Family Tree Frog

I must say that it was very difficult to leave my accommodation every morning in Canberra.  I was just in love with University House.  It won the Sulman Award for Architectural Merit back in 1953.  I suspect it is heritage listed. The Queen size rooms are capacious.  The bathrooms have been updated except for the terrazo floors ... and there is a beautiful library....see... So I was very happy with my accommodation and there were lots of other people there doing conferency things too.  It was about a 20-30 minute walk to the Convention Centre which I needed and for which I was grateful, sitting on my bottom for the rest of the day.  And I got to see lots of lovely sculpture as I walked along. Sunday was full on at Congress and I might leave my account of that for another post when I'm not so tired.   Today was spent going to the National Archives, the Australian War Memorial and the Noel Butlin Archives . I didn't find anything at the Na

Can you guess where I am? Canberra..my old home town for the 14th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry. It's a bit chillier than Brisbane...but nicely so. Yesterday I attended 7 sessions. Josh Taylor was first up with a keynote address. Josh is the President of the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the Data Strategy Manager US and Canada for findmypast.  What an engaging speaker he is. He spoke about how to engage 21sters in family history. The answer? Share your stories. Make it social. Next session was with Carole Riley about following the gold. I suspect that my ancestors were at the diggings in some capacity...either digging or profiteering from those who were digging.I learned the importance of investigating place names and going wider in your research rather than just your direct ancestors. Cora Num's session on workplace choices was pre-recorded due to last minute misfortune and Cora's inability to attend in person. W

RSL Museum Redcliffe It's been another busy week at work preparing for the WWI commemorations; working on digital presentations to go with physical display items.  This is a photo of one of the displays at the Redcliffe RSL Museum which is worth a visit. You can have a cup of coffee or lunch afterwards at The Point - which just opened recently; all very swish.  The photos on their website/Facebook page don't really do it justice.  Go and see it for yourself. Today I have been preparing to attend Congress next week and have just ordered some items to view in the National Archives Reading Room in Canberra. In the process I created a template for a form which I have called National Archives of Australia Advance Records Request.  It's for when you are requesting multiple items. Probably someone has already created this template but if you think you might use it in future you can download it here.   I've shared it on Dropbox.  I'm not the world's most advanc

Tee hee!  I can almost smell the Congress now!  Networking cards have arrived from Vistaprint.   And whilst they didn't arrive in brown paper parcels, the links to my requested files arrived from the National Archives this week. They proved very interesting reading but I need the weekend to digest them and work out how best to present the information.   There was no mention of my grandfather but it is definitely around the time he was retrenched from C.A.C.  Stay tuned.

Bells at Port Arthur Aren't these nice bells?  What do you call a group of bells I wonder?  One website suggests a peal.  The bells are apropos of nothing.  I just think it is important to have pictures in blog posts to arouse interest.   Here's a photo of the didactic that is on the display case in case you want to find out more about them thar bells... "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee" John Dunne. Indeed.   And so I look at what I have achieved as we hurtle towards the end of the first quarter of the year. These were my New Year's Resolutions: Review magazines/books on my blog. Go on more genea-adventures Publish a journal article or equivalent. Participate properly in a Google Hangout. Listen to Genies Down Under podcasts. Catch up on Gene TV shows. Report on study I have undertaken Well I have participated in 2 Google Hangouts now - here and here - I don't know whether I participated