GSV News

A GSV member was recently walking along the waterfront at Mumbles (Wales) and recognised another Australian couple by their AFL gear (all sad Bombers supporters). After chatting with them she found out that the woman was descended from the Ace sisters who were commemorated in a blue plaque our member had just seen at the end of the Mumbles Pier. This lady told her a little of their story. Not knowing at the time that Jessie and Margaret's story is very well documented, our member asked if she had written it down for her family.  'Oh no, I couldn't do that!' was the shocked response.

Sometimes the 'couldn't' is about ownership. Sometimes it's about the mechanics of writing or the organisation of the story.  Sometimes it's just hard to get started.
Whatever your 'couldn't', if you want to write your family stories, you should enrol in the new GSV course 'Writing Family Stories’.

This is a writing course with a difference.
It is not just one day. It is not just lectures. It’s not even just writing exercises.
We have mentors. They are authors, academics, historians, teachers, UTas grads, and they are there to help you tell your story. They will work with you and give you feedback as you work through the course.

Don’t miss out, only a few places left.
Course fee: $200 for the full course, GSV members only.

The course will be over four Tuesdays from 2.30pm to 4pm via zoom:
Tue 7 Oct: Getting ready to write
Tue 21 Oct: Tell your story
Tue 11 Nov: Revise and polish
Tue 25 Nov: Share your story

In our recent survey, a number of questions / issues were raised in the ‘suggestion’ box. 
With such a large response to the survey, and so many different issues, we can’t contact you all individually. We’ll try to address a few of the more common issues raised.

I don’t have many ancestors in Victoria so don’t tap into your resources much.
We are not just a Victorian research society. We are based in Victoria and have a number of unique Victorian resources, but we are skilled researchers in many areas. All of us have researched ancestors who came from and lived in other states and countries.
We have many discussion circles (all free with your membership) focused on other parts of the world. You can find the links to these under the Activities tab on our website.
A quick look up request can be for international queries too. This is also free for members and can be found under the Research tab on our website.

I live interstate. I can’t get into the city. I work during the day.
Did you know most of our talks are on zoom, and recorded? In most cases, the recording is emailed to those subscribing to the relevant noticeboard. 
We are trying to make most talks available as a webcast but need more volunteers to help us get ahead of the backlog. Perhaps you can help? We will train you.
Many of our resources, or at least indexes are available online through our catalogue. You can search these from home and send a quick look up request (also free with your membership) to check the relevance to your research. In many cases we are able to send you an image of the result. 
And don’t forget our free monthly ‘Introduction to the GSV and its Resources’ sessions. A great introduction and ‘how to’ for our online resources. Check our Events under the Activities tab on our website.

I’d like to learn more about DNA.
We are almost finished our ‘learning about’ course for this year. It will run again next year. If you have been working with your DNA for some time, you might be comfortable joining our DNA study group which meets on the first Tuesday of each month. You can email them on dna@gsv.org.au
We also have a couple of library research assistants who can help with DNA research requests.
You can find more information under the Activities tab on our website.

How to progress from brick walls / dead ends
Have you tried our discussion circles? We have many of these and they are all free with your membership. I recently took a brick wall to the Midlands group and received a couple of brilliant leads which have taken me to the next generation. If you can’t attend the actual zoom session, you can still submit your brick wall to the convenor. It can then be used as a case study and discussed in the meeting with the results fed back to you.
You can find the contact details for the discussion circles under the Activities tab on our website.

Jackie van Bergen

We are excited that a few members of the GSV Scottish Discussion Circle are joining a number of international speakers to present at the upcoming Outer Hebrides Emigration Conference on 30 September to 2 October.
Rebecca Landy, Cheryl Bollard, Cath Proud and Eric Smith will present online at about 7pm Wed 1 Oct (AEST):
Far away over the sea to … Australia - travel from the Outer Hebrides and life in Victoria.

