Edwina Shooter (top right) pictured with Ballarat Genealogical Society Life members - Betty Slater, Lois Reynolds & Syd Welsh.

In 1995 Edwina moved to Ballarat form Perth. She had been researching her genealogy for a number of years, and in 1996 she went to Robert Bell’s class at BRACE to further her knowledge and familiarize herself with the local resources.

Robert very quickly recognised her qualifications and considerable talent. At this time the Genies were in need of a Librarian and Robert convinced Edwina to give us a try. Our collection needed a lot of work to restore it to order. Edwina set to work in her usual quiet efficient methodical way, working through a large backlog of cataloging, repairs and general re-organisation. She introduced “Busy Bees” which were held on Friday afternoons, and after checking and tiding everything we usually went out for diner. These sessions were a great success both in terms of keeping things in order in the library and socially.

Edwina has a great knowledge of genealogical and family history matters, and anything she doesn’t know she will make every effort to find out. She approaches all things with calm good common sense and can be relied upon to be on hand to help whatever the Society in involved in.

Under her guidance our collection has increased substantially, and while we know how Edwina has enjoyed acquiring new items, all purchases have been carefully considered for their content and place in our collection.

Due to Edwin’s untiring efforts our collection has never been in better order. We are extremely sorry to see her return to Perth as we will miss her both as a Librarian and a valued friend and member.

We all wish her well and extend our thanks to her for all that she has done during her time with us.