Our Research Groups

Groups of members meet on a regular basis in the following areas of interest:

• Family Tree Maker Users Group
• Irish Research Group
• English Research Group
• Scottish Research Group
• South Asia Research Group
• Sydney Dead Persons Society (computers & Internet)
• The Master Genealogist (TMG) Sydney Users Group

For details of the forthcoming dates and topics of meetings see our detailed Activity Programme. For all meetings you should book a place in any Research Group meeting you'd like to attend.  You can pay online or by phone for Research Group meetings when you book for any other advertised activity.

Family Tree Maker Users Group

The FTM User Group is for users or those interested in using the computer programme, Family Tree Maker to organise research. The Group also operates an online forum, which you can join by completing our form.

Irish Research Group

The Irish Interest Group meets on a regular basis to support members with Irish ancestry who want to share their research results and problems. Each meeting of the Irish Interest Group usually includes a lecture by a guest speaker focussing on a topic of Irish history or on records of value to Irish genealogy. It especially aims to make researchers aware of our outstanding collection of Irish material.

SAG also runs occasional tours to Ireland for interested members and others. Led by people expert in Irish family history research, these popular tours provide excellent background for anyone with Irish ancestry, combining tourism with opportunities for research and visiting ancestral areas. A separate web site provides details of past and future tours.

English Research Group

The London & Home Counties Interest Group supports members with research interests focussed on London and the pre-1974 Home Counties - Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Kent and Middlesex. It can also help family historians with research interests in the adjacent counties of Berkshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Some group members were born and grew up in England and have first-hand knowledge of the area and many have detailed knowledge of what SAG holds for specific areas they are researching.

If you would be prepared to talk about your research at a Group meeting, please contact the Group Coordinator, Pauline Kettle, via This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Scottish Research Group

The Scottish Interest Group meets on a regular basis to support members with research interests in Scotland. Past presentations have included apprenticeship records of Scotland and Scottish regiments.

South Asia Research Group

The group's focus areas are those places that were at one time under the control of the English East India Company, [often referred to as the HEIC], or one of the European East India Companies including the French, Dutch, Danish.

If your ancestors were born, married, died, lived or travelled through any of the following places and you are having difficulty with your research, then the South Asia Research Group looks forward to welcoming you: Aden, Afghanistan, Andamans, Burma, Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Goa, India, Java, Macao, Malaysia/Straits Settlements, Malta, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Pondichery, Singapore, St Helena, Bencoolen, (Sumatra), Tibet, and Whampoa.

The group has embarked on the following projects:

• Resources at SAG - preparation of a guide to South Asian research resources at SAG by Jean McArthur and Carol Gall.
• Web Sites for South Asia Research - Members are invited to submit the URL and title or brief description of their Favourites for inclusion in a members' resource list.
• Resources in Sydney - A longer term project - the compilation of a resource listing of the libraries and archives which are accessible to members and which hold South Asian resources for consultation.
• Indexing and Transcription - of 19th century birth, marriage and death announcements from various sources such as directories, journals and newspapers.

Check out the following websites to get you started with South Asia research:

• www.fibis.org/
  Families in British India Society, the UK based society devoted to India and surrounding areas. They are closely associated with the OIOC at the British Library. This site now includes Cathy Day's work previously on her own website.
• www.bl.uk/collections/oiocfamilyhistory/family.html
  Part of the British Library's Oriental and India Office Collection [OIOC] information.
  The India Office Records at the British Library, part of the Asia Pacific and Africa Collection. Search over 300,000 records on line at http://indiafamily.bl.uk/UI/ .
• http://regiments.org/
  The 'bible' for all regimental information and links
• www.indian-cemeteries.org/
  John Kendall's site which includes photos of headstones and other plaques with MI s from around India.
• http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poyntz/India/maps.html#index and http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poyntz/India/directories.html
  Two pages hosted by Ian Poyntz - the first with old maps of India and an index to them to help you find the impossible place. The second URL is for a page of holdings of Thackers and other directories in libraries around the world, including Sydney.

The Dead Persons Society

The DPS is a very active group, meeting regularly to support those using computers and the Internet for family history. They have their own web site, where you may find out more about them.

The Master Genealogist Sydney User Group

The Master Genealogist^TM (or TMG) claims to be the most advanced and versatile genealogy software on the market today. It allows family historians to fully customise data, reports and charts to suit their own requirements. It is very flexible and powerful, and used by professional genealogists and beginners alike.

The aim of the TMG Sydney User Group is to allow members to exchange information, ideas, and techniques for using TMG and related programs in their family history.

Group members have different levels of experience with TMG, from many years through to complete novices.

The group also runs a mailing list and website at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TMGSydney where questions can be asked and answered and external meetings organized. To join this mailing list please This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .