Rosemary Kopittke

Rosemary has been researching her families in Australia, England and Scotland since 1985. That year she joined the Queensland Family History Society and has held positions within that society since the following year - President (1992-1994), Vice President (1989-1991), Bookshop Coordinator (1995-1999), Cemetery Coordinator (1987-1993), Joint Publications Coordinator (1995-2013), member of Management Committee (1986-1998 and 2007-2013). She is a current member of the AFFHO Council representing Queensland.

Her academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) and Bachelor of Arts (Computer Science) at the University of Queensland and she has completed the Certificate of Genealogical Studies (English Records) with the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.

Though trained as a statistician, she currently works as a part-time consultant for Gould Genealogy & History and Unlock the Past. She is a regular presenter at Unlock the Past events and genealogy groups; she spoke at the New Zealand Family History Fair in 2011 and will be presenting at the New Zealand Society of Genealogists Conference at Taupo in June 2012.

As an hydrologist and biometrician she co-authored many scientific papers and reports; of interest to family historians, she has co-authored the popular Getting the most out of findmypast.com.au, Which genealogy program?, ScotlandsPeople: the place to launch your Scottish research and So your ancestor was a Baptist in Queensland!; edited Queensland Founding Families, has published numerous indexes, and with her husband Eric compiled the Emigrants from Hamburg to Australasia 1850-1879 series.

Rosemary received the Queensland FHS Award for Services to Family History in 1990, in 2000 was made a Fellow of Queensland FHS and, in 2006, was awarded the AFFHO Award for Meritorious Services to Family History.

Research interests: Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Somerset, Yorkshire in England; Lanarkshire, Inverness, Perthshire in Scotland; Antrim in Ireland and Flintshire in Wales.

Topics

  • Ancestry.com: What does it offer? - An overview of the historic records available on Ancestry for Australia, New Zealand, England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland with a brief peek at what is starting to come online for German research.
  • Australian Government, Police & Education Gazettes - Examines the hidden material in Australian Government, Police and Education gazettes - mostly we consider them to be irrelevant and uninteresting but that is definitely not the case. The gazettes contain information about people...
  • Connecting with family lines online - We used to write letters to discover family connections but now there are many different ways we can find others searching the same family lines. This presentation has a look at Genes Reunited, MyHeritage, Ancestry and other websites to see how we...
  • Directories and almanacs - A look at the wide range of directories and almanacs available and why you should use them when compiling your family history.
  • Family Photo Book - Why just leave your photographs on your computer. The Family Photo Book software is easy, fun and free to use (versions for Windows and Mac). An album is the perfect gift for anyone and any occasion - for recording family history, family reunions,...
  • Findmypast - the World Collection - Exactly what is happening at findmypast? The last couple of years have seen huge growth in multiple directions – in records from Australia and New Zealand, Ireland, America, in the original UK site itself and the launch of the British Newspaper...
  • Findmypast Australasia - Findmypast has come to Australasia! Learn what a great range of unique records are available for researching family and local history on this new site and learn the best way to do it.
  • Findmypast.co.uk - This presentation looks at the hundreds of millions of records currently available on findmypast.co.uk and how they can help you with your family history – records predominately covering England and Wales though you will find people from elsewhere...
  • Genes Reunited: Family trees and historic records - Genes Reunited was created on Guy Fawkes Day in 2002. It was the first British website set up to connect people searching the same family lines and in 2010 was ranked the #1 family website based on market share of visits among all UK sites. Since...
  • Getting the most out of Google - Learn how to use Google more effectively - Google Search, maps, books, images, videos, translate and more. Instead of getting millions of hits and only checking the first few, discover how to target your search and get results that really...
  • MyHeritage - Founded in 2003, MyHeritage has grown to be one of the world's largest social networks and genealogy sites. It focuses primarily on connecting families offering SmartMatches to link families together. It also offers tagging of photos, free genealogy...
  • Online newspapers: Finding out what happened in the "dash" - Many sources can give us at least the basics of birth and death - newspapers can give much to add to the gap between, the real life of the person. Now that digital versions are available finding that information is so much easier - Australia, New...
  • ScotlandsPeople: The place to launch your Scottish research - ScotlandsPeople - what it is, what records are available, how to search effectively and what are the charges.
  • The 1911 census: What's all the fuss? - Indeed, what is all the fuss about the 1911 census for England and Wales? Take a peek at the enormous task that resulted in this wonderful resource, learn what is different about this census to the earlier ones, see your own relative’s signature on...
  • The findmypast suite - UK, Ireland, Australasia and USA - An overview of the growing suite of findmypast sites - UK, Ireland, Australasia and USA - with a look at the key records, what is new and what is coming.
  • TheGenealogist.co.uk: What's the difference? - Apart from the English and Welsh census and BDM records, TheGenealogist.co.uk has many unique records to offer - official non-conformist registers, PCC Wills and images, electoral rolls and more. As well, it has some innovative search options...
  • Tracing your ancestors in England - An overview of basic resources – civil registration, church records, census, cemetery records, directories, electors registers, maps, newspapers and wills. Includes many examples and covers a variety of ways of accessing the data – free and...
  • Tracing your ancestors in Scotland - An overview of basic resources – civil registration, church records, census, cemetery records, directories, maps, newspapers and wills. Includes many examples and covers a variety of ways of accessing the data – free and subscription.
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