From the Archives - Into the 21st Century with SAG

In the ten years since I penned the post below I have hosted and presented several webinars in the Society of Australian Genealogists Education Program. 

From one session a month in 2011 the Society now hosts several sessions each week, some are presented on the GotoWebinar platform while many are now presented on Zoom which allows for easier interactive participation by attendees. 

For five years I have been a proud member of the SAG Education Committee which assists and advises the staff of the Society with program delivery and development. We regularly host international expert presenters from overseas which provide our members access to learn from geneastars without having to grab a passport and hop on a plane.  Recently the SAG opened up attendance at these sessions to non-members so genies anywhere in Australia and overseas can learn from home. 

Since the Covid19 pandemic hit in March 2020 all SAG events have been delivered online giving members in regional and remote areas opportunities to receive high quality education.  The popular Members' Hangouts during the pandemic have given members an opportunity to socialise and chat while absorbing online tips and shared stories from fellow researchers. I know more SAG members now than I ever did during my many years of membership.

You can access the SAG Education Program here on their website, https://www.sag.org.au/events.

Following is my report of the very first hangout in 2011. Thanks to Heather Garney and Martyn Killion for their vision in launching this impressive program.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Into the 21st Century with SAG

Thursday night, with Captain Heather Garnsey at the helm, I joined around 60 other members  of  SAG (The Society of Australian Genealogists) in SAG's first paid webinar for members. It is so good to see this organisation employing technology to reach out to members.

Thanks Heather for permission to post this image

Genealogists from a number of Australian States and rural and metropolitan areas in NSW joined Heather for the event. Instead of an hour's trip by car to get to SAG in the city I only had to spend a few minutes firing up the computer to get my fix of CGD. For members who live in rural areas getting to SAG for educational events is extremely difficult. Hopefully this initiative will snag a few new members for SAG.

I salute Heather on her competent management of the GoToWebinar software that is used for delivery. She did a great job drivng it while presenting her talk. As SAG are charging $10 for the webinar and, as they should be getting the software for a song (hope Aussie organisations get the great deals available to non-profit organisations in the US), perhaps they could afford to have another person online to support the presenter.

NSW Shipping Records Online was the topic for Heather's talk. Although introductory in nature I learnt a few new tricks from the talk that concentrated on online records at Ancestry.com.au and State Records of NSW.   Added to my todo list is to take a look at these records for the ancestors whose immigration details I found years ago - I should be able to find more details to flesh their profiles. After her formal presentation Heather responded to attendees questions.

Webinars are a wonderful way to present educational and information sessions via the web. I attend on average one per week, this week I have tuned into three. A list of webinars available to genealogists can be found at the Geneawebinars calendar. The SAG webinars are not listed on this site

Future SAG Webinars

It appears that SAG has at least one webinar a month scheduled for the future. Anyone is able to visit the SAG site to find details of these forthcoming educational offerings (scroll to bottom of page) but you will have to become a member to join in.

An invitation to join Heather

Australian GeneaGuru, Heather Garnsey, will be the guest speaker via Zoom on 14th November at The Lake Macquarie Family History Group meeting. As President of the Group I am honoured that Heather will be addressing our Group.

Heather's topic is The Sydney Benevolent Asylum and its triangle of care.

In 19th century Sydney the Benevolent Asylum was a place of temporary refuge for destitute ex-convicts, deserted wives and abandoned children and by the 1870s it was the main lying-in hospital for single pregnant girls. From the 1850s it also forged close relations with the Randwick Institute for Destitute Children and Liverpool Asylum. The surviving records can tell us a great deal about the people it helped.

I have previously heard this talk and learnt so much about the care of destitute people in New South Wales in the19th Century and beyond. I commend it to you.

The Group has allocated 20 spaces for visitors. If you would like to attend please email lakemacfhg@gmail.com. We still have several spaces available for genimates to attend.

An Academic Family?

2019 is a year of travel for Mr GeniAus and me. As we trot around the globe I try to keep up with Geneanews and most days manage to share some Geneagems on my Facebook Page.

I somehow missed the release of the video about The Society Of Australian Genealogists  that I am sharing below. The intended audience of the video was retirees or seniors so those (except for Heather Garnsey) who featured in the video were closer to 80 than 18.

