2026 Central Coast Regional Seminar

From Classrooms to Courtrooms: Exploring NSW State Archives

This event is held in conjunction with Central Coast Family History Society

Event Date & Time: Saturday, 4 July 2026 @ 10.00 am – 3.30 pm

Event Location: Gosford Lions Community Hall, 3/8 Russell Drysdale St, East Gosford NSW 2250

Cost and Bookings: $25 (includes morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea)

Bookings are essential for catering requirements.

Event Description:

The Royal Australian Historical Society, in partnership with the Central Coast Family History Society, present a full-day seminar for genealogists, historians, and researchers, covering a range of resources essential to exploring local and family history.

Participants will learn how to access and use records from the NSW State Archives Collections, including collections that have recently been digitised. Participants will learn about Education records, the Old Register, Small Debts Courts, and how to locate and research State Archives on Ancestry.

Topics will include:

• The Registers of Assignments and Other Legal Instruments (Old Register)
• Click to Connect: NSW Archives on Ancestry
• Education Records in the NSW State Archives
• Unlocking Local Stories: Small Debts Courts

DOWNLOAD PROGRAM (a link to the PDF program will be added here)

About the speakers:

Carol Liston AO is President of the Royal Australian Historical Society and a leading historian of early NSW. Her research focuses on colonial society, families and institutions, and she has published widely in this field. She brings deep expertise in working with early government, church and archival records, and in interpreting them to reconstruct lives and communities.

Christine Yeats is Senior Vice President of the Royal Australian Historical Society and specialises in family and local history research. She is an experienced presenter of research seminars, with a focus on practical methods, digital tools and improving search techniques. Her sessions are known for their clarity and practical, step-by-step approach.