SIX Maps website is retiring

 NSW Spatial Services have announced that the SIX Maps website is being retired and will be replaced by Spatial Digital Twin (SDT) Explorer. The website URL is SDT Explorer can be found here. https://portal.spatial.nsw.gov.au/explorer/index.html

SDT Explorer has all of the functionality of SIX Maps but with more function being added particularly with additional datasets that can be viewed.

I will be preparing some presentations on SDT Explorer shortly and provide information through the Society of Australian Genealogists Events program.

Presentation - Discover the HLRV

 Presenting during Heritage Month at Sutherland Library on Thursday 15 May at 10.00 till 12.00.

Discover the HLRV (Historical Land Records Viewer)

If you are new to the HLRV this would be the perfect discussion to come along to and learn what is involved in researching land records in New South Wales.

U3A presentations

 Presenting twice to U3A Endeavour Region at Cronulla.

Monday 17 February on Land Development in the Sutherland Shire.

Monday 31 March on Using Maps in Family History

Both presentations went well but only with small numbers attending.

A New Year awaits - Welcome to 2025

 The New Year is here and it looks like I am going to be rather busy this year. I have listed below the talks that I will be presenting to various groups throughout 2025.

2025 Presentations by Jeffrey Madsen

 

Feb 17 (Mon) U3A - Land Development in the Shire

Mar 01 (Sat) BBFHS - Land Development in the Shire

Mar 18 (Tues) BBFHS Workshop – Land/Property Research Workshop

Mar 31 (Mon) U3A - Using Maps in Family History

Apr 4   (Fri) SAG Hands on - Historical Land Records Viewer (HLRV

Apr 23 (Wed) SAG Researching the history of your property

May 8  (Thu) SAG Using maps in Family History (Part of Intro course)

May 15 (Thu) Sutherland Library – Discover the HLRV

                Heritage Month

May 17 (Sat) Lake Macquarie FHG Open Day - Finding Our Place

Jun 18 (Wed) Hornsby FHG - Discover the HLRV

Jun 20 (Fri) SAG Hands on - Land/Property Research Workshop

Jun 21 (Sat) BBFHS Australia Interest Day

Jul 12 (Sat) Ryde HS – TBA

Jul 23 (Wed) GSQ Wednesday Night Zoom – Using Maps and Historical Land Records for Family Research

August - Family History Month

Aug 8 (Fri) SAG Hands on - Using Maps and Historical Land Records for Family Research

Sep 12-14 (Fri-Sun) Illawarra FHG, State Conference (They Came from Where) - TBA

Oct 8 (Wed) Hawkesbury Family History Group - TBA

Oct 16 (Thu) SAG Webinar - Obscure Place Names and Parish Maps

Oct 29 (Wed) SAG Using Maps in Family History (Part of Intro course)

Just check out the various organisation's website for more information.

Coming soon to a ZOOM Session near you!!

 Proud to announce a new course that has been developed, together with new Flowcharts, titled

Discovering the HLRV

(Historical Land Records Viewer)

for members of the Society of Australian Genealogists scheduled to be presented on Tuesday 6 February 2024 at 7.30pm.

This is a completely new presentation and will demonstrate to members how the HLRV works and the records that it contains which can provide benefits to family research.

Obscure Place Names and Parish Maps

 Presenting this course on Thursday 30 November for the Society of Australian Genealogists. many already registered with course notes available on the DOWNLOADS page.

State Conference of NSW and ACT Family History Societies

 Presenting at this years Conference being held at Toukley on the Central Coast. My presentation is titled

 LOCATION, LOCATION!!

Using Using Maps and Historical Land Records for Family Research.

Hope you can join us for the Conference being organised by Wyong and District Family History Group.

Face to Face courses are back at Society of Australian Genealogists

 I am pleased to advise that I will be providing a series of presentations on NSW Historical Land Records to members of the Society of Australian Genealogists at their

Library 2/379 Kent St, Sydney NSW 2000

on the following dates:

14 April - Introduction to NSW Land Records and Parish Maps

28 April - Old System and Torrens Title

12 May - Primary Applications and Conditional Purchases

26 May - Workshop on Historical Land Records Viewer (HLRV)

These will be Face to Face presentations and places will be limited. Their will be a number of exercises for participants to undertake on the day to gain further experience.

Click here to Register

NSW Historical Land Records and Family History Research - 18 April 2023

 New presentation on using NSW Historical Land Records to add to your Family Research being presented to members of Botany Bay Family History Society on Tuesday, 18 April 2023 at the Research Centre in Gannons Road, Caringbah.

Click here to register

Mapping Workshop at Wyong, 20 January 2023

 Had a great time at Wyong Family History Society in their rooms presenting to a group of enthusiastic family historians wanting to learn how they can map their ancestors.

We first gave a presentation on mapping principles and where to source maps from the internet and local libraries. Then followed a "How to use Google Maps" workshop where everyone delved into the many ways in which they can present their family in a very graphic manner, using both text and images.

A very successful day!

Visit to Family History ACT - 27 February 2023

 Presentation to be made to Family History ACT on 27 February 2023 on using NSW Historical Land Records to assist in your Family Research.

This will be a hybrid meeting with both in person at the Cook Community Hub and via Zoom.

Cook Community Hub
41 Templeton Street,
Cook ACT 2614

Click here to Register

Maps completed

 I spoke about the maps showing locations in Egypt and Palestine for a memeber of the 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment. I have created four maps to show some 45 locations. This was made more diffficult due to the nature of the names and their spelling. English translations of place names in the Middle East can be different to the local spelling and also to the verbal sounding of a name. There can be multiple spellings of the same place in Australian archives and records.

