From that promising beginning, the Inverell District Family History Group (IDFHG) was formed, and has matured to be a foundation of local history.

With a membership of almost 100, the IDFHG maintains its own library of books, microfilms, maps and other history related material, and local members run their own research centre in a voluntary capacity. 

“Many people come to Inverell to find where their ancestors lived and worked’ said president Ann Plumb. 

“We find people are coming and staying longer than they did several years ago, so this is a great thing for our town and district. These visitors really appreciate the service we are able to provide.”

The group is not publically funded and is dependent upon sales of publications, research fees and the generosity of its members to maintain their resources and to keep providing a community service. 

In the early days of the group, most records were held in large city centres, so IDFHG set about building a local collection to make family history more accessible and affordable for local researchers. 

At the group’s inception, there were few local resources. They benefitted from historic newspapers, journals from historical societies, church records and the collection of the late Mrs Robyn Howell. 

The group obtained the NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages microfiche index and raised funds to obtain microfilm copies of early local papers held in the State Library of NSW. 

Occasionally church and court house records were used to help answer queries. 

Local parish maps were collected which were useful for finding local properties and gradually genealogy and local history books were added to their collection. 

During the early 1990s, records started to become available digitally, and the group thought they were doing well to acquire some second-hand computers to help with the research. 

It wasn’t long before the internet made it possible for more research material to become available online, adding to their resource base, and requiring volunteers to learn new skills. 

It then became possible to do more in-depth research for both visitors to the town and group members. 

The IDFHG raised thousands of dollars to have early Inverell, Tingha, and Warialda newspapers microfilmed to provide copies locally. 

In addition, members were very active in co-ordinating the recording information from headstones in district cemeteries and creating a valuable database of this information. 

Over the years, several successful workshops and seminars have been held, as well as the hosting of the regional Royal Australian Historical Society Conference in 2009 and the 2011 NSW State Family History Conference. 

In 2013, the IDFHG’s inaugural and past president Ann Hodgens, was awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Awards for her tireless work with the group over many years in the local area.

After losing almost their entire library in the Byron Arcade fire in 2010, the IDFHG has recovered well and continues to manage their collection for the benefit of the community. 

“Our library contains resources for other parts of NSW and Australia, so it covers a broad range of research material for family historians. 

“It is not necessary to have been born in the Inverell district to be a member or utilise our library,” Mrs Plumb said.

The IDFHG said that although they have a wonderful and extensive local collection, it is now a challenge to keep up with all the latest available records and to learn new research skills. 

The group said they can look back over their 30 year journey and realise how far they have come. 

They acknowledged that technology has taken research to a higher level, many local records are still not available online, and added it is still important to have original, hard-copy information. 

They recognised that research into local and family history is a way of learning and keeping in touch with the world.

Mrs Plumb also said that while there is much information available on the internet these days, there is a considerable amount of local material which is only available at Inverell. Apart from this, many of members have more than 30 years’ valuable experience, and so are able to assist people learn how to start their research or help with research issues. 

The Inverell District Family History Group of open from 10am to 3pm, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They are located at 129-135 Otho Street, Inverell, phone: 6721 1487.