Going six feet under

Update 9/2/2019

Because of technical difficulties I could not resolve I have unpublished the Wix site mentioned below and replaced it with a Google Site Six Feet under Downunder. Please visit  https://sites.google.com/view/6feetunderdownunder/ and email me links to your favourite indexes.


I just can't help myself.

While preparing for my Six Feet Under Downunder webinar over the past few days I realised that there was no one site that lists all the wonderful resources in Australia that index the names of deceased resting in cemeteries and crematoria around Australia. It would have helped me no end in my preparation if there was a meta site that links to such resources.

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Of course I decided to fill the gap with a Six Feet Under Downunder Website. I must be mad but I hope that the many generous genies around Australia who know of such indexes of  cremations, headstones and burial sites will share them with me so they can be loaded on the site. I will link to free indexes big and small that are available online.

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Please bear with me as I set the site up and add data, it is my first attempt at creating a website with Wix so I'm on a steep learning curve. The site is live but have only added a little data until I get the structure right and work out how to add hyperlinks from the spreadsheets I am sharing on the pages. I will start wiht the sites I shared in the webinar and then add those shared by webinar attendees in the chat log. Feel free to take a look. 

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I need your HELP. If you know of a list not on this site please email me the details and I will add it.

Attendees teach presenter

Before I signed out from the Six Feet Under Downunder webinar this afternoon I took host Geoff Rasmussen's advice and downloaded the Chat Log and Questions Log from the event. I have just sat down and read through all the comments made and questions asked.

When presenting one needs to concentrate on the job at hand so there is no time to monitor the conversation that is taking place concurrently. Thanks to Geoff, a marvellous moderator, who replied to your comments online and provided links and information.

Sometimes one's activities have unintended outcomes, today's webinar certainly did. Firstly I was surprised that so many people tuned in to hear an Aussie grandma spruiking online, I was pleased to hear that people from 18 countries logged on. THANKS to you all. My curiosity is piqued because to me the attendees are anonymous, I wonder who it was that was online from Augsburg, Germany and down the road from me in Newcastle, Australia. There was a good representation from various states in the US, I think all Australian States were represented and our cousins across the ditch in New Zealand had a fair representation. A big G"Day to you all.

Many of the attendees who made comments taught me things I didn't know so the webinar was a learning experience for me.  Thanks to those who provided answers about the content on Tasmanian death certificates that I was unable to answer:

DEATHS

Prior to 1897 particulars recorded were:

Name of deceased.

Date and place of death.

Age at death.

Occupation.

Cause of death.

In 1897 the birthplace of deceased was added.

In 1914 age at marriage and number of issue were added.

I was interested to learn this about Deaths at sea: "When ex-Navy people are buried, the location (GPS / Lat-Long) of the position at which the ashes were scattered is recorded.  Should be able to ask for these through defence records also." and "Queensland death cert for burial at sea of infant ancestor who died while rellies were immigrating to Aus late 1800s include longtitude/latitude so can pinpoint with accuracy location of this sea burial."

I'll take a look at the unanswered questions and will try to answer them in a future blog post.

Thanks to those who provided me with links to online cemetery records. I will add these to my new blog/site Six Feet Under Downunder once I finish setting it up. I'll let you know when it goes live.

You can view the webinar online here for a limited time.

#GenealogySelfie Day - Reflecting

It took me most of the day to snap my #GenealogySelfie.

Reflecting on #GenealogySelfie Day

As the weather was cool Mr GeniAus spent most of his time out in our neglected garden so I had lots of time to spend on two favourite activities genealogy and thinking/reflecting.

I saw a notice for the SAG Genealogy Certificate and thought about whether I should attempt a formal course of study as family history is for me a hobby/passion. Would studying take the fun element out of it for me?

Elizabeth O'Neal's entry, Finding where we belong, in the Rootstech Video competition had me reflecting on my motivation to do family history.  Like me Elizabeth is an only child so the content of her video resonated. Do take a couple of minutes to watch the video.

Lilian Magill's blog post about some of the books in her genealibrary made me examine my collection for similar titles and evaluate my collection policy.

I thought about my involvement as an Ambassador the Rootstech Conference so I planned an event for people from the (Former) British Commonwealth to meet up prior to Rootstech. As I thought about these dinners that have become a Rootstech tradition I realised that through them I have made some great genimates in other Commonwealth countries.

I accepted a new invitation to speak at a Family History Group that is close to my heart but far from my home. I don't actively seek opportunities to speak but a few invites have come my way this month. I have several speaking gigs lined up but I pondered on whether I should keep up this activity. I love sharing my experiences and enthusiasm with fellow genies but preparing these talks takes such a lot of time that I could devote to chasing up my own ancestors.

On my mind all through the day were dead people in Australia and their final resting places. It took me ages to get around to what I should have been doing .... that was polishing up my webinar presentation for Legacy Family Tree Webinars' Australian series next week. I have heard from Geoff at Legacy that there is a healthy amount of interest in my Six Feet Under Downunder presentation. I am so impressed with the professionalism of the Legacy mob and hope that I can uphold their standards.

After my relaxing day of reflection I need to put my nose to the grindstone and finish off my 4 page handout for the webinar.

Calling Members of the Commonwealth at Rootstech 2019

I can't buck tradition especially as Rootstech will be in London, the home of the Commonwealth, later in 2019. 

For the past few years I have organised a very casual dinner for one of the minority groups attending the Rootstech Conference in Salt Lake City. I hadn't done anything about this but Rootstech is less than four weeks away and some of my genimates have been asking about the Commonwealth Dinner.

I am extending this invitation to you, The People of the (Former) British Commonwealth now the Commonwealth of Nations to join us for a casual dinner. Please feel free to bring along your partners etc.

My fellow Australian Ambassador, Sharn White, and I look forward to catching up with our Commonwealth Chums.  If you have other pressing engagements please drop in for a while and say G'day.

Commonwealth folk please accept the following as your invitation. 

You are invited to a casual "People from the Commonwealth" get together

at the 

Blue Lemon, 55 West South Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84111

from

6:00pm - 8:00pm on Monday 25th February 2018. 

RSVP By email to jillballau@gmail.com or via a comment to me somewhere on social media.

As the restaurant closes at 9:00pm please arrive in plenty of time to dine and chat. We will gather at the rear of the restaurant so we won't cause too much disturbance to other patrons. After closing time new found friends may wish to adjourn to a neighbourhood bar to continue their conversations.