By member Judy Purkiss

“They Came By Ship”, an family history month event by Familyhistory WA – FHWA

As rain set in on the day of the event, I wondered if I was going to need a ship to get there!

However, I, like many others, braved the weather and with numbers more than expected, an extra row of seating was laid out before the presentations began.

Family History WA put on a wonderful day event, there were four presentations relating to the Enrolled Pensioners Guards and the Scindian Convicts, the speakers knew their topics well and shared their knowledge with enthusiasm. Further, there were many displays around the walls relating to the Group Settlement Scheme /inter-war Migrants, Convicts, Enrolled Pensioner Forces, free immigrants and much more. You could tell a lot of time had been spent researching and writing up histories of various people and significant times in history. They provided an interesting read.

For those that wished, there was time to explore the library as well as enjoy a cuppa & cake.

Family History WA put on a very informative and enjoyable event. The weather was still a bit wily by the time I left. As I got into my nice warm car, I could only contemplate some of the weather conditions our forebears would have experienced on the ships during their journey by sea to Australia.