Scottish Special Interest Group meeting
05th October 2026
By Engagement Committee
Scottish Special Interest Group: Lessons from Building a Worldwide Scottish Clan Collection
When: Thursday 8 October, 7.30pm
Where: In person at Family History ACT, Cook Community Hub, or online via Zoom
Cost: Family History ACT members free | General public $25
Everyone is welcome. If you have Scottish ancestors, this is a wonderful opportunity to learn from an experienced clan genealogist and discover ideas and resources that may help take your own research further.
How do you build a worldwide family history database containing more than 70,000 individuals — and ensure the research behind it is well supported?
Join Bruce A. McLennan, genealogist for Clan MacLennan Australia, as he shares the story behind the development of the Clan’s extensive worldwide genealogy collection.
Clan MacLennan Australia has built a remarkable worldwide genealogy database of more than 70,000 individuals, supported by an extensive collection of evidence including census records, birth, death and marriage records, monumental inscriptions, books and other sources.
Bruce will explore some of the challenges encountered in developing and maintaining such a large collection and consider the valuable role clan associations can play in bringing together family history research and resources from around the world.
Drawing on his many years of experience, he will also share practical tips for Scottish genealogical research that can be applied to your own family history — whether or not you have a MacLennan connection.
Images used in this article created with the assistance of ChatGPT