GSV News

How many times do you read a newspaper or book and pick up inconsistencies? How does it make you feel about the publication? It’s not just grammar, spelling and punctuation that are important.
Author guidelines help to make writing consistent (especially when there are multiple contributors as is the case with the GSV Ancestor journal). Without an agreed approach to the expression of numbers, dates, addresses and use of capital letters, the publication looks less professional.
Guidelines for references are more complex but essential to standardise the way that authors cite sources of information. The GSV Ancestor team has carefully developed, and recently updated, referencing guidelines that aim to provide the information a reader needs, while not taking up too much page space. These can be accessed online at
GSV author guidelines.
The new additions include referencing vital records such as births, deaths and marriages (BDMs) and church records, as well as clarification about referencing websites and blogposts.
Consulting these guidelines is recommended before you start writing, particularly if you are considering entering the 2025 GSV Writing Prize competition that opens this week, or submitting an article to Ancestor.

While they help us research our family history no matter from where in the world we hail, local genealogical societies also develop expertise in researching the local area. State by State: the genealogical resources of Australia gives GSV members a chance to hear from representatives of the state based societies around Australia. Presenters will highlight the special resources in their society's collection and answer questions about researching ancestors in their area.

We begin on Thursday 10 April with South Australia. Helen Livingstone, of Genealogy SA will speak on ‘Researching Family History in South Australia’. Of use to anyone who had ancestors who lived and worked in South Australia, Helen’s presentation will outline the resources and expertise offered by Genealogy SA. In addition to many online digitised resources, including historic SA birth, death and marriage records, the Society has an extensive collection of books, microfiche, journals and other family history resources in their Library. Come along to learn about our sister family history society in South Australia.

This members only event will be held via Zoom on Thursday 10 April, 1:30pm -3pm. Members can register to attend here.

I’ve ‘grown up’ knowing Louisa Garrett nee Lewis (1845-1917). She is my 2 x great grandmother and her photo has been on the wall of each house my parents have lived in. Mum has always felt an affinity with her as she believes she looks like her - she does. But there the similarities end!

Louisa is unlike many of our women ancestors. She has been relatively easy to research. Her arrival in Australia was widely publicised. She was a ten year old with her mother and siblings on the Schomberg that was shipwrecked off the west coast of Victoria. She married at barely eighteen years old. Her husband was quite the socialite and so they featured in the social pages. Louisa’s niece was Emily Charlwood who wrote under the pen-name of Celia, and was the social editor of Table Talk. They travelled ‘back’ to England for a visit. Then her husband had a well publicised insolvency trial and they up and moved to Sydney. Her husband died in Sydney and she returned to her family in Melbourne with her children, and pregnant with the sixth. Her whereabouts were recorded in Melbourne directories, rate books and electoral rolls.

Perhaps you have been this lucky researching your women ancestors? Please come along with a short story to share with the VicTas discussion circle on Fri 28 Mar at 10.30am on Zoom. We’d love it if you could share what resources helped you.

It would really help us if before the meeting you could indicate your intention to share something via email victas@gsv.org.au. Don’t forget to register under the Events tab.

Jackie van Bergen
Convenor
Victoria and Tasmania Discussion Circle

Valerie Britton-Wilson: GSV’s British in India circle’s guest speaker on Tuesday 18th March at 7:30 pm.

I think many Family Historians fantasise about discovering a suitcase containing a trove of one’s ancestors’ love letters! Melbourne-based author, Valerie Britton-Wilson did just that. And to add to the interest, Valerie’s forebears include French, Irish, Italian, British and Indian lines.

In her book, “A Touch of India”, Valerie tells the story of her mother, Pearl, a young Anglo-Indian woman, determined to become a journalist, in Bombay (Mumbai) towards the end of the second World War.  She met, and ultimately married, a Chindit officer who was on leave from the extraordinarily dangerous and challenging fighting behind the Japanese lines in the jungles of Burma.

Eventually Valerie’s parents migrated to Australia and had to negotiate around the remnants of the White Australia policy.  Valerie herself became an academic, but a trip to India in the late 1990s aroused in her a fascination with that country.  She started a textile and clothing importation business, bringing Indian clothes and fabric, with all their charming irregularities, to the Australian market.

