Aussie Images

As I cast around for images to use on my blogs and in presentations I want to respect copyright.

State Records NSW recently posted on Facebook some images  from the series NRS 15051 School photos. Of course I followed their link and  found some charming old images of  schools my parents attended.  I then did a further search for some family related towns and localities via The Photo Investigator Search and found a load of images that would enhance my writing.

When I saw the note "Reproduction rights: State Records NSW"  on the images I thought "Oh, bother" I can't use them legally.  Then I noticed at the bottom of the pages a Menu item "Copyright". I am so pleased that I followed the link.

I'm no lawyer but after reading their Copyright statement I believe I can use the above mentioned images if I append the description required by State Records NSW ie "© State of New South Wales through the State Records Authority of NSW".

You can read the Copyright Statement for yourself here http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/about-us/copyright-policy.

I am enhancing this post with a photo from the collection. I chose it because it is of a family group  in a rural setting going to school in 1929 and that is how my father and his siblings travelled to school at Bangaroo about that time. It would be perfect to illustrate a post about the Curry Children's school days.

This photo is described thus on the website:

Burdett Public School - members of Sid Nash family leave for school

Digital ID:	15051_a047_002044.jpg		Date:	c. 31/12/1929
Format:	Black and white photograph		Size:	160 KB
Source:	Item held at State Records NSW		Rights:	Reproduction rights: State Records NSW

© State of New South Wales through the State Records Authority of NSW

Open Day - State Records NSW (@srnsw)

The Bambino delivered me safely to Kingswood on the western outskirts of Sydney in plenty of time for the open day at State Records NSW yesterday.

It was easy to identify the State Records NSW staff in their red T-shirts. Visitors formed a tidy line at the registration tent where they were issued with their tickets for the talks and tours of the day. That I had brought my tickets and their QR codes along on my tablet proved to be a little bit of a challenge for the lady who helped me but once she got the knack of scanning the QR codes with her iPad we were in business. Perhaps next year the techno-whizzes at State Records might come up with some method of automating the printing of tickets so that the poor people at registration do not have to write tickets out by hand.

As I was bright and early I took the opportunity to wander around the exhibitions and stands that were set up in the grounds at State Records. The first people I came across were from the Australian Ex-military Vehicles Collectors Society. When I asked these two larrikins if they had a website they replied in the negative and told me they were looking for a volunteer to set one up. I took off before I became that volunteer.

I had packed a peanut butter sandwich for my lunch but when I rounded the corner and saw the food stalls I decided to be a naughty girl, ditch my sandwich and buy a gozleme.

When I returned to the gozleme stall at lunchtime and saw the huge queue I realised how wise I had been to pack my peanut butter sandwich. It was yummy.

Further on in a marquee were tables with representatives from a number of relevant institutions and organisations.

The man from Charles Sturt University Regional Archives was impressed but I was already following their new blog.

There were people from the National Archives in Canberra on hand to give advice.

The smiling ladies from the Nepean Family History Society were busy fielding enquiries.

Michelle Nichols from the Hawkesbury Library and Jonathan Auld from the Hawkesbury Family History Group gave me a warm welcome. I love visiting the society for the monthly meetings and listening to the excellent speakers in their program.

The staff from the University of Western Sydney Archives Collection only had to cross the road to take part in the days activities.

FindMyPast Australia were in attendance but their major competitor was nowhere to be seen. 

The delightful Cassie Mercer from Inside History Magazine is a great supporter of family history events.It was lovely catch up with her.

I was able to renew my acquaintance with the members of the Central Coast Family History Society where I presented a talk on blogging earlier in the year.

Another familiar friendly face was that of Heather Garnsey from The Society of Australian Genealogists where I am a member. I parted with a bit of my pocket money at this stand.

I caught up with the group from Wyong Family History Group and was pleased to hear that one of their members will be joining the Unlock the Past's 4th genealogy cruise in February. 

The first talk I attended was "Distant and Dangerous" with Professor Gary Sturgess who read a beautifully written and well researched paper in which he challenged us to think about the ships that brought our early convicts to Australia and the journeys they made as they attempted to travel back to England.

Janette Pelosi, a Senior Archivist at State Records, read us her paper about the "Sentenced beyond the Seas" project at State Records. She explained the scope of the project and demonstrated how one could access it.

For the next session we were lead into the bowels of the State Records building along a corridor past lots of archival storage material to the Digital Preservation area where Peri Stuart and Paul Elliot co-presented "More for Keeps: Digital Recordkeeping". Although they mostly spoke about government records the principles they discussed were relevant to the management of personal digital collections. I found the content of this talk particularly useful.

I spent my long lunchtime looking at the secondhand book sale; I was strong and resisted. I was also pleased to catch up with Judy, a mate from Hornsby Library and another former librarian Judy who was in my course at The University of Technology when I studied for a library degree many years ago. It's amazing how many library types are into genealogy. So many of my former colleagues have the bug.

My prize for speaker of the day goes to Senior Archivist, John Cann, for his talk "Cars, Cars, Cars". I went along even though I wasn't convinced that this talk was for me. John was an excellent speaker who engaged his audience with humour, mystery and fabulous information in two great stories about men and their cars, one a Premier of NSW and one a gangster. 

John told his story without notes; he used his excellent slide presentation as a scaffold to tell the stories. His talk demonstrated that, with some concentrated research and a lot of effort, the resources found at State Records can be put together to tell an amazing story. If you get an opportunity to hear John speak do take it; I note that John will be presenting at Tuggerah Library on a couple of occasions in 2014.

The audience was spellbound by John's presentation.

Last speaker of the day, Senior Archivist Gail Davis, dressed for her talk "I've been working on the Railroads" in a smashing skirt made from transport related fabric. As well as discussing the Railway worker's record series held at State Records Gail highlighted some of the other occupational records that are held in the archives.

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.

A Place of Refuge...

Christine Yeats at Hawkesbury today

....is not what comes to mind when I think of an Asylum but after hearing Christine Yeat's illuminating talk, Tracing Ancestors in Asylums, at The Hawkesbury Family History Group meeting today I have changed my thinking.

Christine, who is recently retired from State Records NSW, focused her talk on accessing patient identifying records from mental health facilities and government asylums in NSW.

After giving a brief history of asylums (places of refuge) in NSW and indicating the classes of people who may have been admitted  Christine told us of some of the records available and showed images of some of  those records.  One particularly grisly case was that of Martha Elizabeth Rumpf; take a look on Trove to see how this poor soul made the headlines.

Christine gave us lots of tips and a handout with many sites to follow up. I know that I have someone who died in the Liverpool Asylum for the Destitute later known as The Liverpool State Hospital and Home so I am going to read this Archives in Brief document suggested by Christine to see what I can find.

Christine suggested that if in your research you come across

• Unexplained absences
• Gaps in employment
• Gaps in birth of children
• Links on family tree who disappear
• Silence when a name is mentioned

you should check Asylum records.

My main takeaway from this session was - If there is an index (any index of names) available check it for your family names.

Should you get a chance to hear Christine talk on this subject grab it.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy – Free Online Genealogy Tools

Week 3 – Free Online Genealogy Tools: Free online genealogy tools are like gifts from above. Which one are you most thankful for? How has it helped your family history experience?

I am stepping up once more to take up the challenge posed by by Amy Coffin on Geneabloggers.


There's no such thing as a free lunch! When applied to online genealogy tools this is not true. Due to the generosity of individuals and institutions we have a number of online tools that enhance our genealogy research.


We often whinge about governments and ask where are our taxes going to so I am going to nominate some resources hosted and developed by government agencies. That governments at all levels are taking steps to preserve our history and heritage and make it available freely is commendable.


The National Archives of Australia has a search facilty that provides access to digitised and hardcopy resources. Many service records from the First World War have been digitised and are freely available here. I have found handwritten letters from my grandmother to the authorities, photos of great-uncles, details of family members going AWOL and medical reports. These records are pure gold. Some immigration records of later arrivals have also been documented. Here I have also found letters and photographs that add richness to the cold facts in my database.


Trove, the online collection hosted by The National Library of Australia is our nation's treasure. Just last week I put in a recently deceased relative's name and was rewarded with two photographs of him.  Trove  is best known for its newspaper digitisation project that is just amazing.


In New South Wales, the state in which I live, the State Records site hosts a number of online indexes that cover immigration, convicts, divorces, deceased estates adn other subjects. The best item I got from these records was a gaol photograph of my great-grandfather from the 1890's taken when he was arrested for a minor offence. This  very clear head and shoulders picture is the only photo I have of him. Trips to the archives after using this search facility has netted copies of land transfers, convict indents, vital records and details of juicy divorce cases. 


