Issued - 20th January 2010
Details are:-
The 7th March is the Sunday in the middle of a long weekend.
DATE: Sunday 7th March, 2010
VENUE: Collingwood Town Hall, 140 Hoddle Street, Abbottsford, Melbourne
TIME: 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
Registration Fees: $10.00 per head, children under 16 free.
It is now only a few short weeks until we will be seeing you at the convention. There is still much planning work to be carried out, but I hope to finalise all arrangements within the next two weeks so that I can advise you of what we have managed to arrange for this day.
I do apologise for not keeping in touch more frequently - some personal issues have kept me from spending as much time planning as I would have liked. You will notice my new contact details below.
However, I need your help to make this event the success that we all want. We need more people to come, so please contact all your families and turn the event into family reunions, as you did last time.
Advertising is about to take place via letters to the editor of local newspapers, and Tom is contacting "Australia All Over" as he did in 2003.
We have still been unable to finalise the last two speakers, but news on this should be available in the next newsletter in a couple of weeks.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND: This Convention is for any person with a WILLS name in their backgrounds. It provides a chance for researching and maybe finding a missing link to other families at the function. I currently have listed 14 different first families to arrive in Australia. It is also for descendants of Burke, King and Gray.
FORMAT: On arrival, please sign the visitor's book and pick up your name tags. Please also avail yourself of a "cuppa" and give yourself time to meet Ken and me. You are then invited to greet others, view displays, research family trees etc. to your heart's content.
FOOD: The same arrangements as in 2003 will apply -
- bring your own picnic lunch
- bring your own nibbles for morning and afternoon tea
- tea and coffee available free of charge all day
- No need for thermoses.
TRAVEL: There is some car parking available, and the Collingwood Station is at the rear of the building.
Do you need help with travel or accommodation? Beverley Wills works for a travel agency and may be able to assist you.
Her email address is Beverley@travelmasters.com.au
MY NEW CONTACT DETAILS: Please note my new contact details
Email - sullivan.john@bigpond.com (I will be off line until early Feb)
Postal - Pamela Sullivan, 3 Strickland Close, Pakenham, Vic 3810.
Phone - (03) 5941 5249 - evenings only until we get settled.
The above is the newsletter as written by Pam Sullivan, who as you can see has plenty to occupy her in moving into her new home. She has asked me to add something of interest regarding family research.
I recently became aware of a service provided by the National Library of Australia in which they are providing copies of Historic Australian Newspapers, 1803 to 1954 on-line at newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home At the top of their page you will find navigation tips for the example newspaper page displayed.
After I had tested these I then typed into the 'FIND AN ARTICLE' box explorer king hoping to find an article about John King who accompanied Burke and Wills. The result was over 26,000 articles from around Australia about this gentleman.
The results are presented similar to the results from a Google search.
I then typed in my grand-fathers (1862-1927) name (in lower case initials and surname) and did not discover any records. Then I typed his name with his initials in upper case and capital w for Wills. This produced over 28,000 entries. Not all related to him but many did and provided me with details of which I was not previously aware.
And now for the interesting part. When you click on one of the results it will take you to the article presented in the similar manner to the article on the original page.
You may notice that there are errors in the article you have selected. Don't worry, all is explained on the left of the article. The electronic method used to copy the newspapers has results in these errors because of the poor quality of the printing in the original paper. You may correct any errors. Just click on the blue Fix this Text box and the opportunity to correct the errors is presented to you. When you are finished correcting be sure to click on the blue SAVE box at the top.
I corrected several spelling mistakes in one of the articles about my grand-father.
I strongly suggest that you research some of your ancestors or other historical events of interest to you, you never know what information you will find.
Have fun. Tom Wills