Australian Genealogy and History Snippets – March 2023...

From time to time I come across all sorts of interesting history and/or genealogy related tidbits that I want to share with you, so I’ve collected them together to make up a Snippets post. These aren’t meant to be comprehensive, but rather they are just bits that I’ve found and wanted to share. Mostly it is Australian news, but I have tacked on some overseas snippets on the end for you interest too. Discovering Anzacs website “Decommissioned”News on Twitter is that the National Archives of Australia have “decommissioned” (deleted) the Discovering Anzacs website. This is a perfect demonstration of why the community are hesitant to engage with and contribute to institutional projects. How many hours of work and contributions of material has been thrown away? –  via @michwatsonoz@ausglam.space on Twitter. More info on the NAA website. Are you interested in helping to research and preserve the history and heritage of the WEA (SA)?Are you interested in helping to research and preserve the history and heritage of the WEA? The WEA are in their 110th year, and they are launching an exciting volunteer-led project to ensure their  history is properly recorded and preserved for future generations. The project will include a research component as well as cataloguing, digitising, and storing our vast treasure trove of documents, photographs, and objects. Initially we are seeking 3 enthusiastic Volunteers to take on the role of WEA Volunteer History Project Team Leader for our three categories: Research; Cataloguing; and Digitisation. Once our Team Leaders have been appointed we will also be calling for general volunteers to assist with the project. If you’re interested, CLICK HERE for more information or to apply. Sydney Jewish Museum Major ExpansionNews from the Sydney Jewish Museum … “We’re thrilled...

Discovering Links: Another 25 FREE Links for English Genealogy and History...

It’s been too long since I did a “Discovering Links” post. These posts consist of a collection of links that I have discovered, or found useful, and want to share with others. But rather than simply giving you a whole batch of random links each time, I am grouping them by Australian state, country or topic. You can see my previous Discovering Links posts here. For this one I’ve decided to share my English links, afterall it’s been aaaaaages since I did one that covered England. You can find my earlier post with 25 links here. These aren’t intended to be an exhaustive collection of links (not by a long shot), but they are simply ones that many will find useful, and it may include some that you may not have known about. And while many people think that genealogy costs a lot of money, let me tell you that all of the links below are free. Personally I find that it’s often a matter of knowing where to look beyond the big-name websites, and hopefully this will help with that. === ENGLAND GENERAL === UK WILL TRANSCRIPTIONSAt present this site contains over 7100 transcripts, but anyone who has transcribed a pre-1900 UK will is invited to contribute to this site which is searchable by Testator, Executor or Administrator, or Witness. It is hoped that ultimately there will be a large number of transcripts which may assist family historians in their research and also those who are interested in local history and the families who lived in a particular locality. THE WORKHOUSECreated by Peter Higginbotham, an expert in the field of UK Workhouses, he says ‘this site is dedicated to the workhouse – its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators,...

Genealogy News – February/March 2023...

A new series that I’m starting here is the “Genealogy News” posts. Putting it simply, I’m collating the news from big-name genealogy societies, archives and other genie organisations from Australia and elsewhere, and have listed it here for you. As for how often I’ll do it, I’m thinking monthly at this stage, but it will depend on what news is available, so we’ll see. As RootsTech (the world’s biggest genie conference) was held recently, there were a lots of posts from numours people relating to the event. For this list I’ve chosen to not include them. They’re still listed on their blogs, so you can check them out if you wish. Anyway, now on with the news … 23andMeRaising Awareness of Rare DiseaseNew Algorithm Cleans Up 23andMe Family Tree AncestryAncestry Launches Storymaker StudioCelebrating 40 Years of Family History Discoveries Australian War MemorialMeet the women in construction at the Australian War MemorialAustralia’s first Academy Award 80 years onUntold stories of Australian sailors and airmen revealedAustralian War Memorial’s new galleries take flight FamilySearchNew Free Historical Records on FamilySearch 6 February 2023The Family History Library Is Now the FamilySearch LibraryNew Free Historical Records on FamilySearch 30 January 2023Updated and Redesigned FamilySearch Help FamilyTreeDNAFamilyTreeDNA Has Added 5,000 Ancient Connections to Our DatabaseBig Y-700 DNA Testing Breaks Down Brick Walls in Family with African AncestryIntroducing the New FTDNATiP™ Report for Y-STRsThe Group Time Tree: A New Big Y Tool for FamilyTreeDNA Group Projects FindmypastHonour your heritage with over 100,000 new records, including female shipbuilders and engineersDelve into the dark legacy of British slavery and the daily life of Nottingham’s churches this weekEnrich your tree with over 200,000 new records, from Lincolnshire to West YorkshireCelebrate the civil service and more with nearly a million new...

