That thing where you're heading back to Australia!

I'm delighted to be able to announce that I am to be one of the key speakers for the Unlock the Past hosted event Family History Down Under, in Queensland, Australia in March 2021. Also announced so far as participating are Blaine Bettinger, Paul Milner, Judy Russell and Maurice Gleeson, with more speakers soon to be revealed, for what I am sure will be a superb and fun event! 

The last time I was down under was in 2017, and so I am very much looking forward to heading back - I'm sure we will have plenty to discuss! In the meantime, you can sign up to hear all the latest news about the events from its website at www.familyhistorydownunder.com.

I will hopefully see some of you there! Amd here's a wee intro video... (also at https://youtu.be/8mZGQHz0UKc)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Ancestry-through-Church-and-State-Records-Paperback/p/16848. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Family History Down Under announced by Unlock the Past for 2021

From Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au):

ANNOUNCING A MAJOR WORLD-CLASS GENEALOGY CONFERENCE
Adelaide, South Australia, 3 December 2019

Unlock the Past is delighted to announce Family History Down Under (FHDU) to be held 22-26 March 2021 in one of Australia’s most exciting holiday destinations. This follows on from the highly successful DNA Down Under (August 2019), which attracted 1400 people in six cities across Australia, including 400 at the final three-day conference in Sydney.

The main conference will be over four days – Tuesday-Friday 23-26 March 2021. There will be three main tracks – DNA, British Isles and General/Methodology, plus a fourth track for sponsors and others. Other optional sessions will be offered, including workshops. There will also be a supporting exhibition. A pre-conference day on Monday 22 March 2021 is planned, including, amongst other things, tours to places of interest in the region.


VENUE

The Sunshine Coast Convention Centre and Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort Hotel, Twin Waters, Queensland, is our conference venue.

This is a superb facility at one of Australia’s premier holiday destinations.

• A large state-of-the art conference centre (opened May 2019)
• Stay on-site at the 361 room, 4 star, Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort Hotel — or other nearby hotels
• 7 minute drive from the Sunshine Coast airport and 75 minutes from Brisbane Airport
• Close to numerous tourist attractions, including the world famous Australia Zoo and much more.

Plenty to do before/after or, for your non-genie spouse/partner, during the conference.


PRESENTERS

We are delighted to announce two of seven FHDU headline speakers. The other five will be announced soon!

We invite expressions of interest in speaking, exhibiting and sponsoring the event.

Visit www.familyhistorydownunder.com and join the mailing list to be first to learn of key developments.

Blaine Bettinger — professional genealogist specialising in DNA evidence

Blaine, the best known and most sought after genetic genealogy speaker will be a prominent contributor to the DNA track. He is the author of “The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy” and a number of other books.

He launched DNA Central in 2018, a major membership resource site helping genealogy DNA test takers understand their DNA test results.


Paul Milner — British Isles expert

Paul is an internationally recognised speaker and author on British Isles research. He is the author of a number of books on English and Scottish genealogy with Unlock the Past and other publishers.

Paul has often spoken at events in Australia and on Unlock the Past genealogy cruises. He will be a key contributor to the British Isles track.


Mark the Date | 22-26 March 2021

Visit www.familyhistorydownunder.com and join the mailing list to be first to learn of key developments. We invite expressions of interest in speaking, exhibiting and sponsoring the event.


Unlock the Past

Unlock the Past is the event and publishing division of Gould Genealogy & History (established 1976). It is a collaborative venture involving an international team of expert speakers, writers, organisations and commercial partners to promote history and genealogy through innovative major events, genealogy cruises and publications.

(With thanks to Alan Phillips)


Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Ancestry-through-Church-and-State-Records-Paperback/p/16848. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Unlock the Past in Seattle conference LIVESTREAM

From Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au), news of a forthcoming genealogy conference from Seattle which will be livestreamed:

Unlock the Past in Seattle with Blaine Bettinger and Maurice Gleeson LIVESTREAM

DNA | Irish research | Genealogy and the Little Ice Age | The hidden web: digging deeper

Adelaide, South Australia, 14 August 2018 – Unlock the Past Cruises announces that the Unlock the Past in Seattle full-day two-stream conference (previously announced) will now also be available to watch live online – and for a limited time after as a series of 10 recorded webinars.