I used Google maps to determine the location and Latitude and Longitude before transferring this data to MapInfo Professional to prepare the finished maps.

Four maps were created due to the large area covered and the close proximity of many of the locations. Map 1 showed Egypt and Palestine with major centres displayed for reference on the other maps. Map 2 was of Egypt with Map 3 of Cairo displaying the location of various Hospitals around the city centre. Map 4 showed the locations in Palestine.

I have shown Maps 1 and 4 below.

  

New Research Opportunity

 I have been asked to prepared some maps showing the locations that a Trooper of the 1st Light Horse Regiment, AIF served at in Egypt and Palestine during the Great War of 1914 to 1918.

Presentation for Riding the Waves of History Conference 2022

 My presentation is complete and has been sent off to the Convenor of the Conference. An outline of the presentation is below:

Presentation
One Leaf of the Shamrock
Using Historical Land Records to Enhance Your Family Research

Bernard Cavanagh arrived in Australia with his brother James and sister Anne in 1841 as Assisted Immigrants from Ireland. They were sent to work for Andrew Lang’s Dunmore Estate, near Maitland. Bernard’s story was put together using TROVE articles but the more important part of the story came from the property that Bernard and his brother purchased in the area. With the absence of British type Census records, land records can assist us to track family movements and status in Australia.

This talk will show how land records accessed from the Historical Land Records Viewer (HLRV) allowed the story of Bernard Cavanagh of Dunmore and Knockfin, near Maitland, to be expanded after initial articles found in Trove provided the basis for their family story.

Land Records can provide a great deal of information to the family researcher, including

• when transaction took place
• who was involved in the transaction
• occupations and location of the parties
• specific details of the property location
• cost of the transaction

Hear how information was obtained from the Historical Land Records Viewer (HLRV) and from other sources to create the story of Bernard Cavanagh in New South Wales.

A copy of the completed story of Bernard Cavanagh will be available for download as well as a copy of the presentation.

Riding the Waves of History Conference 2022

 I have been accepted as a speaker at the Conference to be held virtually on 16 and 17 September 2022. I will be using some of the work that I have done on the CAVENAGH family Land Records for my presentation as this will fit very well for the locality of the host Societies.

Bernard CAVENAGH - Land Records

James, Bernard and Anne CAVENAGH arrived in Sydney aboard the John Renwick in 1841.

They were found employment with Andrew LANG at his property Dunmore in the Hunter Valley.

 Searching for Land Records for Bernard and James CAVENAGH in the HLRV revealed:

• 1854 November 21

  • James CAVANAGH purchases 16 acres, Lot 2 near Largs for £752/-/-
• 1854 November 22

  • James and Bernard CAVENAGH purchase  20 acres 3 roods 20 perches, Lot 6 at Aberglasslyn for £313/2/6
• 1855 May 18

  • Bernard CAVENAGH purchases 230 acres, Lot 7 at Knockfin for £621/-/-

The map below shows the location of these properties.

We also found that there was another Bernard CAVENAGH purchasing land at Port Macquarie.

John KEYS - Land Records

 Search of the Index pages of the Vendors Index on the Historical Land Records Viewer (HLRV) for Surname Initial "KE" for John KEYS elicited over time numerous references to land being sold by him for several lots of land in the township of Lochinvar west of Maitland. He appears to have become a Butcher and Inn Keeper while living there. The Red Lion Inn owned by John KEYS was rebuilt in the early 1900's and is now known as the Lochinvar Hotel.

 A map showing the land for sale on behalf of the Estate of Leslie DUGUID in 1840 is shown below.

Presentation to Newcastle Family History Society

 Gave a presentation to the Newcastle Family History Society at their monthly meeting (via Zoom) last night. The presentation demonstrated how you can use Land Records to enhance your knowledge of your ancestors.

I was able to show, using both Old System and Torrens Title systems, where my ancestors lived, when they bought the properties and when they were sold or passed on after death. The research also enabled me to find further relatives that were in the same area who I did not know were there.

The Old System records were for a property in Wallsend and the other was at North Lambton on Hartley Street (now known as Newcastle Road (opposite the reservoir near Croudace Street).

I have sent a PDF of the slides for the members of the Society and am also making a video of the talk for publication.

Wallsend Land Records

 Looking forward to the Newcastle Family History Society walk around Wallsend on September 11. I have been able to locate the location of the house where my Great Grandmother, Mary Ann Madsen (nee Wardle) lived in Campbell Street, Wallsend. It is now a car park and car repair shop!

I was able to use the Historical land Records Viewer (HLRV) to locate the deeds showing that my Great Great Grandfather paid 50 pounds for the land in 1865.

Transactions on Lot 10 Section 1

Village of Wallsend

COVID Lockdown activities

 Well, COVID has settled in and we are looking at undertaking some research into our daughter-in-law's paternal ancestry to pass onto our Grandchildren.

Thus far we have found three Irish family names in the Hunter Valley near Maitland. John KEYS, a convict, Bernard and James CAVENAGH and Myles KELLY. Roberta is looking through what has been found and preparing appropriate telling of their lives, while I will be looking at any Land Records that may assist us in our research.

The map below shows the Counties and Parishes surrounding the Maitland area of the Hunter Valley. Click on the map to display it full size.