Best Family History Sites Australia
Fisseha Aranda
In this article we have listed a variety of free record sites and resources to help you uncover the stories of your own Australian or New Zealander ancestors. Each one of these resources is detailed below.
Please note that we did not include FamilySearch in this list because the site is not dedicated to research in this region, however they offer 39 record collections for these countries, representing millions of records. Find these online collections here.
Although we have only included no-cost resources in this article the big paid subscription sites also offer many records. To discover how to find them visit our article on accessing the card catalogs of Ancestry, MyHeritage and Findmypast and then simply search for Australia or New Zealand in the provided search boxes.
Every site in this list includes free searchable databases as well as learning resources. For links to pages that focus on learning and finding aids please see the separate educational sites list below.
The site offers 180 online databases for family historians. Records include cemetery research, electoral rolls, genealogies, vital records, convict ships, military records and more. This collection of databases requires that you be registered with the National Library of Australia. You can apply for a free card online by following the prompts, but this service is limited to Australian residents.
This AIATSIS holds information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families, communities and places. You can also contact its Family History Unit to find information in other collections in Australia. This site also provides language instructions, research tips, and toolkits to assist you in your search.
The Australians in the Boer War (Oz-Boer) Database Project is a free online search aid to help you identify books, journals, webpages and other ephemera dealing with individual Australian soldiers and nurses involved in the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).
A variety of records are available online, as well as help and how-to aids on researching your family history as an Australian or within Australia as a foreigner. Find the Family History section here.
This site is a library that provides links to many useful records. You can search for all kinds of information including looking up BDM records by various states, burial information, historic records for occupation and trades, state-held shipping and immigration records, last wills and inquest records, war records, adoption information, convict and court holdings, naturalization information, and census and electoral records. It also provides links to different local historical societies and groups that offer help and resources for your search.
The above link goes to their family history guide which includes information and links to many record types. To access searchable births, marriages and deaths visit the NSW Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths.
This looks a promising site for my search for our fathers birth name and family, there is no records of his or his stated parents birth, marriage records, in reality they never existed in NZ, Australia, America or Ireland. Y DNA on one of my brothers with Familytree, DNA on myself and another brother on Myheritage also show no known name connections at all, but over 100 matches of 5 or 6 generations back all different surnames not what my father was known as here in NZ ! Eric Clarence Willam MULFORD. He obviously assumed a different name, alas he died in 1961 when this was all uncovered, our mother only ever new him as Mulford and had no idea of his past.
Faye Hopkins ne Mulford Hawera, New Zealand
so interested in finding out more info about my ancestors. Nipperess, Chandler, Rule, McDonnell, Bromfield, Grimshaw,MacArthur and Elston are some of our family surnames and we have an unknown paternal grandfather we would like to find.
With the treasure trove of information on the internet, tracing your family history is now easier than ever. Online records and archives can help you fill in the blanks about your ancestors, providing genealogy information that you just can't get from your living relatives.
Several features are important in a family tree program. Genealogical Data Communication (GEDCOM) is a standardised format for recording family history data. GEDCOM compatibility allows easy sharing of data with other researchers, and is also needed to upload files to online genealogy sites. The free programs all save files in this format.
We recommend using the free websites listed below, starting with the Births, Deaths and Marriages government sites. If all the free avenues have been exhausted, then consider paying for access to other resources.
The paid sites give you access to a database to make the job of tracing your family history easier, and streamline the process of researching and sharing a family tree. There can also be ongoing costs for the convenience of having a one-stop shop for your family tree though, so consider carefully going down this route.
It's important to read sites' privacy policies, particularly if they're not based in Australia, as international sites won't adhere to our privacy laws. Sensitive, personal family information should be protected, and keep in mind that not everyone in the family tree may want it put online.
It's now possible to find records for relatives going back several generations, and in some cases complete records and certificates can be viewed online. However, it's important to note that privacy laws restrict people accessing full certificates without authorisation. For example, in NSW and Vic, births over 100 years prior, deaths over 30 years prior and marriages over 50 years prior to the date of application are not publicly available as full records unless you have a family relationship or legal authority.
Always read the fine print before signing up to any paid sites, and be wary of supplying credit card details to activate a free trial. Local sites include ancestry.com.au and find my past, which also have links to UK and US records. Note that a library edition of ancestry.com.au can be used at the National Library of Australia.
Location technology is also starting to be used to help family historians find gravestones and burial sites on a map on cemetery websites. In Australia, the Centennial Park Cemetery in Adelaide, which has 134,000 burial and memorial sites, allows you to search records online, along with location details, so that family historians can find information about relatives including age, date of death and area of residence.
The new frontier in family history research appears to be in DNA testing. Services have sprung up around the world offering DNA ancestry testing for upwards of $300. Most services have websites with information on how and what they test and offer downloadable information kits, with some even claiming to be able to link people to well-known figures from history.
However, the growth in this new field of research has also attracted criticism. Some scientists and geneticists say the tests are essentially meaningless in terms of showing reliable links to ancestral origins. The results are probabilities and aren't conclusive; for example, in terms of ancestral origin to a geographic area, a guaranteed link can't be established.
Other experts are uneasy about these services because the databases of samples are limited and rely on assumptions that may not be accurate. Each individual has a set of genes derived from thousands of ancestors, and these tests can skew the picture by looking too far back into the past. There are no genetic ancestry testing standards or framework to make the results better understood to people who want an insight into their ancient ancestry.
Our specialist staff can help you with your research, to locate resources and to use our microform and scanning equipment. However, they cannot undertake extensive or ongoing genealogical, historical or other research on your behalf. More details are in our Information and Research Policy.
Many family history sources are now available electronically. Check our eResources for titles under the subject of Genealogy (visit the eResources portal, click the Browse eResources tab and then click Genealogy). Here, you can find links to our major subscription services, networked family history resources on CD-ROM, as well as selected free websites. You will need to come to the Library's reading rooms to use some of these which include:
Frequently used family history material on microfiche and microfilm such as electoral rolls and shipping records can be found on open access in the Newspapers and Family History zone of the Main Reading Room. Check our guide to Family history sources in the Newspapers and Family History zone to see what else we hold.
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website contains a range of material which may be considered culturally sensitive including the records of people who have passed away.
This blog is a developing process of exploration and discovery about my great grandparents ( their 7th child was my grandfather Henry Moore Cairnes). They had 15 children, nearly all survived to adulthood and beyond. Their stories will be typical of the settlers who came to the great land of Australia in the mid 18th century from Britain and Ireland.
I had very little received information when I first started researching a few years ago. Since the advent of online information , particularly on Trove National Library of Australia, and various family history sites, I have found out a great deal. I want to emphasise that I refuse to pay for information via those family history sites and am deeply worried by the fact that many once public data bases that allowed either free or limited access are now entirely behind a paywall, generated by many of these powerful ancestry sites, through leasing that data from public institutions. Almost every piece of information has been gleaned from free records, or given freely by so many members of the family. My grateful thanks to all and it was such a pleasure communicating with you all and forming warm friendships.
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