Wyong Family History Group Inc.

18/12/2025

12/12/2025

Yesterday our group closed for a well deserved break after a busy year. We had 30 members join us in the cottage for a Christmas morning tea and a celebration of having been in the cottage for twenty years. Helen J Lord prepared a special presentation showing the history and growth of WFHG over the past 20 years. It was a trip down memory lane. Roger and I were honoured to cut the cake. We will reopen on the 13 January 2026.

11/12/2025

Who remembers these ?

When your parents came home from a wedding in the 70s, 80s, 90s or early 2000s… and they brought one of THESE bad boys back with them. The traditional Bomboniere of sugared almonds, originating in Europe, is a wedding staple you’d spot at almost every Italian or Greek celebration, but soon adopted by Aussies of all backgrounds.

They traditionally usually came in a small satin or tulle bag tied with ribbon, often decorated with mini flowers, and filled with five Jordan almonds, symbolising:

Health

Wealth

Happiness

Fertility

Long life

White for weddings and communions, pink or blue for baptisms, red for graduations, and silver or gold for anniversaries. Sometimes they even came inside fancy little keepsake boxes. It was not unusual to get all colours at weddings however in Australia.

Some families still hand them out today, but many modern weddings have swapped them for more personalised gifts, candles, chocolates, shot bottles, you name it.

But nothing hits the nostalgia button like finding one of these tucked away in a drawer from decades ago, or getting some at a wedding to this very day.

07/12/2025

Today our group came together at Club Wyong to celebrate Christmas 2025 and the end of another family history year. Those who attended had a great time catching up with friends, games, a two course lunch, and our usual large raffle showcasing 50 prizes too win. Sharing some photos of the day and wishing everyone a happy Christmas.

04/12/2025

I Have a Question:

In case you haven't seen this new feature in The Family History Guide, check out the I Have a Question page in the Research Skills menu (https://www.thefhguide.com/ihaq.html). It features 90-second videos that answer some of the most commonly asked questions about doing genealogy research, with links into our website for more information.

For additional interactive videos, see the Guided Learning page (https://www.thefhguide.com/guided-learning.html), also in the Research Skills menu.

04/12/2025

Step back in time and rediscover the stories that shaped our local community!

Please join us over morning tea to hear more about the history of your local area and to purchase your own copy of 'Pictorial History of the Strathfield District' for $30 each.

📅 Friday 12 December 2025
🕗 10am start
📍Ironbark Room, Strathfield Library

Registrations are essential, click the link to register today! https://www.strathfield.nsw.gov.au/Play/Events-Calendar/Pictorial-History-of-the-Strathfield-District-Book-Launch

04/12/2025

Update of 03 December 2025 – 643,205 index records from 65,852 memorials of deeds.

Thanks to our wonderful volunteers we now have 643,205 index records from 65,852 memorials of deeds in our main database. These records and all those in our other databases are fully searchable at: https://irishdeedsindex.net/search/search.php

The highlighted memorial of this update is: https://irishdeedsindex.net/mem.php?memorial=431578

It is another mega memorial with just over 900 entries. This is a list of tenants of Earl Fitzwilliam.

See also: https://irishdeedsindex.net/search/memorial_list_big.php

04/12/2025

A Guide to Probate Records:

Probate records are created after an individual's death and may contain information you wouldn't find anywhere else.

This Research Guide by Ancestry (https://www.ancestrycdn.com/support/us/2016/11/findingfamilywillsandprobate.pdf) mentions 11 types of probate records and describes the information you're likely to see. For example, inventories give you a detailed look into an ancestor's life, and guardianships can unlock clues for widows, orphans, and children's ages.

See Goal F2 in the United States page for more about probate records (https://www.thefhguide.com/project-9-united-statesf2.html ).

04/12/2025

Interesting

Get in the holiday spirit with recipes, crafts, music and more from the collection.

02/12/2025

🎉 Congratulations to the 2026 Ryerson Index Committee! 🎉

We are pleased to announce the elected committee for 2026:

President: John Graham
Vice President: Bob Atkins
Secretary: Shari-Lei McLean
Treasurer: Kathy Conroy
Committee Member: Pauline Kettle
Committee Member: Peter Kettle
Committee Member: Paul Kean

A big thank you to everyone who continues to support the Ryerson Index and the work we do in preserving obituary and funeral notice data for researchers across Australia.

We’re looking forward to a productive and exciting year ahead in 2026 — with continued growth, new projects, and stronger connections with the genealogical community.
And DEFINITELY hitting the TEN MILLION RECORDS MARK!

Onward and upward! 📚✨

30/11/2025

The Brisbane Water Historical Society celebrated their 75th Anniversary today with a wonderful Fair at the historic Henry Kendall Cottage in West Gosford - and the WFHG was proud to be part of the festivities!
Our team of four, Lynda, Ann, Sue and Regina, happily staffed our information stall and chatted with lots of curious visitors. (Sue is missing from the photo). The grounds were buzzing with interesting stalls, vintage games, and plenty of old-fashioned fun.
A fantastic day celebrating local history and community spirit!

22/11/2025