The twenty question challenge

The 20 Question challenge had 21 participants on Monday 20th January. 

It was a session to refamiliarise volunteers and other members of the Group with using all the available resources in the centre. Some of the questions were targeted at practical matters in the day to day management of the Heritage Centre. Other questions focussed on skills in locating resources.

After a brief introduction from Peggy and Carmel participants were encouraged to choose whatever was the most challenging for them whether it was learning how to correct an image using the scanner software, changing the toner in the photocopier or finding digitised directories. We hope that personalised the experience for most participants.

Sample questions 

• Use the Scanner attached to computer 15 or 3. Photos and documents are provided. How can you improve the colour of the faded images using the scanning software? Can you make a searchable PDF from the document?
• Name an article in the latest journal from Botany Bay group.
• List three titles in the library catalogue that are about schools in the region.
• Connect to and demonstrate how to use the big screen at the front.
• In which drawer would you find a map of Cunnamulla?

After 45 minutes we gathered together to share our findings and Carmel provided a brief demonstration of the Full text search on Familysearch.

A social morning tea followed, providing the opportunity to catch up after the Christmas closure,

 

Open Day in September

 

Sat 21st Sept.  8 am until 12.30 at the HERITAGE CENTRE followed by Presentation at 1 pm by Pauleen Cass

Marrying family and local history

By marrying family and local history we can gain a much better understanding of the community in which our family lived, and their interactions within it. Learning about neighbours and friends (FANs) can be enlightening and add value to both types of history.

Open to all, gold coin donation appreciated

Pauleen Cass has been researching her family history since 1986 and remains obsessed with the joys of discovering new family information and sharing it with family.  In 2003 she published her Kunkel family history, Grassroots Queenslanders: the Kunkel family which was the winner of the 2004 Alexander Henderson Award (AIGS) and joint winner of the 2004 QFHS Queensland Family History Book Award. In 2006 she gained an Advanced Diploma in Local Studies by online study through Oxford University. She took the leap into the blogging world in 2009 and writes about family history as well as her interests in East Clare and Dorfprozelten emigrants to Australia.

Birthday celebrations in August

 

Several of the group had birthdays in July and August. Margaret brought along a birthday cake and here are members of the group ready to enjoy mornning tea and a chat.

Reflections on Historical Research and Storytelling

Deborah Wheeler: from Kyoomba Sanatorium to the Battle of Crete

On Saturday, 8th June, a select audience enjoyed and learnt from a compelling talk by the historian and author, Deborah Wheeler. This talk focused attention on the processes of historical research and storytelling.

Deborah began by sharing her extensive research journey into the history of Kyoomba Sanatorium, located just outside Stanthorpe. This project, which initially seemed a modest endeavour, expanded into an extensive exploration of the servicemen, women, and medical staff associated with the institution. The result of her work is contained in two comprehensive volumes. 

The first soldier Deborah identified as having spent time at the Kyoomba Sanatorium during and after the First World War, was a young man by the name of John [Jack] Edward Moffatt. Working as a surgical dresser, Jack was assigned to the hospital ships to care and transport wounded servicemen. During the period of her research, Deborah was introduced to Jack’s niece, Dawn Lippiatt. They spent quite some time together sharing information about Jack. Dawn very graciously gifted Jack’s original photo album to Deborah as part of her collection of items relating to the Kyoomba Sanatorium.

One of the most poignant parts of her talk was when Deborah recounted her work on her family history, particularly the story of her grandfather, a participant in the historic Kangaroo March from Wagga Wagga to Sydney. This personal connection added a deeply emotional layer to her research. Her father’s approval of the story before his death highlighted the significance of preserving family narratives for future generations.

Deborah's third book, "Silk Clouds and Olive Trees," delves into the Battle of Crete. Her journey began serendipitously when she encountered a young man carrying both an ANZAC commemoration flag and a Greek flag, leading to numerous meaningful connections. Her research for this book spanned multiple archives, libraries, and online resources, emphasizing the global nature of historical inquiry.

One particularly memorable character Deborah mentioned was Alf Carpenter. At 100 years old, Alf shared vivid stories of his time spent in the Middle East, Greece and Crete. His firsthand accounts, provided a unique and personal perspective on historical events. Alf's full biography can be explored further here. https://thisstory.com.au/full-bio/alf-carpenter/.

Alf Carpenter

Publishing

Deborah also shared valuable insights into the publishing process, particularly for those documenting family histories. She stressed the importance of distributing three free copies of any published work: one to the National Library via edeposit or hard copy, one to the State Library where the book was published, and one to the Parliamentary Library. This ensures the preservation and accessibility of these works for future generations.

