Occupations in Australia

Web Sites for Genealogists - An Australian gateway site for tracing your family history by Cora Num

Need help with your Occupational Research? See my book Occupational Records in Australia.

General
An alphabetical index to Colonial Occupations from the Old Farmer's Almanac.

Colonial Occupation Titles and Definitions. An alphabetical listing of occupations.

Genealogy Quest's Alphabetical List of Occupations.

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online features 10,000+ biographies of significant Australians who died before 1980. This can be browsed by occupation.

State Records New South Wales - Short Guide No 10 - Professions and Occupations: A select list of records.

Society of Australian Genealogists Research Guide to Occupations, Trades and Apprenticeships. There is an overview plus information on trade and professional directories, old occupations and terms, and records in Britain.

Glossary of terms used in the work-diaries of Robert Boyle. This glossary includes numerous Latin and English technical terms, and obsolete words, used by this significant British scientist.

Artists
Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. This ongoing site currently has 7370+ biographies online plus contextual information, commentary and images.

Brass Bands
Family Treasures. Contains a name Index to some members of Brass Bands in Victoria from 1890. Lists surname, given name, year, date, band name, position and notes. Also details the musical history of Hilda Tansey (1901-1975) Australia's first lady brass band conductor in Sydney and the Trocadero's All Girls Band.

Business
State Records of New South Wales Index to Registers of Firms 1903-1922. This index, compiled from the Registers of Firms under the Registration of Firms Act of 1902, 1903-1922, lists name of firm, nature of business, place of business, date of registration and persons carrying on business. In some cases only the name of individuals operating the firm and the firm's name may be located. This is an ongoing project with more material to be added.

Guide to Australian Business Records. This gateway to Australian Business Heritage, by the Australian Society of Archivists, can be browsed alphabetically.

The University of Melbourne Archives hold a business collection that consists of records of businesses and the personal papers of businessmen and women covering 150 years of Victorian history. The collections are particularly strong in mining and metals treatment and in manufacturing but cover a rich diversity f other businesses such as architecture and building, law, primary industry, publishing and transport. This site has an online list of over 220 companies with details of the company records.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission. This site offers searches of the National Names Index which is an index of Australian corporate and registered business names. A search returns the company registration number (ABN, ACN, ARBN); current status (registered or deregistered); the town or suburb of the registered office and a complete list of documents lodged by the company since 1 January 1991.

Queensland State Archives, Companies Index 1863-1959. This index relates to company files for companies which are no longer in existence. The documents held in these files include Memorandum and Articles of Association; lists of shareholders; share capital and office holders; and other documents related to the striking off of the company.

Circus
Circus-Folk Genealogy Resource Page.This US gateway site offers links to a variety of sites.

Circusweb, Circuses Present and Past. This site provides links to various circuses worldwide.

Australian Travelling Entertainers. This emerging site by Mark St Leon is dedicated to Australia's circus history and to travelling entertainers.

Civil Servants
ACT Records by Ann Gugler includes the Commonwealth Public Service Seniority List 1956 plus a list of house construction for Public Servants and the allocation of these houses 1927. Other occupational lists are also available.

Queensland State Archives Index to Civil Servants, Queensland (1865-1867). This index lists name, position and birth date.

Dead Persons'Society Melbourne online databases include the Victorian Public Service Board Return for 1884.

Dancers
AustraliaDancing. This site is a directory of resources to current and historical information about dance in Australia. The directory is arranged by People, Companies, Performances and Oral Histories. There is also a site search engine available.

Dentists
Queensland State Archives, Dentists Indexes 1903-1932. These three indexes are compiled from records created by the Home Secretary’s Office which recorded the activities of the dental profession in Queensland. There are indexes to Dentists, 1903-1932; to the Dental Board, 1910-1932 and to Dentist’s Apprentices, 1903-1925.

Doctors
Was your ancestor a doctor? site by Alex Glendinning with detailed information on researching a doctor in the family. Includes army, navy and East India Company doctors plus much more.

Australian Medical Pioneers Index. This site features a database of over 3,000 pioneer doctors 1700s-1875. It lists doctors who were registered or qualified in Australia, were resident in Australia, or visited here in a professional capacity, before 1875. Ships' surgeons, convict doctors, general practitioners and medical specialists are included. The amount of information given varies but all historical references are listed.

