'Sherayl McNabb: The history of New Zealand military nursing'

Hawkes Bay historian, Sherayl McNabb, spoke about NZ military nursing, and showed us her book, which she is updating: New Zealand Military Nursing - A History of the R.N.Z.N.C. Boer War to Present Day . 

Sherayl has an excellent website as well: www.nzans.org - which is dedicated to those nurses who have served and continue to serve our country.

'Brad Patterson: New Zealand's Colonial Scots Under a Microscope'

In 2005 an ambitious research project was initiated, focusing on New Zealand's Scottish migrants to 1920, and their contributions to evolving New Zealand society and culture.

The leader of the interdisciplinary research team, Brad Patterson from Victoria University of Wellington, outlined how the project evolved and discussed some of the broad findings being set out in a major book on the New Zealand Scots, scheduled for publication in November 2013.

"Charlotte Macdonald - Women's Suffrage at 120 years: The Enigma of New Zealand in the 1890's"

Charlotte Macdonald of Victoria University of Wellington talked to the group about Women's suffrage after 120 years.  Amongst other things, Charlotte told us that Statistics NZ has partnered with the Ministry of Womens Affairs to create an infographic representing women's achievements in New Zealand over the past 120 years.  The infographic shows a representation of trends in employment, education, and childbearing for 1893, 1953, and 2013.

'Warwick Johnson - The Gear: A History of the Gear Meat and Preserving Company 1865 to 1981'

Warwick Johnson, local historian and HV NZSG member gave a fascinating talk about his latest book The Gear: A History of the Gear Meat and Preserving Company 1865 to 1981 and the research behind it.  Copies of Warwick's book are available for purchase at Paper Plus, High Street, Lower Hutt.

'60 Minutes of Quick Fire Genealogy'

Branch members and experienced genealogists Suzanne Sutton-Cummings, Alistair Hardy, Michael Guest, Ian Fyfe and Graeme McVerry told us in five minutes each, of about half a dozen essential genealogy resources (books, CDs, websites etc) for New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland and Ireland in turn.  You can find their handy hints in our August edition of News & Views.

'Eileen Preston - NZ Adult Adoption Information Act 1985'

Eileen Preston from Child, Youth and Family shared her knowledge and experience of the NZ Adult Adoption Information Act 1985 with the group, particularly as it relates to family history research.

Tricia Glensor - From Island Bay to the Pyrenees'

Tricia Glensor talked about the process of piecing together the story of her father's experiences when his RAF bomber was shot down over France in 1942.  She travelled to France to meet the last surviving member of the family who rescued her father and two other members of the crew, eventually helping them to escape across the Pyrenees into Spain.

'Lorna Henderson - Demystifying DNA for Genealogy'

Lorna Henderson presented on 'Demystifying DNA for Genealogy'.  She showed us how to add a bit of science to our family trees.  We all hold answers to the past inside ourselves.  This wonderful tool can help unlock the answers, and with a lot of luck in finding good DNA matches, and additional research, may help you break down your brick walls.  Lorna has an interesting genblog at lornahen.blogspot.co.nz.

'Jean Thompson-Church - My Scandinavian Grandparents'

Jean Thompson-Church talked about one of her three Scandinavian grandparents to come to New Zealand, her Granfather Jacobson who first settled in Eketahuna before moving to Petone to set up a carrying business in 1903.

Jean was convenor of the committee for the 2013 Scandinavian Festival, which was held in Dannevirke over the weekend of 22-24 February 2013.