Excellence in family history

West Gippsland Genealogical Society member Faye Vandyk has been presented with a state award for family history.

The Frances Brown Award for Excellence to Family History in Victoria was instituted by (VAFHO) Victorian Association for Family History Organisations to recognise voluntary contributions made by many dedicated Victorian family historians.

Faye, who is a life member of WGGS, was nominated by the West Gippsland society for the award.

The nomination outlined her passion as part of a team for preserving local records relating to family historians by scanning, indexing and transcribing them and making the records available to the community.

Faye was president for seven years and a committee member for 17 years. During this time she undertook many projects including typesetting and editing of the three Pioneer Books produced by the society, which are of significant value to our local community and of great financial benefit to the society and continue to sell in CD format.

For the past seven years Faye has conducted a Tuesday group (about 15 people) who are dedicated to compiling local information on cemetery, school, local newspaper classifieds, and funeral parlour information, shire rates for Buln Buln, Warragul and Narracan and working in with the Warragul and District Historical Society where family history and local history intersect.

A passion for helping others to research effectively using the resources in the WGGS library and the Local West Gippsland Regional libraries has resulted in a partnership of classes held in the libraries on using “Ancestry” and “FamilySearch” and how to get the best from genealogy programs such as “Family Tree Maker” and other days of support in the libraries with other society members adding their knowledge and expertise.

Cemetery Walks are another interest and involvement with local cemetery trusts. This has resulted in many local identities and stories unearthed on cemetery walks in Yarragon, Drouin and Warragul cemeteries.

The WGGS website was started around 1995 by Ken Langdon and on his death in 1998 Faye took on the task of developing and maintaining the website and continues the task today.

Faye has been involved on committees in Family History in Victoria, has attended workshops and organised expos over many areas in the state while always promoting the local Warragul and district interests.

The nomination said Faye “shares her vast knowledge and gives of her time cheerfully and willingly in the cause of recording local and wider history for the benefit of present and future generations.”