Over the weekend I spent some time trying to make sense of a close DNA match that I have on Ancestry and GedMatch. I have a small private tree on Ancestry (reluctantly) and I was able to quickly add names, thanks to my prior research. On Family Tree DNA I use both names and places … More DNA – Place and People
Over the past few days, there have been family historians around the country, possibly around the world, suffering from withdrawal symptoms as our favourite web-site, Trove, undergoes a revamp. While that sunbeam is now available to brighten our lives, there’s a shadow of gloom hanging over all aspects of the National Library of Australia with … More On the Importance of Trove
Yesterday I was reflecting on my Aussie heritage and why I am such a proud Queenslander. I had a little play with my immigrant stats and this is what I came up with, an analysis of my first immigrants to Australia, all bar one of them to Queensland. 8 Pre-Separation Queensland ancestors (pre-1859): George Mathias … More Australia Day 2016
As we move through the centenary of World War I, it’s time to put Australia’s war history into a more realistic perspective. We do ourselves a disservice, as well as the men who served and those who lost their lives, when we insist they were brave all the time and were immune to the effects of … More Death of an ANZAC Lieutenant
On Friday 31 July 2015, Queensland celebrated the 150th anniversary of the opening of its first train line from Ipswich to Bigge’s Camp on that date in 1865. For a colony that had separated from New South Wales less than six years earlier, this engineering feat was quite an achievement and more was ahead with … More Lives on the line with Qld Rail
The days have ticked along and I imagine many of us have crossed eyes from staring at the digitised Irish Catholic parish registers…I know I have! Hasn’t the National Library of Ireland done us all proud? What a great program they have that even with all the Irish at home and abroad, the system didn’t … More Reviewing the Irish registers
Today is THE BIG DAY for Irish researchers as we’re all hoping our brick walls will tumble. The calendar has turned to 8 July Down Under but it seems we’re going to be waiting until 9 July at midnight for the Big Event. What Big Event? The release of the National Library of Ireland’s digitised … More Are you going green?
Despite my blog drought and house obsession, I have spent some time on my DNA results which I only recently uploaded to Gedmatch. I had been ambivalent in the past but it is actually very useful, especially for Ancestry results which don’t come with as much info, and for which I have fewer matches (which … More DNA Mysteries and Mazes
I’ve been AWOL lately leaving my blog crying for attention. Unfortunately my mind is completely focused on getting our Darwin house sold and thinking about our proposed move interstate. The same level of obsessiveness I bring to family history has been brought to bear on housing matters. Having to have everything squeaky clean and spic … More A blogging “drought”
I’m thrilled to share the news with my readers that this blog, and two of my others, have been accepted for archiving on the National Library of Australia’s Pandora website. It is very special indeed to have my blog posts preserved for posterity in this way. My fanciful mind imagines a great-grandchild discovering my meanderings. … More Preserved in Pandora
Family history across the seas 