#AFFHO Congress 2015 - Part 4

Day Three of AFFHO Congress 2015

Sunday began with Kerry Farmer’s talk, Migration Schemes to Australia.  Migration schemes were schemes where financial incentives, often subsidised passage, were offered to encourage migrants from the British Isles to come to Australia, instead of the US & Canada which were cheaper alternatives.  Different migration schemes were in place at different times during the 19^th & 20^th centuries.  Different schemes had different selection criteria to attract desirable immigrants - those with certain skills, in particular age groups or in required occupations.  The number & type of immigrant could be controlled as needed by varying the assistance or incentive & the selection criteria.  Kerry outlined some of the different migration schemes that have been in place, both before & after federation – who the immigrants were, why they were desirable at the time, what incentives were offered, how the scheme was financed, and where to find further information.

A Different Kind of DNA Talk, presented by Colleen Fitzpatrick, presented some information that I was already familiar with, however Colleen used some analogies that really strengthened my understandings of DNA.  The analogy she made between our DNA & manuscripts that were hand-copied was probably the strongest – the more a manuscript was copied, the more likely there was to be a mistake, just like when DNA is copied from parent to child.  She also introduced me to cladograms, which are visual representations of Y-DNA results that show how individuals are related.

Perry McIntyre’s second presentation was ‘The infernal villain will be sent away’: Convict Case Studies from the National Archives of Ireland, Dublin.  Perry told us about the Chief Secretary’s Office Registered Papers in the National Archives of Ireland, which are the equivalent of Australia’s Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence.  This resource is currently being digitised but most of the documents have been transcribed, meaning they are searchable by keywords & names.  To illustrate how CSORP can help us in our research, Perry presented some case studies of people that came to the attention of the authorities for their criminal activities.

After lunch I attended Pauleen Cass’ talk, Harness the Power of Blogging for Your Research or Your One Place Study.  To illustrate how blogging gives genealogists unique opportunities to bring descendants from a particular group of emigrants together, Pauleen presented two case studies from her own research that focused on migration networks: one from Ireland & one from Germany.

The final talk for the day was Bring Your Ancestors to Life: Using Court of Petty Session Records, presented by Shauna Hicks.  Shauna uses the term ‘petty sessions’ as an umbrella term for a wide range of court administered records.  These records were usually for minor criminal offences but the Court could also sit as Small Debts Courts, Police Courts, Licensing Courts, Children’s Courts & Coroners Courts.  Different colonies / states used named their Courts differently & also had variations in the Court’s responsibilities over time.  Shauna used Queenland’s State Archives to show the wide range of a court’s responsibilities & what types of records can be found.  Most State Archives have an online guide to the court records they hold.