The Aftermath

After the Zoom session concluded, social chatter indicated that attendees had not only enjoyed but also learned a great deal from Deborah's talk. Her experiences and advice inspire one to delve deeper into our own family histories and contribute to the broader tapestry of historical knowledge.

For more about Deborah Wheeler’s works, visit her website https://www.deborahcwheeler.com/books. Two of Deb's books will shortly be available for borrowing at the Heritage Library.

Here is a link to a variety of Australian military history sources for service personnel. Members of the group can also access this link on the Heritage site Quick Links.

Seven Stories You Missed

 

In a fun session at the Heritage Centre, seven people shared some gems from their family history collections.

Here's a brief summary of what you missed.

The Missing Brother

Bev told the story of how she found a grandfather's brother and his wives and children in the days before Internet databases. She ended with a lovely photo of her Mum and her mother's newly found first cousin.

The Pearly Ones

Richard told us about the Pearly Kings and Queens of London. He elaborated on their past roles as arbiters of the peace in their domain down to today as charitable workers. He shared some stunning photos of their outfits too. Read about and view some of their wonderful outfits on the Museum of London site.

The Wrong Party and the Gold Envelope

Tiny gold envelope approx. 10mm x 6mm

Joan brought along this tiny gold envelope that belonged to her grandmother. It also has a little letter inside. She told the story of how her grandfather accidentally went to the wrong party in town and that was where he met her grandmother. From age 14 until he was 65 he worked his way up in the post office with placements across country Queensland. Eventually he became a Postmaster. During WWII he was also stationed in NSW.

The Iron Hoop

Robyn shared the story of the iron hoop in the Noosa Museum and read us the story of the little French boy who was adopted by Australian soldiers in WWI. She retold the story of how they smuggled him first to Britain and then to Australia. Read more of that story here and here.

A Family History Project and a confusion of Names

Jo, a new member shared the story of how her son in Year 8 worked on his family history project. She then shared a copy of her grandmother's family history book where all the names had been changed to protect their privacy. Oh, what a mess to sort through! Her 93 yr old mother is helping to identify the persons in this book.

The book with the "mystery" names

The Scrapbook

Cathy had a fascinating story of a scrapbook which had previously been the business letters book of her German Gt.Gt. grandfather. He had a business in Point Pass, South Australia in the late 19th and early 20th century. The book contained the copies of the letters he had written throughout his years in business. 

Cathy read out one letter where he wrote to a lady in nearby Robertstown saying he had visited 11 warehouses but could not find a frock that she had ordered! Imagine someone going to that effort for a customer. Some of the pages are in English and some in German, all in his copperplate handwriting.

Siblings in Line Ups

Carmel showed photos of her 6 siblings as children when their mother lined them up in age order throughout the years from 1944 until 1954. In two of the photos the children were on old converted wagon wheels, one a seesaw and one a hurdy gurdy. Nothing was wasted on that farm.
What treasures to have all those photos!

The see-saw

Keep an eye on the calendar for the next Share, Show or Tell session and come along to enjoy.

Research informs historical fiction

An enertaining meeting

 "As the American colonies whisper of liberty and revolution a young slave boy, John Randall, listens. And when the country hurtles into war, he seizes his chance, escaping to fight for the English and his freedom. John’s flight leads him across oceans: poverty and petty crime in the grey slums of Manchester; the rotting prison hulks on the Thames, and finally as a convict to a new penal colony on the other side of the world – a vast, unknown land later to be called Australia.”

On Saturday at our general meeting Jo Braithwaite presented an introduction to her book Black Randall. He was her ancestor who was transported to Australia on the First Fleet. As she researched this man she became fascinated with the circumstances that led to his deportation and his subsequent life in the early colony.

Jo has used her creative writing skills and provided his story as historical fiction, a favourite genre for many genealogists and family historians. Jo also talked about the path to publishing, including finding a mentor. 

The book will soon be available for members to borrow from our library.

Two other historical fiction authors recommended by family historians are Nathan Dylan Goodwin, who is a genealogical mystery crime novelist and M J Lee. Martin is a writer of contemporary crime, historical and genealogical mystery novels.

Family Tree UK

 What's in the magazines?

Each month we receive a print copy of the UK Family Tree magazine. 

As well as the lateset updates on family history news, this issue takes a forensic look at family heirlooms, includes a planning guide for 2024, answers some DNA questions and Richard Morgan reports on the vast vessels of the East India Company. The article about early blood transfusions is enough to make a vampire shiver!

