CONNECTING with family and celebrating a proud heritage brought approximately 600 Ryan descendants to Morgan Park on Saturday to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Ryan from Limerick to Australia on October 11, 1864.

Warwick local Graham Ryan said following on from the last family reunion in 2006, this 150th-year anniversary took 18 months of planning to pull together.

"It's just been a fantastic day catching up with everyone and meeting new faces as well," he said.

One of those new faces belonged to Sarah Chawke, one of the last remaining Ryan descendants in Ireland.

She hails from a dairy farm in Croom, Country Limerick, in Ireland but said that sadly the Ryan name was dying out in its country of origin.

"There's just been so many daughters born so the name hasn't been carried on," she said.

"I've wanted to come to Australia all of my life to meet everyone and put faces to the names my family have always spoken about.

"It's been brilliant. Absolutely amazing. We've just made so many connections."

In commemoration of the family's milestone the organising committee compiled a book which twins Denis and Leo Ryan said was the Ryan family bible.

"It settles arguments if we're debating on family history," Leo said.

Denis who still lives at the original Denis Ryan (one of the original five siblings to settle in Australia) home at Allora said the book was important for his grandkids.

"I think for us and the grandchildren we all get a lot out of it," he said.

"We don't all know about the other lines of the family but it's important to know where we came from."

Denis said the book came in handy the other day for his grandaughter's family history assignment, where he, proudly, was able to prove they weren't convicts but rather free settlers.