Emigration is an important aspect of the islands’ history, as it affected demographics and split families across the globe through the 1700-1900s. People left the islands for a number of reasons, whether through forced clearance, in hope of improving their economic prospects, or to join family members who had emigrated previously.

The conference is a hybrid event, being held in person at Lews Castle, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis or online. The daily online fee to attend the conference is £12. You can register through at https://outerhebridesheritage.org.uk/event/saoghal-mor-farsaing-day-2/

Members of the GSV can hear a free preview of our presentation at the next Scottish Discussion Circle meeting on Saturday 20 September at 2pm.
Register via the Events page of the Activities tab.
You can contact the Scottish discussion circle on scotland@gsv.org.au or better still, subscribe to their Noticeboard and receive notices about forthcoming events and the quarterly newsletter Thistle.

I was lucky enough to meet and volunteer with Joyce Ryerson when living in the northern suburbs of Sydney. Living until the age of 95 years young, Joyce was sharp as a tack, and had a dry sense of humour. But, Joyce was a hoarder. Her daughter Sue would roll her eyes over this.

When Joyce started her ‘collection’ of death notices, she was not a genealogist, just an ‘old girl’ of SCEGGS Darlinghurst (school) looking to help with a register of former pupils. This collection would accumulate over 14 years and was stored in her laundry.
She was luckily a member of The Dead Persons Society and when she mentioned what she had, they were thrilled and member John Graham went around to see. What he found was an almost complete collection of death notices from the Sydney Morning Herald for the years 1986 to 1998 inclusive. Sue was thrilled as John took them all away.

These notices were converted into searchable indexed data and more newspapers added.
The result is a free online index to death, funeral, probate and obituary notices appearing in newspapers throughout Australia. 
The index continues to grow thanks to an army of volunteers.
The date range covers from 1803 up to those published in the last week or so. The coverage depends on availability of volunteers. There are in excess of nine million records compiled from more than 470 newspapers and other sources across Australia. The index is at https://www.ryersonindex.org/

Come along to our Family History Tips & Tools discussion circle meeting on Thu 24 Sep at 10.30am on zoom. John Graham will talk to us about what you can discover and how to get the most out of this fabulous research tool.

Jackie van Bergen

Did you wonder why we didn’t ask much about interest in writing your family history in the recent survey? Well this is why.
A small dedicated team of GSV members has been working on a new course for months.
This short course aims to inspire and educate family historians about how to write their family stories. It will assist in identifying a topic and audience, develop participants skills in use of accurate language and historical evidence in writing an engaging narrative, and develop awareness of different formats and genres. Participants will receive expert and peer feedback.

The course will be led by Professor Peter Sherlock and Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, and supported by a team of six skilled mentors.

We are excited to be offering this new course to our members.

Bookings open 9am Tuesday 2 September
Get your fingers ready as this course is limited to the first 16 registrants.
There will be a waitlist.

This is a GSV member only event.
Course fee: $200 for the full course.

The course will be over four Tuesdays from 2.30pm to 4pm via zoom:
Tue 7 Oct: Getting ready to write
Tue 21 Oct: Tell your story
Tue 11 Nov: Revise and polish
Tue 25 Nov: Share your story

We’ve ‘travelled’ to South Australia and New South Wales in our State to State series so far.
If you weren’t able to attend these, you can find them as webcasts in the Members area of our website. They are well worth a visit.

Thursday 21 August sees us travelling just a little further: to New Zealand. 
Sarah Hewitt, chairperson of New Zealand Society of Genealogists will speak to us about their unique records and how they can help you further your research.
So many of those who came to Australia came via New Zealand, or spent some time there. I’m always surprised at the ease at which people moved between our two countries.

Sarah will also give you a sneak peak at the AFFHO Congress that will be held in February 2027 in Wellington.

More information about the New Zealand Society of Genealogists can be found at their web site - https://genealogy.org.nz/

Thursday 21 August at 11am via zoom.
This event is also open and free to non-members as part of Family History Month. 
Please register via the Activities tab of the GSV website.

