Last month I attended the National Archives “Shake your
family tree” event at the Victorian Archives Centre. This is an annual event held in major
Australian cities each year.
A number of presentations held all around the country are
now available as webcasts
These include the Melbourne presentation: Destination Australia
A practical introduction to the NAA website, Destination:
Australia. Discover photographs of your post-war migrant ancestors in the
Archives’ collection, and share your stories.
Other wbecasts include: Record Matching – linking your family with the
past
Record Matching, a new technology created by MyHeritage, is
designed to automatically find historical records for your family trees from
its growing collection of billions of records.
A diverse nation –
lives and experiences of post-war migrants:
a panel session chaired by Karen Middleton, SBS journalist, sharing
panel members’ experiences of making a new life.
Land of tomorrow: Discover
your family’s migration records held by the National Archives
Exhibitors for the Melbourne event included the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies, Koorie Heritage Trust, Immigration Museum, State Library of Victoria Genealogy Centre, Genealogical Society of Victoria,
National Archives of Australia, Public Records Office Victoria and Preservation,
Imaging services from the NAA and the Find and Connect Project. Experts were happy to chat and provide advice
to family history researchers.
I attended a number of presentations including: “Secret
histories; Vandemonians in Victoria” by Professor Janet McCalman who spoke
about the “Founders and Survivors project”.
It aims to record and study the founding population of 73,000 men women
and children who were transported to Tasmania.
She reminded us that in many families knowledge of a convict in the
ancestry is unknown because many went to great efforts to cover up their past
and not speak of it, even to their own children. What happened to the convicts who left the
penal system? Where did they go? Of a sample of 4803 men transported between
1812 and 1849, 43% of these have been traced to their deaths. It is believed that more than half of
convicts who completed their sentences left Tasmania, with Victoria being the most
significant destination. There are many
stories of what happened to these men and women still waiting to be discovered.
Susie Zada’s presentation “I’ll think of something” was a
timely reminder to not get caught up so much in the wealth of online databases
and records which are so easily accessible, especially for our Victorian
research. It is a good idea to look at
your research and evaluate what is missing and make sure you understand the
records you are looking at and do not take things for granted. Susie illustrated her talks with examples
from her own experiences and reminded us that every now and then researchers
need to stop – think –read – and learn.
The final seminar I attended after lunch “Finding and
Connecting – ancestors who were “in care” as children related to the web
project findandconnect.gov.au. This site
essentially curates content already in the public domain. It has become a key resource for “Forgotten
Australians” and former child migrants and anyone with an interest in the history
of out of home care in Australia. This
site does not provide details on individuals nor is a research service. A potted history was presented. The influx of Melbourne’s population during
the gold rush era also saw an increase in neglected and criminalised children
in the community.
Plenty’s Selina Sutherland was referenced as a leader in the community who made an
effort to help these children. The
browse by location feature (in each state)
is a good way to find information about organisations. The site welcomes your feedback and any extra
information you can provide. The “Ask a question” link on each page is a good
way to learn more if what you are after is not already on the site.
I finished the day with a behind-the-scenes tour of the
Victorian Archives Centre, with a small group of people. We were able to get a feel for the huge
storage area for the many paper based records that have been turned over to the
State Government Archive over the years, including viewing the small digitisation
studio used to digitisation the more popular records. Learn more about their
digitisation program
Look out for this annual free event early next year. The Archives Centre is a terrific venue with
plenty of free parking. A free showbag
was also on offer and it did not take a lot of time to be served at the onsite café
for lunch. I personally thought that the numbers in
attendance were fairly low, so please consider putting this event in your diary
next year.
