Indigenous Genealogy – Australian Resources

Use this list of websites, research guides, journals and agencies to help you with your Indigenous Australian ancestry research. For resources specific to Victoria see Indigenous Genealogy – Victorian Resources.

Information databases

The State Library of Victoria provides access to a number of online databases that are useful for Indigenous Australian research. These include bibliographies, historical records, journal indexes, encyclopedias and cultural histories.

You can access these databases in two ways:

• At the Library
  The databases are available on computers in the Library's public reading rooms. Go to the Information Databases page, click 'Access from the Library' and then select Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from the databases list.
• From home
  If you are a Victorian resident you can access selected databases from home. To do so you will need to register as a Library user. Go to the Access from Home page and then click the 'Informit Complete' link. After you've logged in, select the 'Indigenous Peoples' set of databases and click the 'Start Searching' button at the top and bottom of the page.

Websites

The websites listed below provide access to key Indigenous genealogical information.

Aboriginal Biographical Index (ABI)
http://mura.aiatsis.gov.au
Allows you to search for personal names included in items in the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Library. Enter the AIATSIS catalogue, click 'Search Family History Resources' then 'Search ABI'.

Aboriginal Genealogy and History
http://www.hotkey.net.au/~jwilliams4/native.htm
Lists references to Aboriginal people in historical sources, including government records and newspapers.

National Archives of Australia: Archival Resources Relating to Indigenous Australians
http://www.archivenet.gov.au/Resources/indigenous_aust.htm#holdings
Links to lists of records relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people held in Australian archives. Also links to guides to finding and using these records.

National Library of Australia: Mura Gadi (Pathways for Searching)
http://www.nla.gov.au/muragadi/
Provides references to the National Library’s manuscripts, oral histories and images relating to Indigenous Australians.

Research guides

To successfully research your family history, you need to know what steps to take and what information is available. Research guides answer these questions.

Australian Archives: A.C.T. Regional Office c1993, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Commonwealth records: a guide to records in the Australian Archives, ACT. Regional Office, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
View catalogue entry >

Barwick, Diane, Mace, Michael & Stannage, Tom 1979, ‘Genealogy: tracing family history’, in Handbook for Aboriginal and Islander history, Aboriginal History, Canberra.
View catalogue entry >

Boyce, James c2003, For the record: background information on the work of the Anglican Church with Aboriginal children and directory of Anglican agencies providing residential care to children from 1830 to 1980, Anglicare Australia, Melbourne.
View catalogue entry >

Lucas, Rodney (ed.) 1986, Resources for Aboriginal family history, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.
View catalogue entry >

Miller, James 1989, Tracing Koori ancestry, Royal Australian Historical Society, Sydney.
View catalogue entry >

National Archives of Australia 1998, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’, in Finding families: the guide to the National Archives of Australia for genealogists, Hale & Iremonger in association with the Archives, Sydney.
View catalogue entry >

Smith, Diane 1990, Lookin for your mob: a guide to tracing Aboriginal family trees, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
View catalogue entry >

Journals and journal articles

The following two articles offer some useful insights on where to find information and the challenges involved in Indigenous Australian family history research.

Hotchkiss, Rosemary 2006, ‘Putting the pieces together-Indigenous family history and the AIATSIS Family History Unit’, Australian Family Tree Connections, February, pp.  37-39.
This article provides information about the collections and services of the Family History Unit and brief descriptions of records such as ‘mission records, court and police records, land and pastoral station records and Protector’s reports and files’.
View catalogue entry > 

Stubbs, Rebecca 2006, ‘The Indigenous family history journey’, Australian Family Tree Connections, February, pp. 36-37.  
This article provides background information about some of the unique challenges posed when performing Indigenous Australian family history research. 
View catalogue entry >

Further reading

Burials

Hope, Jeannette & Littleton, Judith c1995, Finding out about Aboriginal burials, Mungo Publications for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Hurlstone Park, New South Wales.
View catalogue entry >

Family trees

Aboriginal History Programme c1986, Murri Koori didj yano, Aboriginal History Programme, Abbotsford, Victoria.
View catalogue entry >

Kinship groups

Finlayson, J, Rigsby, B & Bek, HJ (eds) 1998, Connections in Native Title: genealogies, kinship and groups, Canberra, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.
View catalogue entry >

Helon, George W 1998, Aboriginal Australia: register of tribe, clan, horde, linguistic group, language names and AIATSIS language codes – including synonyms, misnomers and approximate location, Centre for Historical Aboriginal and International Research, Bundaberg, Queensland.
View catalogue entry >

Lucich, Peter 1987, Genealogical symmetry: rational foundations of Australian kinship, Light Stone Publications, Armidale, NSW.
View catalogue entry >

Tindale, Norman B 1974, Aboriginal tribes of Australia: their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits and proper names, Australian National University Press, Canberra.
View catalogue entry >

Contacts and agencies

These agencies provide access to specialist resources including:

• advice and/or assistance with your research
• books, journals and historical materials documenting the lives of Indigenous people.

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Family History Unit
Lawson Crescent
Acton Peninsula
Acton ACT 2601
Phone 1800 730 129
Email family@aiatsis.gov.au
Web http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/library/family_history_tracing
The AIATSIS Family History Unit undertake genealogical research on behalf of clients, using the resources in their extensive library.

National Archives of Australia: Bringing Them Home Name Index
The Archives’ Name Index refers to names included in Federal records and contains:

• names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• names of non-Indigenous people including relatives, missionaries, police, patrol officers and teachers who were associated with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• names of missions and institutions where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were placed.

The Index is not currently available to the public, but can be searched by National Archives of Australia reference staff. More information is available in the Archives' Fact Sheet 175.