I recently resumed research on another of my great grandfathers - an Engine Room Artificer in the Royal Navy. I came across a baptism record possibly for his father as the son of 'William John Stevens and Giovanna Assenza' and that of his brother 'born at the Parent's Residence in the Island of Malta... now of Nottingham Row', Surrey. In a few clicks a whole new world of Malta and the Levant in the early 19th C opened up, as I found that he and his sons were British Consuls in Malta. Wonderful! Now that I had an Italian forebear this find promised an exotic international escape from the Colonial convict sagas of my book 'Guilty and Lucky'. 'Malteasers' all round! Alas it was not to be.
Our last census showed that 40% of Australians had parents who were born in countries other than England, Scotland, Ireland or Australia. Many of us will be searching for our ancestors all around the world. The GSV offers lots of help in non-English research in particular via its International Settlers Group. This service group of the GSV meets quarterly and welcomes new members.
Its next meeting is on Saturday 21 November, 1.00 pm via Zoom (numbers limited).
“Here, there and everywhere - coming out of my comfort zone”
Susie Zada will talk about her European ancestors after she finally found the courage to do more than write foreign places of birth in her family tree. It has been a journey of fear, discovery and excitement involving both traditional research combined with DNA discoveries.
Susie started researching her own family history back in 1965 and has worked as a genealogist, historian and researcher since 1990. She completed an Associate Diploma in Local and Applied History at the University of New England (Armidale, NSW) in 1996 and has been working in the area of the built Heritage since 1996.
She has won a number of local and Victorian awards for her contribution to local and family history and was the Winner of the VAFHO 2019 Frances Brown Award for Excellence to Family History in Victoria. Susie has researched and published several books as well as historical interpretive displays, CD-ROMs, indexes and extensive web sites on local history – see http://zades.com.au/gandd/index.php
This talk is free to GSV Members and current ISG newsletter members, but you can join ISG vai the HGSV website. See more about this group HERE https://dev.gsv.org.au/international-settlers-group
If you would like to explore your non-British roots you might like to join the members of the International Settlers Group - who can guide you in the rich and interesting global world of non-British family history.
Go to our website to find out more about this group and to join.
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Photo:
'Maltese immigrants land in Sydney from the SS Partizanka on 13 December 1948'.
SMH 16 Jan 1948, p.3. SLV H92.420/191. Unknown creator, Wikimedia Commons.