Valerie has continued her love affair with India and has very interesting insights into what is happening in modern India and its colonial past. She will be talking about a very recently completed trip to India as well as her book, “A Touch of India: Chutney Mary, Charming Irregularities and an Unlikely Romance” which is available to view in the GSV library.

Valerie’s talk will be of interest to those interested in India, tourism, textiles, family history (aren't we all?), religions, caste, and what it meant to be an Anglo-Indian.  She herself is a perceptive and amusing storyteller. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear her story with the British in India circle on Tuesday 18th March at 7.30 pm. Simply go to the Events Registration page and sign up!

Clare Claydon

Convenor
British India Discussion Circle

Driven by troubles or drawn by hope? A journey of grand adventure or one of trials and tribulations? Travelled alone or with their community? Do you know what your ancestors' migration experience was like?

How do you think you got here? Immigration to Victoria in the Nineteenth Century is a seminar examining the motives, mechanics and experience of immigrating to the Colony of Victoria in the 1800s.

The one day seminar will be held at the Docklands Library between 9am and 4pm on Saturday 29 March.

Professor Dianne Hall of Victoria University, historian Dr. Liz Rushen, and panels of family history researchers will address the questions:

Why did they come?
What schemes brought migrants to Australia?
What happened on the voyage?
What did immigrants experience on arrival in Melbourne?
What resources are available at the Immigration Museum, PROV, SLV, TROVE, FHC and GSV to help you discover what your ancestors experienced?

Tickets cost $70 for GSV or Family History Connections members and $90 for members of the public.

For more information or to book, visit https://www.gsv.org.au/how-do-you-think-you-got-here

How do you think you got here? Immigration to Victoria in the Nineteenth Century is a joint venture of the Genealogical Society of Victoria and Family History Connections.

Image Information:
Chevalier, N. (Nicholas). (1863). EMIGRANTS LANDING AT THE QUEEN’S WHARF, MELBOURNE. [picture]. Melbourne: Ebenezer and David Syme. State Library of Victoria

If you have tested your DNA with Ancestry and wish to learn some basic techniques for effectively working with your match lists to confirm your family tree and solve its mysteries, then we have the course for you.

The seven session course Using DNA for Family History will begin on Wednesday 12 March 10am-12pm and continue monthly from May to October. Meeting over Zoom, Maureen Trotter will lead sessions providing ample time for questions and discussion. The course will cover:

1. Exploring our DNA results
   • the genealogical treasures included with our Ancestry DNA results
   • how to navigate and make sense of the information
2. Shared Matches: Our Connection to Cousins
   • how shared DNA, relationship estimate tools and family trees can help us work out relationships to matches
   • what to do if our DNA results reveal unexpected relationships.
3. Clustering DNA Matches
   • learn two easy methods of organising your DNA match list to group related people
4. Research Objectives and Tree Building
   • using specific research objectives to help us focus on the relevant cluster of matches
   • how to set up a private and unsearchable research tree for your matches and find connections
5. Confirming your Tree and Solving Mysteries
   • how to solve more complex family mysteries using all of Ancestry’s hints systems, including Thrulines, building research trees and charts
6. Digging Deeper
   • investigate some of the innovative tools and techniques developed to enhance our DNA research, including uploading to other sites, keeping track of matches with multiple kits and across different companies
7. Sharing your progress
   • the possibilities for sharing your findings should you choose to
   • Discussion of our progress so far

The course is run as a progression of classes which should be completed consecutively, but can be taken as one off events for those who need a refresher on that topic.

Each session will cost $20 for members and $40 for non-members.

To register for the first session visit here.

Nearly 3000 single, free women arrived in Australia in the 1830s in response to enticing advertising and a scheme to encourage women to migrate. At least a quarter of these women are known to have married convicts.

On Thu 27 Feb at 1.30pm, Dr Liz Rushen AM will discuss why so many of these free women married men still under sentence.

