Home       Family History Research - Unlock your Family Story

Cora Num - August 2008 

THE GOLDEN RULE
Start with yourself and work back generation by generation documenting the links as you go. Record your family information on a pedigree and family group charts.

FAMILY CHARTS and BEGINNERS BOOKS

Pawred New Zealand Society of Genealogists - Use this site to download a pedigree chart and family group chart.

Compiling Your Family History, Society of Australian Genealogists, Sydney, 22nd edn, 2008. 
This beginners book gives a step by step introduction to family history research. Includes tips on organising your research and records, using computers and the internet, finding certificates and shipping records, searching overseas, hiring a professional genealogist, drawing up charts, and writing a family history. Includes a blank family tree chart as well as useful contact addresses and web sites. Soft cover, A5, 44 pages. Click for details


SURNAME SITES
Check for others researching the same surname.
Pawred Free Online Name Listings maintained by Graham Jaunay. These include surname lists for Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, United States of America and Wales.

Pawred GENUKI  Surname Research Directories for various counties in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales plus the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. These are worth checking.

Pawred The Guild of One-Name Studies (GOONS). The List of Register Names contains 7,500+ surnames. Also check the On-line Records for data stored by members. This can include databases of all extracted references to that name from the civil BDMs in England and Wales (1837-1904).

USE  YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY
Check for
JOHNSON Keith A & SAINTY Malcolm R, (eds), Genealogical Research Directory:  National & International 2007, Genealogical Research Directory, Sydney, 27th edn, 2007.
This national and international directory, known as the GRD, has been published annually since 1990. Contributors advertise their interest in particular surnames. Includes subject listings, one name society listings plus the names and addresses of genealogical and family history organisations worldwide. A CD-ROM version of the 1994-2007 directories is available. Contains 500,000 entries. GRD Internet site.

Use the National Library of Australia catalogue to locate biographical and pioneer registers published in the area where your family lived. These list details of pioneer and other families. For example there are publications for Moruya, Shoalhaven, Crookwell, Goulburn, Snowy Monaro, Illawarra, Canberra and the Hawkesbury.

WHERE TO START?
Collect together what you may have at home. Look for

JOIN A SOCIETY
Web Sites for Genealogists  list of Family History and Historical Societies in Australia.

The Moruya & District Historical Society has a family history library with national and international material. They also have volunteers who will help you get started in the right direction.

FAMILY HISTORY RECORDS ONLINE
Archives
Pawred Web Sites for Genealogists -Archives Lists archives and public record offices - Australia wide.

Pawred Australian War Memorial. This extensive site is a must for family history research and contains biographical databases, collection databases, extensive digitised records, online Information Sheets plus extensive advice on research and family history. 

Pawred National Archives of Australia holds the Commonwealth government records from 1901. Records are held for armed services personnel, merchant seamen, 20th century passenger arrivals and displaced persons. Use RecordSearch for access.

Pawred National Library of Australia offers access to a vast array of material.

PawredState Library of New South Wales has a great collection but other state libraries also have varying amounts of material

PawredPublic Record Office Victoria Online Resources cover asylums, company records, convicts, divorces, insolvency, ships' passengers, teachers, old age pensions, pastoral runs, prisoners, publicans plus wills and probate

Pawred State Records New South Wales, Online Indexes cover convicts; court (includes divorce), police and prison records; deceased estates; education and child welfare; immigration and shipping; Indigenous Australians; insolvency; land; naturalisation; railway employees and registers of firms.Extensive online guides and finding aids are also available.

Pawred Queensland State Archives Online Indexes cover assisted immigration; Boer War; coloured labourers; criminals; inquests; Justices of the Peace; land selections; mineral leases; public servants; Queensland divorces; teachers plus wills and probate.

Birth, Death and Marriage Records
Pawred  Web Sites for Genealogists - England Online BMD Records. Lists free, and paid sites, which offer access to birth, marriage and death indexes for England and Wales

Pawred ScotlandsPeople offers access to searchable indexes and images for Scottish births (indexes 1553-2006; images 1553-1907), marriages (indexes and images 1553-1932) and deaths (indexes and images 1855-2006) plus census records (indexes and images 1841-1901). There is a free name search and fees apply for access to the indexes and digital images.

Pawred Web Sites for Genealogists - Ireland. Lists free and paid sites which offer access to birth, marriage and death indexes and records.

Pawred FreeBMD.  This ongoing project offers free access to the civil registration indexes for England and Wales (1837-1983). Currently 151+ million records are available plus access to scanned images of the original indexes. This great site is fully searchable and is regularly updated with new material.

Pawred Web Sites for Genealogists - Australian BDM records. Lists online birth, death and marriage record indexes in Australia. Also includes transcription agents for New South Wales.

Pawred Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria offers access indexes and digital images for births (1836-1907), deaths (1836-1985) and marriages (1836-1942). There are also Marine Indexes and digital images for births, deaths and marriages on board ships to Victoria (1853-1920). Access fees apply.

Cemetery Records
Pawred Web Sites for Genealogists - Australian cemetery records. Lists online cemetery record sites in Australia.

Pawred Brisbane City Council. This site offers online cemeteries and crematoria searches. These include Hemmant, Mount Gravatt and Pinnaroo cemeteries and crematoriums plus the historic cemeteries of Bald Hills (Sandgate), Balmoral (Bulimba or Morningside), Brookfield, Cedar Creek, Lutwyche, Moggill, Nundah (German Station), South Brisbane (Dutton Park) and Toowong cemetery.

Wills
Pawred ScotlandsPeople offers access to a free wills & testaments index (1513-1901) online. Digital images of the wills can be purchased online.  Check out the Famous Scots link.

Maps and Land Records
Pawred Web Sites for Genealogists - Maps and Land records.

Pawred Department of Lands, New South Wales. Click on Survey and Maps then Maps and Imagery, then Parish and Historical for access to the Parish Map Preservation Project. This project offers online access to digitised historical parish, county, town, municipal and pastoral maps for New South Wales.

Military Service Records
Pawred National Archives of Australia hold the service records of Australians who served in WW I and II. Digitised copies of WW I records are online (free). Other records can be located using RecordSearch-NameSearch. Many have been digitsed and are online. If a record is not online copies (hard or digital) can be requested for a fee. Online Fact Sheets detail service records held.

Pawred Australian War Memorial This extensive site is a must for family history research. The wealth of online material includes biographical databases (detailed by conflict below); collection databases (art, photos, film, sound, heraldry, military technology, private and official records, books, journals, maps, sheet music, war diaries); digitised records plus research information. 

Pawred PictureAustralia with access to over one million images covering all aspects of Australiana. Try searching for surnames, place names, property names as well as ships' names.

Pawred Google.com Check out the Advanced Search features.

Pawred Web Sites for Genealogists by Cora Num. This established gateway site for Australian research lists, and describes, over 1,500 quality sites and is regularly updated. There are also categories for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and New Zealand.

THE BOOK
Also check out my book Web Sites for Genealogists. An essential guide for Internet family history research. Web Sites for Genealogists, 2008 edition Click here for details. 
Home                                                                                                                                     books  Book Sales

© Cora Num 1998-2008 - Updated  6 August 2008