RESEARCHING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY
The following is an extract from
Our Australasian Really Useful Information Leaflet
The Leaflet is produced by the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations, Federation of Family History Societies and Society of Australian Genealogists.
Copyright of this material is held by these organisations & reproduced here with their approval .
If you are just embarking on researching your family history you will probably be aware that an ever increasing amount of information is available on the Internet, provided by commercial as well as volunteer organisations. It is true to say that in the early stages of research, quite a bit of progress can be made using online resources, however, there might be times when you need some guidance or you are not sure what to do next. The following questions and answers may help you to decide on your next step.
Q. Where do I start? Draw a basic family tree. Start with yourself, add your family, your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. in fact, any relatives you can remember. You might find it easiest to do this first on paper, or you can use a family history software package. There are a number of software programs available and major family history societies stock a range of these. The advantage of using computer software from the start is that it gives you greater flexibility when you want to print out charts and share information with other family members. There are also a number of commercial websites such as; Find My Past; Ancestry; or My Heritage which offer the facility to build your family tree online. However, do remember that you need to be sure your information is correct before you start sharing it with others. Question older relatives, they might be able to fill in some of the gaps with their knowledge of ancestors you may not know of or have forgotten. And don’t forget to ask if they have any photographs, certificates or a family Bible. Sometimes until you ask they won’t think to tell you!
Q. I’ve recorded everything I can. Where do I go next? From the information you’ve already gathered hopefully you’ll have an idea of where your family lived in Australia. From the time of white settlement in 1788 through to Federation in 1901, every colony kept its own records. So to have any real chance of finding your family you need to know whether to look in New South Wales, or Western Australia, or Queensland, or whichever area you believe to be the one where your people settled. Record keeping was different for each colony and there is no guarantee that a record source you find in one will exist in another. Even after Federation took place in 1901, the states continued to maintain their own independent record keeping for births, deaths and marriages, probates, land transfers and many other sets of records.
Q. Where will I find birth, death and marriage information? There is no national index of births, deaths and marriages in Australia, although commercial ‘pay to view ’ sites are creating their own versions by consolidating the various state indexes available to them. A good website to look at initially is Cora Num’s gateway site for Australian research – www.coraweb.com.au. This will lead you to the website of each state’s Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages – most have online indexes you can search and some allow you to order copies of certificates online (and in several cases to download them electronically as soon as you have completed your purchase).
Q. What information can I expect to obtain from a certificate? Again this will vary for each state. Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have some of the best civil registration systems for births, deaths and marriages anywhere in the world. A New South Wales death certificate, for example, can tell you when the deceased had arrived in the colony; when and where they were born; who their parents were; where, when and who they married; and the names and ages of their children. It can also give the burial place, the former occupation, cause of death and the date of death. There was no uniform date for the commencement of civil registration in the various colonies (most had introduced this by 1856 although the territories did so much later) and prior to this you will have to rely on surviving church registrations of baptisms, marriages and burials which are not as informative.
Q. Where do I find parish registers? Prior to the commencement of civil registration, churches kept records of baptisms, marriages and burials, as they continue to do to this day. Some parish records are available on microfilm in libraries and family history societies, others may still be held with the diocesan archives. For some colonies the early church registers have been copied across to the State Registry and are available as part of their historical record series.
Q. How can I find when my ancestor arrived here? Like birth, death and marriage records, passenger records were kept by authorities in the colony in which they arrived, so there is no one national index you can check. However, many of the State archives are putting shipping records online as have some of the commercial ‘pay to view ’ websites. Your ancestor may have come to Australia as a convict, a free person, an assisted passenger, as crew or as part of the military; and the records associated with each will be different. Unfortunately record keeping sometimes left a lot to be desired. For instance, when thousands were flooding into New South Wales during the goldrush of the 1850s, the authorities resorted to recording the number of arrivals, but not recording individual names.
Q. Why can’t I find census records – I’ve used them for the UK and they are great? Unfortunately historical census records have not survived in Australia as they have for many overseas countries and hence they are not a key source for Australian family history as they are in the UK and America. Where census (or muster) information does exist, it may include name, age, ship of arrival, status (as in free or convict), religion, occupation and place of residence. Some census records will only show details for the head of the household but not for everyone living with them. A good substitute can be electoral rolls and directories. Before 1903, only males over 21 who were British subjects were listed on electoral rolls, but after that time women begin to appear too. Post Office directories for both city and country areas were common and many of these can be searched online.
Q. What if my ancestor was a convict? This can be good! Convicts were prisoners of the crown, so many records were created about them – when they were transported, their sentence and crime, what they looked like (in case they escaped and had to be identified), whether they were assigned to work for someone or sent out on a road gang, and much more. Depending on how well-behaved they were, they may have received a Ticket of Leave (giving them permission to work for themselves in a specific district), a Conditional Pardon (having the rest of their sentence overturned on condition they did not return to the country from which they were convicted) or an Absolute Pardon (reinstating them as free citizens). Different records were created at different times and each colony which took convicts had their own system of record keeping. New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia were the main colonies which accepted convicts, although many ended up in other colonies because they reoffended or were assigned to work there. The State Archives in each state is the place to start if you wish to trace convict records.
