The Cooroy-Noosa Genealogical and Historical Research Group is celebrating 25 years in July.
The group, often called “Genies” for short, began in 1996 when ten friends with a common interest in family history held their first official meeting on the veranda of one member’s home.
Two of the founding members, Betty Sutton and Win Wynn are still active.
The group has grown to a membership of over 150 and has had several homes over the years and now resides at its own dedicated building, the Heritage Centre, in Cooroy.
For many years, the group used space at the Cooroy Guide Hut, but with growing membership and accumulated materials including electronic equipment, it became clear that they needed a home of their own.
Ten years ago the building committee began their search for a suitable property, while many of the members stepped up their fund-raising efforts for the building of the Heritage Centre.
The process involved many years of consultations with local and state governments, building planners, engineers and so on. Also, countless sausage-sizzles, garden plant sales, jam and chutney making group efforts contributed to fundraising for the building.
Such a large community building effort also attracted several funding grants. Some were government grants, but many came from other community groups. The Bendigo Bank, Cooroy Rag, Tewantin RSL and Noosa Heads Surf Club generously made grants towards the Heritage Centre.
Eventually, almost $300,000 was raised to fund the building and after a five year effort the new purpose-built Heritage Centre building was dedicated in May of 2017.
Over their 25 years the group has served at least 700 members of the community, who have used the resources to research their family histories, find materials about community history, and attended a variety of workshops or talks about local history.
Local school children have been encouraged to learn about local and family history by participating in the Laraine Mahoney Writing Competition, an annual award for the year 6 students in Cooroy.
Members have compiled and published books, photo galleries and indexes of significant local history. There is a website with links to resources and a facebook page with social news. All of this work has been voluntary.
If you are looking into your family history, you may come to the Genies to look up historical “Births, Deaths and Marriages”, or perhaps to find your grandfather’s war record or some ancestor’s immigration information.
There is a photographic record of every grave stone in the local cemeteries. You might access land records or attend a workshop to learn about DNA testing and how it is interpreted. There are always volunteers on duty, three days a week, to help newcomers with their research.
The Genies are having their “25th birthday party” on Friday 9 July. Current and past members are invited and can be in touch for further details by phone on 07 31290356.
