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...

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...