Clogs, Tulips, Windmills

The Powerpoint for my speaking gig  to the Year 1 boys at The Kings School next week is done but I thought I should balance out the family tree of my Grandson who is the case study for my talk.

The GeniAus side of the tree was looking rather healthy but the tree was a bit lopsided. My daughter-in-law has Greek and Dutch ancestry so that was a challenge for me. I tackled the Greek side a few years ago with the help of The Castellerizo Genealogy pages but I hadn't done much searching for the Dutch side. I am not going into depth for these lines but I want basic BDM details that I can source reliably.

I remembered reading somewhere early this year that there was a new government site for Netherlands research and went looking for it today. Wie Was Wie is an amazing site that has transcriptions of Birth, Death and Marriage Records plus Census Records and other Historical Documents. With the help of Google Translate I have been able to build a quick pedigree for D-I-L's Dutch Dad.

Google Translate helped me navigate this site.

I have now moved into the 18th Century on this site and have found BDM dates and occupations for Dutch dad's direct ancestors. The interface is a dream to use.  Haven't got time to write more as I want to see if I can move back another century.

If you have any Dutch connections give this site a try or just take a look for interest's sake.

Bargain Hunter

As my regular readers know I am a sucker for a bargain and I love techie toys. On my shopping expedition today I netted both a bargain and a new tech toy.

The bargain will be useful when I go out on a geneajaunt. I went into The Reject Shop looking for a cheap cover for my new tech toy but came out with something else, it was marked $6 but there was a sign showing that it had been reduced to $4 but when I took it to the checkout I was only charged $2. It's a mesh organiser bag, that has two large compartments, one zippered and one open plus eight small pockets for holding bits and bobs. I have a large laptop pouch that I use for transporting the items in the image below, this ne purchase will help me better organise them for travel.

I am posting this because I thought some of my mates in Australia with $2 to invest might wish to wander down to The Reject Shop and check them out.

The new tech toy is presently on the charger getting a fill of energy for its first encounter with me later this evening. Mr GeniAus' mobile phone has been experiencing difficulties so I generously offered to purchase a new phone and give him my old model. 

Last year I decided that I wanted a Galaxy Note 3 32g because I needed more storage. I also wanted a larger screen so that when I am travelling I can leave my Galaxy 10.1 tablet at home and travel with just a netbook and the large screen phone or phablet. I will be testing this out when I head off overseas next week. I am hoping that the 5.7" screen size will be adequate for short typing tasks and reading some ebooks. 

I had been holding off buying the device bacause of the price but I got a good deal on an unlocked model (there must be a new model around the corner) and, because I am leaving the country, I will get a 10% tax rebate from The Tourist Refund Scheme.

I am wondering if any of my genimates are phablet users?

Excursion to The Other Shire

I live in the Hornsby Shire Local Government Area on the northern edge of Sydney, known as The Bushland Shire about one third of Hornsby's area is public bushland.

On Saturday I will be going on an excursion to Sydney's southernmost Local Government Area, Sutherland Shire which for some reason markets itself as The Shire.  I'll be attending the Heritage Fair hosted by The Botany Bay Family History Society at Tradies in Gymea.

The Fair is being held in a venue with great facilities and there is plenty on the program to amuse and interest family historians. I will be working on the Unlock the Past/Gould Genealogy stand demonstrating the Flip-Pal, providing information on upcoming cruises and events and showing their range of publications.

I hope I can steal away for a few minutes to see some of these other exhibitors:

BOTANY BAY FHS EXHIBITORS

Welcome & Membership table Sales and Raffles  Getting Started Ask for Info English Interest Group Writers' Interest Group Irish Interest Group Scottish Interest Group Family Tree Maker Users' Group Reunion For Mac Users' Group Legacy Users' Group Immigration Soldiers Project Filing Your Records Mapping Family Search Joy Murrin Transcriptions Marilyn Rowan Transcriptions  Turtle Transcriptions Ancestry.com FindMyPast Book Displays Australian States Research OTHER EXHIBITORS  Images 4 U Gould Genealogy Unlock the Past Seniors Endeavour Computer Club   Stampin Up Scrapbooking Port Hacking Potters Spinners & Weavers Calligraphers Jewellery  Cape Banks Family History Society Bankstown Family History Society State Records NSW Biographical Database of Australia Sutherland Historical Society Peter Plowman Books Custom Framers  Flip-Pal Scanners

But that's not all on offer. There is a program of free talks throughout the day:

10.40 am	Peter Plowman, author of Emigrant Ships to Luxury Liners: Postwar Migrant Ships
11.40 am	Joy & Allan Murrin, NSW BDM Transcription Agents: The Best of Times for Family History Research
12.40 pm	Maree McKinley, BBFHS Member - Writers' Interest Group Convenor Writing Your Family History
1.40 pm	Gail Davis, NSW State Records What's in the Archives for Family History?
2.40 pm	Helen McDonald, Local Studies Librarian, Sutherland Shire Libraries Local History Resources in our Libraries

How about popping down to Gymea on Saturday and saying G'day? 

Trove Tuesday - A day out with her sisters

Today is one of my schoolfriends birthdays. When I was writing a birthday message on her Facebook timeline I noticed among the images on her page a clipping from an Australian Women's Weekly in 1958.  One of the family members had commented that she wished the family had a better copy of the article that featured my friend, her four sisters and their Mum.

I wondered if they knew of Trove and if the quality of the image available there was better than what the family had. I first tried a search to find the advertisement but drew a a blank. As I had the date of the publication I then browsed through the pages (and had a meander down memory lane) until I found on Page 51 the advertisement I was looking for. The quality of the online article is so much clearer than that which my friend has.

1958 '[No heading].', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 3 September, p. 51, viewed 25 March, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4912609

I've now added some tags so that anyone searching for the family will be able to find this article.

Happy Birthday Lee.