Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2014

Emperor Gum Moth

Lovely Jill Ball of Geniaus encourages us to reflect on our achievements again. I am particularly keen to embrace this challenge as today is my blog's third Anniversary - who'd a thunk?


1.  An elusive ancestor I found was

Zip really in this regard but I'm not complaining because it was a very full and productive year all round.

2.  A precious family photo I found was

There were lots of precious family photos found this year on my husband's side of the family.  You can read more about the discovery here.  The important thing I learned was to go through everything carefully e.g. old papers....what might look like crap e.g. old newspaper articles might be protecting something more valuable....

Alexander Duncan and mate

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was

No graves found this year but I did discover that Royston George DUNCAN has no known grave but will be commemorated on several occasions this year at the Australian War Memorial as per this blog post here - one of those occasions was at 1am this morning!

4.  An important vital record I found was

I am very grateful to Jill for pointing me in the direction of probate.  I found out a stack of stuff about my 2nd great-grandmother here.

McLoughlin Family Reunion

5.  A newly found family member shared

My lovely McLoughlin cousins shared so much at our family reunion as per this blog post here.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was

Winning the Qld Passports Index CD published by QFHS at the Unlock the Past seminar held in February as per this blog post here.

I also won a book about British Newspapers as per this blog post here.

I was also surprised and delighted to be nominated again in Jill Ball's and Inside History 50 Best Genealogy Blogs.  

7.   My 2014 blog post that I was particularly proud of was

I've really enjoyed researching my husband's ancestors photos of WW1 soldiers - probably particuarly the ones about Alexander Duncan.  It was such a big story, I had to write it in three parts.  

8.   My 2014 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was

The post that received the most page views was Calling Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart, Sydney and Perth! 633 page views. The blog post that received the most number of comments was my Sepia Saturday post for 8 March about, of all things, backyards!

9.  A new piece of software I mastered was

Ummm...I can't really claim anything here....sad I know.

10. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was

Facebook has probably become more important in my life for keeping abreast of all developments geneawise.

11. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was

Oh so many...see here  On Death and Burial, here for Fortune and Misfortune, here for Inmates, Asylums, Prisons and Hospitals.

I also did a great course on World War Research with Pharos Tutors and Simon Fowler in November.

12. I am proud of the presentation I gave at/to

Hmmm...I don't know that I'm all that proud of it but at least I did it.  I promised to speak to our family history group at the library where I work.  I am worried that not all our resources are as visible as they could be.  I wanted to highlight some that are kept behind the counter for safe keeping.  This necessitated providing a kind of index or table of what was available by location and I hope that this helps our researchers.  

13. A journal/magazine article I had published was

Oh dear....

14. I taught a friend how to

I could probably do more in this regard...I think I helped work colleague Shirley navigate Trove more effectively.  Or at least print articles more effectively.  

15. A genealogy book that taught me something new was

The truth is that I am still wading my way through a plethora of genealogy books - I purchased Christine Rose's Genealogical Proof Standard.  I've borrowed Paul Thompson's The Voice of the Past - Oral History and am reading that in conjunction with the UTAS Open University course on Family History I am currently undertaking.  I am still committed to learning from Shauna Hicks Your Family History Archives.  

Museum of Brisbane

16. A great repository/archive/library I visited was

Finally I got to see the Museum of Brisbane in its new location and was very impressed by their displays.

I didn't visit as many as I would have liked and am determined to change that this year.  

On reflection I just LOVED the exhibition The Lost Diggers of Vignacourt at the State Library of NSW when I was there last year.  It's a travelling exhibition put together by the Australian War Memorial and is truly extraordinary.  Very powerful. It's on until 18 January in Sydney.

17. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was

I read a couple of history books this year: The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport, Pozieres by Scott Bennett, In Tasmania by Nicholas Shakespeare, The Story of ANZAC Avenue by  Merv Ewart and Pat Fairhall and Innocence Lost the Last Man Hanged in Queensland by Jacqueline Craigie.

Caitlyn and Alex

18. It was exciting to finally meet

The Lovely Caitlin and Pauleen!

19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was

Troveia - it was all a bit mad and rushed and my head just about burst trying to stay focused for the evening but great fun was had by all I think.


20. Another positive I would like to share is

We had lots of fun "pimping" our blogs in August as per this post here. It was a good bit of spring cleaning and should probably be an annual event.


So all in all a great year.  

Moth-ra?

And if you're wondering about that photo at the top - I popped it on Instagram
a couple of days ago.  Isn't he pretty?  I researched his family too....it took me a while to figure him out...the CSIRO's website was most helpful.  It was the fourth link down after a Google search using the terms "moths Brisbane".   

I think this is him here.  Those of you who know me well will know that Science is not my strong point.  Meet the Emperor gum moth otherwise known as Opodiphthera eucalypti from the Saturniidae family.  You can read more about them here. Suffice it to say that our friend does not feed after he hatches and has to survive on what he ate in the cocoon.  So he only lives a couple of weeks and has to focus on reproduction.  Makes me feel a bit better about how  much time I have to devote to family history really.