The first initiative to form the Society occurred in 1971 by an informal group that met continuously during 1972 and it was this group which decided that the formation of a formal Society was feasible.
On 4 December 1971 Andrew Peake wrote to Dr Thomas T Reed, then Bishop of Adelaide, who had for many years given lectures to the Workers’ Educational Association on Heraldry, proposing the formation of a society for those interested in genealogy and heraldry.
Dr Reed’s reply of 8 December suggested the calling of a public meeting in the new year, inviting those people known by them both as being interested in the two subjects. Accordingly, some sixty letters were sent to interested people inviting them to a meeting at the Church of England Offices in North Adelaide on 19 April 1972.
Fourteen people attended the meeting. It was agreed that the next meeting be held at the Church of England Office on 21 June 1972 at 9pm and that the program for the meeting be arranged by the committee.
During the year the convener, Andrew Peake and the subject representatives, Kingsley Ireland and W Perkins met to plan the Group’s meetings.
Meetings were held at the Church Offices on 21 June, 16 August, 28 September and 18 October at which brief talks were given.
On 18 October it was decided to hold a General Meeting in April 1973, to decide upon the future of a society. To publicise this meeting and the formation of a society a Publicity Sub-Committee comprising Messrs Dillon, Perkins, Bristow and Peake and Mrs Sandow was formed.
The Sub-Committee met on 2 November and decided to name the proposed society the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society and determined its objects.
A meeting on 10 January 1973 discussed a constitution and decided to seek Incorporation of the Society.
The Committee held a public meeting on 21 February 1973 at Church Office following adverts placed in newspapers and a full page article by Mary Broughton in the Chronicle of 26 January 1973. This meeting proved very successful and those present voted that plans to form a Society should proceed.
The Society was formally launched at an inaugural meeting at the Church of England Offices, North Adelaide in April 1973. The meeting elected a Council who subsequently met for their first Council meeting on 15 May 1973. A number of decisions were made, together with the election of office bearers as hereunder:
President: G R Edmonds
Vice Presidents: K J Ireland and W Perkins
Treasurer: D J Baldock
Secretary: A G Peake
Research Coordinator: K Cooper
Public Office: A Bristow
Council: Mrs S J Sampson, R Fisk, G J Godden, Rev F R MacDonald, and Mrs Storrie (to be later replaced by Mrs E Sandow).
The Society became a formally incorporated body on 29 August 1973.
A display of genealogical and heraldic material was organised in March 1974 for the Adelaide Festival of Arts in the Bank of Adelaide chambers, King William Street, Adelaide. This attracted considerable attention and many new members were recruited.
The first edition of the Society journal The South Australian Genealogist appeared in January 1974.
The first Annual General Meeting was held on 28 August 1974 for the period ending 30 June 1974. The President, Dick Edmonds, was able to report that there with eighty two members of the Society. Some twenty one of these members had paid an additional twenty dollars to provide working capital for the Society, to become Foundation Members. They were: Eileen Carragher, G J Godden, Kingsley Ireland, Andrew Peake, W Perkins, Shirley Sampson, John Voaden, Mrs G M Ellis, G R Edmonds, R R Chivers, Mrs E B Sandow, Miss M M B Hodge, G Walkley, H E Kirkbright, T T Reed, D J Baldock, Mrs K B Viney, C K Hicks, C S Hooper, D W Gum, Great Australia West Mission (LDS Church).
A library was established and the Research Coordinator, Kevin Cooper, commenced indexing names appearing in the published South Australian family histories (called the Marriage Index). In addition, a start was made transcribing the State’s cemeteries and indexing those already transcribed into a consolidated card index.
Thus the Society had begun.
Adapted from an article by Andrew G Peake originally published in The South Australian Genealogist May 2003