Australia Genealogy

Guide to Australia ancestry, family history and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Country Information
The first Europeans began exploration of the Australian continent in the 17th century. Dutch explorer Willem Janszoom landed in the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1606 and mapped some of the coastline. Later on Abel Tasman in 1642 reached Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and in 1644 with three ships he mapped the north coast of Australia. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James Cook took possession in the name of Great Britain.

Australia was first settled by Europeans in January 1788 with the arrival (at Botany Bay on the south-east coast) of eleven English ships with more than 1000 convicts and military personnel, known today as the "First Fleeters". The site was found to be unsuitable so a few days later the ships moved to Port Jackson at Sydney Cove. The Second Fleet arrived in 1790 and saved the colony from starvation. The Third Fleet arrived in 1791 and included the first Irish transportees. The first free settler immigrants arrived in 1793. The expanding colony became known as New South Wales.

Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy.

Australia Clickable Map
When doing Australian research, it is helpful to know where one's family or ancestors lived in Australia and to know when they died. Click on a state name or on the map below to learn about research in an Australian state or territory.

States
After federation many governmental functions whose records are of interest to family historians remained the responsibility of the States. For example, the registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages is a State function; the Commonwealth was only responsible for these functions in the territories until the territory achieved responsible self-government. Click on a state below to go to the state Wiki article listing more information.

More Australia Research Strategies
Research strategies give guidance on how to research or what records to search for first. Below are additional research strategy Wiki articles for Australia.
 * Convicts were transported from Ireland to Australia starting in 1788. The National Archives of Ireland holds a wide range of records about this. The Ireland-Australia Transportation database is compiled from such records as the transportation registers, convict reference files and petitions to government for pardon or commutation of sentence.  The database is not complete for every convict.

More Australia Research Tools and Resources
Research tools can include resources that assist in locating correct records to search and determining the correct locality to search in. Below are links and Wiki articles to research tools in Australia.
 * The National Library of Australia's collection of digitised historic newspapers contains over 8 million pages and more than 81 million articles available to search or browse and read on-line.
 * Biographical Database of Australia www.bda-online.org.au/ New (as of October 2013) and growing website which should become very helpful as more records are added.
 * The National Library of Australia: This site can be an Australian resident researcher's delight, for, as well as having access to genealogical indexes, databases, full-text ejournals, subject guides and websites, you can, after registering for a Library Card, access a variety of items online these include; 19th Century British Library Newspapers, London Times Digital Archive 1785-1985, The Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003, Irish Newspaper Archives, and Indexes of Australian newspapers amongst many others on offer.
 * Australian Resources and help pages on RootsChat Australian Resources and help pages. (Free).
 * BDM registry details and certificate costs
 * The Australians in the Boer War (Oz-Boer) Database Project is a free online search aid to help you identify books, journals, webpages and other ephemera dealing with individual Australian soldiers and nurses involved in the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).
 * South African Graves, published by the Heraldry &amp; Genealogy Society of Canberra, Australia, is a database of burial and memorial locations of Australians who died during the second South African Anglo-Boer War, 1899 – 1902.
 * Project Gutenberg Australia; a free library of Australiana ebooks.

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in resourcing your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * Learning Center - Online genealogy courses
 * Historical Records all FamilySearch historical records about Australia.
 * Family History Center locator map