Lilian's Tree

 On Friday 7 August I attended an all day seminar at the Western Sydney Records Centre, Kingswood. They are part of Museums of History NSW. (We still call the NSW State Archives.) The seminar was on Vital Records: Tracing Births, Deaths and Marriages in NSW. After a welcome by Martyn Killion A/Chief Executive Officer, Museums of History NSW, it was time for the talks to begin. Louise Briffa, Director, Operations and Service Delivery, NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages was our first speaker and she gave a talk on the history of registration in NSW. She explained various things about the records and answered questions.  Morning tea was provided and it was a chance to catch-up with friends and enjoy standing in the sunshine. Heather Garnsey OAM was next with her excellent talk on using church records to solve problems and add more details. She explained that there are more to church records than the registers and they have different information  to the registers....

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 ...

Saturday night was the Congress Dinner, in the Grand Ballroom of Rydges Hotel, Pitt Street. Good food, excellent speaker and wonderful company made for a fantastic night. There was just one tiny problem, NO TABLE CENTRES!  What is a formal dinner if the table isn't dressed accordingly? Well it seems that both Heather Garnsey and Martyn Killion had a solution for that, make your own! Below are some photos of Cheryl Ann and Jennie making Table 3s', Harbour Bridge. Yes, the theme for the Congress was Bridging the Past & Future, hence the bridge. Much laughter ensured, as these two ladies constructed the model. Our table finished first and we each got a Caramelo Koala Bear. The evening's speaker was Mark Tedeschi QC, and he spoke about John Hubert Plunkett and the Myall Creek Murders. You can read about the Massacre at this link.     http://www.myallcreekmassacre.com/Myall_Creek_Massacre/Home.html                   ...

I spent the night in the city and was up early for a lovely walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens. This was the view from my room. Something that you don't usually see, Phillip Street, looking back towards Elizabeth Street, with NO traffic! It was sooooooo quiet. Looking from the entrance, on Shakespeare Place, towards Farm Cove. Except for the noisy ibis, it was still and quite.   Heather Garnsey, Executive Officer of SAG, was today's MC. Ralph Hawkins,  Archives Officer of SAG, presented, in his usual engaging style, an excellent talk on. Immigration through the SAG Collection.  This was Ralph's opening slide. Who remembers this TV show?   Christine Yeats was next with her wonderful talk, called,   Having an exile on my tree, I found the information, Christine gave, very informative and I'm going to do some more research in to Simon. I was surprised that I was the only person, in the room, with an exile.   ...