Friday 1pm-4pm: Pre-Expo Masterclass - $50

Fiona Brooker: Mapping Our Stories

Learn how to turn your family history research into an interactive visual journey using Google Maps. In this hands-on workshop, participants will create their own custom family history map while learning how to plot ancestral homes, migration routes, cemeteries, and other meaningful locations connected to their research.
Participants should bring a laptop and have access to a Google account for the practical mapping activities.

Fiona Brooker is a New Zealand-based professional genealogist and founder of Memories in Time. She helps individuals and families research their ancestry, interpret DNA results, and preserve their discoveries for future generations. Fiona regularly presents practical sessions on genealogy research, DNA analysis, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Limited seats available.

Friday 5pm-8pm: Welcome Event - $55

Bookings close Wednesday 23 September.

The Expo officially opens with a welcoming event bringing together attendees, exhibitors, speakers and sponsors from across the family history community.
5pm: Meet and greet - Hospitality, beverages and canapés (platters).

6pm: Keynote Address - Professor Paul Moon: Ways of Seeing the Past

How do our ideas about the past take shape? What is the importance of stories in history, and what is the role of nostalgia and utopianism as ways of dealing with history? Often, we feel certain about the facts of the past, but we often process those facts in particular ways. This presentation will explore that process.

Professor Paul Moon is a Professor of History at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and the author of numerous books on New Zealand colonial history. His research and writing have explored a wide range of topics relating to New Zealand's past, with a particular focus on the colonial period, historical memory, and the ways history is interpreted and understood.

7pm: Panel Discussion: Family History Traditions Across Communities

How do different cultures approach family history, genealogy and the preservation of ancestral knowledge?
Join our panellists to discuss and learn.

Master of Ceremonies Te Radar, panellists include:

Fiona Brooker, Memories in Time "The Genealogist who loves to teach"
Dr. Phoebe Li, professional historian of the Chinese diaspora
Mihi Henare, (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui), Poukōkiri Rangahau Māori (Senior Librarian, Māori Research Specialist), Auckland Libraries
Salā Marie Young, NZ-Samoan academic and entrepreneur

The panel will explore diverse perspectives on family history within Māori, Pākehā, Pacific, Chinese and migrant communities, discussing traditions, challenges and the importance of passing stories from one generation to the next.

Contact the host of Auckland Family History Expo 2026