Tues, Sept 30 - The ANZACs in Palestine with Ben Mercer, Ancestry AU

[genebrarian]

The Road to Damascus 1916-18 - The ANZACs in Palestine with Ben Mercer, Ancestry AU

Commemorating the 96th anniversary of the Ottoman surrender of Damascus to the ANZACs

When: Tuesday 30 September, 4.30pm - 6pm
Where: Whare Wānanga, Level 2 Central City Library, Lorne St, Auckland
Cost: Free
Booking: To secure your place, please contact the Central Auckland Research Centre on 09 307 7771.

Join us to explore the shared experiences of the Australian Light Horse and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles during the First World War.

This panel discussion of family history experts including Ben Mercer from Ancestry.com.au will cover the experiences of Kiwis and Australians who fought the Ottoman Empire across the Middle East.

Panellists for this event will be:

• Ben Mercer from Ancestry.com.au, speaking on the Australian Light Horse.
  Local military historian Terry Kinloch on the New Zealand Mounted Rifles
  Rose Young from Auckland War Memorial Museum on artefacts from the Mounted Rifles.
  Mark Stoddart from Archives NZ on extracting nuggets from the Services Archives.
  Seonaid Lewis from Auckland Libraries on the war at home.

Special guest bio
Ben Mercer is Content Manager for the Australia & New Zealand branch of family history research website Ancestry.com.au
.
Before joining Ancestry.com.au, Ben’s interest in history compelled him to start Inside History, a digital and print magazine for Australian and New Zealand genealogists and historians.

Ben’s role at Ancestry.com.au allows him to combine his passions for history and technology. He works closely with the key cultural institutions that partner with Ancestry.com.au across the region, including archives, libraries, museums and societies, so that historical collections are digitised and made available on the Ancestry.com.au portal.

Of course, Ben has extensively researched his own family history. Two of Ben’s grandfathers fought in the First World War. Ernst Godlington Mercer fought for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on the Western Front, and was wounded at the Battle of Menin Road in 1917. His other grandfather, George Wheeler Skennar, was a Byron Bay dairy farmer who served at Gallipoli with the ANZACs in 1915, and went on to be wounded in the Battle of Pozieres in 1916.


Contact us
For further queries, please contact the Central Auckland Research Centre via email or phone 09 307 7771, or book online:

http://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/EN/Events/Events/Pages/roadtodamascusanzacs.aspx