MEETINGS FOR 2025
Meetings are held at Willandra, 770 Victoria Road, Ryde, with car access via Willandra Street.
Sunday Open Days run from 11am – 2pm, March to November, third Sunday of the month. Visitors welcome.
Saturday 12 July 10am: Members’ General Meeting – Jeff Madsen Digital Detective: Modern Tools for Historical Property Research. Explore the history of properties and their development in your local area using various historical and contemporary resources available online.
Sunday 20 July 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display – the history of Eastwood in images
Saturday 9 August 10am: Annual General Meeting and Election – Angela Phippen “Hidden gems from the Letters of Rachel Henning”
Sunday 17 August 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display
Sunday 24 August 11am: Field of Mars Cemetery Tour – Anglican and Catholic sections
Saturday 13 September: No Meeting
Sunday 21 September 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display
Saturday 11 October 10am: Members’ General Meeting – Dr Sarah Luke – Reconsidering the Burials at Gladesville Hospital
Sunday 19 October 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display
Sunday 26 October 11am: Field of Mars Cemetery Tour – Ryde District’s Italian community – early landowners and prominent families
Saturday 8 November 10am: Members’ Meeting – Mental Health Helen Patterson will present a 10 minute talk on what records are available and which ones can be accessed. Members to talk (for 5 minutes) about mental health records that they have accessed, or stories/anecdotes about family members who had been impacted and what records might, or might not, be available.
Sunday 9 November 11am: Field of Mars Cemetery Tour – Remembrance Day tour, we look at those who served
Sunday 16 November 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display
Talks from earlier this year:
Saturday 8 February 10am: Members’ General Meeting – What GOLD have you found in your family? Five-minute talks by members.
Saturday 8 March 10am: Steve Ford – Researching Land Records
Sunday 16 March 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display – Speaker: Mike Pritchard – The Enigma Man, a talk and demonstration on the famous WWII Enigma cipher machine @ 11.30am
Saturday 12 April 10am: Members’ General Meeting – Fiona Sullivan – Irish Famine Records
Sunday 20 April 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display
Saturday 10 May 10am: Members’ General Meeting – Christine Yeats – Crime and Misdemeanours
Sunday 18 May 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display Heritage Week, Talks, display and tour of St Anne’s Churchyard
Saturday 14 June 10am: Members’ General Meeting – Peter Mitchell GeoRegions and UNESCO Global Geoparks; new approaches to landscape conservation
Sunday 15 June 11am-2pm: Willandra Open Day and display
Sunday 22 June 11am: Field of Mars Cemetery Tour – Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist and Baptist sections