July 2025 General Meeting - Saturday 19 July

                      

Guest Speaker:
Adam Courtenay

Join us in Gordon Library Meeting Room 1
at 2 pm on Saturday 19 July 2025 for

Three Sheets to the Wind

On Saturday 19 July 2025 after our General Meeting, Adam Courtenay presents Three Sheets to the Wind.

Why did a motley crew of merchant seamen walk 600 miles to save 7000 gallons of rum?

This is the story of the Sydney Cove, which went down north of Van Diemen’s Land in 1796. Cargo master William Clark and sixteen other crew members crossed the Bass Strait in a small boat and proceeded to walk 600 miles to Sydney to get help for the stranded crew and to retrieve the precious goods.

Assisted by at least six Indigenous clans on his journey, Clark and his men were the first to traverse the eastern seaboard, and their findings were the catalyst for Australia’s first phase of exploration and its first primary industries.

By the bestselling author of The Ship That Never Was and The Ghost and the Bounty Hunter, Three Sheets to the Wind is a rollicking account of a little-known event that changed the course of Australian history.

Books will be available for sale at $30 (cash, Visa, MasterCard or ApplePay).

About Adam Courtenay

Adam Courtenay is the author of five published non-fiction books, specialising in the history of the earliest part of the Australian colony. He has also been a financial journalist for 30 years in the UK and Australia, working for newspapers such as the Financial Times, The Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is the son of legendary author Bryce Courtenay, and in August 2025 will be releasing his memoir of Bryce.

As always, please keep an eye on our website in case of any last-minute changes.

The venue is Gordon Library Meeting Room No. 1, in the Old Gordon Public School, which adjoins the Gordon Library, 799 Pacific Highway, Gordon (corner Pacific Highway and Park Avenue).

It’s just a 5-minute walk from Gordon Station.

For a map and parking information, see our Contact page.

June German SIG Meeting - Monday 16th June 2025

Join us at 1.30 pm on Monday 16th June 2025 for the next meeting of our German Special Interest Group

Our German SIG is a fantastic way to explore your heritage and connect with like-minded locals researching their Germanic background in friendly discussions. We share information on researching your Germanic ancestors, including resources, techniques, history and customs.

Coming up at our June meeting will be a number of topics of interest to anyone with Germanic ancestors or researching their German family history, including an update on online German family history activity; a review of the recent International German Genealogy Partnership Conference in Columbus Ohio; and discussion on the way ahead for the SIG, followed by an open discussion on items of interest to persons researching their family tree.

Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or just starting your family tree, you’re warmly invited to attend. Come and join us for the discussion, then stay for afternoon tea and a convivial chat - guests welcome!

Date: Monday 16th June 2025

Time: 1.30pm

Location: Old Gordon Public School building, 799 Pacific Hwy (cnr Pacific Hwy & Park Ave)

Parking: Subject to time limits in Council’s Wade Lane carpark (entry via Park Ave or St Johns Ave)

Train: Our rooms are a short walk from Gordon Station.

For a map, please see our Contact page, https://khs.org.au/contact-us/#hours

For more details, see our website, https://khs.org.au/german-sig

Please keep an eye on our website's Events page in case of any last-minute changes. https://khs.org.au/events/

June 2025 General Meeting - Saturday 21 June

                     

Guest Speaker:
Patricia Skehan

Join us in Gordon Library Meeting Room 1
at 2 pm on Saturday 21 June 2025 for

The Exiles of Canada Bay

On Saturday 21 June 2025 after our General Meeting, Patricia Skehan presents The Exiles of Canada Bay.

Along with Exile Bay and France Bay, the Canada Bay place name commemorates the French Canadian exiles imprisoned here following uprisings in Lower Canada (Quebec) in 1840.

Trish tells the compelling true story of a group of these Canadian patriotes, exiled for life in Australia. Later exonerated by their nation, this is compelling history within the context of British colonial governance.

Arriving in Sydney in 1840, these men existed for years at Longbottom Stockade, the halfway station between Farm Cove and Parramatta settlements. The reasons why they were sent to ‘The Land of a Thousand Sorrows’ and the ‘Deep Sense of Wrong’ that prevailed throughout their tragic sojourn in Australia became the titles of two books written by others about this subject.

The story is told from one man's point of view, Francois Maurice LePailleur. An innocent man caught up in the drama, he had a very significant role to play, once confined in Australia. He kept a secret journal for years while at Longbottom Stockade in Concord, and Trish's presentation includes sketches and extracts from that journal - a remarkable story that has since been turned into a 3-hour documentary, for which Trish was a technical adviser.

Trish will have copies of her Exiles of Canada Bay booklet on sale at just $10, as well as copies of her book The Secrets of Anzac Ridge: In Flanders Fields for $30 (cash, Visa or MasterCard).

About Patricia Skehan

Trish is a founding executive member of Concord Heritage Society, now known as The City of Canada Bay Heritage Society. She speaks to Rotary, Probus, VIEW Clubs, historical societies, garden clubs and schools. She has presented heritage talks on 2CBA-FM radio, and has been published nationally. Trish is also a tour guide on Yaralla and Rivendell estates in Concord West, and has written on both.

As always, please keep an eye on our website in case of any last-minute changes.

The venue is Gordon Library Meeting Room No. 1, in the Old Gordon Public School, which adjoins the Gordon Library, 799 Pacific Highway, Gordon (corner Pacific Highway and Park Avenue).

It’s just a 5-minute walk from Gordon Station.

For a map and parking information, see our Contact page.

April German SIG Meeting - Monday 14th April 2025

 

Join us at 1.30 pm on Monday 14th April 2025 for the next meeting of our

German Special Interest Group (SIG)

Our German SIG is a fantastic way to explore your heritage and connect with like-minded locals researching their Germanic background in friendly discussions. We share information on researching your Germanic ancestors, including resources, techniques, history and customs.

