Fridays@QFHS

Finding out that you have a convict ancestor is an exciting discovery, not only because they are considered 'Australian royalty', but also because of the wealth of convict records that catalogue everything from the offence for which they were tried, to their height and eye colour.

But moving beyond shipping indents, tickets of leave, certificates of freedom and pardons, what else can be discovered from less well-utilised sources including court and gaol records, official correspondence, and government gazettes?

How do the convict records of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land differ?

And how can these records be combined with civil records and newspaper reports to produce a more accurate and complete picture of the life of your convict ancestor?

The session will be run on Zoom.

Our speaker: Jan Richardson

An essential tool for solving your DNA dilemmas is quickly building ancestral tress for your genetic cousins.  In this session, we will explore using the power of Ancestry hints to build trees to search for the common ancestors your genetic cousins share.  We will see how brick walls can come crashing down by using a three prong approach to solving DNA dilemmas at AncestryDNA - grouping your matches, building research trees at Ancestry and using the 'What are the odds?' (WATO) tool at DNAPainter.  There will be time for questions.  The session will include case studies and useful resources will be provided to use after the session. 

The session will be run on Zoom and will not be recorded.

Our speaker: Christine Woodlands

New Zealand Society of Genealogists Board member, Sarah Hewitt, will present an overview of the records available to find your family in New Zealand. 

Sarah will talk about what records are available, where they are held, and how to access them from outside New Zealand. 

The session will be run on Zoom.

Our speaker: Sarah Hewitt

An introduction to 'the what', 'the why', and 'the how' of writing a genealogical proof statement, summary, or argument.

Cyndi will show you how to take your research and deductions from documents (and your brain) and put it together on paper for future generations and researchers.

The session will be run on Zoom.

Our speaker: Cyndi Ingle, a genealogist for more than 40 years, is the creator of CyndisList.com and the author of numerous articles and three books. Cyndi is an expert in using technology for genealogy, research in the United States, and organizational methodology. Read more>>>

Moreton Bay was a formidable place of secondary punishment where convicts were re-transported from 1824 to 1839 after committing a second (or third) offence in New South Wales. Most were returned to Sydney after their sentence, but others chose to stay when the penal settlement closed in 1839.

However, regardless of whether your convict ancestor’s stay at Moreton Bay was short or long, how can you find information about why they came here, what happened to them at Moreton Bay, and what effect it had on the rest of their lives?

Beyond the Moreton Bay Chronological Register of Prisoners, records you may not have consulted include the Book of Public Labour, the Book of Trials, convict hospital registers, and the correspondence of the Moreton Bay commandants.

The session will be run on Zoom.

Our speaker: Jan Richardson