LOCAL STUDIES INTEREST GROUP
November 16 2006
Chinese Museum,
22 Cohen Place, Melbourne.
Present:
Heather McKay
Elaine Craig
Vicki Court
Anne Burrows
Paul Michell
Amanda Peckham
Kathy Smalley
Robyn Luczynski
Yarra Melbourne
Whitehorse Manningham
Whitehorse Manningham
State Library of Victoria
Darebin Libraries
Hobson's Bay
Eastern Regional
Moonee Valley
Apologies:
Melissa Gilmour
Lina Favrin
Michael Smith
Deborah Mould
Liz Pigeon
Kay Rowan
Yarra Melbourne
Yarra Melbourne
Moonee Valley
Vision Australia
Yarra Plenty
Port Phillip
Minutes:
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Reports for ‘Round the Table’ should now be submitted by email to the minute
taker
Elaine is looking into funding for the trip to Ballarat - it may be possible.
There is BBC program called "Who do you think you are?" which generated a lot
of interest in family history. There may be similar interest here.
Anne's blog. Email Anne if you haven't joined as yet.
Around the table:
Genealogy Centre, State Library of Victoria overview Anne Burrows, Genealogy
Librarian
 Continuing high customer usage of the Genealogy Centre. For period July to
September 2006 5,328 inquiries (compared to 5,720 for same period in 2005)
Friday 22 September was a record for the Genealogy Centre with 143 personal
inquiries (we usually average about 80 or so) and 20 telephone calls (usually
about 4 or so). Combination of Show, school holidays and good weather.
 The Genealogy Team has published a number of new information sheets in the
period. Two of particular interest are Thinking of publishing? Preparing your
family history for publication, and Family history resources.
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Promotional activities Genealogy Team continued to participate in a number of
external genealogical events, 30 September 2006 Third annual Family History
Feast at SLV; collaborative event with Public Record Office Victoria, National
Archives of Australia Victorian Office and Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths
and Marriages. 86 people attended.
Coming up: Saturday 18 November 2006 Goulburn & Murray Association of
Local and Family History Groups Annual Local and Family History Expo to be
held at Mulwala, New South Wales
State Library of Victoria has just joined the International Federation of Library
Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Genealogy and Local History Section. In
February 2007 Anne will be nominated as the Australian representative on the
standing committee to alternate with Dr Dianne Reilly.
Lifelong learning activities. Ongoing public training continued. In the 2005/06
period to end of June 2006 the Genealogy Team gave 35 tours/talks (1 more than
previous year) for 934 people (100 more than previous year)
Super Sleuthing in the Genealogy Centre. In September 2006 the Genealogy
Team in conjunction with the Library's Education Programs Unit conducted our
first sessions of Super sleuthing in the Genealogy Centre. The Super Sleuthing
learning program is a research skills development workshop offered to Grades 5
and 6 and held at the State Library of Victoria in 2006. The program enables the
students to become "history detectives" who identify key figures in Victoria's
history through arrange of fun activities. Super Sleuthing introduces primary
school students to the wonderful collections of the State Library as well as the
challenges and rewards of family history and the general history of Victoria.
Super Sleuthing is an opportunity to broaden the profile of visitors to the State
Library and to the Helen Macpherson Smith Genealogy Centre in particular. It
draws upon the combined professional skills of the Library's Genealogy Team as
well as teachers from the Library's Education Programs Unit.
Genealogy Team staff identified key Victorian historical figures in our exhibitions
and collections such as Ned Kelly, Peter Lalor and William Buckley. They also
created "Who am I" questions for each person which the Education Programs Unit
staff integrated into an engaging 90 minute learning program. The teaching staff
designed the learning program to complement the current Victorian Government
curriculum framework, known as the Victorian Essential Learning Standards
(VELS). In September some 50 students attended the first 3 sessions. We have
more bookings for Term 4.
Amanda Peckham Hobsons Bay Libraries
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In September we hosted a very successful Shipwreck talk by Peter Taylor diver,
author, teacher, explorer. 35 local history & maritime buffs, diving experts & a
former local journalist contributed to a lively discussion
Online Genealogy training commenced at the new library at Altona Meadows
(fantastic training room)
Thanks for the response to my request for assistance on access to the genealogy
CD Roms. Hopefully your suggestions will be initiated soon.
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Picture Victoria progressing slowly - 100 images added & 300 photos have been
scanned by a volunteer and are ready be added Picture Victoria. Have been
conducting talks for grade 3 & 4 students from the area and they have been very
well received.
Our new manager starts on Monday 13th November and her name is Ann
Coughlin, Ann was the principal at Wheelers Hill Secondary College and her
background is a teacher/librarian.
Local History has been at a bit of a stalemate while I have been away studying,
however Michael Smith and Jennie Moulder attended the West Bourke Family &
History fair held on Sunday the 15th October at the Footscray YMCA, this
coincided with the 100 year anniversary of the Essendon Tram Depot on the same
weekend.
Jennie Moulder prepared a booklist for distribution on the Family History
Collection and Archive Cupboard Collection at Sam Merrifield Library.
The library has received a generous and interesting donation from the Thomson
family; John Gilmour Thomson was born in Scotland and died in Moonee Ponds.
Items include a booklet on the Centenary Victoria, Melbourne 1934-1935 that is
in mint condition, invitations to the opening of Parliament, 1901 Melbourne and
lots more. I will be undertaking some research about the family with a possible
display in the future.
