May Meeting
Lynne Byass - Writing Your Family Stories : Bringing Documents to Life
Lynne will speak about how to write our family stories by bringing documents to life using facts to tell stories that people want to read.
Lynne will demonstrate how she combines documents and social context to tell family stories.
Examples will be given using documents frequently encountered in genealogical research.
The presentation will include a brief look at the role of imagination in telling family stories.
June Meeting
Michele - Corin “The Secret Suburb: Lapstone”
Michele will talk about her newly published book on Lapstone.
April Meeting
Noeline Kyle - Mothers, Matrons, and Lady Superintendents - Women Working in NSW Prisons from 1788 to 1969
More information to come
February Meeting
Bruce Turner AM - The Banks of the Nepean Trilogy
Bruce will select a few stories from each of the books to discuss at the Group’s monthly meeting in February 2025. He will also reflect on some of the sources of information and challenges along the way.
The first book, ‘Footprints’ was published in 2023 and focusses on the discoveries of people, places, events, sporting endeavours and civic development through the stories of 72 exemplary citizens connected with a central character.
The second book, ‘Tears’ was published recently and covers 72 scandals, tragedies, crooks, and controversies that have, at times, brought the community to tears during the period from British settlement in 1788 through to more recent events in 2023.
The third book, ‘Triumphs’ is on track to be published in 2025; it focuses on stories of triumphs – both big and small – over the last 200 years that helped to create a unique local culture.
October 2024 meeting - Ian Kendall
Ian Kendall is a Retired School Headmaster and current Treasurer / Membership Officer of the Blue Mountains Family History Society Inc, and will be presenting on Finding Women in your Ancestry.
Overview:
I talk about the difficulty of finding women in the 18th and 19th and early 20th century as almost 100% of women when married they adopted the husband’s name and the difficulty then when they become a widow. I also speak about my 5G Grandmother Elizabeth Everingham nee Rymes and the entries in the public record. She lived in the Hawkesbury after arriving in the second fleet and marrying Matthew James Everingham from the first fleet. I also speak, if I haven’t run out of time, about my 4G Grandmother Ann Baxter nee Rankin and her issues with court cases after she married a fraudster following the death of her husband William Baxter.
Our speaker will be followed by afternoon tea and our General Meeting.
September 2024 meeting - Judith Dunn OAM
Topic of the presentation will be Parramatta Industrial School for boys.
Following the speaker, we will be offering afternoon tea and hold our General
August 2024 Meeting - Jeff McGill
This month’s speaker will be Jeff McGill, whose talk is titled “The Red Coat and the Convict”, the private life of John Lees, an ancestor of Jeff’s.
His talk will include Lee’s time in the Corps, the impact of the Rum Rebellion and the horrific experiences of John Lees’ daughter in New Zealand.