The President and Executive Committee invites you to the Society’s

ANNUAL DINNER

Date : Monday 28th September 2009

Make up a table of 12 with family and friends or join one of our existing tables and celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival while supporting your Society.
Enjoy a specially chosen menu, entertainment, music, raffles and hear Chinese leaders in the community speak on “Growing up in the 1930s (Arthur Lock Chang)”, “Growing up in the 1950s (King Fong)”, “Growing up with Chinese Heritage (Dawn Wong)”

Monday, 28 September 2009
6.30 for 7pm
at Emperor’s Garden Restaurant
corner Dixon and Hay Streets, Chinatown

Cost: $50 members
$55 non members

RSVP by 14 September 2009 Application form (see below)

CAHS Annual Dinner Form – 2009 (pdf)

Join family historians and researchers for a day to inspire and assist in researching your Chinese family history.

Dawn Wong, great-granddaughter of Wong Sat, will speak about finding information in wills and probate documents and how to get the most out of an unexpected research discovery.

Historian Dr Kate Bagnall will explore some of the different and more unusual sources that can help with finding family connections to China.

Curator Karen Schamberger will provide some questions to ask and ideas on what to look for when examining your ancestors’ objects and photographs, and provide hints on how to look after them.

Historian Faye Young will introduce some of the interesting and perhaps surprising records that can be used to find out more about the Chinese Australians in your family or community.

When: Saturday, 13 September 2008 – 11.00am to 4.00pm
Where: History House,133 Macquarie Street, Sydney
Cost: $20.00 members, $25.00 non-members. Lunch & afternoon tea included.
RSVP: By 6 September 2008 by phone or email. Let us know if you have any special dietary requirements.
Contact: 0416 510 923 or contact.cahs@gmail.com

Program

What’s around the next corner? – Dawn Wong
As our ancestors stepped ashore in their new land, few of them knew what was around the next corner – and it’s a little like that for the family historians who try to track their steps many years later. Dawn Wong will focus on finding information in wills and probate documents, and then explore how to get the most out of an unexpected discovery.

Finding a family connection to China – Dr Kate Bagnall
Most of us doing Chinese family history research start in Australia, with what we know from our families and from Australian records. But the lives and journeys of Chinese ancestors began before they stepped ashore here. Kate Bagnall will think about how we can use Australian sources to find family connections back to China – from clues in how Chinese names were romanised to working out what’s written on a Chinese headstone – and what to do when the connection is made.

Talking heirlooms: what objects reveal about your family’s past – Karen Schamberger
Do you have a mystery photograph or an object handed down from your grandmother? Karen Schamberger will talk about how to look for clues and information in photographs and objects about your family’s history and some simple ways to preserve these items for your children.

Sources: Where else can I look? – Faye Young
In this session Faye Young will explore some unusual and less well-known sources which can be useful when researching Chinese Australian family and community history.

Venue

History House, 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney

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Most of our members will be aware that the founder and president of CAHS, Henry Chan, passed away unexpectedly earlier in the year. Henry’s contribution to the CAHS and the the field of Chinese Australian and New Zealand history was great. He was a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm for Chinese Australian history and was the driver behind not only our society, but a number of other significant projects. His loss to the field is being keenly felt.

The CAHS management committee met in late June to discuss the coming months for the society and to contemplate its future without Henry at the helm. We are arranging a family history day in September to coincide with NSW History Week 2008. We are also working to reschedule the Chinese community archiving workshop that was to have been held in May.

The management committee also decided to defer sending out membership renewals at this point in the year. This means that 2007-08 memberships will be extended until the end of 2008.

Family history day – 13 September 2008
The family history day will be held on Saturday, 13 September at History House in Macquarie Street, Sydney and run from about 11am to 4pm. We are still working on details of the program, but topics of discussion will include — how to make use of your family archive (letters, photos, marriage certificates etc) and how to look after them; doing oral history interviews; how to find clues that might lead you back to the Chinese ancestral village; online maps and resources.

Would you like to be involved?

We’re in the process of putting our new website together, and reorganising our program for the rest of 2008.

Check back soon to see what events we’ve got coming up.

Congratulations to the Hon Helen Sham-Ho, one of the Honorary Patrons of the CAHS, on the award of the 2008 Jack Wong Sue Award for Voluntary Service Beyond the Chinese Community. The Jack Wong Sue Award is one of the four annual NSW Premier’s Chinese Community Service Awards.

As part of Sydney’s Chinese New Year external events join the inaugural Chinese Australian Women’s Life Stories Down Under workshop – and be inspired to preserve your life story!

Hear AFI-award winning director, Tony Ayres, speak about his film Home Song Stories and the rewards and challenges of telling a life story.

Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Sydney – Saturday, 2 February 2008 – 2pm to 4pm

Download a brochure (pdf, 2.7kb) for more information.