I'm a retiree who volunteers on The Education Committee at SAG and each year present a few talks, webinars and workshops on their Education program.

The Society, however, is not just for seniors. I think that I am the oldest person on the Education Committee! Many of the people who attend my talks are below retirement age and the person at the helm of the Society, our President, Melissa Hulbert, is young enough to be my daughter.

The narrator in the video described the Society Members as an Academic Family,  that sounds a bit offputting and pretentious to me. We members are not all academics we are a diverse community of passionate people and lifelong learners who are keen to discover our roots and share our ancestors' stories.

I'm no artist but I can paint

One of my favourite DNA tools is DNA Painter which allows me to create pretty diagrams as I map my chromosomes.

I came away from the second day of SAG's Lost in DNA weekend with more ideas on how to use this nifty application. But that was not all, my notebook from Sunday's sessions is full of DNA gunnas (things I plan to do).

The day was opened by Heather Garnsey, the Society's Executive Officer. In opening the day Heather shared "Sophie's Story" which Heather said demonstrated that "Family History research was a lot easier before DNA".  Heather also did a marvellous job as MC on this second day. At the other end of the day Melissa Hulbert, SAG Vice-President, thanked all involved in the event and closed proceedings.

Some of the topics on this second day were more advanced than those given on Saturday and I noted down a few things to follow up and a few tasks to undertake:

• I resolved to store the downloaded DNA downloads I have permission to control in a  organised manner and in a secure place.
• I will explore "Family Projects" on FTDNA
• I will subscribe to and explore Tier 1 utilities in Gedmatch this week
• I have a sub with DNA Gedcom but haven't looked at Jworks - something else to explore
• I learnt about Inferred Segments and painting them into DNAPainter 
• I had already tried the Leeds method that was mentioned (It's not for me) but many hadn't heard of it
• I now understand what Timber is - and it's not woody
• Years ago before autosomal testing wasn't widely available I did a MTDNA test with FTDNA and after autosomal became available and I tested put the MTDNA results aside. After hearing Kerry Farmer's talk I am revisiting my MTDNA matches 
• Veronica Williams showed how she used Genome Mate Pro with Evernote. One day I will bite the bullet and spend time with Genome Mate Pro. Perhaps SAG will offer a one day GMP Handson course for dummies like me.
• It was interesting to see how Danielle Lautrec used Excel. She keeps more detail in her spreadsheets than I do, I use Google Drive ot keep track of my matches and have similar fields to Danielle but I don't store all chromosome data in my spreadsheets.
• A highlight for me was meeting up with genimates and geneaheroes like DNA superstar Louise Coakley. Unfortunately I was so busy that I only took a few happy snaps.

Louise Coakley and GeniAus

Smiling faces

Genimates

My brain was severely overworked during the two days of Lost in DNA. I hope that SAG run more sessions on DNA topics in the future.

Cemetery Collections of the SAG

What I now like about the webinars from the Society of Australian Genealogists is that, if one can't listen to the webinar live, one has an option to go back and listen to a recording at a later date.

When this Society first offered webinars one had to listen to them live and I missed a couple that I had paid for because something else came up at the scheduled time. The most recent webinar that I signed up for was Cemetery Collections of the SAG with Heather Garnsey, Executive Officer, speaking about the cemetery records and information that the society has available for members. I had intended listening to this live but when an opportunity to have dinner with some fellow genealogists and Judy G Russell in Sydney came up I ditched the webinar. Soon after the webinar I received an email with a link indicating that I would be able to watch or listen to the program at my leisure in the next few weeks.

I've had an informative and pleasant time this morning listening to Heather give her presentation which reminded me of the treasures that the Society of Australian Genealogists has for us in its collection. Although I have been a member for a number of years I rarely visit the Society in the city but having listened to Heather I realise that it's time for a visit.

I haven't thought much about what the collection might hold for me but I was surprised to learn that there were maps, indexes, photographs, memorial cards, memorial booklets, stonemasons records', funeral directors' records and other cemetery ephemera in the collection.

The value of this collection is that it is an historical collection containing records produced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It includes contemporary records for cemeteries that no longer exist like the Old Sydney Burial Ground and Camperdown Cemetery.

On my CurryAus surname study task list now is a task to search for Curry in the catalogues at the society. A browse of the cemetery records in the Society's library is another job for me.

