QFHS Management Committee 2024-2025

Graeme Drew

President

Graeme has been researching his family history since the 1980s. His introduction to QFHS was through volunteering with ORCA, a group which works with young post-high school students with disabilities to improve skills to gain future employment.  Graeme accompanied a student from that group on their work experience at QFHS early in 2024 and was impressed with the friendly and welcoming environment afforded both of them during their weekly visits.

He subsequently joined QFHS and is involved in the monthly meetings of the Family Historian group. Graeme retired in 1998 and has been volunteering with a number of organisations in Brisbane since 2001. His entire work background was in the financial sector and a number of past volunteering activities have been involved with financial aspects of the various organisations.

Graeme will work with the Management Committee to provide members with an ever-evolving platform to enhance their endeavours with family history research.

Vice Presidents
Charlotte Sale, Clem Ditton

Charlotte Sale

Charlotte's interest in family history began in the 1990s and she has now researched her family’s lives in more than ten different countries.

Joining QFHS in 2012, Charlotte volunteered as a Library Assistant soon after. She was first on the Management Committee in 2014-15, and then as Vice President from 2019-2021. Charlotte presently convenes the Welsh Interest Group, is co-ordinator of the Research team, and is a tutor for the popular Finding your family: the fundamentals of research which the Society runs twice yearly.

Charlotte rejoined the Management Committee in September 2023 and leads the Constitution subcommittee.

Clem Ditton

Clem started his family history research journey in 1986 in Canberra, the year his first child was born, and joined QFHS soon after moving to Brisbane in 1995. His participation in the Society has expanded since retirement from a career in IT. Clem is Coordinator of the Technical Advisory Group (aka the TAG team) and is focussed on the development of a new website for the Society. 

Clem is a Library Assistant and an active member of several Special Interest Groups, particularly the Family History Writers group. Writing is a particular joy and he has contributed a number of articles to the Society’s journal and published a book in 2021 Shaking the Mulga, an Australian family history which, to his delight, won the 2022 QFHS Family History Book Award.

Clem has been a Committee member since 2021.  His particular focus on the MC is to continue helping the Society achieve our strategic priority to enhance our digital footprint.

Lyndal Cosgrove

Secretary

Lyndal's particular areas of interest for the Society are contributing to the Management Committee since 2016, as Members Interests Co-Ordinator and as Speaker Co-ordinator for the Members Lounge Presenting... program.

Lyndal is also Editor of our quarterly journal, Queensland Family Historian, creating the journals from 2008 onwards with coloured photos and weblinks ready to be added to the website for members. To assist researchers find names mentioned in published articles, she indexes the current journals to add to the searchable dataset Names Index.  In 2020, Lyndal was honoured to receive the Society's Services to Family History Award

Gayle Wallace

Treasurer

We welcome Gayle to our Management Committee.  Gayle has been one of our Indexers and has been our Community Outreach co-ordinator before becoming our Treasurer

Carmel Bell

Committee Member

Carmel originally took the plunge into the rabbit warren of family history about 35 years ago.  She says there have been many 'eureka!' moments, many frustrated sighs and many tears shed when finding a heartbreaking event in an ancestor’s life and would not have missed a single moment of it.  Over the years of researching family history, she has learned much and met many interesting and knowledgeable people - and none more so, she says, than the members of QFHS.

Carmel has been on the Management Committee for 2 years, and is also our Welfare Officer and Provedor.  Carmel is amazed by the passion and commitment demonstrated by members of the Management Committee and general members over this very busy period.

Although there were some challenging times, she feels she has grown in knowledge, skill and confidence, and is looking forward to learning more and sharing her newfound skills.  Carmel continues to work with the Subscription Journals team and manages liaison between the ORCA Project and the Society providing the young people involved with a welcoming environment and valuable skill development.

Greg Crawford

Committee Member

Born and educated in Brisbane, Greg worked in technical design and then general management in a variety of merchants and manufacturers.  A QFHS member for only 4 years, he has established management structures and conducted training programs in the areas of emergency planning, risk assessment and fire safety at Chermside.  Greg’s research interests lie in our convict past, and family history in Bromsgrove and Belchamp, both in England. Greg joined our Management Committee in 2022.

Dette Glenday

Committee Member

Dette has been a member of QFHS since the late ‘80s when she started researching her grandmother’s 20 siblings.  Since then, her family tree has grown to encompass not only their families but many others from Irish, English and French lines.

Dette has been a Library Assistant since 1990 and took over the role of LA Roster Coordinator in 2017.  In that role, she manages a roster of 32 Library Assistants and contributes to their training.  Resulting from research into her husband’s Anglo-Indian family background, Dette now co-convenes with Wendy Angliss the Colonial India and Far East Interest Group.

As a member of the Management Committee, Dette hope to encourage more members to use the Society’s resources both in person at the Research Centre at Chermside and online through the QFHS website.

Kevin Haley

Committee Member

Kevin joined QFHS in March 1987 and, later that year, volunteered as a Library Assistant for the Monday evening openings, then continuously for the next 35 years filled one or more sessions per month until evening openings were terminated on the move to Chermside. Over the years, Kevin has worked on numerous tasks for the Society. He has served on the Management Committee from 2013 to 2022: four years as President, and three years as Vice President, and was also President for 2024-25. He is also one of the convenors of The Master Genealogist (TMG) SIG.