1049 Family History- Community History (Register)

This is a hybrid meeting. Members and guests interested in attending should register for this event via Zoom or in person. After registering to attend via Zoom, you will receive an email with a link to the external Zoom website to complete the registration.

Join us for Family History ACT's mini-conference

"Family History - Community History."

Studies in family, local and community history are inexorably linked, and researching one’s family invariably leads to greater understanding of local and community histories—and vice versa. The aim of our conference is to promote better understanding of this interplay; to help and encourage family historians to make greater use of local and community resources to enrich their family stories; and to encourage family historians to share their family stories within communities.

All sessions will be recorded and be made available to registered attendees afterwards.

Our Speakers are:-

                   Prof Paul Ashton: Writing the Past: History and Historical Imagination

 Amongst other things, history is a literary activity. We write history. And we need to apply our historical imaginations to traces of the past – our sources – to create contexts for the stories we tell. Paul will draw on some of his work to illustrate how he develops a narrative.

Paul Ashton is professor of public history and co-founder of the Australian Centre for Public History at the University of Technology Sydney. He has recently edited If It's Not True it Should Be: Writing creative non-fiction history for children and adults and has written a series of children's history books under the title Accidental Histories, both of which are published by Halstead Press. Other publications include a history fo Sydney's Centennial Park, a history of Sutherland Shire and The Accidental City: Planning Sydney since 1788.

                   Ms Jo Callaghan: In the Service of Dr Gaunt

St Matthias' Church is an iconic feature on the Tamar River (Kanamaluka territory) near Launceston, Tasmania. It is considered the legacy of one man - Dr Gaunt. Jo Callaghan explored the lives of 30 convicts assigned to Dr Gaunt, hoping to solve a mystery - did these 30 men build the historic Tasmanian church? In researching their stories, Jo discovered that family history and local history are sometimes inseparably intertwined.

Jo Callaghan is a graduate of the Diploma of Family Historical Studies (SAG), and Convenor of the Writers Special Interest Group at Family History ACT. Passionate about preserving the history and heritage of Australian families through stories, she has authored and published books, blogs, and journal articles.

             Mr Peter Lacey: You've done your research, and ...

Now its time to write it up, publish it, and share it with others.

Peter Lacey, President of the South Coast History Society, has been editing a free, widely distributed, 20-page South Coast history magazine for the past eight years and, late last year, organised for a 320-page paperback history of the NSW South Coast to be published. 1,500 copies were printed, they retailed for $34.95. The lot sold in just 49 days! So, Peter has lots of stories to tell and advice he can share – which he'll be doing in a 40-minute whizz through the do's and don't's, the highs and lows of writing, publishing and selling local history and genealogy.