Family History Resources

This is a list of key resources that will help you to build your family history. All of these resources are available in the State Library of Victoria's Helen Macpherson Smith Genealogy Centre.

Adoption & Wardship

Adoptive Families Association of Victoria

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~afav/
Details a variety of organisations that can help with locating past adoption information.

VANISH

http://www.vanish.org.au
Provides support and research advice to people who have experienced adoption or institutional or foster care, as well as those conceived through donor conception.

Australian ancestors

National Archives of Australia 1998, Finding families: the guide to the National Archives of Australia for genealogists, Hale & Iremonger in association with the Archives, Sydney.
View catalogue entry >

National Archives of Australia: For Family Historians

http://www.naa.gov.au/services/family-historians/index.aspx
Links to tools and services that should help you find information about your ancestors in the Archives. Records include WWI and WWII service records, and records of immigration to Australia after 1923.

Vine Hall, N J 2002, Tracing your family history in Australia: a national guide to sources, 3rd ed., N. V. Hall, Mount Eliza, Victoria.
View catalogue entry >

Beginning your research

Family Search: How to Start Your Family History

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Home/Welcome/frameset_information.asp

Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra 2003, Family history for beginners and beyond, 13th ed., Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra, Canberra.
View catalogue entry >

Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra 2003, Family history research manager, 6th ed., Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra, Canberra.
View catalogue entry >

Society of Australian Genealogists 2002, Compiling your family history, 21st ed., Society of Australian Genealogists, Sydney.
View catalogue entry >

British ancestors

Bevan, Amanda 2006, Tracing your ancestors in the National Archives, 7th rev. ed., National Archives, Kew.
View catalogue entry >

GENUKI: UK & Ireland Genealogy

http://www.genuki.org.uk
An online repository of genealogical and geographical information, organised by county or parish.

Herber, Mark 2005, Ancestral trails: the complete guide to British genealogy and family history, 2nd ed., Sutton, Stroud.
View catalogue entry >

National Archives (UK)

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Website for the major record repository in the United Kingdom. Includes searchable digitised records and guides to finding migration, military service and occupational records.

United Kingdom Civil Registration from 1837 provides information about:

• accessing information in the UK registration indexes
• ordering birth, marriage and death certificates. 

Civil registration in Victoria

Indexes to births, deaths and marriages in Victoria are available on CD-ROM. These CD-ROMs include the following records:

• births from 1836 to 1920
• marriages from 1836 to 1942
• deaths from 1836 to 1985.

These CD-ROMs can be accessed in the State Library of Victoria's Genealogy Centre, and at many local libraries and genealogical societies. Indexes to births, marriages and deaths are also available to search on the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages website.

Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages

http://online.justice.vic.gov.au/bdm/home
Order birth, death and marriage certificates, and search births (1836-1906), marriages (1836-1942) and deaths (1836-1985) online (fees apply).

Convict ancestors

Num, Cora 2003, Convict records in Australia, Cora Num, Pearce, Australian Capital Territory.
View catalogue record >

Cora Num's Websites for Genealogists: Convicts

http://www.coraweb.com.au/convict.htm
Links to useful online resources for convict research, including indexes and research guides. 

Genealogy societies

Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies

http://www.aigs.org.au

Genealogical Society of Victoria

http://www.gsv.org.au

Indigenous ancestors

See the State Library of Victoria's Indigenous genealogy information guides for more information about researching your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestors.

Irish ancestors

Grenham, John 2006, Tracing your Irish ancestors: the complete guide, 3rd ed., Gill & Macmillan, Dublin.
View catalogue entry >

Military ancestors

Australian War Memorial

http://www.awm.gov.au
Provides advice on obtaining personal service records, and access to biographical databases.

New Zealand ancestors

Bromell, Anne 2001, A beginner's guide to family history research in New Zealand, 4th ed. rev. and updated, New Zealand Society of Genealogists, Auckland, New Zealand.
View catalogue entry >

Occupational records

Num, Cora 2006, Occupational records in Australia, Cora Num, Pearce, Australian Capital Territory.
View catalogue entry >

Cora Num's Websites for Genealogists: Occupations in Australia

http://www.coraweb.com.au/occsites.htm
Links to online indexes and research guides that will assist with researching various occupations.

Pictures

Picture Australia

http://www.pictureaustralia.org
Search for digitised photographs and paintings held in Australian archives and repositories.

Research & researchers

Australasian Association of Genealogists and Records Agents (AAGRA)

http://www.aagra.asn.au
Find professional family history researchers who can search records on your behalf for a fee.

Johnson, Keith & Sainty, Malcolm 1988-2007, Genealogical research directory, K.A. Johnson & M.R. Sainty, Sydney, New South Wales.
View catalogue entry >

Reid, Ralph 2004, Australian family histories: a bibliography and index, R.S. and A.F. Reid, St. Clair, New South Wales.
View catalogue entry >

Scottish ancestors

Cory, Kathleen B 2004, Tracing your Scottish ancestry, 3rd ed. revised and updated by Leslie Hodgson, Polygon, Edinburgh.
View catalogue entry >

Scotland's People

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
Searchable index of Scottish births, marriages, deaths, wills and census returns. Online ordering of copies of many of these original documents is available for a fee.

Victorian government records

Fensham, Bronwyn, Wels, Barbara & Zygmuntowicz, Kasia 2004, Private lives, public records: family history resources at Public Record Office Victoria, reprinted with amendments, Public Record Office Victoria, North Melbourne.
View catalogue entry >

Public Record Office Victoria (PROV)

http://www.prov.vic.gov.au
The PROV hold immigration, land, education, health, legal and employment records as well as wills. Copies of many of their immigration records are available in the State Library of Victoria's Genealogy Centre.