The people behind history

THE Narre Warren and District Family History Group celebrated 25 years in May 2014.
It started with a few ladies interested in sharing family history knowledge and experiences, meeting in the lounge room of a member and their resources filled a suitcase.
In three years the membership grew and so did the resources and in 1992 the group found a permanent home for their growing membership and rapidly increasing resources within the newly-built Narre Warren Library.
The group has grown to a steady membership of more than 100 members. No longer is it a group of ladies, while it is still predominantly female there are young men and teenagers, retired men and working couples.
Resources have grown from books and microfiche into digital records including a webpage www.nwfhg.org.au and Facebook page. The group has held two successful local and family history expos at Beaconsfield and Cranbourne and have members who have been guest speakers at other local organisations and schools.
The group wants to identify, document and photograph monuments and memorials in the City of Casey and the Shire of Cardinia, this includes honour boards, war memorials, foundation stones, plaques, opening ceremony plaques and names of reserves, parks, ovals, pavilions, shelters, tracks, trails and roads, town squares, Ash Wednesday 1983 Memorials and intangible memorials such as the Tetley scholarship. The results are recorded in a searchable database available in their research room and on its website at: www.caseycardiniaremembers.org.au
It is planned in the future to also produce this information in a book or CD.
It takes six months to research and prepare then present a cemetery walk, like Sunday’s “100 Men 100 Years” walk at Berwick Cemetery. They now have a similar walk planned for Pakenham in October.
In 2016 they will be at Pakenham in April followed by Cranbourne in October, 2017 will start with Cranbourne in April and Harkaway in October and 2018 the end of the Great War will be remembered at Harkaway in April and another walk in October, yet to be confirmed.
Inquiries can be emailed to research.officer@nwfhg.org.au or president@nwfhg.org.au