Biography (now needs to list “Qld” as my state)

Carol Baxter’s genealogy career began in the 1980s when she was appointed Project Officer for the Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record. She then became General Editor of the renamed Biographical Database of Australia. In those roles, she edited many volumes of early colonial records. She is also a Fellow of the Society of Australian Genealogists and an adjunct lecturer at the University of New England.

In 2005, Carol’s first attempt at writing popular history was picked up by Australia’s high-profile publisher, Allen & Unwin. She is now the author of six internationally-acclaimed popular histories including The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable, which was described by The Times (London) as being ‘as lively and readable as a crime novel’. Her latest book, The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller, is being turned into an internationally-produced TV series (TheAviatrix) by the producers of the film Lion. She also tells her true tales of murder, mystery and mayhem to audiences on international cruise ships.

After An Irresistible Temptation was published in 2006, genealogy groups asked Carol to help them write interesting family histories. She decided to provide even more assistance by writing “how to” books, including Writing Interesting Family Histories and Writing and Publishing Gripping Family Histories. She has since published books and handy-guides under the Unlock the Past umbrella, including a humorous beginner’s guide called To Trace or Not toTrace, a book about surnames called The Madness of Mac Surnames, and a series ofhandy guides on English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh given names.

The success of Carol’s genealogy writing classes led her to launch the website Writing Fabulous Family Histories in 2021. These online courses help genealogists improve their writing skills by guiding them through the different writing styles and helping them to move from the dry encyclopaedia style of writing to the more interesting narrative style. It also includes a course on book publishing for those who have already written their family history or memoir and want to know their publishing options. www.writingfabulousfamilyhistories.com