ABOUT
Armidale is located midway between Sydney and Brisbane on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The first record of the town's existence dates to September 1839 when a Land Commissioner, George Macdonald, made a report to the Government in Sydney.
Some small communities which surrounded Armidale include Arding, Baker's Creek, Ben Venue, Black Mountain, Boorolong, Castle Doyle, Commissioner's Waters, Dangarsleigh, Dumaresq, Duval, Ebor, Enmore, Gostwyck, Guy Fawkes, Hillgrove, Invergowrie, Jeogla, Kelly's Plains, Kentucky, Kilcoy, Lyndhurst, Marple, Metz, Mihi, Puddledock, Rockvale, Saumarez, Thalgarrah, Tilbuster, Wollomombi and Wongwibinda. Many of these names are prominent in our research and are still well-known today.
The first 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 approximately 200 members and occupy premises in Kentucky Street, Armidale, between Dangar and Faulkner Streets.
Our Team
WAYNE HOPPE
President & Public Officer
Our current president, Wayne Hoppe has been researching his own family since 1988. He and his wife Di joined the Armidale Family History Group in 1992 and have been involved in the committee for most of that time. Wayne has been president for the last 5 years having previously held committee positions over many years. Wayne has recently retired from full time employment and is now able to devote time to the research centre. With a strong analytical background, he provides a fresh and valuable perspective to the research teams endeavours. He is now starting to gain valuable knowledge on the local families through spending more time at our research centre.
RESEARCH TEAM
The Armidale Family History Group research team have over a hundred years of family history experience between them. They have a wealth of local knowledge about the families that our members and family historians are researching. They are supported by over 35 years of collecting information on families and the broader Armidale region. Di’s Index is a unique database of over 110,000 names collected and collated within our centre. The index assists the team in conducting research enquiries as local knowledge is invaluable in helping get the best results from your research assignments.
