Learn@QFHS

Locating your German immigrant ancestor’s place of origin

Presenter: Eric Kopittke

Knowing where our ancestors came from is important no matter from which country. they came, but for those of us with family origins in Germanic areas it is especially important since records were recorded and stored locally, not centrally. This presentation looks at ways to help you identify your immigrant ancestor’s place of origin, as well as some examples of the records that that you might find.

Register Online

Searching Trove Digitised Newspapers for Beginners

Presenter: Sue Reid

Register Online

Searching Trove Digitised Newspapers for Beginners--Repeat

Presenter: Sue Reid

Register Online

Charles Booth’s 19th century London maps and poverty notebooks

Presenter: Dr Penny Walters

Old maps are a rich and fascinating family history resource. British businessman Charles Booth became concerned with the plight of the Victorian London urban poor. In 1886, he began an ambitious project to survey their living and working conditions, which took 17 years to complete. His survey involved questionnaires, interviews, and he and his small team physically walking around surveying what they saw. The survey focused on 3 areas: poverty, industry, and religion. It is a pioneering example of social cartography, as each street was coloured to indicate the income and observers’ assumption of social class of its inhabitants. Seven classes identified ranged from the “Lowest class - vicious, semi-criminal’ through to “Poor - a moderate family” to “Upper-middle and upper classes - wealthy.” The London School of Economics website features Booth’s maps, which are searchable by street, parish and area, and can be compared with modern maps of London. Whilst walking around each street, the investigators also compiled very detailed notebooks of observations. Some of the notebooks have been digitised and are grouped into three: police notebooks, inmates of workhouses; and Jewish notebooks. The notebooks include: reports, interviews, letters, statistics, rules. Other useful resources for this period and location will be given. The maps and notebooks can then be combined with census information to provide a more detailed picture of life at that time. This session will be invaluable for those searching for London ancestors during the 1880s - 1900s.

Register Online

Australian literary sources for family history context

Presenter: Chris Schuetz

Sometimes a novel can describe a place or situation more vividly than a history. Or some traveller might have written about a place or event where no other handy account exists. Even after photography began, such descriptions can be very useful in placing you in the spirit of personal experience of an earlier age. Typical sources and how you can find others will be described.

Register Online

Queensland maps for family history (online)

Presenter: Dr Kerry Raymond

Maps enable us to find where our families were born, baptised,  married, died, and buried. The features shown on maps such as schools, churches, public halls, racecourses, railways  give us clues about how they lived their lives. This hands-on session will help you learn how to find online historic maps of Queensland (and there are thousands of them!) that relate to your family.

This session will work best if you have a desktop or laptop (for the Zoom session) or a laptop (for the in-premises session).  Maps can be very large and are very difficult to view on a small tablet or phone screen.

Register Online

Queensland maps for family history (Research Centre)

Presenter: Dr Kerry Raymond

Maps enable us to find where our families were born, baptised,  married, died, and buried. The features shown on maps such as schools, churches, public halls, racecourses, railways  give us clues about how they lived their lives. This hands-on session will help you learn how to find online historic maps of Queensland (and there are thousands of them!) that relate to your family.

This session will work best if you have a desktop or laptop (for the Zoom session) or a laptop (for the in-premises session).  Maps can be very large and are very difficult to view on a small tablet or phone screen.

Register Online

A History of Parliament Online

Presenter: Patrice Connelly

This website is a key genealogy resource for anyone with a member of any UK parliament in their family history.  Patrice Connelly will begin by outlining the history of parliament and suffrage.  She will then introduce this very user-friendly website and show you in detail how it works and how to search.  The earliest date you can search on is 1386, so there is plenty of scope for research and thousands of names and pictures.  And if your ancestor was a humble labourer, you may be able to research their employer if he was a parliamentarian.  Don’t miss this comprehensive and interesting talk on a genealogy goldmine.

Register Online

When Your Money is Not Your Own: Women, Business & the Law

Presenter: Dr Catherine Bishop

For much of the 19th century Australasian wives were essentially non-people, unable to own property, make contracts or sue in court independently of their husbands. In this talk, award-winning historian Dr Catherine Bishop will explain exactly how the law worked and explore the myriad ways - both respectable and otherwise - that women navigated their way around legal restrictions to make a living. From lady schoolmarms to earthy publicans, from hard-working milliners to charming con-women, our feminine forebears could be surprisingly entrepreneurial

Register Online