Research Centre

Welcome to the fascinating but often frustrating, world of genealogy. Our group is able to assist you to find all manner of interesting ancestors, whether they be people of influence or the working man.

Their discovery leads us into another world where we learn about their lives which helps us better understand what has happened in ours.

Our home of 25 years was originally a nurses' training facility for the University of New England. It was opened in 1986, but by 1996 was no longer being used by the University. When we visited the vacant building, we were overwhelmed with its size and didn't believe there was any way that we could utilise it all. How wrong we were!

The research centre has allowed us to build what we believe to be the largest family history library in regional NSW, which is used by our members to assist with their family history research.

Our dedicated volunteer research team use the library and a large amount of other records to provide a professional and helpful service to those researchers who are unable to visit the centre.

Some local small communities which we hold records on include: Arding, Baker's Creek, Ben Venue, Black Mountain, Boorolong, Bundarra, Castle Doyle, Commissioner's Waters, Dangarsleigh, Dumaresq, Duval, Ebor, Enmore, Gostwyck, Guy Fawkes, Guyra, Hillgrove, Invergowrie, Jeogla, Kelly's Plains, Kentucky, Kilcoy, Lyndhurst, Metz, Mihi, Puddledock, Rockvale, Rocky River, Saumarez, Thalgarrah, Tilbuster, Uralla, Wollomombi, Wongwibinda and Yarrowyck. Many of these names are prominent in our research and are still well-known today. We also hold information from further afield.

The inaugural meeting of the Armidale Family History Group was held in 1985 when a small group of people interested in the history of their families joined together to assist each other in researching their family histories. Today we have grown to have over 100 members and occupy premises in 124 Kentucky Street, Armidale, between Dangar and Faulkner Streets.

Current Projects

The Armidale Family History Group is collating information for a couple of projects. These are

Convicts in the New England Area. - We are looking for convicts who were in this area, either during their term or after they became free.

Burials in the first Armidale Burial Ground - We are looking for people that may be buried in the first Armidale cemetery in operation up until around 1863.

To provide information to the group please see the form below.

Armidale Cemetery Register Published

Armidale Family History Group is proud the announce the publication of the Armidale Cemetery Register 1862-2022. The register contains over 15,000 names, with information sourced from headstones, the Armidale Regional Council records, Piddington's Funeral Directors, Trove, BDM Indexes and Family Historians. Please see our shop page for details how to purchase.

Note: The burial records are incomplete, especially those prior to 1910. The Armidale Council is currently responsible for maintaining burial records for the cemetery. Unfortunately their records only show burials after 1910, other than those plots with headstones. As such unless there is a headstone, it is likely there is no record of the plot where the person is buried. The only records that exist are newspaper articles, death certificates and church burial records which may give details of the section in which they are buried, but not the plot. Where we have this information we have included the details in the register, but they do not have a row and plot recorded.

Additionally there are no official burial records for the first cemetery in Armidale, which operated until approximately 1862, however we are currently compiling a list of these burials.