Date & time: Thursday 6 September 2018, 9am-5pm (Pacific Daylight Time)

Venue:
– watch in your own home – from anywhere in the world
– attend in person at Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Ave, Seattle, WA

Cost:
– US$65 – Unlock the Past in Seattle Livestream
– US$45 – attend in-person at Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Ave, Seattle, WA
– US$20 – upgrade from in-person attendance to add access all 10 recorded sessions after

The program will feature 10 presentations in two streams – a DNA stream and an Irish/general stream

The presenters (see also presenters page at https://www.utpinseattle.com/presenters/)

BLAINE BETTINGER (USA) – Blaine is a professional genealogist specialising in DNA evidence. He is the author of the long-running blog The Genetic Genealogist and the books The family tree guide to DNA testing and Genetic genealogy.

DR MAURICE GLEESON (UK) – Maurice was voted Genetic Genealogist of the Year 2015 (SurnameDNA Journal) and Rockstar Genealogist, Ireland 2016 (Anglo-Celtic Connections). He runs a variety of Y-DNA Surname projects and organises the DNA Lectures at Genetic Genealogy Ireland.

CYNDI INGLE (USA) – Cyndi is the creator and owner of the award-winning web site Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet cyndislist.com, a categorised index to more than 333,000 online resources. In its first three years, Cyndi’s List was voted the best genealogy site.

WAYNE SHEPHEARD (Canada) – A retired geologist, Wayne now spends most of his time on family history research. This has resulted in the pioneering publication Surviving Mother Nature’s tests: The effects climate change and other natural phenomena have had on the lives of our ancestors.

Details and bookings – www.utpinseattle.com.

About Unlock the Past
Australian based Unlock the Past was established in 2009. It is the event and publishing division of Gould Genealogy & History which has served family and local historians since 1976. It is a collaborative venture involving an international team of expert speakers, writers, organisations and commercial partners to promote history and genealogy through innovative major events and a new publishing brand. It also maintains general and events directories online. Since 2010 Unlock the Past has run over 130 events, including expos, roadshows, regional seminars, history and genealogy cruises around the world – even Australia’s first ever battlefield tour. They’ve published over 100 guide books and handy guides for researchers, all of them offered in print and ebook editions.

(With thanks to Alan Phillips)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Scottish Services of Heirs indexes on FamilySearch

I occasionally take a look to see what might pop up on the catalogue of the FamilySearch website (https://familysearch.org), and have just found a very useful collection for those seeking ancestors who may have inherited Scottish land and property (heritage) - i.e. the stuff not found on the ScotlandPeople's wills collection, which mainly deals with the inheritance of moveable property prior to 1868. The records in question are the indexes to the Services of Heirs from 1700-1859:

Decennial indexes to the services of heirs in Scotland, commencing January 1, 1700--ending December 31, 1859
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1004156?availability=Family%20History%20Library

From my book, Researching Scottish Family History, a brief introduction to the records:

The other form of personal estate to be dealt with after death was heritable property. Until 1964, the law of primogeniture meant that the eldest son usually inherited his parents’ land and any properties thereon, though from 1868 this could be bequeathed in a will to other members of the family. In order for an heir to inherit, however, he or she had to have that right legally confirmed through the Services of Heirs process. This basically meant that a prospective heir went before a jury of local landowners to have his or her right confirmed. The jury would deliberate on the matter and then return or ‘retour’ its findings to the Royal Chancery in Edinburgh.

The recorded retours were in Latin until 1847, with the exception of the period 1652 to 1657 (Cromwell’s Commonwealth period). Records for 1530 to 1699 were summarised in the Inquisitionum ad Capellam Regis Retornatarum Abbreviatio, an index for which can be consulted at the NRS (within the General Register House search room). From 1700-1859 you need to consult the Indexes to the Services of Heirs. The retours process in fact continued until 1964, but by then most land was being conveyed through wills, making the process virtually irrelevant.

Once an heir had been confirmed legally, they then had the right to inherit. In truth however, many people put off going through the process for years and took possession of the property in question straight away. It was only when they then wanted to sell the property at a later stage that they would suddenly have a panic about getting the paper work sorted. In other cases, the process took years because of legal challenges to the heir’s right to inherit. As such, the record can often be found years or even decades after you might expect to find it.