If you are unable to read the magazine in the Heritage Centre, you may like to access the magazine on your computer or mobile device using your Noosa Libraries card. Choose Libby from this link or download the app to your mobile device.

Other magazines of interest to the family historian in Libby are shown below.

Happy reading!

Keeping up to date

 

Keeping up to date with what is new and what's coming in the genealogy world, one can become overwhelmed with the availability of incoming material.

Here are some simple ways to keep up to date via newsletters, apps and RSS feeds from websites.

Newsletters

Subscribe to those that interest you and set aside 5 to 10 mins a day to flick through their offerings, then delete. That way one's email box does not become filled with unread emails. Here are a few for you to consider.

• Queensland Family History Society Send your name, address, and preferred email to Snippets
• Family Tree Magazine has a variety of newsletters delivered daily or weekly depending on the content you prefer to read.
• The Society of Australian Genealogists send out regular newsletters highlighting upcoming events most of which are all available through Zoom.
• The Federation of Australian Historical Societies biannual Newsletter is full of stories from FAHS member societies around Australia that show how diverse and active is our history community.
• National Library of Australia covers the latest in the collections and Trove Treasures,
• Sign up for LegacyNews a weekly email newsletter that will keep you informed about Legacy,  MyHeritage and other Genealogy news.

Many individual genealogy and family history bloggers also have newsletters. The subscription option often appears as a pop-up when reading a blog post. Subscribe wisely and use Unsubscribe often in very small print at the bottom of many newsletters.

Apps

Download the Libby app to your tablet or phone. 

• Search for Noosa Libraries then sign in with your library membership card.
• Choose Search then narrow to Magazines.
• Search Family Tree - this will reveal issues of both the UK and US magazines
• Tap to borrow for 14 days

Try a genealogy search while in the app.

You may also like to try the app Internet Genealogy Magazine available for both iOS and Android.

RSS from Websites

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a web service that lets the reader accumulate web content into one simple reader space.

Many websites and blogs have RSS which facilitate adding their blog or website to a feed reader.

Two popular feed readers are Feedly and Inoreader . Both of these companies have a free service and can be used on computers, tablets and phones. 

Simply select the web address of the site you would like to read frequently and add it to the reader. Whenever that site publishes new content it will appear in your Feedly or Inoreader. 

More convenient than email in many cases as one can either view just headlines or a summary or full articles. 

Some blogs you may like to add to an RSS feed reader

The Legal Genealogist Judy Russell USA

Generations Genealogy Danielle Lautrec, Sydney

Diary of an Australian Genealogist Shauna Hicks, Qld

Genealogy's Star James Tanner USA

Genealogy tip of the day Michael O'Neill USA

Organize your Family History Janine Adams

Campaspe Genealogy Campaspe Library, Victoria

Tales from the Grave Samantha Elley, Australia

This screenshot shows some of today's articles appearing in my Feedly. There are plenty of YouTube videos to get you started using either Inoreader or Feedly. Here's a comparison of seven free feed readers to help. 

Happy reading!

Hidden gems in local records

 

Where do you start when researching a local area?

Our local history expert shares her expertise widely and with more than 30 years of experience in the field she provides guidance for those approaching a local history research question. These aspects are the basis of any genealogical research question.

• Determine and record what is already known
• What surnames are involved in any query?
• What time period is appropriate?
• Where might the ancestor have lived? 
• What may have been his/her occupation?
• Did the person serve in the military?
• Are there any school records for the found area?

These are just starting points that may well lead to a broader focus. Our workshop led by Bev this morning posed several local research puzzles for the participants to solve.

Some examples of the resources we used to find the answers to the questions posed included:

Electoral rolls to determine where the person may have lived and occupation - search via Ancestry

Local resources located through the library catalogue, - books and copies of school records

Local maps housed in the Heritage Centre

Local databases housed on the members' website

• General Local History Index a large collection covering many of the newspaper clippings in folders and some archival material
• Index to Agricultural organisations, includes fruitgrowers and the agricultural and industrial society.
• Index to local sports clubs -  Specific to sports clubs their memberships and activities. Further entries about sport related activities may also be located in the general index.
• Index to early land records and ratepayers
• Index to Sunshine Coast Daily BDM notices : Oct 2004 - Feb 2005
• Noosa Hospital Auxiliary Roll and meeting attendance records 

Newspaper notices available through Trove

Other useful resources for our local area include but are not limited to:

• Heritage Noosa A wonderful collection of local photographs and documents as well as oral history recordings and transcripts
• Noosa Shire Museum - Family histories
• Noosa Libraries - Heritage
• National Archives of Australia for military records
• Queensland State Archives
• State Library of Queensland Family History collection

Need some photos from the past? 