Forward notice:
The State to State series will see us travel to Queensland on 18 September and ACT on 28 October. Stay tuned for more.

We all know writers LOVE a deadline!
This is it!
You only have until 4pm on Friday 22 August 2025 to get your entries in for the 2025 GSV Writing Prize.

Ancestry™ is again generously sponsoring the competition with a first prize of a 12-month subscription to their Worldwide Membership together with an Ancestry™ DNA kit. A runner-up prize of a 6-month subscription to Ancestry™ Worldwide may also be offered at the discretion of the judges.

Entries should:

• be between 1,200 and 2,400 words
• have a family history/genealogy theme
• be the author’s own original work
• not have been previously published in any form
• contain appropriate citations to sources.

Entries can contain up to four images.

Members of the GSV and GSV Member Societies are eligible to enter.

Check the full details of the prize, including eligibility and entry conditions, on the GSV website: https://www.gsv.org.au/gsv-writing-prize-2025

This is no time to procrastinate. 
Put the final polish on your story and get it in!

The International Settlers Group (ISG) has a special guest speaker at their next meeting on Saturday 16 August at 1pm. 

GSV member, Bronwyn Paschalidis, will be talking about Scandinavian research. Bronwyn recently wrote an excellent article for the March 2025 Ancestor on this subject, and this talk will build on that information.

Bronwyn invites members to submit their research questions in advance, and perhaps she can then show them how to tackle their problems. Please send your questions to isg@gsv.org.au

Have a read of her article before submitting your question, you’ll find it on page 30 of the March 2025 issue of our Ancestor journal.

GSV Discussion circles are usually only open to members but this meeting is part of AFFHO Family History Month and will be open to non-members.

Be sure to register at the drop down menu from the Activities tab on the website. If you are a member please log in first so your details are auto filled.

Family History Month is an initiative of the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO). Each year AFFHO promotes events relating to family history, genealogy and related initiatives to encourage our community to explore their family connections.

Please check out the website, particularly the drop down box of Family History Month, for a list of events and sponsors offering prizes. Many societies and libraries are offering events that are not always open to non-members. Some are in person, many are hybrid or online. More events are being added every day, so keep checking back: https://www.affho.org/family-history-month-events/

There is an opening event on Fri 1 Aug at 5pm that features Andrew Redfern’s talk ‘A Lasting Legacy in the Digital Age’, exploring how we ensure our legacy survives the test of time, technology and interpretation.

The closing event is on Sun 31 Aug at 5pm. This event features Jane Smith’s talk ‘Keeping your family’s historical stories alive through writing non-fiction’; and Anne Young’s talk ‘Sharing your legacy through blogging’.

There are many prizes from sponsors to be given away to registrants. You can read about these events here: https://www.affho.org/opening-and-closing-ceremonies/

There is also a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AFFHOFamilyHistoryMonth

We know there are some great stories out there just begging to be told. 

Who has become your favourite ancestor?

What is the most exciting / tragic / funny story you have discovered in your research?

Have you unearthed a scandal?

Well, get writing about it and enter the GSV Writing Prize.

You have until 4pm on Friday 22 August 2025 to get them in.

Ancestry™ is again generously sponsoring the competition with a first prize of a 12-month subscription to their Worldwide Membership together with an Ancestry™ DNA kit. A runner-up prize of a 6-month subscription to Ancestry™ Worldwide may also be offered at the discretion of the judges.

Entries should:

• be between 1,200 and 2,400 words
• have a family history/genealogy theme
• be the author’s own original work
• not have been previously published in any form
• contain appropriate citations to sources.

Entries can contain up to four images.

Members of the GSV and GSV Member Societies are eligible to enter.

Check the full details of the prize, including eligibility and entry conditions, on the GSV website: https://www.gsv.org.au/gsv-writing-prize-2025