An advanced search of Hansard, the record of the New South Wales Parliament, is available online from 1973. Entering one of my unusual family surnames brought back two results. Searching Hansard for people and places mentioned in parliament may yield some surprising results.


On a local government level The City of Sydney Archives has a number of interesting collections. The Newtown Project provides historical information about the Municipality of Newtown. ArchivePix is The City of Sydney's Archives digital photograph bank. 


Other Local Authorities in New South Wales have similar local  projects that are of use to genealogists. Pictorial Canterbury is a photo collection from The City of Canterbury. The Historical Council Minutes Index from Woollahra Council provides information on properties and people in the area. The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader has been selectively indexed by the staff at Sutherland Library. The index can be used to search for articles in the Leader about topics of local interest.


When searching for ancestors we mustn't neglect the  free databases hosted by governments and government agencies. They may not have been designed with the genealogist in mind but they may yield some surprising results.

State Records NSW Open Day

If an organisation is only as good as the people that  work there then State Records NSW must be a mighty good organisation. I was so impressed with all of the staff members I came in contact with at their Open Day yesterday at the Western Sydney Records Centre. Their dispositions were as sunny as the weather that greeted us at Kingswood. Congratulations to all who contributed to the success of this day.

Registration area

Registration package

On arrival visitors were directed to a registration area in the grounds where we collected a folder containing our personalised program for the day, tickets for talks and tours and a a voucher for a free sausage sizzle.


Although there were tours, workshops and seminars I opted to attend the five seminars on offer. Christine Yeats,State Records NSW public access manager,was the MC in the seminar room ensured that all ran smoothly there.

Gail Davis and Fabian LoSchiavo

The first talk "Treasures of the Archives" by Gail Davis and Fabian LoSchiavo from the City Reading Rooms who were dressed in period costume gave an introduction to the archives' collection with reference to some of the treasures held there.Gail told us that "a treasure is something that:

• documents the history of the state,the country, your local area
• brings you closer to the lives, events and times of the past
• is unexpected or a surprise, particularly when you are doing research
• has value because it is collectable
• has to be protected and looked after (insured?)
• documents your own history"

Caroline Ford - Sydney Beaches

The second session was "a User's view of the Archives" in which two presenters related how they had used the archives to gain information for projects. I found the first talk by Caroline Ford more interesting because it was relevant to me, she spoke of Bronte and Maroubra  Beaches where I had lived, Bondi Pavilion where I had worked when it contained Waverley Library's workrooms and Coogee Beach where I spent many summer days as a teenager. Caroline will be publishing a book as a result of her work, that's another title to add to my Christmas list. The second speaker, Nicky, described how she had used archive material  to provide information for the Underbelly television program. The lady sitting near me and I agreed that wewould have liked to hear more about the Archives' materials and see less of the Underbelly film clips.

Directly after lunch the seminar topic was "Old records, new ways – Researching the digital era". In the first half of this session two gentleman discussed NSW historical land records available online from www.lpi.gov.au. Unfortunately due to time constraints they were not able to fully explore their topic.

Richard Lehane then shared the wonderful news that the clunky Archives Investigator at State Records is to be replaced by a new search tool http://api.records.nsw.gov.au/ that appears to be more intuitive and user-friendly then poor old investigator. This tool has a simple search interface into which one types a search term. A list of results appears in three columns the middle of which contains the results while he left and right columns show filters that one can apply to the results.. In a quick trial of the tool last night I found a number of references to family documents that I have not been able to find previously. Another trip to Kingswood is on the cards.

Martyn Killion

In "Family History - Online Resources" we met two lively and engaging speakers who both gave handouts (gold star). Christine Yeats gave an overview of the online resources available from State Records.  Martyn Killion then shared his "10 websites you can't live without" for Genealogy on the Internet. As it's hard to choose 10 Martin immediately added an 11th. I would probably have omitted one of his sites and replaced it with Familysearch. Both of these speakers gave information that would be very useful to the novice family historian.

Anthea Brown and Fiona Sullivan provided us with a ten page handout for which they get a gold star (but couldn't you have cut the white space,saved a few trees and condensed this girls?) for "Dating old photos". They will be providing a link to a .pdf version of this on the Archives Outside Blog. I enjoyed their presentation in which they showed a series of old photos  and showed us how to look for clues from number plates, signs and clothing to date them. I am most impressed on how State Records uses Social Media to connect with the world.

