Monthly Meeting – Tue 7 May
26th April 2024
By Engagement Committee

Family History ACT Monthly Meeting: Tuesday 7 May 2024 at 7pm. (In person at the FHACT Education Room, Cook Community Hub, Templeton Street, Cook, or online via Zoom). All welcome. Members and guests interested in attending should register for this event here.
Join Pennie Pemberton at the next Family History ACT Monthly Meeting as she speaks about ‘Sand, Soda and Lime: Glass Making and Family History'. Sand as in silica, soda as in soda ash and lime as in limestone/calcium carbonate - the basic ingredients of most glass. This presentation will be mostly set in England, with a short excursion to Ireland and perhaps an Australian coda. Between 1969 and 1976, Pennie worked for the glass manufacturer Pilkington plc (from 1971 as Group Archivist and Records Manager) in England. Hence, her interest in glass (though she wishes to mention that her father, grandfather, and at least one great uncle-by-marriage worked for Pilkington, too).
Our Speaker:
Pennie Pemberton has been interested in her own family history since she was a teenager. She has also developed a great interest in family history generally as part of her professional research, including for her PhD Thesis published in 1991 - The London Connection: the formation and early years of the AAC, which explored the directors, shareholders and employees of the Australian Agricultural Company – which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year.
In November 1976, Pennie joined what is now the Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU, as Deputy Archives Officer. She resigned in 1989 to do her PhD and re-joined (after a few other archives jobs) in 1998 until she retired (sort of) in 2012. Pennie joined the Society in 1980 when she returned to Canberra after working in England, becoming a Member of Council from 1987, Vice President from 1992-1996, and being appointed a Fellow in 2012.