This will be a hybrid meeting for GSV members only. When you register you should indicate whether you will attend by zoom or in person. The venue is the Kathleen Syme Library, 251 Faraday St, Carlton.

Dr Liz Rushen AM is a Research Associate in the Faculty of Arts, Monash University, on the Editorial Board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography and a Director of the Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network. She is also a member of the Professional Historians Association (Vic & Tas), a former Executive Director of the RHSV and former Chair of the History Council of Victoria. She has researched and written extensively on the experiences of nineteenth century migrants, particularly those who left Ireland. In 2021 Liz was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to community history and heritage preservation.

The Convicts and Transportation Discussion Circle meets quarterly and is free as part of a GSV membership.

You can register your intention to attend here or via https://www.gsv.org.au/events.

On Saturday 8 February, Dr Perry McIntyre will be presenting at the IADC zoom meeting. Dr McIntyre has been involved in and researched Irish history and genealogy for over 40 years.  Her topic "In good health and fit to undergo the voyage: workhouse orphan immigrants" will be based on the 4114 young women who arrived in Sydney, Port Phillip and Adelaide from the workhouses of Ireland during the period October 1848 to July 1850. Six ships from those ports offloaded 1,255 girls in Melbourne.

Dr McIntyre has published and spoken extensively on immigration, particularly 19th-century Irish immigration.  Her doctoral research on convict family reunion was first published by Irish Academic Press in 2010 and  then republished by Anchor Books in Australia in 2018.

The IADC are particularly thrilled that she has made herself available.  Within our cohort there is great interest in the Earl Grey Scheme, and in immigration from Ireland generally. Her talk is eagerly awaited.

Members can register to attend by logging into the GSV website and finding the Irish Ancestry Discussion Circle entry on the Events page.

This is a members only event held via Zoom on February 8th between 1 and 3pm.

About 1.8 million Australians have a Scot in their heritage, descended from the 230,000 who emigrated from the auld country in 1788-1900, and the many more who have arrived since then.

On Saturday 8th February, a special day of Scottish family history research is being held in Ballarat to explore the Scottish Australian experience.

The great list of speakers include:

• Carol Armstrong, Secretary BDGS: Overview & Scottish influence in Ballarat & Western District
• Jan McDonald, Secretary Victorian Scottish Union: The role of the Group and Scottish Clans
• Dr. Kevin Molloy, Principal Librarian State Library of Victoria: Victorian and Australian Collections
• Joy Roy, Secretary Bendigo Regional Genealogical Society: Scotland’s People
• Stephen Matthews, Vice Chair of Pipe Bands Victoria & Vice Principal (Ensemble Victoria) of the Pipe Band College: Pipe bands in Victoria history and development
• Rebecca Landy, GSV Library & Resources Manager: Resources and collections.

Book soon for a great day of all things Scottish and a chance to meet and share information with other Scottish descendants and researchers.

This is organised by the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society in conjunction with the Scottish Discussion Circle of the GSV.

All other details, including how to book, can be found on the GSV website here.

Image reference: Caledonian Society at Casterton, Victoria. 1909. Museums Victoria Collections https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/766361 Accessed 17 January 2025

If you are hoping to use DNA to further your genealogical research this year, the GSV can provide lots of support:

"I received a DNA test kit for Christmas. Now what?"
After briefly introducing how DNA is inherited, this information session will concentrate on DNA tests, hoping to answer all your questions about buying, registering, testing, preparing for test results, viewing and interpreting your results.

Wed Jan 22nd 10:30 am; Free for GSV members, $10 for non-members.

Using DNA for Family History
This newly revised course will help you learn some simple techniques for effectively working with your Ancestry DNA results to both confirm your family tree and solve mysteries.

Beginning in March 2025, for a small cost with discounts for GSV members and those who enrol for the whole course. More information is coming soon.

DNA Study Group
A free monthly discussion circle for GSV members with a keen interest in DNA who work together to continue to build skills and discuss new developments in genetic genealogy.  

BanyanDNA is the topic for the group’s first meeting of 2025 on Tues Feb 4th at 10 am.

You can register for each of these Zoom meetings via the GSV Events page.