GSQ Annual Seminar 2025
October 11 @ 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM AEST
Rogues, Rebels and Respectables Seminar
Join via Zoom to listen and learn from 6 Fantastic Presenters plus Question and Answers Panel,
so that you can ask those questions you forgot at the time of the presentation.
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Behind Bars: Convicts and Criminals. Shauna explores a wide range of resources for those with convicts or criminals in the family and draws on the speaker’s experience in researching her own family history. All Australian states are covered. |
Shauna Hicks has been tracing her own family history since 1977 and worked in government for over 35 years in Australian libraries and archives in Brisbane, Canberra, and Melbourne. She has tertiary qualifications from Queensland universities including a Master of Arts in Australian Studies, a Graduate Diploma in Library Science, and a Diploma in Family Historical Studies from the Society of Australian Genealogists. She is a Fellow of the Queensland Family History Society; Patron of History Queensland, and a recipient of the Australian Society of Archivists Distinguished Achievement Award and the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations’ Services to Family History Award. She has written numerous family history guides and is a well-known speaker at conferences, seminars, workshops, and genealogy cruises in Australia and overseas. Shauna is the Director of her own genealogy business at https://www.shaunahicks.com.au and is the author of the blog, Diary of an Australian Genealogist. Shauna was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the King’s Birthday Honours List, June 2024. |
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Biographical Database of Australia. BDA is a research tool for historians and genealogists comprising transcripts & indexes of original records and published biographies of deceased individuals who arrived, or were born in, Australia. Full text of many baptisms, marriages & burials 1788-1850s for NSW, VIC, SE Qld, TAS plus unassisted and assisted immigrants, myltiple records of most convicts, soldiers stationed in Australia; full online transcript of NSW 1828 census, 10,000 burials & inscriptions 1819-1901 from the Sydney Burial Ground. Full text of 31,000 colonial biographies giving as of April 2025 a total of 2.2 million records online. |
Michael Flynn is a Sydney historian and genealogist and the author of The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (1993). He is also the author of ‘Settlers and seditionists: the people of the convict ship Surprize, 1794’ (1994). He assisted the late Mollie Gillen with her 1989 book ‘The founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet’
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 Presenter:Helen V Smith |
Gentlemen on the Fringe: the Fate of Downunder’s Remittance Men. Do you have someone in your tree that you cannot find a reason for them coming to Australia or New Zealand. Perhaps he was a remittance man. Though many were from an upper or middle class family and because of their character were sent overseas after disgraces at home, not all were disgraced sons, but simply the younger sons of the landed gentry who could not inherit the estate. Many of these men that came out turned out to be very respectable and well known men. |
Helen V Smith PGDip Public Health, BAppSci: Med Lab Sci, Dip Family History, P.L.C.G.S. Helen is a speaker, DNA specialist, researcher, and author with a strong interest in Australian, English, medical and social history. She has spoken in person and online in every state and territory in Australia, in Canada, USA, New Zealand and England, on 18 Unlock the Past cruises and has regularly presented for Legacy Family Webinars. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Genealogical Speakers Guild. |
 Presenter:Dr Hamish Maxwell-Stewart |
Crime, Protest and Profit: a Guide to understanding Tasmanian Convict Records. Tasmanian convict records offer a rich resource for genealogical and historical research, detailing the lives of individuals transported to Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) between 1803 and 1853. These records, many of which are digitized and available online, include arrival details, conduct records, employment information, and more. |
Dr Hamish Maxwell-Stewart is an academic expert on convict life in Australia who teaches History and Classics at the University of Tasmania. Born in Nigeria, raised in England, and schooled at the University of Edinburgh, he migrated to Tasmania in 1996 where he is now internationally recognised for his work on the history of convict transportation. He has published a number of books on the subject, most notably Chain Letters: Narrating Convict Lives (MUP, 2001) with Lucy Frost for which they won the inaugural Kay Daniels award, and Pack of Thieves?: 52 Port Arthur Lives (Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, 2001) with Susan Hood, and Closing Hell’s Gates: the death of a Convict Station. |
 Presenter:Emma Maxwell |
The Scottish Criminal Database. It is perhaps ironic that when our family fell on hard times that we can often find out a lot more about them. These records can help us overcome brick walls and understand the lives of our ancestors. |
Emma Maxwell is a genealogist and co-founder of Scottish Indexes. Working extensively with the records of the National Records of Scotland for over 20 years, Emma has an in-depth knowledge of the most useful records for Scottish genealogy as well as the more obscure.
