Books, Webinars, New Resources & Other News: my genealogy weeks 16 -30 Sep 2025

 Everything seems to be speeding up or I'm trying to do more. Even the Bribie Family History Association Book Club is challenging me. See more below.

Blogs

The next instalment of my travel postings for the GSQ blog was published. Read more here and the earlier one on my trip to Ireland here.

Books

I have always been a big reader, even in primary school with all the Enid Blyton books. Totally enjoying being part of the BFHA book club and reading books I don't normally choose. 

At the last meeting six new titles were suggested so I put in a request at my local library, as they were at other Moreton libraries. Within a week I had four of the titles which of course now have to be read over the four week loan period. 

Family Baggage is about sorting a parent's belongings after they've passed. We can all relate to that.

Hoping that The Psychology of Family History will explain why I am so obsessed with researching.

New Resources

One thing I learnt from the North Ireland DNA school was that DNA Painter has a whole lot of new tools since I last had a look. Now that Dad's paternal side is definite, I want to try and follow up some strange ethnicities in my mother's family. The paper trail does not lead there. Are there more skeletons in my family? Surely not.

Ancestry regions and Mum's Germanic Europe and Welsh percentages.
Similar results in FTDNA and MyHeritage.

Have been loving the use of AI full text searching in FamilySearch. This is going to break a few brick walls for people I think. Also noted that Ancestry is trialling a similar feature for transcribing original documents. It's a fast moving field and I have booked into the GSQ's event with Andrew Redfern in November.

I also did the GSQ's webinar on We Are XYZ and there are huge possibilites for that. Technology is brilliant but sometimes I wish it didn't move so fast. 

The other day I experimented with using the microphone in Word to write a story on one my my incarcerated women (PhD thesis) instead of keying it. Wow, so good for my arthritic thumbs. 

Talks

Next week there is the GSQ annual seminar and I am first speaker with an introduction to convicts and criminals, all in 45 minutes! Luckily the records are similar. One of my favourite topics and the idea behind my PhD thesis.

Wonder which one is my GG grandmother Brisbane Women's Prison ca 1902

The following week is a webinar for Legacy Family Tree Webinars on using post office directories in MyHeritage. 

On the first Friday in November I am the guest speaker at the Bribie Island Family History Association meeting. Topic is Mining the Archives. Also planning one of my Go Fishing sessions as I have been told some members have missed them this year.

Excited to be doing a 20 minute pre recorded video for RootsTech 2026 on burial and cemetery records in Australia next March. Registration is already open and free unless you are going to Salt Lake City in person. I'd like to but I am already planning to go to England and Scotland next year. 

My Carnegie GGG grandparents grave in the historic Toorbul Cemetery.

What's Coming Up

Finally I am going to be home for a meeting of the Founding Families of Caboolture Shire. This group are descendents of original families which includes my Carnegie, Davis and Bishop connections. Looking forward to meeting others in the group.

I'm off to Darwin for the Professional Historians Conference where I am giving a session on females vagrants (homeless women) in colonial Queensland. After that off to Broome to cross off another bucket list place I have always wanted to visit.

Until next time, stay safe and well and keep on researching. Shauna

Family History month, talks, conferences and other news: My genealogy weeks Aug to 15 Sep 2025

Last month was another travel month with three weeks in Bali. Lots of great food, and good books to read. But time to get serious again with my studies and family history.

Blogs

Managed another guest blog for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. This one continued on with my walking in ancestral footsteps only this time in North Queensland. Read the blog here.

Books

Mostly read books and articles relating to my Ph D thesis in Bali while I lazed around the pool.

Conferences

AFFHO's Family History Month was a great success and the opening and closing presentations are online so don't miss Andrew Redfern, Jane Smith and Anne Young's inspiring talks.

Virtual conferences are so good. No travel and no having to pay for accommodation. But you do miss the personal interaction.

In the first two weeks of September I attended the North of Ireland Family History Society summer school on DNA. The sessions are recorded and you have a month to watch them. So far have watched four and they have been brilliant as a refresher and as something new. Finding time to watch is the hard part. 

On a really positive note, I won a mitochondrial full test DNA kit from Family Tree DNA which more than covered the cost of the summer school. However I did the full test back in 2021 but I can have a credit for another product but I have decided to donate the value in autosomal kits for the Islandmagee DNA project (where Dad's paternal family was from).

St John's Church Islandmagee Antrim May 2025

Also attended the Scottish Indexes conference with another great line up of speakers on various aspects of Scottish research.

Finally I virtually attended the NSW & ACT annual conference which was held down in the Illawarra. Some familiar faces in the audience and some of the speakers were really excellent on AI and DNA in particular. Again there is time to watch the sessions again over the coming month.

RootsTech 2026 - yes fast approaching on 5-7 March next year. Registration opens on 24 September 2025. Not long to go and in person and online.

Family History 

Not much new research done as I am still editing the final draft of my family history on my Carnegie/Stratton line. The draft has been written over the last 20 years and I haven't included some sources so I have to go back and identify them. Plus my style of doing endnotes has changed so I have had to decide on a final style sheet and then make all the amendment. Getting there slowly as the date on the front cover indicates!

I want to finish it before the next gathering of Founding Families, the descendants of original families of the Caboolture Shire meet in October. That is organised by the Caboolture Family History Research Group which I keep saying I should join and check out their resources. 

New resources

Where to start? There is so much happening everywhere. What has really blown me away is that FamilySearch now has full text searching (with AI) as a menu item under records. I particularly like looking at probate records as you get everyone mentioned in the will, not just the deceased. How incredible is that for finding lost people in our family trees.

Talks

In August I gave a talk at the Auckland, New Zealand Family History Expo (virtual) on mining the archives. Talking about some of my tips and tricks on making the most of your searches in online catalogues in Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Also had a few slides for finding European archives.

What's coming up?

Home through September so I hope to catch up with quite a few things on my to do list. I have two genealogy talks in October and a presentation at the Professional Historians Association conference in Darwin at the end of October. That should be good and I am taking the opportunity to come home via Broome, a place I have always wanted to visit.

Hard to believe that Christmas and the New Year are heading towards us at the speed of light. Enjoy your research time before that silly season arrives. Until next time Shauna

Still travelling, still talking and other news: My genealogy month July 2025

 Another month has gone past and I have been travelling again. Loved the dinosaurs out near Winton. Very hard to keep up with my usual family history commitments. Not to mention my PhD research.

Australian Age of Dinosaurs 

Blogs

I did manage to write up my guest blog post for the Genealogical Society of Queensland. Walking in Ancestral Footsteps outlines my trip to Ireland in May and lessons learned. Read the post here.

I have just finished writing the next post for August which is Still Travelling in Ancestral Footsteps. This time outlining my trip to Townsville in North Queensland then out to Charters Towers before going down to Winton and back through Longreach and Barcaldine to Rockhampton.

New Resources

One of the things I have noticed researching my prison ladies is that there are more Trove articles coming up for Charters Towers than I have previously seen. A good reminder to check for new titles added. Visit the coming soon to Trove page for details of new additions 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/announcement/2024/03/22/coming-soon-trove 

While I was travelling Ancestry released its new DNA clusters feature which I haven't had the opportunity yet to fully explore. You need Pro and over 65cM for it to work but this might help me identify the remaining two unidentified ancestors on my father's side. I have four clusters and only one is paternal and that relates to Dad's biological father. I think I need more, bigger matches but that comes back to people I am related to taking DNA tests.

Talks

CQFHA premises Jul 2025

While in Rockhampton I gave two talks to the Central Queensland Family History Association which was a great afternoon and a lovely audience. I also managed to do some research on my Rockhampton prison ladies in their library using some of their exclusive local history resources. Still to process all that into my biographical files on each woman. 

Got back in time to do another Genie Chats based on Thomas MacEntee's do over program. Hard to believe we have already completed Steps 1-7. The year will soon be over but already I can see substantial progress on some of my do over tasks.  

Also spoke on immigration records at the Pine Rivers Heritage Museum. They serve the most delicious morning teas. It was timed to complement their latest exhibition on immigrants to the Pine Rivers area. 

August is Family History Month and I am giving a live Zoom presentation at the Auckland Family History Expo on Mining the archives in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. Plus I will be announcing the winners of the Nick Vine Hall awards at the opening ceremony on 1 August. 

Television

The lending library, Comet Jul 2025

Since getting home, I have been catching up with the latest Australian series of Who Do You Think You Are on SBS. I hadn't heard of all the celebrities. But there have been some really interesting stories and it shows how ethnically diverse Australia is. Yes some of us are plain UK but lots of us also trace back to Europe and Asia. Still available on SBS on Demand so don't miss out on some fascinating family stories.

What's Coming Up?

Did I mention there is another trip coming up? I had another conference program talk accepted on my PhD thesis so I will be off to the Professional Historian's Conference in Darwin in October. After that I'm popping over to Broome to tick off one of my Australian bucket list items. But I have to be back in time for the November Bribie Family History Association meeting as I am the guest speaker with a talk on using archives more effectively.

Until next time, keep on researching.