It’s been a busy few weeks in the Local History Room, with the volunteers hard at work and Local History Officer David setting into his new role.

Wednesday evening saw the final session of the Family History Course for Beginners, where ten eager genealogists in training attended four sessions to learn about how to kick-start their family history research. There was a very positive response and it will be great to see the progress they make with their family trees.

The Web 2.0 and Genealogy sessions have also been going well. This year saw the introduction of these specialised courses to show family history enthusiasts how to use Web 2.0 technology such as Facebook, blogs, Google and wikis to help them in their research. The next sessions will be held on Monday 11 October and Thursday 14 October and we’ll be looking at message boards and forums. Bookings open Friday 24 September, so stay tuned for more information!

Another feature of the Local History program of events that was newly introduced this year was Lunch Time Bites – informal talks about various areas of genealogy, where you can bring your lunch and chat to other like-minded researchers. Our next one is called “An illustrated field guide for cemetery explorers”, and David Wald will be in to talk about the wealth of information to be found in cemeteries. It will be on Wednesday 15 September from 1:00pm and there’s no need to book.

As always, our friendly volunteers are available for one-on-one Family History help on Thursdays, so phone 8397 7333 to book some time with them.