As I am now able to watch the Society's webinars at a time that suits me I will enrol in several more.  The provision of webinars has certainly added value to the subscription I pay to the Society each year. It was also pleasing to hear Heather say that even more online offerings will be coming from the Society for members in the future.

I have been known to grumble about the fees charged by the Society but realise that these, coupled with the work of an army of volunteers, provide me with access to a very valuable collection.

Rootstech 2015 - a chat with Martyn and Heather

Among the Australian returnees to Rootstech this year were Martyn Killion, Society of Australian Genealogists President and Heather Garnsey Society of Australian Genealogists Executive Officer.

Thanks Martyn and Heather for giving up your valuable time to talk with me and soldiering on with so much background noise. The marvellous tech team from Familysearch, did a super job to make the audio on our interview audible.

Heather was most gracious and did not correct me when I claimed that she came from a library background when in fact her initial degree was in Business.

I was thrilled to be able to give the Rootstech attendees an opportunity to hear of the work of the Society and meet the people who keep it running.

Congress Presenter Interview - Heather Garnsey

When I think of Heather Garnsey, the Executive Officer at The Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) the term "Little Dynamo" springs to mind. Anyone who has met Heather at SAG or at events in the geneaworld will know that Heather is a a bundle of energy who, equipped with warm smile, works tirelessly to promote genealogy in Australia.

If you have not met Heather in person then you will have an opportunity at the AFFHO Congress in Canberra. In the interim please enjoy the following interview responses from Heather, a presenter at Congress 2015.

---

* Are you a genealogist, researcher, historian or representing your organisation?

I’m a bit of each! I’ve been researching my own family history for over 40 years and have been employed full time with the Society of Australian Genealogists in Sydney for more than 30 years.


* I wonder if you could tell us a little about your background?

My fascination with family history fortunately started when I was around 11 years old and I was blessed with parents who encouraged my interest; my mother and I used to enjoy many research trips to the city together where I’d work on dad’s side of the family and she’d do hers as we sat side-by-side at State Archives, the Probate Office etc. I was born in Sydney, educated in Melbourne and then moved back to Sydney in my late teens. My early working life was spent in arts administration (helping tour blockbuster art exhibitions around Australia) before I allowed myself a year off paid employment to do the research required for my Dip FHS. Just as I was beginning to explore getting back into the workforce the SAG asked if I’d like to work for them. I’d knocked them back the first time but decided to see if I could combine a hobby and career – and I’m still there.

My day job doesn’t leave a great deal of time to pursue my own genealogy these days and I’m at the point of trying to draw it all together so I can pass it on to other family members. After I completed the SAG’s Diploma in Family Historical Studies I then did my BA and Masters by external study through the University of New England – the latter allowing me to delve into the intricacies of the Old English Poor Law during the Napoleonic Wars!

* How has genealogy improved or changed your life?

Combining a passion with a career has meant that I tend to live and breathe genealogy. The SAG operates six days a week and there is never a dull moment or much spare time. Aside of the fun I’ve had doing my own research I’ve been able to help others to start their research or climb over a brick wall – the latter especially through the Sydney Benevolent Asylum website I help run in a private capacity (www.sydneybenevolentasylum.com)

* What do you love most about genealogy?

You never run out of ancestors to trace! And if life gets in the way and you put your family history down for a few months to concentrate on something else, those ancestors are still patiently waiting for you when you return.

* Have you previously attended Congress?

My first Congress was Canberra in 1986 and I’ve only missed one since, and that was because it clashed with another genealogy commitment.

* What are your key topics for Congress?

I’m giving two papers – one on how to find those ancestors who seem to have signed up for a ‘witness protection program’ and another about the SAG’s work to preserve NSW parish registers and make them available to researchers.

* How do you think your topics will help the family historians at Congress 2015?

We all have someone in our tree we can’t find and just approaching the search a little differently is sometimes all it takes to find them. And church registers are an under-utilised resource which can help so many people.

* What do you think are the benefits of attending a large conference like this for you personally and for others attending?

It’s a great opportunity to network and to have the chance to say hello to people you only see every few years – and for me personally it’s usually a time to catch up with SAG members and to put faces to email addresses.

* Do you have a favourite piece of advice or a tip or trick you can share with conference attendees?