Mick Reid and Bill Oates

I was blown away by content of the talk by Mick Reid and Bill Oates from the University of New England because what they were discussing was news to me. Bill, the archivist at the University, and his mate Mick, an academic, have collaborated to date photos in the collection by studying shadows in the photos. It sounded like hocus-pocus to me but after seeing their demonstration I realised that there was a strong scientific basis to the work. The book which Mick uses contains software with a spreadsheet into one which one enters data about the photo under investigation. The book by physicist Colleen Fitzpatrick is The Dead Horse Investigation is available for purchase online.

I ran into a some Genimates at  the Open Day but missed out on catching up with others.. I was particularly pleased to catch up with Cassie Mercer from Inside History Magazine, Brad Argent from Ancestry and Martyn Killion from SAG but only managed to wave to Allan Murrin from the Botany Bay Family History Society.

Thanks once again to all of the people at State Records for a super day.

School Records in the NSW State Archives

I heard from Neil Chippendale at Hornsby Library today, about their planned October Family History talk. It is advisable to book early for these talks as, at $5, they are excellent value. I'd  love to attend this function but it clashes with Mr. Geniaus' retirement dinner.

School Records

in the

NSW State Archives

a talk by

Emily Hanna

Senior Archivist, State Archives

Wednesday 12th October

6:30pm

at

Hornsby Shire Library,

George Street, Hornsby.

$5:00

To book please phone 9847-6614

For further information phone Hornsby Local Studies: 9847 6807.

Out in Kingswood Country

My trek to State Records at Kingswood last week was most rewarding. As I stated on Twitter " Worth a visit @staterecordsnsw Had a wonderful visit yesterday-found some juicy info in probate packets and divorce papers #genealogy".

Main Reading Room

Microforms aplenty

As it had been a while since my last visit I read all the info on their website before setting out. I would only add "wear clothing with lots of pockets".  One must leave bags in a locker before entering the Main Reading Room. I had a laptop, pencils, wallet, smartphone (for browsing the internet while there) , digital camera and extra battery and SD card (for photographing documents. If I wouldn't have had pockets in my trousers and cardigan it would have been quite a juggling act! If they supplied transparent plastic bags for bits and bobs, like the National Library of Australia does, this would be most helpful.

Pencils only

During the seven hours I spent in the Reading Room I did quite a bit of eavesdropping. I was most impressed with the manner in which the female members of staff on the information desk dealt with requests from members of the public. There was a range of enquiries from basic to complex; all users were treated with courtesy and a genuine interest. These staff members went out of their way to make the users feel comfortable with using the records and gave the impression that each query was important. Unfortunately the one male who worked on the desk at times did not demonstrate the same level of interpersonal and listening skills.

Glimpsing the past at State Records

I can recommend the trek to Kingswood to anyone with an interest in genealogy in  NSW.  The parking is convenient, the facilities good, the staff helpful, the rewards surprising and it's free.

Kingswood here I come....

I had set today aside for a visit to State Records at Kingswood so last night decided to pre-order the documents I wanted to peruse. But it was not to be :-((

Firstly the State Records Website was down: in frustration I tweeted about this and commend State Records for ther reply this morning "staterecordsnsw   @geniaus Oh good. Automatic website updates occur overnight and may affect your browsing session. Hope you have a succesful research day! "

After a short time I discovered that the site was back up. I thought I would read the tips for visiting. I learnt that to look at original documents I needed a current Reader's Ticket. Alas, my  ancient ticket had expired but I was able to apply for a new one online. As I thought this government instrumentality wouldt take a while to process my Reader's Ticket request I gave up on planning for the visit, had a hot bath and an early night. 

Oh ye (me) of little faith!  When I opened my email box this morning there was a message from State Records indicating that my Reader's Ticket was ready for collection. I am now planning to request my documents for a visit on Wednesday (as one needs to give at least two working days notice for retrieval of documents).

Thank you State Records for your prompt feedback and attention to my request. I  look forward to uncovering some family secrets on my visit. 

Family History at State Records New South Wales

It was a real chatterfest at the FindMyPast seminar last Monday evening. While lining up to enter the auditorium I was chatting with some ladies, one of whom mentioned the wonderful resources and fantastic staff at the State Records NSW Office at The Rocks. Two of the other ladies in our group were very interested in this revelation - they did not know about the State Records. I was surprised that anyone researching families in NSW did not know of this organisation, their wonderful online indexes, their searchrooms resources for family historians.

As an introduction to their services State Records NSW have produced this video that is available on youtube. The ladies in line the other evening would no doubt find it illuminating viewing.