Our microfilm reader is on it last legs and we have applied through the Local
History Grants Program to purchase a new reader, but have not heard anything so
far.
We have received our report from Memory Victoria Project – Significance
Assessments of Local History Collections in Victorian Public Libraries and were
very positive on our collection and we are looking at some of the
recommendations. Jennie and myself will be attending a workshop 'Caring for
your Collections' at the SLV, which was one of the outcomes of the report. All
our local history records that were indexed on Inmagic have been transferred over
the Horizon and appear on our catalogue under 'Local History Databases'. Our
Cataloguing Librarian at HQ now adds any new additions for local history.
Training is up and going again along with displays currently we have a John Wren
display, loosely based around inner Melbourne the racing theme, politics etc. tied
in with the Reading Victoria Shortlist that has 'Power without Glory' listed.
On a brighter note the Essendon Historical Society were successful in securing a
$4000.00 grant to fund an exhibition that will focus on the triangle in Moonee
Ponds, which includes St. Thomas' Anglican Church, the Clocktower (old town
hall), Queens Park, the Sam Merrifield Library and the police station.
Essendon Historical Society has a new book 'The commemorative history of the
Essendon River League 1906-1966 by Marilyn Kenny, cost $10.00 and will be
launched on Monday 13th November and the unveiling of a plaque by Hon. Judy
Maddigan, MLA at Maribyrnong Park.
Author talks for November have been Ross McMullin who's latest book in on
Ballarat born Will Dyson a prominent artist and cartoonist and an intimate of the
Lindsay family. The 16th November Frank Golding's memoir, "An orphan's
escape: memories of a lost childhood" which is about his journey to discover his
parents and the last author talk for 2006 will be Peter Temple on Tuesday 5th
December at the Sam Merrifield Library, Moonee Ponds.
Whitehorse Manningham Heritage Network Vicki Court
 Two hundred plus images have recently been added to Picture Victoria and the
Whitehorse Manningham Local History Database. As the library now has a new
website there is an opportunity to better promote regional local history which will
be folowed through in the next few months.
 The first week of October was Whitehorse Heritage Festival. A display in
Nunawadining Library highlighted images, taken in 1994, of the municipality
before amalgamation. A workshop, Exploring Whitehorse Heritage Online, was
held on the Monday evening with twelve people attending.
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Royal Historical Society of Victoria Vicki Court
 A stocktake of the library collection was held in November last year and I have
almost caught up with sorting out the 'problems' discovered during the stocktake.
The result is that almost all the library collection is now recorded in the online
catalogue. The rare book collection is currently being catalogued.
 Next weekend the RHSV Biennial conference will be held - the topic is Victoria
in 1856. A display of items from the RHSV collection has been prepared in
conjunction with the conference, including a html slide show of some of the
images.
Picture Victoria Vicki Court
 The Picture Victoria database is continuing to grow as is its usage, particularly
now that the records are accessible via PictureAustralia.
 The committee is looking at ways of broadening the membership base and
discussions have been held with the Italian Historical Society and the RHSV
about potential involvement in the project as well as providing opportunities for
other societies, not in partnership with public libraries, to participate.
 Country Football League project will be new members shortly.
 Discussions are also being held with Richard Hayward at VICNET regarding
further database development.
Elaine Craig - Whitehorse Manningham - Doncaster
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Purchased 2 new Digger products, Tasmanian Federation Index and SA deaths
1916 -1972 . IT have had problems loading them, because of the glitches in the
recent Digger updates.
Shoppingtown Library is moving temporarily because of the expansion of
Doncaster Westfield. The library for 21 months will be relocated to a portable
behind the Manningham Council Offices, half the current size. When the
expansion is completed, a new library will be built on the current roof, in a larger
building than present.
The collection has been weeded extensively, and Elaine has done a light weed of
reference, Manningham local history and genealogy. She hopes that it will be
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possible to take the genealogy PC, all the microfiche and one reader or maybe the
reader printer.
The library will be now known as Doncaster, not Shoppingtown.
Extensive weeding will take place across all branches in the future, and
procedures are likely to change due to the recent changes in senior management.
The new website has been launched, and certain staff have been trained to enable
them to make changed. This means that Elaine can change the genealogy pages.
The last meeting of the monthly group Genie Matters will meet next Tuesday and
will take the format of a show and tell.
Once again Elaine has been asked to conduct staff genealogy training for Monash
City Libraries.
Heather McKay - Yarra Melbourne
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Ran an introduction to local history for the Hotham History project which was
very successful
Heather’s book was launched by Bill Hannan, very successful, over 100 people in
attendance. It is now available from the library
Our database is in the process of being tidied up as it will be transferred to the
library system.
We are now looking at resources for Women of Hotham
There will be a couple of major events next year, such as 150 years of Errol Street
School
Suggestions for 2007 program.
June – Vision Australia (by invitation) Thursday
Sept – Ballarat (by Edith’s invitation) – this may involve a 2 day visit with an overnight
stay as there are a number of facilities we could visit – not in the school holidays
Nov – Genealogical Society of Victoria?
Next meeting:
East Melbourne Library,
Trinity Place,
East Melbourne. 3002
Melway 2G D4
Tuesday 6th March 2007
2.00pm
RSVP to Heather McKay
heatherm@yarranet.net.au
ph 9297 3280