Queensland State Archives on Flickr

State Library of Queensland on Flickr

If you require assistance with an enquiry into local history in and about the Noosa Shire please visit the Heritage Centre in Cooroy or fill in this research request form and our local experts will endeavour to help.

Procession SportsDay - Cooroy

A unique museum

 The Mount Isa Underground Hospital Museum

After the bombing of Darwin in 1942, there was a real fear that Mount Isa with its rich mineral resources would be next. Over a period of 15 weeks, miners drilled, blasted and dug out a series of tunnels into the side of the hill.

Following restoration work by volunteers, the Underground Hospital was opened as a museum in 1999.

On Saturday February 11th at 1pm in the Heritage Centre, guest speaker Margaret Medley will present a detailed background to the restoration of this unique hospital museum which today has become one of Mount Isa’s major tourist attractions.

Laraine Mahoney Memorial Writing Award 2022

Jordan's mother Amor Garvey, Tom Heitman,
Jordan Garvey, father Adam Garvey, and Bevan Mahoney

The Laraine Mahoney Memorial Writing Award for 2022 was given to Jordan Garvey at the Cooroy State School year 6 graduation in December. This annual award honours the memory of Laraine Mahoney, a former teacher and member of Cooroy Noosa Genealogy Group. The award, a gift certificate and trophy, is given to a graduating student who has demonstrated outstanding writing skills throughout the year. It is jointly funded by our group and Cooroy book clubs to which Laraine belonged.

 Prize winner yr6 student Jordan Garvey, with (L-R) dad Adam Garvey,
grandparents Ian and Janet Garvey and Bevan Mahoney

Podcasts for the family historian

 

Add some useful background noise to your daily life.

Whether you are walking, exercising, doing household tasks, gardening or any routine task that requires minimum concentration, genealogy podcasts can provide entertainment and education.

Listen via the web or with a dedicated app on your phone or tablet.

Here's a range of useful apps

Pocket Cast, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts

Other apps already on your phone or device such as Spotify, TuneIn radio,  or Soundcloud may also be used to source genealogy related podcasts.

Try some of these.

• The Family Histories Podcast

• Family Tree Magazine

• Genealogy Gems

• Genealogy Guys

• Extreme Genes

• Ancestral Findings

• The Professional Genealogist

• Research Like a Pro

• Ancestors Alive!

• A Journey Through the Generations

• Amateur Family History Podcast

• The Airing Cupboard

• DiggingUp1800

• The Backtracker History Show

• Ask AGRA

• Daniels Genealogy

• Genealogy Adventures

When you find one to suit your listening circumstances, subscribe,  then download an episode or two via wi-fi rather than use your cellular data for streaming. Let us know in the comments below of any other favourites that you find. 

Happy listening!

Listening In slides

Journals and newsletters

In May and November each year our hardworking team of Louise, Helga and Liz produce our journal Missing Link for your reading pleasure.

Vol 51 published this week contains a wide range of stories from our members and guests.

Other Journals received in November and added to our members' site include:

NSW

Parramatta Packet  - Vol 28 No 3

Argyle Bulletin - Nov. No 94 Goulburn

Tree of Life Vol 39 No 4 - Wyong

Queensland

Redland Researcher - No 145

Bremer Echoes - November 2022 Ipswich

QFHS Family Historian Vol 43 No 4

Victoria

Black Sheep No 112 - East Gippsland

Photo digitisation workshop

 A successful workshop was held in the Heritage Centre on Tuesday 12th July. Participants had each booked in for a half hour session to learn effective use of the scanners in order to digitise old photos, slides, negatives and even a glass slide.

Claudia provided excellent instruction on slides, old photos, negatives and more with clear tips on how to use the tools embedded in the scanner driver's software. Pleasing results were shared using colour correction, saturation settings and more.

Di provided guidance to those with old photos on the Canon 300 LIDE scanner and demonstrated first with one photo then had participants scan their photos under her expert guidance making cropping and colour alterations along the way.

Some minimal instruction was provided by Carmel on how to use the free online tool Photopea to eliminate scratches on scanned photos. She used the Spot Healing brush found under the Bandaid icon on the left side of the screen.

Spot healing via Photopea

She also showed how to make the brush larger using the Dropdown arrow that appears at the top of the screen once the brush has been selected.

Brush size

A reference was made to the free Office app for phones which is one of the many apps that can be used for scanning documents and photos. A further write up on use of that app is available here.

