Lilian's Tree

Sunday morning dawned grey and cool but nothing would keep intreped genealogists returning to the conference centre, for more DNA talks. I woke early, as is my habit and went for a walk along the forshore of Darling Harbour. This was my view and in amongst the trees, at the back of the photo I spotted this. I'm now on a quest to find out what is it about. The building, opposite my hotel has a very interesting design.  Early morning, on Sydney Harbour. Goat Island is to the right, the yellow shed and Bald's Head, is in the distance, Sunrise was peaking through the clouds and buildings as I made my way back to the hotel and to get organised for the day. Day two of our "Lost In' weekend had the room filling earlier than on Saturday, as we were all aeger to learn more. Heather Garnsey was today's chair and she also gave a short talk on how she broke one of her brick walls, using DNA, but did it?   Louise Coakley was ...

#Congress_2018 has been and gone and I'm only just getting around to blogging about it. So lets rewind to Wednesday 7 March. I was asked to be the 'Welcome Person', as people arrived for early-bird registration. This was set-up in Glover Cottage, next door to Richmond Villa, home of the Society of Australian Genealogists. It was very slow, with only around 50 people taking advantage of this, by the time I left around 2.00pm and Jill Ball took over. There was early registration on Thursday 8 March, as well but I didn't go into the city until lunch time. This was very busy and Jill Ball's blogs GeniAus    http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/   has all the gossip. Once ensconced in my hotel room, I was joined by Alison Wolf and Ruth Standring for afternoon tea. Discussions about what sessions we wanted to go to, dinner, on both  Thursday and Friday nights, plus catching up with each others news. Ruth and I walked down to Pancakes at The Rocks, Darling Harbour, (very...

What is Congress 2018,I hear you say? To give it it's full title, 15th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry. Hosted by the Society of Australian Genealogists, in 2018, it comes under the broad banner of the Australian Federation of Family History Organisations. Held every three years it is the biggest Australian Genealogy event. When is Congress 2018? It will be held from Friday 9 March to Monday 12 March at the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour. What is the theme? Bridging the Past & Future. With our iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, how could we not have it in the theme. It is important that we do bridge the past and the future, we have to encourage the younger generations to get involved with genealogy. It is their past too. What will be happening? I'm not going to give to much away but will give a link to the website, at the end. There will be Keynote speakers, with a wide range of topics. A Welcome Function, Congress Dinn...

Saturday was hot and sunny and I was asked to meet a very good friend at the Obelisk, in Hyde Park, to wear comfortable shoes, sunhat and bring an umbrella, in case of rain. I duly did so and arrived early and did a walk around the War Memorial. Something I hadn't done in a long time. The Pool of Reflection was calm and I was able to take some lovely shots. The Obelisk. Built in 1857. War Memorial. Reflection. When Lorraine arrived she handed me a sheet of paper, with the morning activity outlined. It was a  Cupcake & Dessert Walking Tour of Sydney. Yum! These are run by foodi.com.au  and they have five different tours to select from. Our first stop was Cupcakes on Pitt. I had a Tiramisu cupcake and Lorraine had a Honeycomb one. This macaroon tower was at our third stop and the macaroons were delicious.  We had two more stops before the Queen Victoria Building stop. This was for fresh fruit dipped in chocolate! Re...