I know you’re all freaking out that we’re into June already, but think of it this way – it means that National Family History Month isn’t so far away!!

Held during the month of August,  Australian and New Zealand genealogical and historical groups and organisations use this month to bring family history to the general public.  To celebrate National Family History Month they hold events throughout the month, focussing primarily on family history, but certainly not forgetting local history and military history either. They want to not only introduce family history and history to people, but also show people how to do it, as well as find out what archives and libraries are around, what they hold, and how they can help you as well.

National Family History Month (NFHM) is an initiative of the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO). and has been an annual event in Australia and New Zealand since August 2006, though it did start out as National Family History Week. Due to its increasing popularity, in 2013 National Family History Week was changed to National Family History Month and ran for the whole month of August, and has been held every year since.

REGISTER YOUR EVENT/S
Each year hundreds of events are organised about Australia and New Zealand. So for organisations (meaning genealogy societies and groups, historical societies, museums, archives, libraries, even churches and other similar organisations), NOW is the time to get your August event/s organised.

It could be a beginning your family history talk, a talk about the history of a local town, an open day for your genealogy group, a scanning old photos afternoon, a tour through historical buildings, a cemetery walk, or archives … and so on. Even online events. The list can go on and on.

There are literally hundreds of genealogy societies and groups throughout Australia and New Zealand, and if you count all the other historical organisations you’d be in the thousands. Many societies have regular monthly meetings with a local or guest speaker. So as a suggestion, if your local group doesn’t  want to organise an ‘extra event’ for National Family History Month, why not list your scheduled August meeting? It’s a way of getting your group seen, and you never know, you might get some new members out of it.

From Monday, 3 June 2019, anyone who is organising an event can add an event online. But first, please read the really important notes from the organisers.

SPREAD THE WORD
We love family history, right? And we should be excited about the opportunity of promoting family history and history to the general public. This an opportunity to help someone else get started on the fascinating journey of their history.

So let’s show the public how much we love family history during National Family History Month (NFHM) by organising an event or two, and make 2019 the biggest one yet!

DIARY DATE IT
With events held around Australia and New Zealand, over the course of the month be sure to diary date it, as this is one for EVERYONE who is already into genealogy, as well as those that have an interest in starting their family history, and those that have a general love of history. There’s always plenty on.

GOT A QUERY?
If you have a query, feel free to send an email to info@familyhistorymonth.org.au.

KEEP UP TO DATE
You can follow National Family History Month on Facebook to keep up to date with the latest news and events.

HASHTAG IT
And one last thing, for those using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and so on), the official National Family History Month hashtag is #NFHM2019.

HTTP://FAMILYHISTORYMONTH.ORG.AU/