Cathy Dunn
Footsteps in Time: Norfolk Island Hell on Earth
Between 1825 and 1855, Norfolk Island was a penal settlement known as Hell on Earth, where around 6000 hardened and reoffending male convicts, including some female convicts, were sent. Historian Cathy Dunn presentation topics include the arrival of these convicts, their origins, the cruelty and punishments endured by these men
Historian Cathy Dunn will take you on a journey to Norfolk Island’s penal settlement 1825 – 1855 known as Hell on Earth.
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How did these hardened and reoffending convicts find themselves on Norfolk island?
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Where did these incorrigible convicts come from?
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Were female convicts also transported to Norfolk island?
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Where are the historical records for Norfolk Island’s penal settlement 1825 – 1855 (both on and offline)
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Life and punishments on Norfolk Island
Christine Hingerty
In her session at the conference Chris will explore the ways DNA can help family historians to answer questions such as “Where did he/she/we come from?” and “Did they really come from there?”
Andrew Redfern
In his session at the conference Andrew will be Exploring Human Journeys with Artificial Intelligence.
Danielle Lautrec
Breaking Through Brick Walls: Strategies for Researching the Origins of Female Ancestors
Tracing the origins of our female ancestors can present unique challenges, as women often appear infrequently in historical records—typically only through marriage or childbirth.
In this session, Danielle will share her approach to dealing with these challenges, drawing on her own research into the origins of three women in her family tree. Attendees will learn effective research methods, including how to review and analyse existing research, develop new leads, and navigate the complexities of misleading information and indefensible conclusions.
This session will provide valuable insights and strategies for uncovering the untold stories of female ancestors.
Lilian Magill
Blogging for Genealogy
Blogging is a form of writing about your family history.
It’s also a perfect way to share and preserve family history and a way to meet new family or relatives when they find your blog.
Lilian’s presentation will show you two blogging platforms, discuss why you would blog, and show several different blogs.
Lilian will discuss the various aspects of the platform she uses, with live views of her blog and Family Tree.
Mike Traynor
The Voyages of Our Ancestors.
Mike is the current President of U3A Wollongong and speaks regularly throughout the Illawarra to anyone who will listen to stories about ships, the seas and those who sail on them. His talk at this conference will centre on some of the voyages that our ancestors may have undertaken on their way to and around our great vast southern land.
Terry Nunan
Terry’s presentation at the State Conference will be
“Digging for Gold in NSW Land Records.”
Dr Richard Reid
Fairy Meadow so far away: tales of lost Illawarra, 1820/1980
American ethnologist Henry Glassie contends in his amazing work Passing the Time in Ballymenone: Folklore and History of an Ulster Community, that history is not the past but ‘a map of the past drawn from a particular point of view to be useful to the modern traveller’.
My personally useful map of Illawarra’s past consists of a series of localities and stories associated with individuals, families and events from the 1830s to the 1970s. These certainly fit the conference theme of ‘They came from where’?
Before you begin your own conference journey through detailed aspects of family history and genealogy let me set the local scene for you with stories of famine, farming, migration, alleged murder, shootings, harbour openings, convent building, religious antagonisms, war … and much else … all part of the historical fabric of my Illawarra.
It would be no surprise, to anyone who knows me, that my ‘map’ has an Irish/Australian bias, but not exclusively so.