State Records of New South Wales Photos Investigator, sample selection of 57 Photographs of Doctors (1889-1927) who applied for registration as medical practitioners in New South Wales.

Entertainers
History of Australian Theatre with articles about theatre history, short biographies from newspapers, autographs , historic pictures of theatres and performers and links to other websites. The online database includes 18,500+ performers, managers, musicians, behind the scenes personnel, and others associated with the Australian theatre covering the years 1850-1960. There is also information about Houdini's Tour of Australia and Australian Magic History.

Meet Me At The Trocadero. The Life and Times of the Sydney Trocadero (1936-1970) by Joan Ford. Includes lists of personnel and vocalists of the Trocadero Dance Band.

Gold Diggers
Family History South Australia. Gold Diggers from South Australia 1852-1853. A searchable database of gold diggers who brought or sent their gold home from the Victorian goldfields. It includes those who deposited gold at the SA Gold Assay Office in February 1852, the consignors and consignees associated with the first three mounted police escorts, and those who lost their receipts or failed to claim their gold by 29 October 1853.

Goldminers of New Zealand 1861-1868. This site, by Kae Lewis, has a searchable database to 20,000+ gold-miners. Many of these gold miners came for a short time from Australia.

Horse Racing
Champions - Australian Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. A great site for information about the horse racing industry in Australia. The Hall of Fame offers access to biographies for jockeys, horses, associates and trainers.

Legal
Queensland State Archives online Index to Justices of the Peace 1859-1880. Justices of the Peace are required to sign an oath of allegiance prior to carrying out any duties as Justices. The oaths have been numbered and bound into volumes and this index will allow easy access to the documents. The index lists name, date and QSA references. Copies of the documents are available from QSA for a fee.

Miners
Victorian Mining Accident Index by Dave Evans. Lists the names and some details of over 5600 Victorian miners who were killed or injured in mining accidents in Victoria early 1850s to 1940s. State Library of Queensland

Online Index of Miners involved in Queensland Mining Accidents 1882 to 1900. This index is compiled from mining accidents that were listed annually in the Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes & Proceedings. It is arranged alphabetically by surname and lists name, date, district, name of mine, remarks (details of accident or death) and source.

Queensland State Archives Online Index to Mineral Leases, Queensland (1871-1940). This alphabetical index lists name and references to the source documents. The source documents relate mainly to the printed lease documents which have identifying information filled in by hand. Samples of these documents are available on this site.

Australian Mining History Association site contains an extensive Bibliographyof the Mining History of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea compiled by Mel Davies, University of Western Australia, 2002 with additional material to 2008. This bibliography is arranged geographically. There is also a useful links page.

The Coal Mining History Resource Centre. This comprehensive site covers the history of coalmining in the UK. It includes a glossary of mining terms, photographs, maps and much more. The searchable National Database of Mining Deaths in Great Britain by Ian Winstanley contains over 164,000 names.

Mining History Network.This site includes Mining History Bibliographies for Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, Japan plus others. There is also an extensive list of mining links.

Nuns
Women of Vision. An index and history of Nuns and Sisters of the Catholic church in Australia (1838-1918). Lists over 14,000 entries plus the histories of religious orders and congregations.

Nurses
Nurses who Died During or as a Result of War Service, since the Boer War compiled by Phyllis Wilson.

Brave Women. This web site is dedicated to the nurses who served in the South Pacific area. It features personal narratives of nurses (both military and civilian) imprisoned by the Japanese forces of occupation during WW2, as well as information on Australian nurses' involvement in the Vietnam conflict.

Noeline Kyle's Writing Family History. This site offers access to a Midwives Database which covers New South Wales North Coast Midwives and their Hospitals 1890s - 1940. It covers Armidale/Uralla, Ballina, Alstonville,Broadwater, Bangalow, Byron Bay, Nimbin, Bellingen, Dorrigo/Guy Fawkes, Brunswick Heads, Mullumbimby, Casino and surrounding areas, Coffs Harbour/Urunga, Kempsey, Smithtown, South West Rocks, Port Macquarie, Kyogle and surrounding areas, Lismore and surrounding areas, Macksville, Maclean, Ulmarra, and Murwillumbah/Tweed.