National Library of Australia’s 2023 Community Heritage Grants are Open...

The National Library of Australia (NLA) is calling for applications for their 2023 Community Heritage Grants. The grants of up to $20,000 are available to community groups such as libraries, archives, museums, genealogical and historical societies, multicultural and Indigenous groups around the country to help preserve locally owned, but nationally significant collections of materials that are publicly accessible including artifacts, letters, diaries, maps, photographs, and audio visual material. The types of projects supported include:– significance assessments of collections– preservation needs assessments of collections– conservation activities and collection management, and– training workshops. Run annually since 1994, the program has provided more than $8.4 million dollars in funding to over 1,600 projects across Australia. APPLICATIONSApplications MUST be made online, no mailed or emailed applications/documentation will be accepted. You can find all the details regarding application guidelines, and the application form on their website. THE DEADLINEApplications for new applicants will close on Monday, 8 May 2023Applications for those who have recently completed a Community Heritage Grant project and are applying for the next stage will close on Thursday, 1 June 2023Applications for training projects will close on Thursday, 1 June 2023 MORE INFORMATIONIf you would like to discuss your project or have any queries, please email the CHG Program Team at...

Australian Genealogy and History Snippets – January/February 2023...

From time to time I come across all sorts of interesting history and/or genealogy related tidbits that I want to share with you, so I’ve collected them together to make up a Snippets post. These aren’t meant to be comprehensive, but rather they are just bits that I’ve found and wanted to share. Call for expressions of interest for new editor/s of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical SocietyThe Council of the RAHS is seeking expressions of interest for the position of editor of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society (JRAHS). The current editor Adjunct Associate Professor Carol Liston AO and our proof reader Mrs Joy Hughes are stepping down after many years of distinguished services in their respective roles. [via their email newsletter] Billionaire fails in bid to partially demolish historic goods shed in VictoriaA $750 million twin office tower project has been turned down in a move by Heritage Victoria to preserve the state’s largest and most architecturally elaborate 19th century railway goods building. [via The Age] New Records at Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and MarriagesNew records alert!  The Queensland Registry now has 107,603 new records available to search on their BDMs website. These include BDMs from the following years: 1923 Births, 1948 Marriages, 1993 Deaths. Start searching today! www.qld.gov.au/familyhistory [via Facebook post] Labour History Society South AustraliaDid you know that there is a society dedicated to the history of labouring in South Australia? No, nor did I until I found it mentioned on a website. So if you’re interested be sure to get in touch with them, or if you’re local, pop along to one of their meetings. [via Experience Adelaide site] 41,000 Burials for the ‘Adelaide Plains’Recently the Adelaide Northern Districts...

Please, Help Save Trove

For any Australian historian (family, local, or social historian) Trove is the ultimate GO-TO site. It is the National Library of Australia’s site, which is accessed by around 20 million people every year, and contains about six billion (that’s right BILLION) digital items, including news­papers, magazines, photographs, journals, parliamentary papers and more … and it’s all FREE!! However due to huge funding cuts over a number of years, and the fact that Federal funding for the National Library of Australia’s digital resource ends in June 2023, means that Trove could cease operations, or at least in its current form. What if there was no Trove? But to us researchers, a life without Trove is as unthinkable as life without Google. This is Australia’s primary institution, the one that provides access to not only what the National Library of Australia itself holds, but access to holdings from 900 or so other Australian institutions. This is portal for Australia’s heritage, and yet depite it being used on a globa scale, is being treated as unimportant. What can we do? We have been asked to use our voice (well technically fingers), to sign a petition, and spread the word far and wide. But there is a time limit … the petition date is 22 February 2023. So we don’t have much time. There was a Change.org petition for this topic, but it’s been said that the government only acts on “official” petitions. So another one was started by the same person, and this official petition will be presented to parliament. So if you care about access to Australia’s history, even if you don’t use Trove, please take a few moments to sign the petition. SIGN THE PETITION NOW And if you want...

