ARCHIVES NEW ZEALAND

Archives New Zealand holds a range of archives, including documents, maps, plans, films, artworks and photographs created by the New Zealand government and document nearly 200 years of New Zealand history.

NAA

The National Archives of Australia holds the records of the Commonwealth government in both Canberra and State/Territory offices.

The Australasian really useful Information leaflet

The Australasian really useful Information leaflet is produced annually by the Federation of Family History Societies in association with the Society of Australian Genealogists and Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations Inc. The leaflet has answers to FAQ's and links to useful resources, including U.K. and Australian family history societies. 

detail from Family group at Scott Creek, South Australia, 1937
Harold Cazneaux, Family group at Scott Creek, South Australia, 1937, nla.obj-144162629

Australasian resources are available in a variety of formats including online, CDROM, microfiche, microfilm and books. State Libraries and Archives, local and family history libraries may hold material relevant to their own state as well as other areas of Australia. See our Other libraries and archives page in this guide.

Many resources are available electronically. You can search eResources for known databases or browse for titles under Genealogy by visiting the eResources portal, clicking the Browse eResources tab and then select Genealogy.

In eResources you can find bookmarked free websites, networked family history CDs and subscription services. You will need to come to the Library's reading rooms to use some of these.

Online in the Library

  • Ancestry (Library edition)

    • Visit the eResources portal, click the Browse eResources tab and search for 'ancestry'.
    • The Library's subscription to Ancestry.com currently includes 151 Australian resources via its online database, 49 relating to New Zealand and a small number covering Indonesia, Micronesia and Samoa.
  • Findmypast (World edition)

    • Visit the eResources portal, click the Browse eResources tab and search for 'findmypast'.
    • Currently, Findmypast has 300 resources relating to Australia and New Zealand and a small number covering Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.

Selected websites

Networked resources in the Library

In addition to our subscription databases, the Library has a number of networked CDROM resources relating to Australasia. These can be accessed through the designated PCs in the Newspapers and Family History zone. And include:

  • AGCI: Australasian Genealogical Computer Index 
  • Index to the Historical Records of Australia 
  • Index to Victorian Goldfields Hospitals' Admissions: at Amherst, Ballarat, Castlemaine, Creswick, Dunolly, Kyneton, Maldon and Maryborough 
  • Lonely Graves in South Australia 
  • Melbourne General Cemetery: Index and Transcriptions of Monumental Inscriptions to 1989. 
  • New Zealand Burial Locator ver 1. 
  • New Zealand Cemeteries and Cemetery Records 
  • Old Jewish Section, In Use 1867-1906, Tombstones 1837-1984, Rookwood Necropolis, Sydney, Australia 
  • Queensland Electoral Rolls 1860-1869 
  • Queensland Electoral Rolls 1870-1879 
  • Queensland Government Railway Index to Staff Records 1878-1946 
  • Riverina cemeteries (version 3, 2011) 
  • Tasmania Collection of Records 1830s to 1930s 

You can find some of these databases by visiting our eResources portal, clicking the Browse eResources tab and clicking Onsite Resources. The others can be found through a search of our catalogue

Microfilmed and other published material

Numerous microfilmed products on Australiasia are available on open access in the Newspapers and Family History zone. These can be identified in our Family History Sources guide under the relevant State or Territory.

A selection of print publications is also available in our reference section. Some selected titles are provided below:

My ancestor was in an asylum : brief guide to asylum records in Australia and New Zealand by Shauna Hicks

Preserving your family's oral history and stories by Thomas MacEntee

How to trace your convict ancestors : their lives, times & records by Janet Reakes

Family in front of cottage with bark roof, Hill End, New South Wales, ca.1872 [picture].
Family in front of cottage with bark roof, Hill End, New South Wales, ca.1872, nla.obj-148024791

HISTORIC NEWSPAPERS

Historic newspapers have useful sections such as family notices, funeral, in memoriam notices and obituaries, shipping news, court and police reports, meetings and social events.

Masthead of New Zealand Tablet 09 July 1853

Masthead of New Zealand Tablet 09 July 1853

Paperspast
Papers Past contains more than three million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. The collection covers the years 1839 to 1945 and includes 93 publications from all regions of New Zealand.

Not sure where to start?