Photographers
Marcel Safier's Homepage includes details of early photographers of southern Queensland; 19th century photographers of Victoria including 19th century photographers of Geelong. There are details of 19th century card photographs in Australia & New Zealand and gem and carte de visite tintypes plus other relevant information.

Photohistory SA A site dedicated to the history of South Australian photography from 1845 to around 1915 by R J Noye. Includes information on all aspects of photography including photographers, camera clubs, magic lantern, hand colouring, daguerreotypes and much more.

Finding Photographers. This site offers a worldwide index of books and websites, including Australian, that list photographers and when they worked.

Geelong & District Photographers by Susie Zada. This alphabetical list records photographer, studio, location, dates, notes and links where available.

Photographers of Great Britain & Ireland 1840-1940. This site records the names and addresses of tens of thousands of photographers. There are pictures of over 5,000 named sitters who could be your ancestors plus information on census and other internet based research into photographers.

Physicists
Physics in Australia to 1945. A bibliography and biographical register of over 400 Australian physicists.

Police
Genseek Genealogy by Jenny Fawcett. This site offers access to a variety of Indexes for researching Police History in Australia.

State Records New South Wales online index to Police Service Registers 1857-1913.

A search of the index returns service number, names, date of birth, native of, date appointed, references and remarks. The registers, held by SRNSW on reel 3043, include registered number; name; mounted or foot; age; height; colour eyes/hair; native place; marital status; calling; religion; general appearance; district; date of appointment to each rank; date of leaving force and cause.

The Thin Blue Line. This extensive site contains detailed information on NSW Police history. It includes a chronology of early policing in the state, information and photgraphs of NSW police uniforms plus much more.

South Australia Police Historical Society. This site has information on the Foot Police, Mounted Police, Gold Escorts and Women Police. There is a list of Commissioners of Police (1838-1997) which includes a brief biography and photograph. A selection of photographs, including the various uniforms, is available online.

State Records of South Australia offers online name searching of selected records using the collection search engine, ArchivesSearch. Records available for police officers include the defaulter and good conduct book (Mounted Police) 1838-1858.

Tall Trees Family History by Carolyn Harris. This site features a History of the Victorian Police Force from 1836 and includes a Victoria Police Timeline (1859-1987) and relevant links.

Politicans
Parliament of Australia. This site includes Historical Parliamentary Information dating from 1901 with detailed lists of senators, members and other personnel. Current Parliamentary Information includes alphabetical lists of senators and members with links to their biographies and homepages.

Parliament of New South Wales. This site lists the Parliamentary service history and biographical details of all current and former Members of the Parliament since the first Legislative Council was constituted in 1824. There are over 2000 former members listed.

Parliament of Tasmania. This site includes a list of Parliamentary Historical Resources which includes lists of and often photographs of House of Assembly Clerks 1856 to date; Leaders of the Government - Upper House; Legislative Council Clerks 1826 to date; Photographs of Parliament 1856 to date Premiers 1856 to date; Presidents 1856 to date; Tasmanian Labor Party Leaders 1901 to date; Tasmanian Liberal Party Leaders 1945 to date; Tasmanian Green Leaders and Women Parliamentarians.

Re-member.A database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. This site is fully searchable or can be browsed alphabetically. Details such as when and where born and died, parents, marriage, occupation, religion, education, career and party are given plus details of political career. Photographs are also included.

Publicans
Hotels and Publicans Licences (Western NSW) by Rusheen Craig. This index 1865-1900 includes Balranald, Bourke, Brewarrina, Broken Hill, Cobar, Hay, Nyngan, Walgett, Wentworth and Wilcannia. Part of Central NSW 1865-1870 has been indexed and includes Albury, Carcoar, Corowa, Cowra, Deniliquin, Dubbo, Forbes, Molong, Wagga Wagga, Warren and Wellington. Information is arranged alphabetically by hotel name and includes details of licensees some entries include further information and photographs.

Mackay Historical Society and Museum site that details the history of Mackay Hotels (QLD). There is also a biographical register of publicans/hotel keepers from the Mackay area.

