4th Unlock the Past Cruise: Day Four and Five, 7-8 February 2014

Friday was another sea day. We’d left Melbourne the previous evening, and headed to Adelaide.

Sea days tend to be packed seminar days, and this one was no exception, with 25 talks scheduled throughout the whole day, many going simultaneously. The tough thing I found was making the decision on this talks to attend, but it was nice to have a choice of so many topics.

Going back over my notes, I see I went to five talks for the day, covering a range of topics.

– Using Timelines as a Research Tool – Helen Smith
– Mapping Ancestors in Australia – Shauna Hicks
– Genealogy Cloud Computing – Thomas MacEntee
– From Picasso to Punk – Anne Daniels
– Taking Better Photographs: An Introduction to Composition – Jane Taubman

And as with every talk I attend, I learned something in every one. And interestingly I have very few photos of the day, so obviously I was engrossed and didn’t think to whip out the camera much, so here’s a couple.

The last talk of the day finished up at at 9.00pm. and after that people can either wind down for the day, or wind up with the nightlife on the ship. Me personally, I had some early nights and some late nights! So it all evened out. However on Friday evening Melissa Hulbert (one of the guest presenters on the cruise, who is an astronomer) took those who were interested up on to the top deck for a “sky tour”. Personally I didn’t go, but I did hear good reports about it from others.

Saturday morning was another up-early day for me (and the Unlock the Past team), as we docked at Outer Harbour at 8.00pm, and then had to be off, at North Adelaide Football Club ASAP, and setup by 10.00am. Good news folks, we did it. And we didn’t have any dramas getting of like we did in Melbourne.

There was quite a crowd who came to the Adelaide seminar of the Chris Paton and Thomas MacEntee Downunder Tour, and it was a stinking hot day of 42C, so thank you to all who made the effort to come out. I know hot weather can make you hibernate.

Two of my nephews (Tim and Jon) came to the venue to help out with registration and anything else that needed doing. Thank you boys, it was appreciated.

Anyway while we were at our seminar, other geneacruisers took advantage of being in Adelaide, and headed off to the South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society, the State Library, the State Archives or the Lutheran Archives (who very kindly opened up for the day on purpose).

Anyway, back to our seminar. There were five main talks on for the day …
Google for Genealogists – Thomas MacEntee
British and Irish Newspapers – Chris Paton
MyHeritage: Discover your Family History – Rosemary Kopittke
Genealogy Cloud Computing – Thomas MacEntee
Irish Records Online – Chris Paton

all of which had great content, and I’m sure everyone who attended learnt something.

The seminar was held at the North Adelaide Football Club function centre, and my family has a close association with this club as my grandpa (Ron Phillips) was one the the ‘greats’of the club. So while I was there I took advantage of the tour through the Legends Room, and photographed everything relating to him. So that was quite exciting for me as I’d not been there before. Anyway those photos will make it into a separate post.

The seminar finished up at 4.00pm, and we had to race back to the boat, as it left port at 6.00pm. On the way back our taxi driver was kind enough to pull over so we could take photos of the famed “City of Adelaide” ship which only a week or so ago arrived back Adelaide.

For more about the history of this amazing vessel check out a previous blog post I wrote here, and also visit the City of Adelaide Clipper ship website. Please note, they are still in need of donations, so if you can spare a few dollars to help preserve such an immense piece of Australia’s history please do so.

And for more reports on the Seminar at Adelaide (of the day before it) check out the following blog posts from:
Chris Paton – Unlock the Past cruise and talks now over
Gen – Murder Most Horrid – Text Heavy!
Helen V. Smith – Day 3 and 4, 4th Unlock the Past Cruise 
Kylie Willison – Chris Paton and  Thomas MacEntee Downunder Seminar

And just for reference, the top photograph is a shot of Outer Harbour as we came in to dock in Adelaide. And who knew that even the cargo ships and cranes can look pretty in the sunrise! 🙂