Queensland, Australia Genealogy

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

New South Wales Archive Resources Kit, Including Records for Areas now in Queensland
"The ARK is held by 40 community access points across NSW. The majority of access points are libraries. The ARK consists of microfilm copies of our most popular and heavily used colonial records. Included are records relating to convict arrivals, assisted immigrants, births, deaths and marriages, publicans' licences, electoral rolls, naturalisation, returns of the colony ('Blue Books'), land grants, and the wide range of functions of the Colonial Secretary (1788-1825).
 * Archive Resources Kit
 * Community Access Points A list of libraries and archives which hold microcopies of the Archive Resource Kit records A list of libraries and archives which hold microcopies of the Archive Resource Kit records

"The ARK was a result of our Access for All initiative to provide people in regional and rural NSW with better access to the State's archives. The Kit contains over 1565 items (962 fiche and 604 reels) of our most popular and heavily used colonial records. It builds on a genealogical research kit issued in the 1980s and already held by some of the community access points. The Kit includes explanatory material and links to information available on our website.

"You may find that the ARK (or parts of it) are held at a library near you."

Historical Background

 * Queensland was originally settled by Europeans in the 1820s as a convict settlement as the Moreton Bay District of the Colony of New South Wales.
 * In 1859. Queensland was separated from New South Wales to form a self-governing British colony.
 * Records before 1859 properly form part of series held by archives and offices in New South Wales, where they may be indexed under the term "Moreton Bay District". Queensland has made copies of many of these family history records and these may be searched along with post 1859 records.