Public Record Office Victoria. Database indexes relating to early publicans and pastoral runs includes an Index to Treasurer's Correspondence Regarding to Publicans (1838-1855). This details publicans' names, hotel names, hotel addresses, and the names of persons to whom hotels were transferred (if applicable).

State Library of Victoria's databases online includes the Tetlow Index which indexes 21,000+ names of hotel licencees taken from the Melbourne city and metropolitan volumes of the Robert K Cole collection of hotel records held at the State Library of Victoria.

Quarry Workers
Stone Quarries and Beyond by Peggy B Perazzo. This international site has a massive amount of information focusing on quarries, quarry workers, stone cutters, stone carvers, historical dealers of stone, stone dealers and stone products. Includes an extensive A-Z online bibliography which includes publications relating to quarries in Australia.

Railway Workers
TrainNet.org International Railway Links. This links site lists over 8,600+ railway related sites.

The Commissioner's Office. This Gateway to Australian Railway sites includes the Link and Pin with access to lists of NSW Government Railway employees for 1872, 1887 1892,and 1902 plus other employee related records. There are also lists of employees who served in the Boer and First World Wars.

New South Wales Railways' Salaried Officers as at 31 December 1887. This alphabetical list shows surname, given name, date of birth, section, position/location, classification/grade, date of first appointment, date of current appointment and present salary.

New South Wales Railway & Tramway Institute List of Members as at 30th November 1897. This list was published in the December 1897 issue of The Railway Budget.

An alphabetical list of NSW Government Railways Staff as at 31 Dec 1902. New South Wales Government Railways Staff Appointments, Transfers & Resignations compiled from The Railway Budget which was published from September 1892 to November 1917. This ongoing project currently has September 1892 to December 1899 available for searching.

State Records New South Wales Online Indexes for Railway Employees

includes an Index to Railway Employment Records which lists entries from the register of salaried officers working for the NSW Government Railways and Tramways 1856-1890 and the personnel register for Darling Harbour 1909-1932. Index to the Railway Supply Detachment lists 65 names from a single photo (No 1331) now held by SRNSW. A search of the Index to the Nominal Roll of the First Railway Section, (AIF) 1917-1920 returns surname, other names, age, address, date of joining and references. Index to NSW Government Railways and Tramways Roll of Honour 1914-1919 lists those employees (1214) who lost their lives as a result of their service in the First World War.

Queensland State Library - Online indexes include Index to appointments and removals of Queensland railway employees (1890-1901) and Index to appointments and removals of employees of the Southern and Western Railway, Traffic Branch, Queensland (1866-1876).

Scientists
Bright Sparcs. A register of over 4,840 people involved in the development of science, technology and medicine in Australia including references to their archival materials and bibliographic resources.

Soft Drink Manufacturers
Mackay Historical Society and Museum. Resources online includes a listing all known aerated water/cordial/softdrink manufacturers of Mackay and districts since first settlement. The history, photographs of bottles and labels and caps for each manufacturer are also included.

Teachers
Queensland State Archives Index to Teachers, Queensland (1860-1904) listing name and references.

University of South Australia. Service histories of SA State Teachers 1852-1960. This online database, by Brian Condon, is searchable by name or can be browsed alphabetically. Teachers can also be listed by school or service year. The search results can include date of birth, date appointed school, inspector's comments and other details.

Public Record Office Victoria - Online Resources include indexes to Teacher Examination Papers (1863-1872) and Teacher Record Books (1863-1959). Digitised records include Inward and Outward Correspondence, Board of Education (1849-1851); Index to Special Case Files, Education Department (1862-1977) and Register of Special Case Files, Education Department, (1852-1977).

Workers
Queensland State Archives Index to Coloured Labour and Asiatic Aliens in Queensland 1913. This index contains the names of non-British subjects who lived in various Queensland Police Districts including Townsville, Normanton, Roma, Rockhampton and Toowoomba. The index lists family name, given names, birthplace, naturalized, age, occupation, year of arrival in Qld, residence, police district and police subdistrict.

Writers
A Celebration of Women Writers. This site recognizes the contributions of women writers throughout history and aims to promote awareness of the breadth and variety of women's writing. Searches can be made by several categories including name or country. There is a comprehensive listing of Australian authors.

Categories

Occupations in Australia