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
European explorers began arriving in what is now Australia in the 17th century. In 1770, Great Britain claimed Australia as a territory. The "First Fleet" of European settlers arrived in 1788 with ships of convicts. Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. English is the official language.

Getting Started


Finding Your Ancestors' Town in Australia

 * Genealogical records are organized by geographical locality. Civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials) were kept at the local level. To search these records, you must know the town where your ancestors lived.
 * If you do not know your ancestors' town, follow the advice in the Wiki article, Australia Finding Town of Origin, to search a variety of records that might provide that information.

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 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 - On-site 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
 * Irish Newspaper Archives - includes The Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003 and Indexes of Australian newspapers.
 * 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.
 * RootsChat Australian Resources and help pages - Free, Australian Resources and help pages
 * Project Gutenberg - a free library of Australiana ebooks.
 * Ireland-Australia Transportation database - Incomplete for ever convict, created by National Archives of Ireland, convicts transported from Ireland to Australia starting in 1788, database is compiled from transportation registers, convict reference files and petitions to government for pardon or commutation of sentence.
 * Australians in the Boer War (Oz-Boer) Database Project - free online search to identifying books, journals, webpages and other ephemera for Australian soldiers and nurses involved in the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).
 * South African Graves - published by the Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra, Australia, database of burial and memorial locations of Australians who died during the second South African Anglo-Boer War, 1899 – 1902.
 * Australia BDM Civil Registration Index FamilySearch Help Center lesson (Microsoft browser may be required for viewing).
 * The Digital Panopticon: Tracing convicts from England sent to penal colonies (largely Australia).

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching 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