Irish Conference – BOOK NOW!

Uncovering your Irish Ancestry - Ulster Roots

Embark on a captivating journey with Richard Reid, Perry McIntyre, and the team from Ulster History Foundation as they guide you through a day of immersive Irish research.

WHEN:  Tuesday 20 February 2024 9.30am – 4.30pm at the Cook Community Hub, Templeton Street, Cook or via Zoom.

COSTS:

Members

Conference in Rooms (includes lunch, morning and afternoon tea) -  $52.50

 Via Zoom - $42.00

Non-Members

Conference in Rooms (includes lunch, morning and afternoon tea) -  $75.00        

Via Zoom - $60.00

Dinner at the Irish Club at Weston at 5.30pm is an optional additional cost.

Conference Bookings HERE.       View the program here.

PRIVATE CONSULTATIONS:

During the morning, Fintan and Gillian offer private in-person ½ hour consultations about solving brick walls. (a fee of $60 is payable). You can have a consultation without attending the conference.

Use this link to book consultations:   https://www.trybooking.com/CNPOD

CONFERENCE PRESENTERS:

Richard Reid - Tales of Gweedore, Dromore and the Belfast Workhouse: the Province of Ulster and Australia, 1788/1921.

Convict transportation forged early links between New South Wales and Ireland’s northern province, Ulster. In 1836, the journey of Surgeon Alick Osborne back to his home place in County Tyrone in 1836 opened up a whole new world of free emigration to the lower economic classes in southwest Ulster. Alleged eviction and hardship sent out the largest single batch of Ulster emigrants from any one parish in 1859, this time from Donegal. The stories of Ulster’s connection with the Australian colonies continue throughout the 20th century. This presentation will tell some of those stories and consider the impact these particular Irish immigrants had on the ‘great south land’.

Perry McIntyre - Workhouse orphan girls to Australia during the Famine. Between 1848 and 1850, 4115 girls received free passage to the Australian colonies. Of these, 835 were from the nine counties of Ulster. This paper will look at records in Ireland and Australia that identified who these girls were and give us a glimpse into their lives in Ireland and what happened to them once they arrived in the colonies. They disappeared from Ireland but became an integral part of the settlement and development of three colonies in Australia.

Perry has worked in genealogy and history for over 40 years. She has researched the single young Workhouse Irish orphan girls extensively in Ireland and Australia. She has worked as a professional historian, been the archivist at St John’s College at Sydney University, and, with Dr Liz Rushen, has been co-director of Anchor Books Australia, which was developed to publish good quality colonial history. She has served on many committees, including the Society of Australian Genealogists for almost 20 years, the Catholic Historical Society, the Royal Australia Historical Society and the History Council of NSW, where she was president for two years. Her passion is nineteenth-century emigration to Australia, particularly from Ireland. Perry was awarded an order of Australia (AM) in 2021 for significant service to history preservation and genealogy organisations.

Fintan Mullan -The Ulster Plantation and Sources for Finding Seventeenth Century Families in Ireland (not just Ulster and using Irish wills and Testamentary Records.

Fintan is the Executive Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation and has been responsible for managing this successful Northern Ireland-based educational non-profit since 2001. He has extensive experience in Irish family history research and is a regular international speaker on Irish genealogy, having spoken in Ireland, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and most of the lowe48 states of the USA. He has managed the production of over 150 Irish history and genealogy titles, including the perennial favourite, Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors. Fintan has ensured the foundation has been at the forefront of developments in Irish genealogy, including heritage tourism products and the provision of online resources. He helped pioneer www.rootsireland.ie, the unique database with over 22 million Irish historical records.

Gillian Hunt – The Great Famine in Ireland.

 Gillian Hunt is Research Officer with the Ulster Historical Foundation and manages the Foundation's many genealogical activities. As well as managing the genealogy side of the Foundation’s work, Gillian conducts research for clients and is a hugely experienced user of the General Register Office and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. She regularly teaches courses in Northern Ireland and gives talks on family history in the rest of the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Gillian has been co-presenting our annual North American lecture tours since 2013 and has been with the Ulster Historical Foundation since 2001.