Wednesday 10th July 2019 – Members Meeting Day – Schedule
11am to 12 noon Talk by Wendy and Terry Nunan
Wendy and Terry Nunan have been active in Illawarra family history circles for over 30 years, producing numerous publications both for groups and for themselves. Now full time local historians and authors in their retirement, they are part way through a series of major publications documenting those buried or memorialised in the Catholic churchyard cemeteries of the Illawarra eg St Paul’s Albion Park (2010), or even burial grounds that are no more – Shellharbour’s Forgotten Cemetery and Selected Pioneers (2014).
Their latest project, the first 606 biographies for those buried in West Dapto Catholic Cemetery will soon be ready for publication as two 600-700 page A4 volumes.
Terry is also deeply into researching and documenting historical land ownership in the Illawarra and down the coastal strip to Moruya. Having completed transcribing summaries of early Old System Title related transactions in that area (1825-76), he has just completed detailed research into some 2000 Old System or Torrens Title land transactions involving the pioneering families appearing in their forthcoming publication.
11am – The talk will be “Thinking Outside the Square”
Reached a dead end? Can’t find that bit of definitive proof? Why not think outside of the square and research the people and circumstances around your person of interest. This talk gives a number of surprising and/or amusing examples from Wendy and Terry’s research, where a compelling circumstantial case can be just as valuable as that elusive “hard proof”. Terry also provides examples of how land records can further enhance what you know about a person or family, and issues some challenges to what you may achieve as a Family History Group.
1pm Members Meeting
2pm – “The Black Swan Story”
Wendy and Terry’s first foray into family history research and authorship was “The Black Swan”, a 500+ page hard covered A4 sized book published in 1989, documenting the 5,000+ descendants of Edward and Mary Ann Swan. The first half of this talk will provide a brief summary of the Swan family’s history, and then discuss how the publication was achieved over eight years as technology progressed from typewriters to the initial home computers using 5 1/4 inch floppy disks, and how sufficient interest could be raised without social-media to warrant a print-run of 1200 books. The second half of the talk will detail the background to Wendy’s recently published prequel, “Edward Hornsby Alias Swan and his English Ancestry”, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Edward’s arrival in the colony. Wendy will discuss how current day technology and resources were used to answer so many questions left unanswered in 1989.
3pm Afternoon Tea
Cost for the day – $5.00