Be adventurous in your choice of conference sessions – make sure you listen to speakers you know little about or those you don’t normally get the opportunity to hear not just the ‘names’. Conferences should be all about extending your knowledge and moving outside your comfort zone.

Cyndi's Other List

Most genealogists should have heard of Cyndi's List, a huge directory of genealogy resources on the internet. I have been lucky enough to have met Cyndi Ingle in person at Rootstech.

http://www.cyndislist.com/

I am a huge fan of Evernote who is always looking for further ways to further use the product. When I heard that Cyndi was presenting a webinar for SAG members about Evernote for genealogy in National Family History Month I signed up and joined 74 other members and moderator, Heather Garnsey, online for the gig.

If one thinks of Evernote as list of things then this presentation could have been called Cyndi's Other List. Cyndi packed a lot into the allocated time talking at a rate of knots to get through her topic, thankfully she speaks clearly and well. She quickly outlined the structure of Evernote before launching into live demonstrations using her Evernote account.

It was interesting to see the way Cyndi uses Evernote in her genealogy. She uses it heavily for tracking her research and saving resources. I picked up a couple of tips from Cyndi that I will find useful.  I like the way she sets up a folder and saves related stuff into it when she is doing freebie research for friends and that she can then share the bits in that folder to the friend via a link.
I hadn't used the Table of Contents feature and will find that useful for one notebook I have. I was also reminded that one can save notes to different formats - something to explore.

Having grown used to Google Hangouts on Air I found it strange going back to the Goto Webinar platform, I missed the interactivity and video components of Hangouts. The webinar felt like a formal lecture, a "chalk and talk" activity. There was time for five minutes of questions at the end of the lecture, I wish this could have been extended to allow for more discussion. I was lucky to have had a couple of questions answered but I should have asked if Cyndi uses Evernote as an organisational tool for Cyndi's List.

Thanks Cyndi for sharing how you use Evernote and for the handy handout you prepared for us. It was great to catch up with you from downunder.

SAG Anniversary Seminar

Thanks to The Society of Australian Genealogists for hosting the anniversary seminar at State Records NSW in Kingswood yesterday. Dynamic duo, Heather Garnsey, Executive Officer and Martyn Killion, Vice President, did an amazing job of hosting, preparing morning and afternoon teas, presenting,  and selling SAG's wares.

The atmosphere was relaxed as we listened to five presentations and chatted amiably with new and old friend in the sunshine during breaks. I also enjoyed being able to attend an event that was free (for SAG members), that was away from the CBD and where I could park within 100 metres of the entrance.

It's getting late on Sunday evening here but I just wanted to put his quick post up and say thanks to Emily, Heather and Martyn for creating such a wonderful event for us yesterday. If I get some time during the coming week I will share a few of the things I learnt (but National Family History Month is keeping me very occupied).

Heather setting up shop

Emily Hanna from State Records was the first speaker

Martyn did a super job of arranging the goodies

There were plenty of customers for Heather

There were some useful tips in Heather's Basics talk

Martyn gave a polished presentation

I learnt a few things I didn't know about Ancestry

Apologies for washed out photos but I didn't use the flash.

Hornsby Event

I'm sorry that I can't attend Hornsby Library's next family history talk as the presenter, Heather Garnsey, is one of my favourite Australian presenters.

Family & Local History Talks

Stuck?

Try the Society of Genealogists

a talk by

Heather Garnsey

Are you having trouble researching your family history? Heather Garnsey will talk about the Society of Australian Genealogists collections and how they can help, especially the manuscript and family history collections.

Heather Garnsey is the Executive Officer of the Society of Genealogists.

Date:  Friday 9 November

Time:  2:00 pm

Place: Hornsby Shire Library, Meeting Room
          28-44 George Street, Hornsby (entry via Hunter Lane).

Cost:  $5.00

Bookings: To book please call 9847 6614 or email library@hornsby.nsw.gov.au. For more information please call Hornsby Local Studies on 9847 6807.

Into the 21st Century with SAG

Thursday night, with Captain Heather Garnsey at the helm, I joined around 60 other members  of  SAG (The Society of Australian Genealogists) in SAG's first paid webinar for members. It is so good to see this organisation employing technology to reach out to members.

