Research the Central Goldfeilds

Family History month for the month of August is winding down on a high as YPRL welcomes Joan Hunt of the Ballarat Genealogical Society to Diamond Valley Library

Wednesday 27 August

1.30 pm - 2.30 pm

Joan will discuss the resources available for researching ancestors who lived and worked on the goldfields of central Victoria from the 1850s until World War 1.

Some recommended resources for family history researchers include:

History of Ballarat by W.B. Withers (facsimile 1980)
The History of Gold Discovery in Victoria by James Flett (reprint 2001)
Lost and Almost Forgotten Towns of Colonial Victoria" by Angus B. Watson (2003)
Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip by Billis & Kenyon (2nd edit. 1974)
Gold at Ballarat by Stackpoole (1971)
The Story of Browns and Scarsdale by Scarsdale Old Boys Reunion (1912)

Ballarat Genealogical Society

Gold

Victorian Gold

Life on the Goldfields

The Australian Goldrush

Eureka on trial

Sovereign Hill education page

Gold Webquest

PictureVictoria

Surfing for your ancestors

Surfing for your Ancestors
Ivanhoe Library
Thursday 21 August 2008
10.30 - 11.30 am
Tips on using the internet for family history research

Genealogy’s current popularity owes much to the advent of the Internet. Information about our ancestors can be more accessible. The web has not only brought us the information but it has indexed it. What used to involve a lot of time and bother and expense can now be found within seconds sometimes. In essence it has certainly made light of a task that used to be difficult.

This session will briefly look at Search Engines - Databases – Online blogs or newsletters – Gateway sites – Newsgroups – Message boards and mailing lists – Useful Australian and international websites including newspapers and sites for military research.

For tips on how to use Google in your research check the following websites for tips and tricks:

Easy Google Genealogy Searcher

Free Genealogy Search help for Google
Google genealogy style
Using Google to find common surnames in genealogy search

Genealogy search in a foreign language: using foreign language search engines to locate your ancestors

Family history events continue through August

Family history events continue in August for family history researchers

Relatively speaking: starting your family history
Lalor Library
May Road,
Lalor
Thursday 14 August
1.30 - 2.30 pm

Researching your Italian Family history
Mill Park Library
394 Plenty Road,
Mill Park
Monday August 18

The Female Line: researching the women in your family history
Rosanna library
Turnham Avenue,
Rosanna
Thursday August 21
1.30 - 2.30 pm

Historical Australian Newspapers now online

On 25 July the Australian Newspapers Beta service launched with 70,000 out of copyright newspaper pages from 1803 onwards. Additional pages are to be added each week.
The service, an initiative of the National Library of Australia, in collaboration the Australian State and Territory libraries, currently includes incomplete runs from:
The Argus, daily, Melbourne, 1915-19 and 1945 available
The Canberra Times, 1926-1929
The Courier-Mail, daily, Brisbane, 1933-34
Perth Gazette and Western Australian journal, daily, 1833-1847
The Mercury, daily, Hobart, 1916-1917
The Maitland mercury, and Hunter River general advertiser, New South Wales,
1843-1855 and 1880-1883
The South Australian advertiser, a daily newspaper, 1858-1861
The Sydney Gazette, the first newspaper in Australia, 1803-1815.

This is an excellent website to add to the growing resources online available for Australian researchers. For Victorian research the following are also useful:
Argus Index 1870 - 1879
Paper of Record (pay for view website) which includes the Port Phillip Record 1840 - 1902
and The Ryerson Index for more contemporary death and funeral notices in Australian newspapers.

Along with the Times Digital Archive now available to YPRL members through our website. (See July 3 posting).