A second workshop will be held later in the year for those who would like to perfect their scanning skills. Thanks to the workshop leaders who shared their skills.

Coming up - Zoom session at 7.30pm on July 27th is all about Photos. 

Find out about programs, apps and more for sharing family photos. What will you do with all those digitised photos to make sure they are still available for others after you have gone? We look forward to you joining us. 

Recently Read via Libby app

 

Did you know that these magazines can be read for free on your tablet or phone? Download the Libby app from either the iOS App Store or Google Play. Login with your Noosa Libraries card and search for either magazine by title.

Inside the latest Traces magazine:

• Heritage News
• What’s that thingamajig?
• Cascade Brewery
• Men without country : Harrison Christian’s childhood was steeped in tales of his ancestors’ mutiny on the HMS Bounty.
• The drop of a brick : In the middle of the Great Depression, Prince Henry was scheduled to make a tour of Australia.
• The forgotten Dja Dja Wurrung queen
• Gilding the Lily
• The nightman : In this first feature of a new series on ‘lost jobs’ of the past.
• The Homecoming hero : ‘Wing Commander Garing Returns!
• Victoria’s hidden histories revealed
• Threads of a life
• A short biography of Elizabeth Marsden
• Slang of the Talkies
• What’s new online?
• Capturing the past

Inside the latest, July 2022 Family Tree magazine UK

• Naval Reservists
• A Retailing Revolution
• Death Duty Registers: a masterclass
• Was your ancestor schooled in the BCATP?
• What might a ring signify?
• Photogenealogy: an introduction
• A novel connection
• DNA workshop
• Remembering the pioneer of the package holiday
• Photo corner
• Twiglets
• Thoughts on...

Z - Zone in

Z

Zero in on

Zone in on

Zoom along

Zoom is one media platform that enables virtual meetings with participants coming together on a screen via the internet. The host and participants can be seen or unseen and all can actively participate. It is an ideal teaching tool we use within our group. 

Have you used Zoom to communicate with other family historians? Our group has a professional account for hosting meetings but you can have a free account that will give you as many 40 minute sessions as you like.

Zap! That's it for our A-Z series! 

Y - You and Yours

Y

Youth - pass your stories on, encourage the younger generations

You and Yours - develop a history

Yesteryears - discover and write about your ancestors

Y-DNA:-   Enhance your research using the male Y sex chromosome. The male pair of sex chromosomes are X and Y, where the X chromosome is passed from the mother and the Y chromosome from the father. Because the Y chromosome is unique to the male it passes from father and son and is virtually unchanged in the process. Some DNA companies provide deep Y-DNA research which applies over many generations helping to identify the paternal line of ancestors. 

YouTube - Are you using YouTube for your family history? There are dozens of genealogy channels that help you learn for free. Have you thought about setting up your own YouTube channel for sharing your family stories? 

X - X marks the spot

X

• Experience excitement at discoveries
• Exact details, find more about your ancestors
• Exceptional documents

Sometimes one needs Xray vision to examine old documents and make out signatures or names, such handwriting interpretation skills can be learned.

Add an X to a spot on your own map to mark where your ancestors lived. Try MyMaps or Ways to use Google Earth for Genealogy.

eXpertise - We have experts in DNA, experts in Scottish genealogy, experts in Irish, South African and New Zealand genealogy to mention just a few.

W - Writing and Wondering

W

• Wander the  library shelves
• Work out the when and the why of ancestors lives
• Work with others
• Write the stories

Welcome - We'd love you to join us in the engaging pursuit of family history.

Writers' Group meets each month. The aim of this group is to write and share small anecdotes of family history related to a chosen topic. Friendly feedback helps writers to hone their skills whilst building a bank of stories to hand on to the next generation.

Without a doubt one of the most heard cries of the genealogist is

“Why did I not ask Granny about that?”

With all that information and all those stories tucked away in your head,

Why not write them down for future generations to read?

When we die, a whole library burns, so make a hard copy.

Website - Have you checked out our website lately? It contains information about our

• calendar of events and opening hours
• membership
• library catalogue
• publications and indexes
• contact details - email address and phone number
• social media and more

V - Volunteers and Voice

 

V

• Validate the family myths
• Verify the facts
• View webinars
• Voice your stories
• Volunteer

Volunteers are the backbone of our group. They give their time generously in many and varied ways. Are you looking for such an opportunity? Come and contribute your skills.

Voice typing helps you record memories and get stories written quickly. Ask someone to show you how.

Videos are engaging tools to use to present your family history to others. Learn how to make a video in PowerPoint or how to record a simple video using your phone.