Thanks Heather for permission to post this image

Genealogists from a number of Australian States and rural and metropolitan areas in NSW joined Heather for the event. Instead of an hour's trip by car to get to SAG in the city I only had to spend a few minutes firing up the computer to get my fix of CGD. For members who live in rural areas getting to SAG for educational events is extremely difficult. Hopefully this initiative will snag a few new members for SAG.

I salute Heather on her competent management of the GoToWebinar software that is used for delivery. She did a great job drivng it while presenting her talk. As SAG are charging $10 for the webinar and, as they should be getting the software for a song (hope Aussie organisations get the great deals available to non-profit organisations in the US), perhaps they could afford to have another person online to support the presenter.

NSW Shipping Records Online was the topic for Heather's talk. Although introductory in nature I learnt a few new tricks from the talk that concentrated on online records at Ancestry.com.au and State Records of NSW.   Added to my todo list is to take a look at these records for the ancestors whose immigration details I found years ago - I should be able to find more details to flesh their profiles. After her formal presentation Heather responded to attendees questions.

Webinars are a wonderful way to present educational and information sessions via the web. I attend on average one per week, this week I have tuned into three. A list of webinars available to genealogists can be found at the Geneawebinars calendar. The SAG webinars are not listed on this site

Future SAG Webinars

It appears that SAG has at least one webinar a month scheduled for the future. Anyone is able to visit the SAG site to find details of these forthcoming educational offerings (scroll to bottom of page) but you will have to become a member to join in.

2010 History & Genealogy Expo at Parramatta - Saturday

Was it only four days ago that I retraced Friday's steps to Parramatta for the second day of the expo?

My Saturday started on a high note with  "Immigration from Ireland" by Dr. Perry McIntyre. After my initial shock in finding that Perry, whom I had read about for many years, was a girl not a boy I settled in for a most informative talk. Who said academics were boring? Kerry was the anthtihesis of boring as she spoke with passion and a depth of knowledge on this subject.  Kerry skillfully placed her talk, that was illustrated with images and statistics, in an historical perspective giving us an understanding of why our ancestors left the Emerald Isle. Kerry confirmed that finding traces of Irish ancestors can be a challenge but that with persistence one can sometimes be successful.

A silde from Perry's talk

In my second talk I went on a virtual tour of the treasure of the Mitchell Library with Paul Brunton. In his talk " The Mitchell Library and its collections" Paul,  after giving a short history of the library, focussed on some of the treasures of the library that are not what they seem. He talked about collection items that included, maps, letters, manuscripts, china and artworks. Paul indicated that looking at these old items in current often gave historians clues about social life and conditions of the times in which they were produced. Paul,a polished presenter who gave a talk laced with humour, demonstrated a passion for the Mitchell and its collections.

A 19th century cartoon from the Mitchell

I felt like I had won the trifecta after attending my third talk "The SAG Treasure Chest: how the Society's collections can help you" with Heather Garnsey, SAG Executive Officer. I had heard three competent, passionate and knowledgeable speakers in one morning.

An introductory slide from Heather

In her informative session Heather gave the audience a history of the Society and then outlined the items in the collection and how they can assist with one's research. She indicated the economic benefits of membership for those join up and use SAG's facilities. I am a longtime member of the Society who does not use these facilities nearly enough, Heather gave me a wakeup call.

Heather's conclusion

During the next two sessions I spent time volunteering on the TMG Sydney User's Group table. It was an honour to sit with these enthusiastic people who give of their time and energy so freely to promote the package about which they are so passionate. One thing users need to consider when purchasing software is the amount of support available. Apart from online support from the vendor members of the users group offer their expertise generously through a listserv and regular meetings at SAG.

There is no rest for the wicked so at 2:00 pm I found myself at the back of a crowded room for Chris Paton's talk "Discover Scottish Church records". Chris did his best to liven up this rather dry and confusing topic. My enjoyment suffered as I was unable to see Chris' slides on the screen and  seeing these visual prompts was vital  in following Chris. Additionally, as I could not see I was unable to record any of the URLs to which Chris referred. I hope I can find them in his book.

During the break I purchased a coffee and came across Neil Chippendale, Local Studies Librarian from Hornsby Library, who was scheduled to give a talk. I lamented that speakers had not been giving handouts; Neil promptly produced from his bag those he had prepared. Good on you, Neil, I didn't go to your talk but know that your participants would have been happy to get those notes of yours.