Coming up at our April meeting will be several topics of interest to anyone with Germanic ancestors or researching their German family history. An update on the group project called German Ancestors of Ku-ring-gai Historical Society Members, a German Genealogy and German History quiz, plus What’s New Online to help you with your German Family History research activity.

Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or just starting your family tree, you’re warmly invited to attend. Come and join us for the discussion and stay for afternoon tea and a convivial chat - guests welcome!

Date: Monday 14th April 2025

Time: 1.30pm

Location: Old Gordon Public School building, 799 Pacific Hwy (cnr Pacific Hwy & Park Ave)

Parking: Subject to time limits in Council’s Wade Lane carpark (entry via Park Ave or St Johns Ave)

Train: Our rooms are a short walk from Gordon Station.

For a map, please see our Contact page, https://khs.org.au/contact-us/#hours

For more details, see our website, https://khs.org.au/german-sig

Please keep an eye on our website's Events page in case of any last-minute changes. https://khs.org.au/events/

March 2025 General Meeting - Saturday 15 March

                    

Guest Speaker:
Richard White

Join us in Gordon Library Meeting Room 1
at 2 pm on Saturday 15 March 2025 for

Symbols of Australia

On Saturday 15 March 2025 after our General Meeting, Dr Richard White presents Symbols of Australia.

What’s happening to Australia’s national symbols?

The symbols of a nation never stand still – they are constantly changing, despite the desire to think of them as immovable. Even during the four years of editing and updating a new edition of Symbols of Australia: Imagining a Nation (originally published in 2010) Richard White found it hard to keep up, as well-established national symbols shifted on their foundations.

Richard’s illustrated talk surveys a range of Australia’s national symbols, from the formal to the popular, the commercial and the humorous; examining their origins, their many and varied meanings, and how they have changed over time.

Books will be available for sale at the special price of $40 (cash only).

About Dr Richard White

Richard taught Australian history and the history of travel and tourism at the University of Sydney from 1989 to 2013. His publications include Inventing Australia; as well as The Oxford Book of Australian Travel Writing; and On Holidays: A History of Getting Away in Australia.

His current research interests include the history of ‘history tourism’ in Australia and the history of the cooee… but Richard has to admit he spends more time in the garden than at a desk. A new edition of Symbols of Australia (co-edited with Melissa Harper) appeared in 2021.

As always, please keep an eye on our website in case of any last-minute changes.

The venue is Gordon Library Meeting Room No. 1, in the Old Gordon Public School, which adjoins the Gordon Library, 799 Pacific Highway, Gordon (corner Pacific Highway and Park Avenue).

It’s just a 5-minute walk from Gordon Station.

For a map and parking information, see our Contact page.

February 2025 General Meeting - Saturday 15 February

                   

Guest Speaker:
Greg de Moore

Join us in Gordon Library Meeting Room 1
at 2 pm on Saturday 15 February 2025 for

Tom Wills: An Australian Story

On Saturday 15 February 2025 after our first General Meeting for the year, Greg de Moore presents Tom Wills: An Australian Story.

Now in its third edition, Tom Wills: An Australian Story is the biography of a flawed genius – our first great cricketer, and the man most credited with creating what we now know as Australian Rules football. Not just for the sports-minded!

Books will be available for sale at the special price of $20 (cash only).

About Greg de Moore

Associate Professor Greg de Moore is a psychiatrist, historian and author. He is based at Westmead Hospital in western Sydney. His four books include Tom Wills: the insubordinate life of an Australian sporting legend, which blends mental health and Australian history, winning numerous awards and being short-listed for the National Biography Award.

He is also co-author of Australia’s Game, which documents the history of Australian Rules football from the mid-nineteenth century to the present; and, as you will recall from his previous presentation to KHS, Finding Sanity: John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder, the biography of John Cade and Australia's greatest mental health achievement, which is the discovery of lithium for the treatment of bipolar disorder.

As always, please keep an eye on our website in case of any last-minute changes.

The venue is Gordon Library Meeting Room No. 1, in the Old Gordon Public School, which adjoins the Gordon Library, 799 Pacific Highway, Gordon (corner Pacific Highway and Park Avenue).

It’s just a 5-minute walk from Gordon Station.

For a map and parking information, see our Contact page.

February German SIG Meeting - Monday 10th February 2025

Join us at 1.30 pm on Monday 10th February 2025 for the next meeting of our

German Special Interest Group (SIG)

Join us at 1.30 pm on Monday 10th February 2025 for the next meeting of the KHS German Special Interest Group.

Our German SIG is a fantastic way to explore your heritage and connect with like-minded locals researching their Germanic background in friendly discussions. We share information on researching your Germanic ancestors, including resources, techniques, history and customs.

Coming up at our February meeting will be a number of topics of interest to anyone with Germanic ancestors or researching their German family history, including an update on online German family history activity, a briefing on recent activity on Artificial intelligence (AI) for Genealogists, and an open discussion on items of interest to persons researching their family tree.

Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or just starting your family tree, you’re warmly invited to attend. Come and join us for the discussion and stay for afternoon tea and a convivial chat - guests welcome!

Date: Monday 10th February 2025

Time: 1.30pm

Location: Old Gordon Public School building, 799 Pacific Hwy (cnr Pacific Hwy & Park Ave)

Parking: Subject to time limits in Council’s Wade Lane carpark (entry via Park Ave or St Johns Ave)

Train: Our rooms are a short walk from Gordon Station.

For a map, please see our Contact page, https://khs.org.au/contact-us/#hours

For more details, see our website, https://khs.org.au/german-sig

Please keep an eye on our website's Events page in case of any last-minute changes. https://khs.org.au/events/