13/01/2025
With permission from Alan & Anthea Phillips from Gould Genealogy & History I am posting their recent memories of the late Reg Butler.
Farewell Reg Butler, OAM (1941 - 2024)
Historian - genealogist - scholar - business colleague - personal friend
Anthea (my wife) and I were saddened to learn of the passing of Reg Butler on 29 December 2024. I first met Reg in in 1978, when we sold three of his family histories through Gould Books, our (then two year old) bookshop. His special expertise was in Germans in South Australia and the Hahndorf region, but his research and expertise extended to other regions and early South Australia generally. As one the of founders of The Torrens Valley and District Historical Society and Gumeracha District Family Historical Centre, I was very pleased to welcome Reg as an early member and guest speaker at one of our early annual dinners. His knowledge of our district was considerable and he was one of the most interesting, informative and captivating speakers I have heard. Sadly, there were too few occasions to hear him speak.
Reg was a school teacher, but took early retirement in 1994 to develop his historical research and advisory services. He had a purpose-built building adjacent to his residence in Hahndorf to house his comprehensive library and research data regarding South Australian Genealogy, Land Titles and local history. Reg was a prolific author from 1971, with around 20 family, local, church and other histories to his name. He was also an organist at his local Anglican church for 50 years.
He won the Alexander Henderson Award for the Best Australian Family History (Seidel) in 1977, and was awarded Order of Australia in the General Division (OAM) for his services to the community as an historian in 2015.
You can learn more about Reg at the Adelaide Hills wiki and the Hahndorf Archives, which now houses the R.G. (Reg) Butler Collection. See also The South Australian Genealogist Vol 47 No 2 May 1970 for an article by Andrew Peake on the Reg Butler Collection with a detailed overview of its coverage. But I would add two additional personal connections with Reg.
Business colleague
I came to know Reg well through two significant publishing projects, which involved many visits to his Hahndorf archives and library.
Register Personal Notices series 1836-1870 published 1889-1891 in three hardcover volumes, each approximately 450 pages. The South Australian Register was the major South Australian newspaper from 1836. Personal notices from this paper were published and indexed in these volumes (volumes 2 and 3 are still in print). This was compiled by the team at Gould, but Reg had a valuable supporting role.
The Quiet Waters By. The Mount Pleasant District, 1843-1993. This huge history ran to 784 pages and included nearly a thousand photos and 86 pages of family biographies. It was researched and written by Reg for the District Council of Mount Pleasant. We (as Gould Publishing Services) handled its production for printing, which also involved a good deal of liaison with Reg.
Personal and family friend
Mainly through our business interactions we saw a good deal of Reg. As well as my visits to him, he also visited us at Gumeracha. He would always bring a jar of specialty jam or chocolates for Anthea and he took a keen interest in our children's lives.
Reg was a colourful and special person, always generous and interesting in conversation. Anthea and I attended his funeral at Hahndorf last Tuesday. He will be missed by us and many others.
[with acknowledgement to Adelaide Hills Local Wiki for the photo and some of the information above]
![Natasha and I have begun to catalogue [up to no 222] the family history books in the Reg Butler collection, we are using...](https://img3.medioq.com/852/254/122119414478522541.jpg)