The last talk I attended certainly was the jewel in the crown of a fantastic day. Kerry Farmer presented a talk on "DNA and genealogy". I am scientifically illerate but came away from Kerry's talk feeling as though I had a basic grasp of the concepts she had outlined. Kerry was a calm and competentent speaker who was exceptionally well prepared. At the beginning of the talk she shared a wonderful handout, her many slides were attractive and informative and she made those of us in the audience who didn't have a clue about the subject comfortable enough to ask our silly questions.

Thanks again to the people from Unlock the Past and Gould Genealogy (it's hard to work out which is which or if they are one and the same) for putting together this event.

See my post for Friday's talks  here

2010 History & Genealogy Expo at Parramatta

I had a wonderful time at this event last Friday and Saturday and, after a hectic weekend, feel the need to blog about it. I will probably do a few posts, a general one and one each for Friday and Saturday concentrating on the sessions I attended.

Firstly I want to thank Allan Phillips and the crew from Unlock the Past for organising the event.It was pleasing to that The Australian Society of Genealogists supported the event. Heather Garnsey and her crew from SAG were very busy proferring assistance to visitors right through the event.  Having been a chair and member of conference  committees during my working life I know how much planning goes into staging such an event.

As with  many such events it is not only the formal program that enriches ones experience but the opportunity to meet and network with like-minded people. I was delighted to finally meet a number of online genealogy contacts in person including Kerry Farmer who was my tutor in an excellent  NIGS Genealogy course and Cheryl-Ann who was a fellow class member. I also got to finally meet Shauna Hicks in the flesh after sharing many months of online communication.

Kerry Farmer proffers advice

The program was varied; providing sessions for those who were beginners to those who were old hands at the genealogy game. There was something on offer to satisfy all tastes. It was regrettable that due to a timing glitch Heather Garnsey, especially as she is such a font of information, was told during her talk that she had to cut it by fifteen minutes. Apart from this sessions ran on time with sufficient time to move from room to room.

I attended around ten talks and found that most of the speakers were knowledgeable in their areas of expertise and had a reasonable presentation style. I thought I had chosen wisely omitting a few I had heard befare who weren't quite up to scratch. So over the two days I would only label one of the the speakers as woeful and a waste of time.  You win some, you lose some!

An earlybird waits  for a talk

I was disappointed that most of the speakers did not provide a handout or a link to a site where an outline of their talk could be found.  Kerry Farmer and Neil Chippendale were well prepared with handouts, sadly others were not. It was disappointing that some speakers appeared to use their sessions as infomercials to peddle their publications. Sessions of this type should perhaps be free.

The exhibition or trade fair had a great representation from voluntary and commercial organisations. There were numerous opportunities to part with ones pennies or pick the brains of enthusiastic volunteers. I spent some time working on The Master Genealogist Sydney User Group Table where users of TMG demonstrated its features to visitors. As a new member of this group I am in awe of  ways members have customised this program to suit their particular research needs.

Arriving at the venue and finding a free covered carpark just across the street put me in a good frame of mind for the event. Registration at 8:30 am was a painless process; I received a smile, an envelope containing tickets for the talks I was scheduled for and a goodies bag within a minute or two of appeearing. When I decided to attend an extra talk it was a simple matter to exchange my $5 for a ticket. This organisation was excellent.

The venue was clean and airy with a coffee shop and bistro facilities. On day two I packed some peanut butter sandwiches for lunch to avoid the long queues at the coffee shop. The bistro dinner shared with TMG mates and Unlock the Past staff was hot, freshly cooked and tasty.

As someone who has mobility problems I found the multi-level venue hard to navigate. There was an inclinator for those who needed help to get to the auditorium for the exhibtion but I could not find an alternative to the steep stairs down to two of the seminar rooms ; I am glad that I was not an exhibitor who had to transport boxes of goods for sale up and down the stairs to get in there.

I commend Allan Phillips and the crew from Unlock the Past for bringing this event (and Chris Paton) to Sydney.

Hawkesbury Family History Fair - The Speakers

When I arrived at the fair at 9:00 am I did not know whether I would stay for an hour or two or the  whole day. After perusing the program I decided on taking the day option as there were a number of engaging speakers in the lineup and some of the topics were of particular interest to me.