That's a simplistic overview of the Services of Heirs records, and considerable more detail can be found on how to use them in my book Discover Scottish Land Records (2nd edition) - here's a brief section about how to search them:

Additional indexes for retours from 1700-1859 are available at the National Records of Scotland and can also be purchased on a CD. These abridgements are written in English, but both Special and General Services are now listed together. There are again two separate lists, however, the main index and the accompanying supplement.

The records are indexed alphabetically in periods of ten years, starting with 1700-1709, 1710-1719 and so on. All heirs are found in the main index, with the following an example:

(1750-1759 decennial index list)

Names of the Person Served  Hunter – Helen – (or Colston)
Distinguishing Particulars  Wife of William Colston in Gifford, to her Uncle Andrew Hunter, Feuar there – Heir General – dated 22d January 1754
Date of Recording  1754 April 16
Monthly No.  16

If you wish to find the name of the heir to a particular ancestor, and that heir has a different surname to the deceased, you will need to consult the Supplement that accompanies each decennial listing, which acts as a finding aid. A typical example would be:

Names of the Persons served to, by Heirs not bearing the same Names
Stevenson – John – Wright, Kilsyth
Names of the Heirs – which see in the Principal Index
Renny – Jean – (or Gillies) – (Heir of Provision General)

Having found the name of the ancestor John Stevenson, I would now need to go back to the original index and look up Jean Renny’s entry for the full index details recorded for her relevant retour.

And that's just the start of it! Discover Scottish Land Records is available from outlets in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Cananda and the USA - see https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html for details.

UPDATE: Just for good measure, the earlier records from 1530-1700 (Inquisitionum ad capellam regis retornatarum ... abbreviatio), are available at https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/248869?availability=Family%20History%20Library - but best to dust off your Latin skills if you want to use them! (Again, there's further info in my book on how to do so)

Also, just to add - there's currently a sale on for my book in Australia through Gould Genealogy - see https://www.gould.com.au/discover-scottish-land-records/utp0283/. 

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Unlock the Past announces 15th cruise - Singapore 2019

From Unlock the Past Cruises (www.unlockthepastcruises.com):

Announcing the 15th Unlock the Past cruise (Singapore 2019)

Adelaide, South Australia, 2 August 2018 – Unlock the Past Cruises announces its 15th cruise – an opportunity to discover more about your family history while in great company and visiting great destinations.

The Singapore cruise, 29 March to 13 April 2019 is a one-way relocation cruise from Sydney to Singapore on Royal Caribbean‘s Explorer of the Seas. The cruise will visit Brisbane, Airlie Beach, Cairns and Darwin (2 days) during the 15 night cruise.

The conference program will feature 60 talks in a single stream in the main theatre and at least 10 hours of DNA and other workshops and one-on-one help sessions in a second theatre with an international team of 8-10 speakers. No talks will occur when in port.

The featured presenters on the cruise are:

* David Rencher (US) – David is Chief Genealogical Officer for FamilySearch and a leading international expert on Ireland and England. He will be presenting an extended / in-depth series on Ireland and Irish research – 15 talks in all
* Dr Richard Reid (Australia) – Richard brings wide experience and expertise at national and international level of Australians at war, especially World War 1, and the Irish in Australia. More recently he has been working on emigration, especially UK Government assisted emigrants to Australia, 1832 to 1914

Other speakers are Caroline Gurney from England and Marg Doherty, Rob Hamilton, Eric & Rosemary Kopittke and Helen Smith from Australia.

