Sandra Pawluk and Eddie Richards in “The Genie Room”. Photo: Supplied.
The room in the Cleveland library is quiet, but the volunteer workers in there are as industrious as bees, unfolding family histories, discovering unknown connections, following trails of immigration and settlement, heartbreak and celebration. The Genie Room is the nickname given by its members to the headquarters of the Redland Genealogical Society, the research centre where, for more than 40 years, family links have been found – and family genies let out of bottles.
Yvonne Weston, the Society’s treasurer, offers an insight into the complexities of genealogical research.
“I’m a first-generation Australian, my family is from the Netherlands – I thought!” she says. “In fact, I’ve found them in the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and possibly Scandinavia. And family trees don’t always go in straight lines – mine certainly doesn’t. My siblings are also my sixth cousins, my father is my fifth cousin once removed, his mother – my grandmother – is my fourth cousin twice removed; my great grandfathers are also my third cousins three times removed. My family tree is like a great big ball of tangled wool.”
Helen Veivers, President of the Society, who lays claim to a relatively straightforward family tree, says that old European family customs, often involving several children, contributed to crossed lines.
“If a husband or wife died it wasn’t uncommon for the widow or widower to marry a sibling of the deceased and go on to create an extended family through the new union,” she says. “Mass emigration could be triggered by events like the Irish potato famine or the Australian gold rush, which saw people transplanted all over the world and made for even more complications.”
Helen says that most people who approach the Society for help with tracing their family history are in their 60s.
“They can pay to have it done, but we prefer that they do it for themselves with help from our volunteers. Our resources include books, computers, microfiche and CDs, programs that can access world-wide records and, of course, a collective knowledge of what to do and how to do it.”
“We love it when people bring in official certificates – birth, death or marriage – because that gives us something definite to start with. The rule is ALWAYS start with yourself, or you might end up going up someone else’s family tree.”
Yvonne points out that most people like doing their own research, for the joy of that aha! moment.
“The surprise of that unexpected, illegitimate child or the surreptitious love affair that just jumps out and gets you so excited that you have to talk to someone about it – that’s the genie!”
For more information or membership queries go to rgs.net.au or email [email protected].