Facebook for Australian & New Zealand History and Genealogy...

Since releasing my first big list of Australian history and genealogy links on Facebook in September 2016, I’ve continued to find more, and more, and periodically do updates. So what started out as a list of a few hundred links, has grown to large list of 2085 links (as at 26 January 2023). That’s 77 pages worth of Australian and New Zealand history and genealogy links … just on Facebook. I haven’t added any new categories with this update, but there are additions to nearly every category that’s listed. DOWNLOAD HERE This is an ongoing project which will be updated periodically, so if you have any links you’d like added, please either send an email to  alona @ lonetester.com (without the spaces), or message me on my Lonetester Facebook page. ————– And I can’t mention genealogy on Facebook without making reference to two other incredible lists: – Katherine Willson’s worldwide Genealogy on Facebook list is enormous, and now has over 16,700 links. – Gail Dever’s Facebook for Canadian Genealogy list of over 1000 links is a must for everyone with Canadian...

Remembering Valda Irene Phillips (1921-2023)...

My paternal grandma passed away a few days ago and since then I’ve been thinking about her life and my memories of her. Valda Winter was the middle of five children born to Otto and Irene Winter, and she grew up in the suburbs of Adelaide. Her father was a Finnish seaman, who ended up in South Australia, and her mum was of English descent. She was 101, and was very with it and independant until about the age 97 or so. I mean, she’s this tiny (and by tiny, I mean less than 5 foot something) lady, living in her own unit at that age! Remarkable eh! But sadly there’s a lot that I didn’t (and probably won’t) know about my grandma. I did give her a copy of the “The Book of Myself: A Do-it-Yourself Autobiography in 201 Questions” which is a book that asks questions, and has plenty of room for answers to be written in. She said she would fill in for me, but sadly when we found it on her shelf, it was never written in. So maybe in retrospect, interviewing her directly would possibly have been a better option, as so many memories and stories have now been lost with her passing. And she was the last of that generation, and my last grandparent. Unfortunately this side of the family weren’t really keepers of much at all, other than photos from more recent eras. So while grandma would have seen so many changes in life, and world events throughout her 101 years … we don’t have any written record of her thoughts on any of it. Here’s just a few key events that happened during her lifetime:1929 The Depression hit Australia1932 Opening of...

I’m Back!!

Hi guys … I promised you I’d be back, and ta-da … I’m back. And while I took much longer than I expected (and hoped), I’m so excited to be back blogging. I have really missed it, and I have lots of geat ideas to share with you. We all know that life can get in the way of family history-ing … and that has certainly been the case with me over the past few years … so after recently making a big life change, I’m hoping to get back not only to blogging, but also my own research (OMG!) … I know, what a novelty. So stay tuned, I do have lots of great posts planned, but I promise not to overflow your...

I’m still here …...

Hi everyone … it’s me. I know, I know …  it’s been F-O-R-E-V-E-R since I last wrote. In fact I was actually horrified to see that it’s been over a year. I’m sorry about that. What can I say other than other facets of life have taken over my blogging time – at least at present. It’s been a gradual thing.  I can see that I only managed to get 12 posts written in 2020, but a measly 3 in 2021. Both of which are a far cry from what I was writing a few years ago. Anyway I haven’t forgotten you. Or my research. Or all the amazing ideas and projects I have in mind that I want to tell you about. It’s just time. You know that thing none of us have enough of, and don’t know how to get more. I also MUST update my Australian/New Zealand Facebook list soon. Again, TIME!! But it will happen. While I was frustrated about it for quite a while, I know everyone goes through this. And sometime or another things will settle down, and I’ll have time to blog again, which I’m really looking forward to, and hopefully even research too – that’d be nice. So I’m here … sorta … just a bit quiet. But certainly not gone for good. little Oreo is one of the wild kangaroos that comes to visit regularly. Isn’t he...