Another member joins the blogisphere

As one who is passionate about the value of blogging for genealogy and history I am always excited to find a new Australian blog. I was doubly delighted when I discovered a new blog from a Society member, Ed.

In his blog, Carr Family Search, Ed has already written nine posts on a range of topics  including one post about his involvement with our World War 1 project. It is wonderful to read of the enthusiasm Ed has for this project.

I am sure you will enjoy reading Ed's posts. The URL for his blog is http://ecarr357.blogspot.com.au/

Jill Ball

Trove Tuesday - married in London

From the Australian Women's Weekly on 1 May, 1937 comes this photo of  former Wahroonga resident, Miss Sheila Campbell. The Weekly on Trove  is a wonderful source of images for researchers.

The text from the article reads:
MRS GERALD GREGERSON, who, before her recent marriage in London to Dr.Gerald Gregerson of Adelaide, son of Dr. and Mrs. W. J. Gregerson, of Dulwich,  was Miss Sheila Campbell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Campbell, ofWahroonga,Sydney. Dr. and Mrs. Gregerson, who first met when travelling to England last Feb-ruary, leave London in November to make their home in Adelaide. 

Learn how to use FindMyPast from an expert

Our Society has a subscription to the FindMyPast database that is at present being underutilised. Our subscription provides access to many records from Australia, Britain and Ireland including  Census Records, Military Records, Police Gazettes, Shipping and Immigration Records.

Joshua Taylor

The Society has received notification that Findmypast’s Lead Genealogist, Joshua Taylor will be touring Australia and New Zealand during July and August giving free talks developed to provide you with the necessary tools to use our subscription and hopefully knock down some brick walls.

Joshua will be presenting at Parramatta on August 10. For full details and bookings please go to: http://www.findmypast.com.au/articles/upcoming-event-joshua-taylor-tour

This event should book out quickly so don't delay.

Shooting through on the Northside

Members and visitors are invited to join us for our monthly meeting on this coming Saturday, 15th June, at 2:00 pm in the Gordon Library Meeting Rooms, 799 Pacific Highway, Gordon.

Peter Kahn, from The Sydney Tramway Museum at Loftus, will talk about a time when Sydney was one of the world's great tram cities. Peter joined the Museum in 1959 and since that time has served in various offices, taken an active part in restoring old trams and regularly promotes the Museum  with talks to community groups.

In its heyday, Sydney’s tram network was the largest in Australia and the second largest in the Commonwealth (after London) and one of the largest in the world, with about 1,600 cars in active service during the 1930s. 

Trove Tuesday - House Prices in Ku-ring-gai

For our Trove Tuesday post this week we are turning the clock back one hundred years to June 11, 1913.

On Page 20 of The Sydney Morning Herald the following advertisement was published.

The text of the above advertisement follows:

LINDFIELD, RIGHT AT STATION.-New Brick

Bungalow, 5 rooms, and offices. Land 66 x 240,widening to 100ft at rear. Price £1300.

KILLARA.-MANSION AND GROUNDS, close to Sta-

tion, excellent position, 7 rooms, billiard-room,and offices. Land about 2 acres. Price £3500.  

GORDON.-GENTLEMAN'S RESIDENCE, a spreading

Weatherboard Bungalow. Land 280 x 580 (obout),garden, lawns, orchard. Price £1800.

I wonder where these properties are and if they are still standing today.

Time travel

One of the participants in yesterday's workshop on Social Media felt that she had been moved through time.

As a presenter I had a most satisfying session as those who gathered really wanted to learn about social media - they came with open minds and lots of questions which made for an enjoyable time. We discussed Blogs, Facebook and Privacy, Twitter and a range of other social media sites.

I promised to email a list of URLs for the sites we visited and a couple of other resources to those who attended. While I am at it I will share the URLs with you.

After a discussion about social media in general we looked at blogs written by members of our Society.

Carole's Blog    http://heritagegenealogy.com.au/blog/ 
Cynthia's Blog   http://ceciliainglis.blogspot.com.au/
Jackie's Blog     http://jackievanbergen.blogspot.com.au/
Jenny's Blog      http://jennyalogy.blogspot.com.au/
Jill's Blog          http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/

Our KHS blog  http://kuringgaihs.blogspot.com

and a really great blog from the UK britishgenes.blogspot.com

We looked at some Social Media Sites, some of their member pages and how to sign up for accounts:

Blogger  www.blogger.com 
Facebook  www.facebook.com
KHS page on Facebook www.facebook.com/kuringgaihs
Flickr  www.flickr.com
Powerhouse Museum page on Flickr  www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/
Google+  plus.google.com
NSW State Records Page on Google+
Instagram  instagram.com
Librarything  www.librarything.com
Lake Macquarie and District Historical Society Page on Librarything  http://www.librarything.com/profile/lmdhs
Linkedin   au.linkedin.com
Pinterest   pinterest.com
Twitter   www.twitter.com
Historyweek page on Twitter   twitter.com/history_week
State Library of NSW page on Twitter   twitter.com/statelibrarynsw
Youtube  http://www.youtube.com/
Jill's page on Youtube  http://www.youtube.com/user/bibliaugrapher

A resource I shared was A Guide to Facebook's Privacy Options from the Wall Street Journal.

One of the group, Tony, told us about a free application for downloading videos from Youtube: YTD Video downloader http://ytd-video-downloader-3.en.softonic.com/.

We also discussed the benefits of using free Picasa software, picasa.google.com, for organising, managing and sharing photos. Tony has agreed to join me in a workshop to show members how to use Picasa with their digital image collections. We have scheduled this for Thursday August 8 from 10:30 to 12:00. A booking sheet will appear in the Society rooms shortly.

Jill Ball

Wise words from Lifehacker

These ten tips from the Lifehacker blog will help with your computer and online management.

Top 10 Good Tech Habits Everyone Should Have