More speakers announced for Unlock the Past's 18th genealogy cruise

I recently blogged about the fact that I will be participating as the lead presenter on the 18th Unlock the Past history and genealogy cruise in December 2024, which I am very much looking forward to! (See http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2023/07/return-to-oz-18th-unlock-past-genealogy.html)

The following speakers have also now been announced:

• Chris Paton (Scotland)
• Mia Bennett (England)
• Maggie Gaffney (New Zealand)
• Eric Kopittke (Queensland)
• Rosemary Kopittke (Queensland)
• Michelle Patient (New Zealand)
• Helen Smith (Queensland)

You can find out more about each of us at https://www.unlockthepastcruises.com/18th-cruise-southern-australia-presenters/ - it's going to be a cracker of an event, I hope that you can join us!

For further information about the cruise, please visit https://www.unlockthepastcruises.com/18th-cruise-southern-australia/.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Return to Oz - the 18th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise, Dec 2024

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that I will be returning to Australia next year as lead speaker for the 18th Unlock the Past history and genealogy cruise!

This will be my fourth cruise with Unlock the Past, the last one being the Baltic cruise in 2015 (I unfortunately had to withdraw from the 2018 Alaska cruise), and this will be my first trip down under since 2017, when I did a talks tour for the company across many Australian cities, with fellow genie Dirk Weissleder. As well as the cruise itself, there will be some shore-based events in Australia itself, and I really, REALLY hope that you can join us!

The following is the official announcement from Unlock the Past:

ANNOUNCING

18th Unlock the Past cruise - Southern Australia December 2024

We are pleased to announce our 18th Unlock the Past history genealogy cruise.

Date: 1–10 December 2024 (9 nights). This is a great time to join us for an early summer cruise - before the rush of Christmas / new year holidays.

Departs/Returns: Sydney.

Ports of call: Hobart, Kangaroo Island, Adelaide, Melbourne.

Ship: Celebrity Edge.

The conference: over 30 conference sessions over the four days at sea and every evening. Plus, one on one help from experts.

Speakers: the program will be headed by Chris Paton, one of the most sought after speakers in Australia and internationally.

We have a limited number of places for those with recognised expertise and presentation skills who come on the cruise as fully paid cruisers. Click here for more information.

More information: visit the cruise website

click links above the cruise page image for more details.

If you have never been on a genealogy cruise before, they provide the best of both worlds - a genealogy conference and a holiday combined. Unlock the Past cruises have been run since 2011 by Adelaide based Alan Phillips and his team, including the superb Rosemary Kopittke and Helen Smith (both great speakers!). The talks are given by presenters when the boat is at sea, and when in port you can then visit all sorts of wonderful shore based attractions - and incidentally, the cruise company is billing this as a 'wine cruise', so I'm guessing that might mean a vineyard visit or two, but don't quite me on that! I've been to Adelaide and Hobart once before, and to Sydney and Melbourne a few times (I have family in Melbourne), all wonderful places, and this will be my first trip to Kangaroo Island, which sounds fun!

To give a flavour of previous Unlock the Past cruises that I have been on before, you can read the following blog posts, which should provide a flavour of the craic enjoyed along the way, and a sense of how they work:

Unlock the Past's 2nd genealogy cruise - review (Australia and New Zealand)

https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2011/12/unlock-pasts-2nd-genealogy-cruise.html

Unlock the Past cruise and talks tour now over (4th Unlock the Past cruise, with Thomas Macentee - includes some video diaries on board!)

https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2014/02/unlock-past-cruise-and-talks-tour-now.html

Unlock the Past Baltic genealogy cruise - Days 12-14: Copenhagen and homeward bound (8th Unlock the Past cruise)

https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2015/07/unlock-past-baltic-genealogy-cruise_30.html 

Good talks, good food, good accommodation, good fun, and great craic - I hope you can join us!

For information on all of Unlock the Past's previous cruises visit https://www.unlockthepastcruises.com/cruises/previous-cruises/.

hris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

New updated editions of three of my Unlock the Past publications now on sale

I've just noticed today that several new publications I have been working on for Gould Genealogy (www.gould.com.au) in Adelaide, Australia, are now on sale.

The first is a newly revised 2nd edition of my book A Beginner's Guide to British & Irish Genealogy, now available for sale as a print edition or as an ebook. 

Here's the blurb:

First released in 2016, this bestseller has now been updated and released as a 2nd edition.

So if you've decided that you want to trace your British and Irish family history, but have absolutely no idea where to start, this beginner's guide is for you.

In this book, genealogist Chris Paton takes you through the key record sets that will help you get underway with your family history research. He introduces you to the family history societies and archives that can assist your efforts, and provides a little context to the ancestral landscape within which your ancestors once lived, and into which you will soon be immersed. Along the way points out some of the major differences in record types to be found in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

In each chapter Chris also provides a steer towards further books or sources which can further develop your skills as you become more experienced with the subject matter, making this an invaluable introduction.

You can find the print edition at https://www.gould.com.au/a-beginners-guide-to-british-and-irish-genealogy/utp0289-2/ priced at AU$ 27.50

You can find the ebook at https://gould.com.au/a-beginners-guide-to-british-and-irish-genealogy-ebook/utpe0289-2/ priced at AU$ 10.95

In addition I have two produced two updated 'Handy Guides' for the company:

Handy Guide: Twenty Useful Irish Websites for Family History (2nd ed)

There has been an explosion of interest in Irish family history over the last few years with some of the most important genealogical resources now digitised and made available online. 

In this handy guide (4 page booklet), family historian Chris Paton takes a look at the potential offered by twenty of the most useful websites for research on the Emerald Isle. First released in 2017, now revised and updated with the latest information.

Print edition at https://www.gould.com.au/handy-guide-twenty-useful-irish-websites-for-family-history/utph0282-2/ priced at AU$6.95

E-edition at
https://www.gould.com.au/handy-guide-twenty-useful-irish-websites-for-family-history-ebook/utphe0282-2/ Priced at AU$ 4.95  

Handy Guide: Civil Registration Births, Marriages and Deaths in Britain and Ireland (2nd ed)

The state based civil registration of birth, marriage and death events commenced across Britain and in Ireland during the 19th century, but did so at different times, and utilising various different legal criteria between the various constituent countries.

This handy guide (4 page booklet) Chris Paton outlines what to expect from the records, and where to find them.

Print edition - https://www.gould.com.au/handy-guide-civil-registration-births-marriages-and-deaths-in-britain-and-ireland/utph0281-2/  priced at AU$ 6.95

E-edition -
https://www.gould.com.au/handy-guide-civil-registration-births-marriages-and-deaths-in-britain-and-ireland-ebook/utphe0281-2/ - priced at AU $4.95 

I hope they help!

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.