Members of the public are invited to come and learn more about the history of the local area, people, relations, properties and buildings.

Research officer Julie Regan said there have been more than a few interesting discoveries made in the process of researching for the public. 

Julie produced copies of the historic Inverell Station store records, and indicated the activities of one governess, a Miss Fussell. 

“She was buying from the station store, and then all of a sudden, there’s the material, blue veiling, a parasol, and a couple of other things and you thought ‘Ah ha! There’s a wedding coming up here,” she said. 

“And then, we discovered, yes, she was married shortly after she bought those things,” said group member Ann Hodgens. Miss Fussell married a prominent Inverell gentleman.

“It was a really beautiful story, and a great find,” Julie added.

She produced a beautifully bound volume of old photos. Julie said the group helped the owners, descendents from those in the images, to find out the property they originated from. 

“(They) were looking for this property between Delungra and Bingara and it was called Paxton. They didn’t have much of a clue, and anyway, by the time we looked at maps and all the rest of it, we found it, and they made this book for us,” she said.

Julie spoke about an early Aboriginal midwife, Aunt May Yarrowyck, recently in the spotlight as the namesake for an inaugural Inverell NAIDOC award, won this year by Pauline Bartholomew. She said two women had come from Canberra to research Aunt May. 

“They were enthusiastic and they were determined to find this woman. And they didn’t know that that was going to be a feature of NAIDOC Week,” Julie said. “This May Yarrowyck was one of the first Aboriginal nurses in this area. It was a gorgeous story.”

The group has a vast scope of resources and access to state records, the National Archives, newspaper files dating back decades for Inverell, Warialda and Bingara and a huge collection of books and maps.

The public is welcome to visit the group premises at 129-135 Otho Street this Monday from 10am to 3pm. Browsing the collection is free and research service is offered at a reduced rate of $20 during the open days. Additional open days are on Wednesday, August 13 and Friday, August 22. 

For more information, please phone president Ann Plumb on 0431 052 825 or Muriel Resta on 0428 221 893.