HFHF Program

After racing up the street to raid an ATM for spending money I parked myself in the front row of the Tebutt room to hear Lindsay Allen from State Records discuss Family history resources for the Macquarie period. In deference to the range of  interests and experience in the audience Lindsay prefaced his short Macquarie talk with an overview of the history, business and resources of State Records and gave pointers to genealogists who may wish to use those resources for research.

Lindsay Allen makes a point

Allen then showed some screenshots from and discussed The Lachlan Macquarie Digital Gallery that  "celebrates Macquarie by featuring iconic documents (together with transcriptions with some interpretation) from the wealth of Macquarie related material in our collection."

Allen then went on to talk about the history and value of The Colonial Secretary's Records and outlined Convict Records that are available to family historians. Allen was a knowledgeable, competent and engaging speaker. He regularly travels around the state giving presentations - details of upcoming talks can be found on the Activities pages of State Records.

Cathy McHardy

The delightful Cathy McHardy, a librarian from Hawkesbury City Library was stunned when the  audience for her talk in the Charles Harpur Room overflowed into the library. Cathy connected with her audience with  a well-structured and pertinent talk on "Searching Land Titles" in NSW. My understanding of this tricky topic was greatly enhanced. Cathy provided attendees with a wonderful handout that will be one of my treasured resources and so useful when I journey into the Lands Department to research family properties.

As the descendant of a couple of Hawkesbury convicts I was  pleased to stay put in the Charles Harpur Room for a talk by Hawkesbury Local Studies Librarian, Michelle Nichols on Researching Hawkesbury Families. By the time she gave this talk poor Michelle, who had been running from room to room all day fielding questions and solving problems, appeared a little flummoxed. Michelle rose to the occasion and gave an interesting talk illustrated by slides with pertinent illustrations of the area. I was encouraged to visit the Local Studies area of the library where I found files on my ancestors in the library's collection. As I had my digital camera on hand I was quickly able to copy relevant documents before taking off to the next talk.

Heather Garnsey

 In a tweet from the next talk I attended I said "Heather Garnsey talking at a rate of knots with loads of fab info at the Hawkesbury Family History Fair". Heather, Executive Officer from The Society of Australian Genealogists spoke on "10 websites you can't live without as a genealogist." Pint-sized Heather who could barely see over the lectern, delivered her talk with enthusiasm. It was obvious from the whispered comments of some audience members around me that what they were hearing from Heather was quite new to them. I loved Heather's talk and delivery style but would probably replace one of her choices!

Heather's Top Ten Sites

Bruce Fairhall

I have been a user of TMG (The Master Genealogist) software for over ten years but am still a novice user. As Bruce Fairhall said in his presentation "Introduction to The Master Genealogist (TMG)" this is a package that can be used "straight from the box" but it is also a very powerful piece of software that is eminently customisable. I was glad that I stayed around for Bruce's presentation that confirmed that I am a novice user. Bruce, who is passionate and enthusiastic about the product gave a live demonstration (much more effective than using screenshots) of a TMG database. I was most impressed by the modifications Bruce has made to the program. Bruce spoke of the TMG Sydney user group that has its regular meetings at SAG. Although I subscribe to the TMG Sydney blog their Yahoo Group and am a fan on Facebook I have not yet attended a face to face meeting. Bruce, you have inspired me to come along.

I had a great day at the fair and would be interested to hear reports of others' fair experiences. I hope to see some reports in the blogosphere or on mailing lists soon.
 

Mosman Council Media Centre: Finding Families: Your ancestors in Australia and how to researching family history records online

Free Event at Mosman Library - Heather Garnsey presents Finding Families

Mosman Council Media Centre: Finding Families: Your ancestors in Australia and how to researching family history records online

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Society Membership

Although I rarely venture into the city I am a member of the Society of Australian Genealogists. I rarely use the Society's facilities. So why am I a silent member?

I hope that, in some small way, my membership dues will support the ongoing work of the Society particularly in its efforts to educate about genealogy and to preserve records related to the genealogy of Australians. I think that, as someone who is interested in and passionate about family history, I should support the premier organisation in my state of NSW that is devoted to that pursuit.

This video of an interview with Heather Garnsey, produced by The Teapot Genealogists, gives an overview of the Society's work and resources.