Q. What if I think my ancestor served in one of the wars? Excellent records survive of Australian service personnel for both World Wars. World War 1 service records are available for free online through the National Archives (www.naa.gov.au) and provide detailed information about war service, as well as useful genealogical information such as age and place of birth, next of kin, occupation and place of residence. If a soldier was wounded or died there may also be Red Cross files which you can consult. National Archives is beginning to place these service records online.
Q. What if my person came from Europe or Asia? Australia has always been a nation of immigrants. As it was established as a British colony, people who wanted to buy land or vote had to be British subjects. Many non-British settlers therefore became naturalized, and these records can assist in determining their place of origin, as well as where and when they arrived. Prior to 1903, naturalization records were state-based, but after this time naturalization was a Commonwealth responsibility. From 1923 the Commonwealth took over responsibility for recording shipping arrivals, so the National Archives will be the place to check for arrivals after that date.
Q. Is everything I need online? No. While an increasing array of records are online, there are as many that are not. In order to fully research your family history you’ll need to visit your state archive and library, family history societies and other repositories. Sometimes only indexes are available online, and you need to follow up with further research in a record repository.
Q. Why would a family history society be able to help me? Family history societies all have volunteers available to assist you with your research. They tend to be people who’ve already done a lot of research into their own family history, so they know what records you need to use and the pitfalls you might face. They can often show you more economical ways to find the information you need and can help you determine if someone has already done work on a line you are tracing. We all find brick walls in our family history, and as the saying goes, ‘a problem shared is a problem solved’. Sometimes you can’t find something because you don’t know where to look or which record to consult next – a visit to a family history society will often help you break down that barrier.
Q. How can I be sure this family hasn’t already been traced? It’s important to check to see if others have already done research–they may have purchased certificates or obtained documentation that could be useful to your research. Before you reinvent the wheel, check online through the major websites and also with your local society. Remember that people have been tracing family history long before the Internet came along, so a local or family history society or the major genealogical organization in your state might hold a book published 50 years ago that contains the information you are looking for.
A Genealogical Starter Chart is provided below to help you start your family tree.
There are also a number of useful on line resources to help your research which can be accessed through link below.
The following is an extract from
Our Australasian Really Useful Information Leaflet
The Leaflet is produced by the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations, Federation of Family History Societies and Society of Australian Genealogists.
Copyright of this material is held by these organisations & reproduced here with their approval .
If you are just embarking on researching your family history you will probably be aware that an ever increasing amount of information is available on the Internet, provided by commercial as well as volunteer organisations. It is true to say that in the early stages of research, quite a bit of progress can be made using online resources, however, there might be times when you need some guidance or you are not sure what to do next. The following questions and answers may help you to decide on your next step.
Q. Where do I start? Draw a basic family tree. Start with yourself, add your family, your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. in fact, any relatives you can remember. You might find it easiest to do this first on paper, or you can use a family history software package. There are a number of software programs available and major family history societies stock a range of these. The advantage of using computer software from the start is that it gives you greater flexibility when you want to print out charts and share information with other family members. There are also a number of commercial websites such as; Find My Past; Ancestry; or My Heritage which offer the facility to build your family tree online. However, do remember that you need to be sure your information is correct before you start sharing it with others. Question older relatives, they might be able to fill in some of the gaps with their knowledge of ancestors you may not know of or have forgotten. And don’t forget to ask if they have any photographs, certificates or a family Bible. Sometimes until you ask they won’t think to tell you!
Q. I’ve recorded everything I can. Where do I go next? From the information you’ve already gathered hopefully you’ll have an idea of where your family lived in Australia. From the time of white settlement in 1788 through to Federation in 1901, every colony kept its own records. So to have any real chance of finding your family you need to know whether to look in New South Wales, or Western Australia, or Queensland, or whichever area you believe to be the one where your people settled. Record keeping was different for each colony and there is no guarantee that a record source you find in one will exist in another. Even after Federation took place in 1901, the states continued to maintain their own independent record keeping for births, deaths and marriages, probates, land transfers and many other sets of records.
Q. Where will I find birth, death and marriage information? There is no national index of births, deaths and marriages in Australia, although commercial ‘pay to view ’ sites are creating their own versions by consolidating the various state indexes available to them. A good website to look at initially is Cora Num’s gateway site for Australian research – www.coraweb.com.au. This will lead you to the website of each state’s Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages – most have online indexes you can search and some allow you to order copies of certificates online (and in several cases to download them electronically as soon as you have completed your purchase).
