SAGHS - Society's Homes

South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society Inc.

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SOCIETY HOMES

History | Founding of the Society | Homes | Officers

When the Society was first formed, Kevin and Jennifer Cooper of Kadina were appointed as the librarians and the library was transported to public meetings in two suitcases!

In 1976, the books were transferred to Des and Nancy Baldock’s home at Marden with the Coopers retaining the cemetery records. By this stage, the Council realised that a suitable home had to be found.

In October 1976, the Kent Town Methodist Church offered a tiny room off the church hall at $10 a week. Following a busybee on the Queen’s Birthday weekend of 1977, the library opened for business on Tuesday nights and Saturday afternoons from 2 July. This proved reasonably satisfactory as the hall could be used as a reading area.

21 Market Street Adelaide 1982–1985

On 1 May 1978, the Library moved to Room 3 The Block Hindmarsh Square in Adelaide with an annual rent of $1078. In the following year, the library moved across the hall to a larger Room 10 with a rent of $148 per week. The library hours were Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons and Tuesday nights.

In June 1982, the library moved to 21 Market Street on the first floor of the Democratic Club building and it is here that many of our members have their first recollections of us. In 1984, the Bookmakers Club left the building and the Biographical Index of South Australians (BISA) project made that room their headquarters. However, in May 1985 we were given two weeks’ notice to vacate the premises when the building was sold.

7 Maple Avenue, Forestville 1985–1987

Following a frenetic search, the library moved into 7 Maple Avenue, Forestville—a warehouse complex with carpet and air conditioners that made our Library very comfortable. Here we stayed for two years, with our accessions and membership growing steadily.

In June 1987, the Library had to move again. This time into the rear half of the Institute Library building at 201 Unley Road, Unley. This was very cramped, but was to be for only twelve months, as all Institute Libraries had to close on 30 June 1988. When the Institute Library closed, we eventually moved into the whole building.

1995 was a very important year for the Society as on 24 July the Unley Council accepted our offer to purchase the premises. Ownership of the property marked the beginning of a new era for the Society. The purchase would not have been possible without the work of the Society’s volunteers over the previous twenty-two years, the success of the 2nd Australasian Congress on Genealogy in 1980, together with the publication of the Biographical Index of South Australians 1836-1885 and South Australians 1836-1885 which put the Society in a strong financial position. The Society continued to grow and in 1997, the Society Council decided that extensions needed to be built. A new two-storied extension was added to the rear of the building and the rear car park was surfaced and landscaped. Work was completed in October and the official opening by David Ayling, former Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, took place on Sunday 18 January 1998.