SUMMARY:   The Hay Historical Society is undertaking a project to document the lives of the men and women who lived at Hay and the surrounding district from the earliest period of European settlement.  Anybody with family history information about Hay's pioneers is invited to share this information by contributing to the project.

PARAMETERS:   The Society is seeking information about any person born in the year 1880 or earlier who lived at Hay and district (including Carrathool, Booligal, Booroorban, Maude and Oxley).  Contributions may be as copies of family trees, copies of certificates, family stories, fully written life-stories, or in any other form.  Contributed information will be collected, indexed and eventually compiled and edited into finished accounts of people's lives.  A project co-ordinator will maintain a register of contributed material which will be available for public viewing at the Hay Library.

In compiling accounts of the lives of Hay's pioneers emphasis will be placed on their whole life stories, documenting their origins, where they ended up (if they left the district), as well as detailing their lives while in the district.  Married couples will generally be treated together on the same file as this entails less repetition of details.

SOURCES:   Wherever possible contributors are encouraged to cite the sources of the information they provide, whether as a list of sources or as footnotes throughout the text.

OBJECTIVE:   The aim of this project is to get as complete a picture as possible of the people who lived in Hay and district in the early years of European settlement.  In doing so it will document and preserve important aspects of Hay's heritage, emphasising the lives and contributions of the early pioneers.  Such a collection of family history material will represent a valuable local resource for the benefit of family historians and broader historical research.

CONTACT:   For anyone interested in researching outside their own family, or without ancestors from the Hay district, there is an option to "adopt" a research subject.  Submissions can be in handwritten or typewritten form, photocopies, computer disk or e-mail.  Contributions and enquiries can be made to the Secretary of the Hay Historical Society Inc., PO Box 467, Hay, 2711  (E-mail address:  ).