For details, bookings and registration of interest go to www.unlockthepastcruises.com/singapore

Some comments on previous cruises:

A genealogy conference on the high seas? Not only do you get all the fun of a regular cruise, you have the opportunity to network with other family historians from all over the world. The best part: the lectures and educational presentations are offered by some of the leading speakers in the genealogy industry. And Unlock the Past Cruises has the best selection of destinations and speakers hands down! – Thomas MacEntee, United States, 4th cruise presenter

Only one thing beats a good genealogy conference, and that is a genealogy conference that offers a chance to see a bit of the world, to enjoy some top class entertainment, and above all else, meet many other people sharing a similar interest. It’s also the perfect family holiday, with plenty of fun activities for your partner and kids to get up to on board whilst you’re attending conference sessions! – Chris Paton, Scotland, 2nd, 4th and 8th cruise presenter

About Unlock the Past
Australian based Unlock the Past was established in 2009. It is the event and publishing division of Gould Genealogy & History which has served family and local historians since 1976. It is a collaborative venture involving an international team of expert speakers, writers, organisations and commercial partners to promote history and genealogy through innovative major events and a new publishing brand. It also maintains general and events directories online.

Further information
Alan Phillips
p: +61 8 8263 2055
e: alan@unlockthepast.com.au
w: www.unlockthepastcruises.com

(With thanks to Alan Phillips)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Unlock the Past conference in Seattle with Blaine Bettinger and Maurice Gleeson

From Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au):

Announcing Unlock the Past in Seattle with Blaine Bettinger and Maurice Gleeson

Adelaide, South Australia, 24 May 2018 – Unlock the Past Cruises announces Unlock the Past in Seattle a full day two stream “land conference” in Seattle, a companion event to our 14th Unlock the Past cruise to Alaska. It is open to all– whether on the cruise or not.

Date & time: Thursday 6 September 2018, 9am-5pm
Venue: Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Ave, Seattle, WA
Cost: AU$57 (approx US$45, £33, CA$59, NZ$62)

The conference programme will feature 10 presentations in two streams – a DNA stream and an Irish/general stream. There will be an exhibition with supporting/sponsoring partners, plus prizes totaling over AU$1000.

The presenters

• BLAINE BETTINGER (USA) – Blaine is a professional genealogist specialising in DNA evidence. He is the author of the long-running blog The Genetic Genealogist and the books The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy.
• DR MAURICE GLEESON (UK) – Maurice was voted Genetic Genealogist of the Year 2015 (SurnameDNA Journal) and Rockstar Genealogist, Ireland 2016 (Anglo-Celtic Connections). He runs a variety of Y-DNA Surname projects and organises the DNA Lectures at Genetic Genealogy Ireland.
• CYNDI INGLE (USA) – Cyndi is the creator and owner of the award-winning web site Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet www.cyndislist.com, a categorised index to more than 333,000 online resources. In its first three years, Cyndi’s List was voted the best genealogy site.
• WAYNE SHEPHEARD (Canada) – A retired geologist, Wayne now spends most of his time on
family history research. This has resulted in the pioneering publication Surviving Mother Nature’s tests: The effects climate change and other natural phenomena have had on the lives of our ancestors.

For details and bookings go to www.utpinseattle.com.

The cruise – the 14th Unlock the Past cruise to Alaska departs from Seattle the day after this land
conference. It will offer 40 topics by 18 presenters in three streams during the 7-day cruise to Alaska. There are still places. Why not join us and 150 other cruisers in our group. www.unlockthepastcruises.com/alaska.

About Unlock the Past
Australian based Unlock the Past was established in 2009. It is the event and publishing division of Gould Genealogy & History which has served family and local historians since 1976. It is a collaborative venture involving an international team of expert speakers, writers, organisations and commercial partners to promote history and genealogy through innovative major events and a new publishing brand. It also maintains general and events directories online.

Since 2010 Unlock the Past has run over 130 events, including expos, roadshows, regional seminars, history and genealogy cruises around the world – even Australia’s first ever battlefield tour. They’ve published over 100 guide books and handy guides for researchers, all of them offered in print and ebook editions.

COMMENT: This is going to be a great conference, so sign up quick - plenty to look forward to on the DNA front, Maueice certainly knows his stuff on Ireland, Cyndi is just a hoot and always good fun, and Wayne's talk is the most intriguing topic I've heard in a while. Recommended!

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Unlock the Past roadshow ends in Perth - report

Having left Adelaide on Friday, the Unlock the Past Researching Abroad roadshow (www.unlockthepast.com.au/events/researching-abroad-finding-british-isles-and-european-ancestors) made its way to the final venue on our trip, the city of Perth in Western Australia – and to one of my fave venues in the whole continent, the State Library of Western Australia (www.slwa.wa.gov.au). I have spoken at this venue on three previous occasions, and the main theatre is always a delight to present within.

Having arrived on the Friday we first met up for dinner with several members of the Western Australia Genealogy Society, aka ‘WAGS’ (www.membership.wags.org.au), allowing an opportunity to catch up with many old friends, and some new. The society is more than holding its own in terms of membership, and has an astonishing 16 Special Interest Groups, meaning that its dedicated library premises are always in use every weekend. From what I can gather the DNA group is one of the more vibrant of the newest additions, with meetings regularly attracting about 40 members to discuss all things new in the world of genetic genealogy!

Unlike most of our venues, this was a one day event, meaning that Dirk Weissleder and I were giving in talks in parallel, with myself in the theatre and Dirk in a separate room, which was booked out due to high demand on all things German and continental European. The main theatre itself was also busy on the Scottish and Irish strand, and in addition to myself there were presentations from Rosemary Kopittke on MyHeritage, Lionie Hayes on the British resources at the State Library, and Ian Simon on the British resources available at WAGS. In the audience I also had my sister-in-law present, along with her husband and one of his cousins, taking it all in as novice genealogists! The following are some pictures from the event…

It was a truly fantastic event to end a great tour. A huge thanks to Alan Phillips and the Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au) team for bringing me back out to Australia once again, to Seonaid Lewis from Auckland for the kind invite to the Auckland Family History Expo, to all who have hosted me on my trip, to Dirk for his wise European council on all things genealogical (and in some cases political – we share a range of interests!), to the various sponsors, and to all who attended the shows. National Family History Month in Australia and New Zealand is a superb thing, and something we could certainly learn from in the UK in a post-Who Do You Think You Are Live world.

As the sun sets on my latest trip, here are a few final photos from Perth, Western Australia, from my penultimate night here – it never fails to impress that your winter here is warmer than my Scottish summers!

Until the next time… :)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Visiting Gould Genealogy in Adelaide

The Unlock the Past Researching Abroad roadshow (www.unlockthepast.com.au/events/researching-abroad-finding-british-isles-and-european-ancestors) is now in Adelaide, which is also the home of Gould Genealogy (www.gould.com.au), Unlock the Past’s parent company. Having previously been to Adelaide just once before to give a talk during a brief stopover on an Unlock the Past genealogy cruise, I had not yet had the pleasure to visit the company’s base, something that was duly rectified on this visit!

Gould Genealogy has a shop in the city, where many products, including the Unlock the Past book range, are manufactured and sold to the public, as well as a facility in the Adelaide Hills where postal orders are sorted from. I popped into the city shop two days ago and caught up with Alona Tester, who gave me a quick tour of the facility, including a look at their print set up from which the various guides I have written are published on demand (there are similar facilities in England and Canada where the same books are published for the UK and North American markets). We of course also grabbed the requisite selfies, with both of us being shameless bloggers and social media users!

Gould Genealogy is a family business run by Alan Phillips, and from his home in the Adelaide hills, his wife Anthea handles the mail order side of the business; being a guest at their home for my current stay I have also been privileged to see this side of the business, and have even visited the local post office to post some orders!

I have been privileged to work with Unlock the Past for the last seven years, and so it has been wonderful to at long last get to see Genie Central in Adelaide! If you are looking for products to help with your research, whether books or support materials, do take a look at the company’s online catalogue at www.gould.com.au. The company also produces ebooks for various products via www.gen-ebooks.com, and of course its highly popular and successful genealogy cruise ventures via www.unlockthepastcruises.com. Having just completed a cruise to Papua New Guinea, the company’s next cruise venture will be to Alaska, on which I will be one of the international speakers – for more info on this please visit www.unlockthepastcruises.com/2018cruisealaska/.

Thanks again to Alan and Anthea for their wonderful hospitality in Adelaide, and to Alona for the tour!

(NB: Alona blogs her personal genealogy journeys at www.lonetester.com, and writes a dedicated Genealogy and History News blog for the company at www.gouldgenealogy.com)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Unlock the Past roadshow – Melbourne and Canberra report

We’ve had a very busy few days since speaking at Parramatta, with the Unlock the Past Researching Abroad roadshow taking us on to Melbourne and then to the Australian capital of Canberra.

