World Elephant Day

I couldn't let this auspicious day go by without talking about our family's connections with pachyderms.

As we have no elephant tamers in our family line I took a look in our family album to see if I had any photos of our elephant encounters. As a young shild I visited Taronga Zoo on many occasions and always enjoyed an elephant ride, I couldn't find any photos of myself atop an elephant but thankfully Trove came up trumps with a photo of a bunch of children on an elephant named Jill - I wonder if I ever rode on Jill!!

1950 '[No heading].', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 21 January, p. 12, viewed 12 August, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page5840905

The next tiime I had an opportunity to ride on an elephant was at an elephant refuge in Thailand in 2004.

Mr and Mrs GeniAus in Thailaand 2004

Local Lads

I thought I had blogged about this local resource from Hornsby previously but I can't find such a post. I apologise if I have previously written about this local resource but it is a valuable one that is worth promoting.

The people at Hornsby Library took the decision to publish biographical infomation about the people on the war memorials in the shire in an oline format. I applaud this decision because, unlike a printed work, an online publication is dynamic. As new information about the boys becomes available the site will be updated to reflect this.

http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/library/resources-and-research/local-history/war-memorials

Congratulations to Hornsby Library Local History team for this super resource, You can see it at http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/library/resources-and-research/local-history/war-memorials

An Excuse to visit Canbera again

Prior to my last visit to Canberra in March I consulted the National Archives of Australia catalogue to see what files I could find for some of my indirect ancestors. One never knows what hints and information about one's direct ancestors are hidden in these files.

Unfortunately only few of the files I found were available to order in. Most had not yet been examined (to make sure they do not contain classified information?) so I made several applications for the files to be examined and made available for access.

The Reading Room of The National Archives of Australia is calling me

Over the course of the last week I have received several emails from The Archives that start "Thank you for your application for access to an item held by the National Archives of Australia. The following item has now been examined".  

The messages continue with "If you wish to purchase a copy of this item, select the 'Item barcode' link above and then select the 'Request copy' link on the item details screen. Alternatively, please see How to purchase copies.

You may choose instead to view the item in the reading room where it is located. If so, please contact the National Reference Service at ref@naa.gov.au beforehand and quote the item details above so that the necessary preparations can be made."

As I only live a few hours drive from Canberra I prefer to view and copy the documents myself  than to have a copy made and sent to me. Seeing the original document is more satisfying than receiving a copy.

My next issue is that I must convince Mr GeniAus that we need to take a trip to Canbera soon.

Questions, Comments and Anecdotes

From time to time I like to republish some of my old posts. I have witnessed the behaviour I first wrote about here at local, national and international events over the past year. 

What to do?

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WARNING: This is a crankypants post.

When I was teaching we drummed into our students the meanings of and differences between Questions, Comments, andAnecdotes or Stories. When we were giving a lesson and students interrupted with a question or comment we would respond to them immediately or say we would deal with it at an appropriate time during the lesson; if they launched into a long-winded anecdote that had little to do with the topic under discussion we cut them off with a "sounds like an interesting story, perhaps you can tell us about it later."

What got up my nose on the recent Unlock the Past Cruise (but is not confined to that event) was the lack of manners of adults (who should know better) in the Q&A sessions towards the end of speakers' presentations. Some people asked relevant questions, some offered interesting comments and opinions and some launched into long-winded anecdotes that did little to enhance the subjects under discussion. 

I heard one woman tell the same story in two Q&A sessions and the poor presenters who did not want to be rude let her go on and waste that precious time we had for collaborative discussion at the end of talks.  GRRR! 

The problem is that speakers are generally polite and do not know how to cut audience members off without appearing rude. What to do?

My solution is simple. Please mind your manners and when a speaker asks for questions and comments during or at the end of a session please stay on topic. Most presenters, and especially those on the Unlock the Past Cruise are happy to speak privateyl with audience members after the conclusion of their formal talks. Please, save your stories for post-presentation chats.

Here are some handy definitions:

Question: a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/question?q=question

Comment: a verbal or written remark expressing an opinion or reaction
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/comment?q=comment

Anecdote: a short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/anecdote?q=anecdote

The problem with some of the anecdotes we heard in Q&A sessions on the ship is that they were neither short, amusing or interesting.