I'm deeply saddened to hear today of the death of Nick Vine Hall, and wanted to pay a tribute to him and his prodigous contribution to genealogy. What an inspirational man! I never met him, or even heard any of his broadcasts, but have always profoundly admired him for his work, although I am familiar with only a tiny part of it. Publications such as his "Parish Registers in Australia", "Tracing Your Family History in Australia - A Guide to Sources" and the Ships' Pictures Fiche in their various editions have been invaluable to me over the years, and the advent of the internet hasn't changed the need for such resources. I think every genealogist should have copies of them, yet so few these days even seem to know they exist. Convict research, of course, is just one aspect of the information in these books. When using these resources, often I've tried to imagine the vast amount of work, the logistics and patience require to gather, assemble organise and publish such information, and then a few years later do all the checking, updating and additions. I'm in awe of what Nick Vine Hall has achieved, and hope that his legacy to genealogy will always be acknowledged and appreciated. Of course, these are only three of his many publications - there are many others. And his contribution to SAG, on which I'm not qualified to comment, was probably equally enormous. I would like to extend sincere sympathy to Nick's family, friends and his colleagues in genealogy. He will be greatly missed, and is a tremendous loss to us all in the genealogy community. Thank you Nick. Requesiat in Pace Pam Dowling An Aussie transplanted to Rotorua, NZ