The workshop was held on Friday at Singleton Library and a number of guest speakers from a variety of institutions and backgrounds passed on their knowledge to participants.

Indigenous Services Librarians, Ronald Briggs, from New South Wales State Library said the workshops help people to learn how to access the information they need to re-connect with their aboriginality.

“It also gives them the opportunity to connect with other people who are doing the same thing,” Mr Briggs said.

“This is important as a lot of extra information is exchanged this way,” he said.

The coordinator of Indigenous Services Unit, Kristen Thorpe, said the process helped services to network with people who are in the process of trying to discover their family history. 

“Often we have photos but we don’t know the identity of the people in them but by displaying them to the public people often end up identifying them for us,” she said.

She said it is also very moving when people learn new information from a photo on display.

“For some people when they view these photos it is the first time they have ever seen one of their relatives.”

Most importantly the workshops give participants the chance to learn what information is available at the state library.

“Often people outside of Sydney don’t realise the wealth of information that is on offer.

“It is the oldest state library and we have lots of resources, from books to manuscripts and diaries to photographs,” she said.

Workshop participant, Chrissy Franks, who’s grandmother was a descendant of Singleton’s Wonnarua people, said she only began to learn about her ancestry after her cousin, James Wilson-Miller, published a book.

“Days like this are important as it is very hard to access information about families like my mother’s who had children removed,” she said.