#NationalFamilyHistoryMonth Blogging Challenge - Week 4 Celebrate!

 

Week 4 - Celebrate - tell us what you've achieved this month. What talk did you attend during #NationalFamilyHistoryMonth that you thought was brilliant or tell us about the discoveries you made?

This has been a crazy busy month for me.  We've had a lot to do at QFHS and I have been rather distracted.  

But I am pleased that, despite many distractions, I still managed to publish some blog posts - ten if I get this and another one completed today.

I also managed to progress the framing of my father's grandfather's medals.  We're not there yet by any stretch of the imagination.  As someone once said, COVID has a habit of warping time.  It has taken over a year to find someone to scan and touch up and enlarge a very old bad photo of my father's grandfather, get the right ribbons for the medals and find a framer.  Who woulda thought it could take so long???? See this ABS report on Business Conditions and Sentiments which talks about the shortage of employees and supply chain issues in business.  I reckon small business is the hardest hit of all.

I gave a talk at Arana Hills Library on the 12th of August about the Joy of Geneablogging and got to see their lovely renovations, meet some enthusiastic family historians and catch up with old colleagues.

The only talk I managed to attend was at the QFHS Members Meeting on 17th August.  It was Dr Mick Davis AM ASM FPA, Manager QAS Heritage and History, Queensland Ambulance Service talking about the evolution of ambulance patient care, evolving ambulance road and other ambulance vehicles, and the evolution of ambulance education and ambulance pharmacology. It was a fascinating talk on so many levels.  I know how much we love our ambos and what challenges they face on a daily basis but really, when you look back at the history of the service...my goodness, the conditions that they worked under then - the condition of the roads - or lack thereof, lack of proper funding etc.  We are very well served today. If you follow them on Facebook here you can see their #throwbackThursday posts which feature what it used to be like in the old days.  

I bought myself a book - Tracing Your Sligo Ancestors by James G Ryan to help me with my McLoughlin research.  

I recorded lots of material for some videos for a virtual Open Day for QFHS which you can view here, ably edited by the wonderful and very patient Laurie Lee. I also recorded a pop-up talk for NFHM with Jonathan Richards edited by the fabulous Jan Squire which you can view here.

I had a lovely long conversation with cousin Marilyn Sanderson on my mother's side of the family about our common convict ancestor Samuel Taylor. We have been greatly aided in our research by local historians Brian Walsh and Cameron Archer who also have an interest in the area. Cameron looked up the trial record for Samuel Taylor at the Mitchell Library and sent it to us. I found out he was a button maker and possibly had a brother or cousin Joseph.  I'm super excited to have found out a bit more about him.

Alex dressed up to celebrate Jude's 80th

August is a busy month for birthdays in our family - my daughter's birthday, my father's birthday, his partner's 80th birthday, and my two nieces' birthdays. It all happens in August.  

I also had two surprise visits from old friends - one an old school friend from Adelaide and another dear friend who was out from the UK very briefly. 

In terms of discoveries, I guess I pushed my Scottish family a bit further back than I have previously.  I added a new page to my blog called Occupations which I quite like.  It could be prettier but it's getting there.

I'm still keeping up with #52Ancestorsin52weeks which is a small miracle.

I wrote to local historians in Dubbo NSW about my Carrett family and received swift fulsome replies regarding historic buildings. Thank you Macquarie Regional Library!

I loved the Opening Talk that Professor Larissa Behrendt delivered for NFHM on Norfolk Island which you can watch here.

I'm looking forward to the Closing Ceremony next Wednesday and drawing all the prizes.  Have you entered the competition? Have you registered for the Closing Ceremony? Just email jan@jansquire.com or register via the Contact Page on the NFHM website here.

How has your month been?  Did you have any wins family history-wise?