Believe it or not there’s only about two weeks left until August. I know, right!! How did that happen. But before you start complaining about it … this is actually a good thing as August is National Family History Month (NFHM) in Australia and New Zealand, so that means you don’t have long to wait.

I know the National Family History Month team have been quieter than usual this year … but rest assured IT IS MOST CERTAINLY ON!!!

A BIG REQUEST …
I also know that a number of organisations (societies, groups, libraries, museums, archives etc) have already added on extra events during the month, which is awesome. But I have a big request for all of them – if you are, or are planning to have any genealogy and/or history event or two (or more), during August, … please, please add your event/s on the NFHM website, so people actually know about them, and know that your organisation is participating.

HOW TO ADD AN EVENT …
In case you’re not sure how to go about adding an event on to the NFHM website, here’s a link that tells you:
https://familyhistorymonth.org.au/add-a-new-event/. The website caters for both in-person events and online – so if you are organising either, just choose the relevant option.

LET’S SHARE OUR LOVE OF HISTORY AND FAMILY HISTORY
Some people say that family history, or even history is boring. Now you and I know that isn’t true, since we’re completely obsessed by it, but the reality is, to get people interested we have to come up with interesting ways to ‘show off’ our history.

SOME IDEAS …
So what about a ‘come and scan your old photos day’, or talks about the early days of a town, or tell the stories of some people buried in a local cemetery. Open the doors to your society or archive and show off your collections, or have an old movie screening. There’s hundreds of ways you can show your history (either in person or remotely), and it is our job to encourage others to get the bug.

So now genie friends in Australia and New Zealand, it’s over to you, we have a whole month to show ‘family history’ off to the public, so let’s make an effort and see if we can get do it. And again, PLEASE enter your events on to the NFHM website. We can do better than the few that are there already.

www.familyhistorymonth.org.au

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FamilyHistoryMonthAU
Official Hashtag: #NFHM2021