Unlock the Past’s Victorian Expo at Geelong in September, is coming up quick. This will be a MAJOR history-genealogy-heritage event for not only those in and around Geelong, but Victoria as a whole, and interstaters as well. For genealogy-minded people, this 2 day event will be something not to be missed.

I received some bad news today, I found out today that the K & Company Ancestry.com 12×12 Pedigree Chart paper, which is not only one of our favourites, but also a favourite with our family tree scrapbooking custmers, has has now been discontinued. One the plus side, I did just recieve a large shipment of it – but this will be the last that we can get, as the Australian distributor is out of stock.

Australians are in love with watching family history on TV, and “Who Do You Think You Are?” has captured the interest of so many, that the program has now been renewed for a 5th Season.

If you are an individual, society, archive, library, or an organisation interested in either history or genealogy, you will want this “History and Genealogy 2011″ in your collection. This is not a HOW-TO book, but rather a collection of articles on a whole range of topics relating to Australia and New Zealand history and genealogy.

Hamilton played host to the New Zealand Family History Fair in 2010. This was a huge success, as over a 1000 people enjoyed the many exhibits and seminars on offer, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of FREE access to websites. Now it’s on again, and bigger than last year!!

There seems to be a trend these days of if you are a celebrity (or in this case a President of the US), you will get your family history researched for you. This difference with this story, is that President Obama not only appreciated it, but also thanked those who researched his Irish roots.

We’re not quite at the end of the month, yet July has been a has been a BIG, BIG month for new genealogy records online, particularly with the big players in the field. Military records, Wills, Business records, Convicts, Civil Registrations, Parish Registers, Directories, and Cemetery records

The end of July marks the beginning of National Family History Week, which runs from 29 July through until 8 August. National Family History Week is an initiative of AFFHO (Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations), as a way to promote and encourage people to trace their family history.

Did your family arrive in New South Wales in the early 1800s? Have you looked for them on the Census? This really is an important record for anyone who had family in New South Wales in 1828 or earlier, as this is the ONLY surviving census for New South Wales. It is not widely known that the original ‘household returns’ survive for a quarter of the population in the New South Wales 1828 census.

Into Australian history or Australian genealogy? If you answered Yes, to either of those, you should be reading this magazine. The July-August edition (issue 5) of this bi-monthly magazine has just been released. In it you’ll find the following: articles about dating old photos, tips for tracing Chinese ancestors, Friendly Societies, and as our Australian Census is coming up in August, a Census special.

If you’re researching your Cheshire ancestry, FamilySearch is a must-visit site, as they’ve just added millions of parish records and bishop’s transcripts online. This is in addition to the Land Tax Assessments, Non-conformist Records, Probate Records, School Records, Workhouse Records, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, and Register of Electors already there.

The National Library of Australia’s digitisation of historical Australian newspapers has to one of the most important resources that is available online, and even better that it is FREE!! As you can understand this is a work-in-progress, but I can tell you that they don’t look like slowing down any time soon!! Yay, and I KNOW I’m not alone on that one!!!

Everyone loves a price drop, and us genie mad people, love it even more when it’s on genealogy products! So the good news for today is that the always popular 3rd edition of the National Burial Index for England and Wales has now dropped in price to $59.50 (AUD).