At Melbourne I stayed for three nights with my uncle Bill and aunt Beth in Keysborough, and was able to catch up with my cousins Roslyn and Alison, providing a great opportunity to see some of the local sights from an Australian-Irish point of view, and to sample some local wares – as well as to get some much needed washing sorted (everyone needs an Auntie Beth!)! For the roadshow itself, Unlock the Past visited the Veneto Club on Bulleen Road, an Italian club which I had the pleasure to speak at seven years ago on my first speaking trip to Oz with UTP. We had two very well attended days of talks, with myself kicking off with a day of talks on Scottish and Irish themes on Friday, followed by Dirk Weissleder’s sessions on Saturday covering German and resources and additional topics from further afield across Europe. Amongst those exhibiting were FIBIS (www.fibis.org), the Genealogical Society of Victoria (www.gsv.org.au) and VicGUM (www.vicgum.asn.au). The following are some pics from the event.

Early on Sunday morning we then flew to Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. The last time I was in Canberra was also with Unlock the Past about three or four years ago, as part of a pre-cruise talks tour with American speaker Thomas MacEntee, and on that occasion it was very much a hit and run raid – fly in, speak, fly out, and grab some pics from the car as we hurtled to and from the airport! On Sunday, however, both Dirk and I toured around the capital sightseeing with UTP’s Alan Phillips, and Rosemary and Eric Kopittke, and boy, did we see some sights! We visited the old federal parliament building, now home to a museum of democracy, and the new parliament building. Although not in session, it was great to be able to visit the two chambers for Australia’s elected representatives and senators, not least because both Dirk and I have dabbled in local politics in Scotland and Germany. The current scandal underway in Australia just now is the seemingly continuous revelations that many of those elected appear to hold dual nationality, which is forbidden under the Australian constitution – at the last count I think six members, including government ministers, had been caught up in the drama. Sadly this means that Dirk and I will not be able to stand for government in Australia, but many believe that one day some Australians might…! (Sorry, cheap joke!)

Two of the highlights of the day for me as a genie were to be able to visit both the National Library of Australia (www.nla.gov.au) and the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au). The NLA is the body which famously oversees the TROVE project (www.trove.nla.gov.au), the online portal with digitised newspapers and other resources made freely available from across the nation, working in partnership with many state agencies. The National Archives was actually in a much smaller building than I was anticipating, but hosted a fantastic exhibition in the lobby area. Sadly, with it being a Sunday we were not able to gain access to the search rooms, but I was very impressed with what I saw and look forward to returning some day to properly plunder their holdings!

After driving around the part of town hosting various embassies and high commissions, as well as the Australian National Mint, we ended up at the National War Museum, another highlight of the day. I will write about this in a subsequent blog post.

On Monday then we visited our next roadshow venue, the German Club in Canberra. Unlike most of our venues, on this day Dirk and I were speaking at the same time in parallel streams in two different rooms, although I have to admit envying Dirk speaking in the Bier Kellar – I have no idea what they got up to downstairs, but everyone came out very happy! Upstairs I gave four talks of my own, and also heard presentations from Nick Reddan of the Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra (www.familyhistoryact.org.au). Nick may be better known to folk in the north of the planet as the founder of the Irish themed Registry of Deeds Index Project (www.irishdeedsindex.net), which has now passed 250,000 indexed entries (as of 12 AUG 2017), a superb project helping to unlock the potential of one of Ireland’s most important genealogical resources. It was great to meet Nick, and if you wish to contribute to his project’s efforts, the original deeds registers themselves have now been microfilmed and made available online at FamilySearch – consult Nick’s site for further details.

So that was it from Melbourne and Canberra! The only downside of the last few days was in the wifi provision at Canberra airport, which is unbelievably poor for a facility servicing the nation’s capital city, and hence the late posting of this update. Our next stop is Adelaide, where in addition to speaking at the German club (pre-booking is closed, but you can still attend and pay on the day – see www.unlockthepast.com.au/events/researching-abroad-british-isles-european-ancestors-adelaide). I will also be popping my head around the door of Unlock the Past itself….!

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.