The next meeting of the Historical Society will be at the Royal Hotel, 5.30pm on Tuesday, 18th August. The speaker will be William Oates OAM, who has researched ‘The Dreadnoughts Scheme’.
This scheme was started in 1911 prior to WWI, halted during the War, re-started in 1921 and ceased in 1940. The aim was to bring young men from Britain wishing to undertake farmwork in Australia, give them a short period of training and place them on farms. They became known the ‘Dreadnought Boys’. There is a plaque at The Rocks, on the corner of Kendall Lane and Argyle Street placed there by the Dreadnought Old Boys Association in 1984, commemorating the fact that most of these hundreds of young men would have walked past that spot on arrival from the ships which carried them to a new life.

Information from last months AGM reported in August Newsletter.

The next meeting of the Society will be the AGM followed by the General monthly meeting. It will be held on Tuesday 21st July, 5.30pm at the Royal Hotel.

The speaker will be Dr Margaret Small who has been researching ‘Tilbuster’ station, taken up by Captain William Dumaresq in the 1830s. William’s elder brother, Colonel Henry Dumaresq settled on ‘Saumarez’ Station, but as William and his wife never lived on ‘Tilbuster’, it has not received the attention afforded to ‘Saumarez’.

Don’t forget (i) Membership is due and (ii) to order meals prior to the meeting.

The next meeting of the Society will be on Tuesday, 16^th June, at 5.30pm at the Royal Hotel.  

The speaker will be Graham Wilson OAM, whose talk will cover his research on the Chinese in Hillgrove. This follows his interesting talk on the Chinese in Armidale and compares their life on the goldfields, not as miners, but as shopkeepers and market gardeners, sad and unhappy, away from their families.

Please place dinner orders prior to the meeting. The talk will commence at 5.30pm

2026/27 Memberships
Please complete the form below and return to the Armidale & District Historical Society Inc. with your remittance or alternatively forward by Email to “contact@adhs.org.au”.

Membership renewals are due by 30th June 2026.

The next meeting of the Society will be on Tuesday, 19^th May, 5.30pm at the Royal Hotel when the speaker will beJohn Burrell, who will reprise the talk given in 1969 by Harold Belfield, grandson of F.R. White of ‘Booloominbah’. John acquired a copy of this speech from Sue Grace (Harry’s niece) of Armidale and the talk will be: Harry Belfield’s Story of the White Family.

The Society will meet at the Royal Hotel, 5.30pm on Tuesday, 21^st April where the guestspeaker will be Phillip Jones, who will give a talk on his father’s work in the tree-planting programme, The Beautification of Armidale.

At this time each year we particularly show gratitude for the work of this pioneering team of tree planters who created leafy streetscapes, aiming for and achieving, lasting environmental and beautifying benefits to the city.

The next meeting of the Society will be at the Royal Hotel, cnr Marsh and Beardy sts. on Tuesday, 17^th March , 5.30 pm when the speaker will be Dr John Atchison OAM.

Topic: The Australian Agricultural Company and Northern New South Wales
John will outline the importance of the Australian Agricultural Company in the establishment of the wool, beef and coal industries and the major influence it has been in the development of Newcastle, the Hunter Valley, Liverpool Plains, the New England, Queensland and the Northern Territory since 1824.  

All are welcome to attend and those wishing to stay on for dinner need to place their orders prior to the meeting.

A new year dawns for the Society with plans for the new talks, new projects and hopes for less extremes of weather and worldly behaviour. Our first meeting for 2026 will be at 5.30pm on Tuesday, 17^th February at the Royal Hotel (cnr Marsh and Beardy Sts.). Dinner orders should be placed prior to the meeting.  All are welcome. The guest speaker will be Wayne Hoppe of the Armidale Family History Group providing: An Update on the Old Armidale Burial Ground.

The last meeting for 2025 will be held on Tuesday 21 October, 5.30pm at the Royal Hotel. The topic for the meeting will be a presentation by Alan Wilkinson, Julie Harm, David Betts and Judith Grieve featuring the Goldrush at Melrose (1889 –1891), when Melrose, South East of Armidale became a bustling village of around 500 men, women and children.

Newsletter for September 2025

The next Society will meeting will be held at The Royal Hotel, cnr Beardy and Marsh Streets on Tuesday, 16th September at 5.30pm. The speaker will be Shirley Dawson, Archivist for St Peter’s Cathedral speaking on Women in the Cathedral.