Congress Newbies

At this Congress there was a large contingent of around 300 people who had not attended a Congress before.  We had the pleasure of having our hand held by a wonderful lady Jill Ball, who looked after us, and made sure that we got the most out of this experience.  Jill was on hand to help us with any questions we had, and introducing people to each other so no-one got left out.

On Friday night, at the end of a long tiring first day, we had a get-together of first timers, in a noisy food court just next door to the Sydney International Convention Centre where the Congress was held.

During the time there I was interviewed by Jill.

Thank you Jill for helping me have a most enjoyable experience at Congress.

(Jill's blog is https://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/ )

The 15th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry

From Friday March 9 to Monday March 12, I was fortunate to be able to attend the The 15th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry, which was held in Sydney, Australia.

The Congress was organised by the Society of Australian Genealogists in conjunction with AFFHO - the Australian Federation of Family History Societies, and is held every three years in different cities.

Attendance was capped at 600, so it was not a large conference on the scale of overseas conferences such as Rootstech, or the now defunct Who Do You Think You Are Live show.

Australia does not have the population to support large shows like those held internationally, and consequently there are not the funds available to stage large scale conferences.

I have not attended any of the previous shows here in Australia, so I cannot make any comparisons.  However, I have attended Rootstech in Salt Lake City in the United States, and that is something else again.  It is gigantic!

SAG are to be commended on their hard work and limited funds for their efforts.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Congress, along with everyone else that I spoke to over the four days.  I did not hear one complaint at all.

There was something for everyone this year, and with three or four presentations in each time slot, it was very difficult to make choices as to which one to go to.  Often I was torn between two presentations I really wanted to see.

The range of speakers was superb and, along with a number of Australians, we also had some super stars from overseas including Paul Blake from the UK, and Paul Milner, Judy Russell (aka The Legal Genealogist), and Lisa Louise Cooke (Genealogy Gems) from the US.

All in all, it was an excellent Congress, and I am sure no-one went home emptied handed.  We all learnt lots of new things that will enable us to progress our research.

Welcome to my blog

I have been researching my family history for the last 32 years, and have got back to the 1700's in a couple of my family lines.  However, as my family were not gentry or related to royalty - that I know of at this point in time - it is unlikely I will get much further back.

In this blog I will share some of my adventures along the way with my research and provide other genealogical insights and items of interest.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.