Web Sites for Genealogists, 2008 edition. Click here for details.

Need Help with your Occupational Research? See Occupational Records in Australia Click here for details.

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.

Brass Bands
Family Treasures. Contains a name Index to 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 (UMA) 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 of 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 held.

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.

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.

Short Guide 10, Professions and Occupations: A Select List of Sources, State Records New South Wales, Sydney. This online guide details the records relating to Medical Practitioners held by SRNSW. These include records from the NSW Medical Board which include Albums of Doctors' Signatures, 29 Jan 1870-5 Dec 1917, CGS 9872 and Photographs of Doctors, c.1890-1927, CGS 9873. Eighteen sample photographs from this series are available online via this guide.

The History of Australia Theatre Online by Leann Richards. This site contains articles on Australian theatre history plus an historical database of names associated with the theatre in Australia. The datadase also includes theatre employees.

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. This site contains an Australian Mining History Bibliography compiled Mel Davies, University of Western Australia, 1997. This bibliography is arranged geographically listing Australian sources plus state and territory resources.

Coal Mining History Resource Centre by Ian Winstanley. This extensive site includes a glossary of mining terms, an account of over 1,000 mining disasters in Great Britain (1640-1978). The National Database of Mining Deaths and Injuries in Great Britain lists over 120,000 names (1850-1972) plus much more.

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.

Nurses
Austalian Service Nurses National Memorial. List of 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.

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.

State Records New South Wales. Online indexes include a index to the Police Service Registers 1857-1913 This is an ongoing project and further entries will be progressively added. 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. For access click on the Site Map, then History. 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.

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.

Politicians
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 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.

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 Hotels of Mackay (QLD). The list of hotels is arranged alphabetically and provides a description of the location and chronological details of the licensees.

Public Record Office Victoria. Database indexes relating to Registration and Licensing includes an Index to Inward Correspondence Regarding Publicans. This index gives access to the Treasurer's inward correspondence (1838–1855) that 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.

Australian Railway Historical Society (NSW Division) Railway Resource Centre.

The Link and the Pin. This Gateway to Australian Railway sites includes lists of NSW Government Railway employees for 1887 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.

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.

Scientists
Bright Sparcs. A register of over 4,800 people involved in the development of science, technology and medicine in Australia including references to their archival materials and bibliographic resources.

University of South Australia. Service histories of SA State Teachers 1851-1962. 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.