Lilian's Tree

 It is great to see in-person conferences returning and the past weekend I attended the Royal Australian Historical Society's Conference, with the Theme being, Windows into Local History.  Held at the Campbelltown Catholic Club, it was two full days of learning, plus pre-conference drinks, on the Friday night and the Conference dinner on the Saturday night. I stayed at the hotel, next to the venue, which was great. As we arrived, we were given a 'goody' bag and book. The bag contained our program for the two days, information leaflets on places of interest and a note pad and pen. Seating was at round tables, and I joined with a group of friends. The day was divided into sessions, each with a theme and two or three speakers. Session A - Welcome and Keynote Address. Session B - Windows into Local History: Views on Campbelltown's Past. Session C - Windows into Local History: Opening Classrooms to Community Stories. Saturday ended with tours of the local area and dinner. Se...

 Where has 2023 gone??? It's nearly the end of April and I'm only just updating my blog. My One-Place Study is slowly coming along, with research done at the NSW State Archives. This gave me some useful information on several of the families, connected to the cemetery. I also sent some time at the National Library of Australia, in Canberra looking at very old maps. Unfortunately while they were interesting, they didn't have land owner's names on them, so I was unable to see where they lived.   I still have to do some research at the NSW State Library and the Royal Australian Historical Society, to see what their collections might hold. While we were in Canberra we did a chocolate tasting at the Murrumbateman Chocolate Factory. It was so lovely just to sit and watch the birdlife as we tasted the chocolate. We also saw the new water tower art, stunning. Easter saw us have the younger two grandchildren for three nights and it was wonderful, they are such a delight to have....

March is Women's History Month and the Royal Australian Historical Society have highlighted 28 inspiring Australian women, in this article,  Women's History Month   It got me thinking about the women in my family, none of them did anything remotely like these women did but they are part of MY history, so I'm going to highlight the women in my family, over the coming weeks. This cute baby is my mother aged 12 months in 1912. I'll tell her story this week. Care to join me in celebrating the women in our family? Bye, Lilian.  

 I'm trying to spread my 'to do' list out but being tightly locked down, there isn't anything else to do. So, Tuesday I planted two large punnets of Pansies, in with my bulbs, cooked a Weetbix slice and finished a jigsaw. Haven't been for a walk since Saturday, lazy and my knitting is getting lonely. Last night I was on a panel, discussing further genealogical education., with the Society of Australian Genealogists. We looked at a variety of courses available, from a wide range of places.  I remember when I first started this crazy genealogical journey there weren't many places or courses available. SAG was my first place I looked, then the State Library of NSW and my local library, followed by the Royal Australian Historical Society. Tonight I'm attending a Q & A for a DNA course I'm doing, with Michelle Patient and Fiona Brooker. I haven't looked for George, for a couple of days but more about that on Sunday. So until Sunday, stay safe, have fu...

August is National Family History Month and I've had a busy time, this week.  Tuesday was The Bankstown Family History Group's meeting and Allan Murrin , was a presenter. He did a hands-on workshop on Family Search. Thursday saw me in at the Society Of Australian of Australian Genealogists, attending a talk on Understanding Sources by Danielle Lautrec. Today it was the turn of the Royal Australian Historical Society, with their Bankstown Seminar. Three excellent speakers on three interesting topics. Carol Liston, spoke on Land titles records and showed us many different ways to find exactly where our ancestors lived. Katherine Reynolds was next and she spoke on Keeping track of your history research, so that you know exactly where that information came from. Lastly was Christine Yeats and she spoke on Furnishing your ancestors house. Ways we can find out what they might have had in their homes. Fascinating. It was also great to see members of the Bankstow...

Two weeks ago I attended the Royal Australian Historical Society's annual conference. It was good to catch-up with friends, promote the family history group and hear very interesting speakers. The topics were broad, covering migration, from our convict beginnings to the migration of today. Sunday started with presentations of awards and then a panel discussion and this is where it became interesting. New South Wales is looking at decreasing the number of Local Government Areas, (LGA) and something that I hadn't considered is what happens to local family/local history groups, with the restructuring?  While the council I live in will stand alone and out groups are safe, there are several others that are facing problems. Problems that were raised were, What if the LGA is divided between two other LGA areas?   You would loose your groups identity. What happens if the LGA is absorbed by its neighbouring LGA? If your group is in a council owned building, will you be a...

I've been very busy  packing things into boxes and moving things out of my room. The freezer was the biggest item, so far and it is now in the laundry, my sewing drawers are in my husbands study. All but two shelves are gone and he has removed the brackets for several others, that might not go back up. The room looks so big, it echo's and it seems to be brighter! During all this I've been researching and sewing, trying to get things done before the painter arrives. Below are photos of the room. My research is going to be continued in Salt Lake City, I will need to access microfilm for the details as certificates aren't available for the timeframe I'm looking at. Last weekend I attended the annual conference of The Royal Australian Historical Society, held a Bankstown Sports Club. I had a great time catching up with friends, making new ones and listening to very interesting speakers. Bye for now, Lilian.

Yesterday the Royal Australian Historical Society, in Sydney had a series of talks on the topic, Place Names as Historical Records: An Open-Air Archive. There were four speakers, Dr Joshua Nash, Dr Terry Kass, Angela Phippen and Bruce Baskerville and they covered a range of topics. Bruce spoke on place names as historical records. How there are layers of names for places and how they evolved. Angela's talk was on houses with names of First World War battles. Who built them and the how to search to find them. Both were very informative. Dr Joshua Nash spoke on the different names that are used on Phillip Island in the Norfolk Island Archipelago. This lead to a lively discussion on wether 'unofficial' names should also be listed with gazetted names. Dr Terry Kass spoke on Official Histories and Records of Place Names: The NSW Geographical Names Board. This talk also spoke about how areas are known locally as one name but gazetted as another. An example of this is Mosman...