Get help to delve into your family background
Family history is a great pastime for all and the number of people taking up this hobby is growing. The Nepean Family History Society is again giving the community a chance to see what it is all about. Their annual Family History Fair is being held at Penrith library on Sunday, March 10, from 10am to 4pm. Entry is by gold-coin donation.
There will be free access to the great resources of Findmypast, GenesReunited, ScotslandsPeople & Ancestry plus there will be great prizes to be won. Also there will be informative talks, trade tables and help with your research questions. Everyone is invited to come along and enjoy the day.
Details: nepeanfhs.org.au/attachments/2013_family_history_fair.pdf.
Historic crossing of the Mountains retraced
It's almost 200 years since the first official Blue Mountains crossing and people will retrace this deciding moment for European settlement and our nation. To recognise the starting point of the journey by Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth at Blaxland's farm at St Marys, Penrith Council will launch a three-week series of commemorations in May. The celebrations cover the start of the trek up the mountains in 1813 to the explorers' triumphant return three weeks later.
Don't miss:
■Breakfast launch and re-enactment trek on Saturday, May 11;
■Family camp-out on the Nepean River on Saturday, May 11;
■Historical festival at Mamre Homestead on Sunday, May 19; and
■Back to Emu Plains weekend on Saturday and Sunday, May 25 and 26.
Mayor Mark Davies said iconic actor Jack Thompson would be part of the council's bicentenary program.
Details: 4732 7645.