~ December 2010 ~  

MEETING DATES 2010

Meeting held 2nd Wednesday of the month at 10am in the Tebbutt Room, Windsor Library

Find us on Facebook

Hawkesbury Family History Group is now on Facebook. Click on the link above and become a friend.

INFORMATION

NO MEETING IN JANUARY 2011

Just a reminder that there is no meeting in January 2011. Next meeting will be on Wednesday 9 February 2011.

SEASONS GREETINGS

To all members – wishing you all the very best at Christmas and for the Holiday Season.

Convict Female Factory

For those of you interested in checking out the blog and petition to support the Female Factory Precinct Action Group, with the aim to have the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct returned to the people of Australia. This Precinct includes the Parramatta Female Factory, Catholic Orphan School and Girls Industrial School see http://femalefactoryprecinctactiongroup.wordpress.com/ and http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savethefemalefactory

Upper Mangrove Creek cemetery now online

St Thomas Cemetery located at Upper Mangrove Creek (also known as Dubbo Gully) has now been uploaded to the Cemetery Register website and is now available to view online. See http://www.hawkesbury.net.au/cemetery/upper_mangrove_st_thomas/ for more information.

FamilySearch Centre

Just a reminder that Hawkesbury Library is a licensed designated FamilySearch Centre. This is great news for family history researchers as material from the collections of the Family History Library of the Genealogical Society of Utah (the family history society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) can be ordered and then viewed in the Hawkesbury Library. These include English and Welsh parish registers, European resources, census records, British army records, Australian parish registers, and so much more.

It is necessary to set up set up your own free account online at https://film.familysearch.org/ and then nominate the Hawkesbury Library as the place to view your items. Material is then ordered online via the Family History Library Catalogue which is accessible at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp Orders require payment by creditcard ($7.75) per item. When the item arrives at the Library you will be automatically notified by email and can have the film to view for at least 60 days.

FamilySearch Indexing project

Digitising of the 2.4 million rolls of film as part of the FamilySearch Indexing project is progressing well but indexers are still needed. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer indexer, see www.familysearch.org and click on Indexing to sign up. The goal this year is to index 200 million names worldwide. To date 117 million have been indexed with more than 800,000 records indexed in Australia to date.

Christmas Shopping Occasion

Monica Leach from Historic Houses Trust at Rouse Hill has invited members of the group to their special Christmas Shopping Occasion on Wednesday 8 December. All retail stock in the Visitor Centre will be marked down by 25%. To be held from 1pm to 7.30pm this opportunity has been extended to include the neighbouring cultural institutions and Historical Societies. SO comealong and poke around amongst the goodies as the shop does have some of those “hard to find” traditional gifts, old fashioned toys, parasols and very interesting books to browse through while enjoying our complimentary wine and cheese. Rouse Hill House & Farm, Guntawong Rd, via Rouse Rd Rouse Hill T 02 8239 2288

NEW LOCAL STUDIES ITEMS

New Local Studies items now available to consult in the Local Studies Collection at Hawkesbury Central Library. To check the Library catalogue online go to http://catalogue.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/amlibweb/

• Rare & Curious : the secret history of Governor Macquarie’s Collectors’ Chest / Elizabeth ELLIS RL749.3 ELL
• Elizabeth 1828 : the worst and most turbulent : from Celtic Cross to Southern Cross / VOYTAS RL929.3944 VOY
• Central Coast roll of honour / Wyong Family History Group RL929.39442 CEN
• The first title holders of land in the County of Cumberland / Geoff Cannon RL929.39441 FIR

Surfing the internet……. Sites for family historians

Members with internet access should check out the following interesting sites. The Library has free access to the internet, contact 4560 4460 for bookings at Windsor & 4578 2002 for Richmond bookings.

• Founders & Survivors (a website studying the founding population transported to Tasmania) http://www.foundersandsurvivors.org/
• To view a short video of the history of the Granite Mountain Vaults, Salt Lake City storage facility see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfXVvWb0qOQ

~ Let us know of sites, that you have tried with (or without) success ~