogy notes 8-15 January 2014 New Year date changeover & other news

Silly me - I forgot that with the start of a new year, we also see the archives and BDMs changeover their systems. This means new records are released having entered the open access period and in most cases another year to search for BDMs. This can often be the break through that we have been waiting for although in my case, I am still waiting for 2018 as that is when I can apply to see a file on my great great grandfather (100 years access). So have another look, just in case something exciting has turned up for your own genealogy research!

My friend Hazel Edwards has also been busy and has been looking at writing 'non boring junior history' which is all about getting our grandchildren interested in history. In this article in this article in The Looking Glass she explains how she goes about it. I like the idea of real heroes as I have never really been into fantasy heroes, and I believe some of my ancestors fall into the category of real heroes when I think about some of the obstacles they overcame in their lives.

I am still on track with my personal blog challenge - 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records - Week 2 Internal Migration (but then it is only week 2!). It has been really good receiving comments on the blogs and having people suggest other records for the week's theme. So far I have the tips already in my upcoming list of topics but I am sure that as we progress other tips will not be, but they can form the basis of next year's blog challenge!

It has been a week of techno firsts for me. I managed to do an interview for a genealogy podcast via Skype and all will be revealed on 27 January. My new piece of technology allowed me to hear quite clearly by connecting my laptop to my hearing aids and I was actually surprised at how well it went, having had some disastrous Skype chats in the past. I have not heard the interview back yet so this is just based on my impressions.

My other techno first was a Google hangout with friend Geniaus and Unlock the Past about the 4th genealogy cruise leaving in a few weeks - hear the hangout here. I was supposed to participate but could not link into the hangout. However, after thinking it was just me doing something wrong, I found out that others could not link either. So a dreaded technology glitch which can be a nightmare if you are giving a live presentation which is why I prefer to do Powerpoint slides rather than rely on the internet. The other thing about the hangout was that I could hear and see more clearly on the IPad than I could on the laptop so I am not too sure what that means. I guess I will just have to be brave and attend another hangout!

The technology we have available to us now is really simply amazing and I am looking forward to Geniaus' presentations on the cruise as she always manages to introduce me to something new in the techno world. We also have on board another techno master Thomas MacEntee and I suspect he will simply blow my mind with ideas although I will be writing it all down with my trusty pen in my paper notebook (a Luddite to the end, sob).

My National Institute of Genealogical Studies on Connecting Families Online exam is this coming weekend so I had to quickly complete the last modules' exercises and start to get my head thinking about the exam. Just the thought of an exam sends shivers through me, and even at university I had this thing about exams. The last two NIGS courses I did I received a Fail because I did not complete them but that was because, inadvertently, they ended up coinciding with our big move north and life was just too chaotic. I really should re-enroll and finish them. Another thing on the to do list!

The January issue of Irish Lives Remembered is out and has my article on South Australia in it and I have been busy working on Western Australia for the next issue. I have not done too much online reading but I have curled up by the pool with Ancestor from the Genealogical Society of Victoria, latest issues of Australian Family Tree Connections and Inside History Magazine, the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly and the Journal of One Name Studies from the Guild of One Name Studies. As usual every time I read something I jot down things I want to follow up - it is never ending - and I feel a bit guilty when my partner says 'you could spend 24/7 doing genealogy'. I deny it of course, there are other interests in my life like travel and wining and dining, but he may have a point!

I have accepted another two talks for the first half of this year - on Bribie Island (where else) and also at Inverell in New South Wales. Check out the Services and Events page on my website for details.

On a final note, I have been working on National Family History Month 2014 and I am very pleased to say that the website has now been moved to the new domain. This means that you need to change your bookmarks so that they point to the new domain. I have also changed the name of the Facebook page as well so check that out too. There are no events in the web calendar yet but I am hoping that will change soon and I will be following up sponsors to see if I can get them on board again for 2014. Perhaps we might even get some new sponsors too! Make sure August 2014 is in your diaries! Happy researching everyone.

Genealogy Notes 1-7 Jan 2014 - 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 blog challenge

As I wrote last week, I want to get back to some regular blogging on my families and I was toying with doing my own blog challenge to keep me focused. With a bit of effort I have come up with 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 and I even managed to get the first Week 1 blog post done in time for this Diary update. 

What is my blog challenge? Briefly it is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world.

The 52 different types of genealogical records I finally decided on are listed in no particular order (each week will be a random surprise). Anyone is welcome to do all or part of this blogging challenge.  Let me know if you are participating and I will put a link to your post under each week's challenge. 

Read Week 1 Military Medals. Wish me luck with the next 51 weeks, especially when I am travelling (the Unlock the Past 4th genealogy cruise is only a bit over three weeks away and there will be lots to blog about there too!)

I also managed to write up my response to GeniAus' Accentuate the Positive 2013 Geneameme - read my response here.

I have almost finished my talks for the UTP cruise although I will still have to do a quick check of URLs just before sailing as some websites seem to change all the time! I am participating in a panel session with Chris Paton and Thomas MacEntee and we have been given the questions in advance to allow us time to think about our responses. It should be an interesting session with viewpoints from the UK, the USA and Australia. For those not going on the cruise, remember that both Chris and Thomas are doing DownUnder day seminars in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Perth. Not to be missed, although I do feel sorry for those in Darwin as it is the only state/territory missing out. Hopefully they will be reading some of the various blogs that will be written about the cruise and day seminars.

I am sitting here watching a pair of rosellas feeding in a tree just outside my study window and there are a pair of doves foraging on the ground below them. The butcher birds and magpies (and their babies) will be flying in soon too. There are sparrows lined up on the pool fence too. It is a great view and I positioned my desk so that I could look out over the pool, the palms and the orchard but it is a bit distracting! The humidity is building again and there may even be another storm out there. That was the long way of saying I am signing off and going for a swim! Happy researching, until next time.