Emma’s passion is to uncover stories of ‘everyday’ people, the people who do not show up in history books. She uses diverse records to piece together the stories of our ancestors, uncover their lives document by document and shine a light on their past.
To help others do this, Emma and her husband Graham Maxwell began indexing mental health, ‘paternity’ and prison records. In 2014 Emma and Graham launched Scottish Indexes which has continued to grow and now includes indexes to criminal, health, poor relief records and more.Emma and Graham also host the Scottish Indexes Conferences.
https://www.scottishindexes.com/default.aspx |
 Presenter:Dr Janet Few |
Ducking Stools, Dissenters, Debtors and Drunks – Crime and Punishment in the 17th Century. How was crime dealt with in the seventeenth century? What were the punishments for various crimes and how could you avoid them? It would be unusual for the lives of our Stuart ancestors not to be touched by crime in some way; whether as victims, witnesses, lawbreakers or law enforcers. Learn how they would have been regarded and treated by their contemporaries, in whichever of these roles they found themselves. |
Dr Janet Few is a specialist in seventeenth century social history. Working as an historical interpreter, I spend time living in the seventeenth century as my alter ego, Mistress Agnes. My book, Coffers, Clysters, Comfrey and Coifs: the lives of our seventeenth century ancestors, describes the social history of the period. I am the manager of Swords and Spindles https://swordsandspindles.wordpress.com, a company providing living history presentations. My doctoral research focused on migration patterns in nineteenth century North Devon. This also involved a study of the Bible Christian church (an offshoot of Methodism) and the links between religious faith and emigration. |
ALL presenters will be present to answer questions and queries in the Q&A panel
being held at the end of the day.
Early Bird Tickets Finish 30th Sept 2025 – $60 Members and $75 Non-members so get in earlier and don’t pay the extra:
Ticket prices after 30th Sept 2025 will be – GSQ/QFHS/Affiliate and Corporate Members $70 and Non-members $85
Tickets will close on Saturday 11 Oct 2025 at 8am.
All sessions will be recorded and available for one month’s viewing after the event to registered attendees only.
How to book an Education Event
On the Events Calendar find the event.
If you are a GSQ member you need to click on the Sign In.
Put in your email and password that you use to Sign In to your MembershipWorks personal portal.
The GSQ Member selection is at the top of the list. Select 1 for the quantity of tickets you require. Do not use the other boxes unless you are an Affiliate/Corporate Member of from QFHS as they have been given a special code to obtain a discount.
The program should automatically fill in your personal details into the boxes requiring information. If it does not then please enter all that is required.
If you are intending to pay by a Bank Transfer or at GSQ by Cash or EFTPOS – please make sure it is a Yes in the box asking the question.
If you are not paying by Bank Transfer, please make sure it is a No.
If you are paying by Bank Transfer or at GSQ just Click in the spot where the Bank Account details are and press Register.
If you are paying by Credit Card, put your name, credit card number, and expiration date in the boxes. Once those have been entered the provision for the CVC on your card will become visible. All of these details must be entered and then press Register.
You will be sent an email, straight away, with a copy of your registration to the event.
You must keep this registration as it has the link on it to attend the Zoom meeting.
Payment types
Credit Card:
Can be used online, in person at GSQ or via telephone.
Direct Bank Transfer: Offline
Transfer the funds to GSQ using GSQ’s bank details provided at the time of booking.
(Payment must received at least 2 days from booking the event)
Cash: Offline
In person at GSQ
By phone: Offline
Telephone GSQ on 07 3349 6072 during opening hours for EFTPOS credit card payment. BUT you must complete the Online Registration form.
In person: Offline
Come into GSQ and have a library assistant help you complete the Online Registration you have chosen.
Remember:
For all courses, bookings are essential and must be completed Online.
Also, please note that the GSQ education program is prepared many months in advance. Occasionally, changes need to be made due to circumstances which are out of GSQ’s control.
Please check the GSQ website Events for up to date information.