Q. What information can I expect to obtain from a certificate? Again this will vary for each state. Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have some of the best civil registration systems for births, deaths and marriages anywhere in the world. A New South Wales death certificate, for example, can tell you when the deceased had arrived in the colony; when and where they were born; who their parents were; where, when and who they married; and the names and ages of their children. It can also give the burial place, the former occupation, cause of death and the date of death. There was no uniform date for the commencement of civil registration in the various colonies (most had introduced this by 1856 although the territories did so much later) and prior to this you will have to rely on surviving church registrations of baptisms, marriages and burials which are not as informative.
Q. Where do I find parish registers? Prior to the commencement of civil registration, churches kept records of baptisms, marriages and burials, as they continue to do to this day. Some parish records are available on microfilm in libraries and family history societies, others may still be held with the diocesan archives. For some colonies the early church registers have been copied across to the State Registry and are available as part of their historical record series.
Q. How can I find when my ancestor arrived here? Like birth, death and marriage records, passenger records were kept by authorities in the colony in which they arrived, so there is no one national index you can check. However, many of the State archives are putting shipping records online as have some of the commercial ‘pay to view ’ websites. Your ancestor may have come to Australia as a convict, a free person, an assisted passenger, as crew or as part of the military; and the records associated with each will be different. Unfortunately record keeping sometimes left a lot to be desired. For instance, when thousands were flooding into New South Wales during the goldrush of the 1850s, the authorities resorted to recording the number of arrivals, but not recording individual names.
Q. Why can’t I find census records – I’ve used them for the UK and they are great? Unfortunately historical census records have not survived in Australia as they have for many overseas countries and hence they are not a key source for Australian family history as they are in the UK and America. Where census (or muster) information does exist, it may include name, age, ship of arrival, status (as in free or convict), religion, occupation and place of residence. Some census records will only show details for the head of the household but not for everyone living with them. A good substitute can be electoral rolls and directories. Before 1903, only males over 21 who were British subjects were listed on electoral rolls, but after that time women begin to appear too. Post Office directories for both city and country areas were common and many of these can be searched online.
Q. What if my ancestor was a convict? This can be good! Convicts were prisoners of the crown, so many records were created about them – when they were transported, their sentence and crime, what they looked like (in case they escaped and had to be identified), whether they were assigned to work for someone or sent out on a road gang, and much more. Depending on how well-behaved they were, they may have received a Ticket of Leave (giving them permission to work for themselves in a specific district), a Conditional Pardon (having the rest of their sentence overturned on condition they did not return to the country from which they were convicted) or an Absolute Pardon (reinstating them as free citizens). Different records were created at different times and each colony which took convicts had their own system of record keeping. New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia were the main colonies which accepted convicts, although many ended up in other colonies because they reoffended or were assigned to work there. The State Archives in each state is the place to start if you wish to trace convict records.
Q. What if I think my ancestor served in one of the wars? Excellent records survive of Australian service personnel for both World Wars. World War 1 service records are available for free online through the National Archives (www.naa.gov.au) and provide detailed information about war service, as well as useful genealogical information such as age and place of birth, next of kin, occupation and place of residence. If a soldier was wounded or died there may also be Red Cross files which you can consult. National Archives is beginning to place these service records online.
Q. What if my person came from Europe or Asia? Australia has always been a nation of immigrants. As it was established as a British colony, people who wanted to buy land or vote had to be British subjects. Many non-British settlers therefore became naturalized, and these records can assist in determining their place of origin, as well as where and when they arrived. Prior to 1903, naturalization records were state-based, but after this time naturalization was a Commonwealth responsibility. From 1923 the Commonwealth took over responsibility for recording shipping arrivals, so the National Archives will be the place to check for arrivals after that date.
Q. Is everything I need online? No. While an increasing array of records are online, there are as many that are not. In order to fully research your family history you’ll need to visit your state archive and library, family history societies and other repositories. Sometimes only indexes are available online, and you need to follow up with further research in a record repository.
Q. Why would a family history society be able to help me? Family history societies all have volunteers available to assist you with your research. They tend to be people who’ve already done a lot of research into their own family history, so they know what records you need to use and the pitfalls you might face. They can often show you more economical ways to find the information you need and can help you determine if someone has already done work on a line you are tracing. We all find brick walls in our family history, and as the saying goes, ‘a problem shared is a problem solved’. Sometimes you can’t find something because you don’t know where to look or which record to consult next – a visit to a family history society will often help you break down that barrier.
Q. How can I be sure this family hasn’t already been traced? It’s important to check to see if others have already done research–they may have purchased certificates or obtained documentation that could be useful to your research. Before you reinvent the wheel, check online through the major websites and also with your local society. Remember that people have been tracing family history long before the Internet came along, so a local or family history society or the major genealogical organization in your state might hold a book published 50 years ago that contains the information you are looking for.
A Genealogical Starter Chart is provided below to help you start your family tree.
There are also a number of useful on line resources to help your research which can be accessed through link below.