Issued 16th February 2010
This event is now only 3 weeks away!! Excitement is building, with people travelling from Queensland, NSW, ACT, SA and WA, as well as county Vic and of course, Melbourne metropolis. There has been interest from England, USA, Canada and New Zealand, however there are no confirmed acceptances from overseas to date.
Venue details are:-
DATE:Sunday 7th March, 2010
VENUE: Collingwood Town Hall, 140 Hoddle
Street, Abbottsford, Melbourne
TIME: 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
Getting There:
There is some car parking available, however if you are able to come by public transport, it would make the parking available for those who cannot. The Epping line train stops at Collingwood station, and the station is at the back of the hall.
Help Needed on the day:
Are you able to offer any assistance to help the day run smoothly? If we have a few offers, the work of registrations, topping up the urn, etc. can be spread so that no-one needs to do it all day. Plus assistance in tidying the hall at 4.00pm after the event. We have paid a large Bond and must leave the hall clean and tidy to recover the Bond.
An email advising the times that you are available would be appreciated, so that we can roster these important jobs.
Guest Speakers:
Amanda Stone, Collingwood Councillor will officially open the day at 11.00am.
David Dodd from the Royal Society of Victoria will speak on plans for celebrating 150 years since the expedition. The Royal Society of Victoria were the scientific group who raised the funds, set the parameters, found the people and sent them on their way back in 1860.
Frank Leahy, member of the Burke and Wills Historical Society, will give a talk on the accuracy of William Wills navigation skills.
Book available at the Convention
"Willsway"by Russell Stephens is about three generations of the Wills family. Researched in great detail including travel to the Rugby school where Tom Wills was educated. If you are interested in history and sport and the Wills family then you will love this book.
Spreading the Word – Tell Friends:
Some of our newsletter recipients sent these reports after the last newsletter.
a. I have emailed my writer's group thinking they may know of some contacts.
b. My 88 yr old brother is looking forward to attending the Wills reunion.
c. We will not be able to attend the reunion in March. I will discuss with other family members as my son lives in Fitzroy, daughter in Altona and sister in law in Geelong, so hopefully there will be some sort of representation from my family.”
Do you belong to a hobby group or Probus or Lions, etc? Please tell them. Have you told all your family and friends? Send them a copy of this newsletter, or ring them.
Would your school, kindergarten, library, church, sporting club etc display a poster for a couple of weeks? Is there a staff notice board where you work. You can find a poster attached to this newsletter. Print as many copies as you can distribute.
Look up the Wills name in the phone book ( either the book or on line at http://www.whitepages.com.au/wp/resSearch.jhtml ) leave a copy in their letter-box or ring the door bell and ask is anyone interested in family history and leave a copy of the poster.
Ring talk back radio and tell them about the Convention and mention that we are also looking for descendents of any of the members of the Burke and Wills Expedition.
Any promotion is good promotion.
Remember, the convention is not only for “Wills” surname people..... It is also for descendants of other members of the expedition.
What to bring:
Yourselves, family, friends, colleagues, club contacts.
Your lunch (free tea, coffee, milk, sugar, cold water and cordial supplied )
Also biscuits for morning and afternoon tea)
Any family tree printouts, photos, memorabilia etc that you would like to share with others.
Pen and paper for taking notes. Your lap-top computer. Your camera.
If you are bringing children, please bring games or colouring books etc to keep them happily occupied.
Web sites:
Do YOU have a favourite website that is not well known? We would love to hear of it so that others can be told of its value. Email us with any special research you have undertaken so that we can report it in a newsletter, such as this recipient did:-
“Did I tell you that years ago I found the site where B and W camped near the Gulf, where they recorded the rise and fall of the tides, thus deciding they had reached the northern most point? A year after my husband died, I took my then ten year old grandson on a RACV tagalong tour to Innaminka and the burial sites, as well of course, the Dig Tree. “
Please email me details at jlpco5@bigpond.net.au.
Contact details.... please note my new address.
Pam Sullivan, 3 Strickland Court, Pakenham Vic 3810
Phone: 03 - 5941 5249
Email: jlpco5@bigpond.net.au
Registration:
We will be colour coding your name into the family group to which you belong... a very useful tool to find others working on the same family tree on the day.. There will also be a colour for descendents from the other expedition members.
There is a considerable amount of work to organise this colour code for each family group. To assist with this, below is a Registration Form. Please copy the form section of this email and paste it into an email to Pam at jlpco5@bigpond.net.au Once you have pasted it into your email, type in your details and forward it by 28 Feb, or print it out and post it via Australia Post.
Payments in advance will also make for easier processing at the door.