In 1770, Great Britain claimed Australia as a territory. European settlers arrived in 1788 with convict ships. Six colonies (New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western and South Australia) are created in the late 18th and 19th centuries. These six colonies (now called states) federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. If you have Australian ancestors, let’s take a journey down under!
Getting Started
Genealogical records in Australia are organized by geographical locality. Civil registration (birth, marriage, and death) and church records (christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials) were kept at the local level. You must know the town where your ancestors lived and when they died.
After Australia became a Commonwealth, many governmental functions became the responsibility of the States, such as registration of births, deaths and marriages. The Commonwealth was responsible for these functions in the territories (Australian Capital Territory, Jervis Bay Territory, Northern Territory, Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, etc.) until the territory achieved self-government.
Civil registration (vital) records (births, marriages, and deaths) pertain to critical events in a person’s life. The first countrywide census was taken in 1881. Since 1911, national censuses were taken by the Australian government. Rights of privacy laws limit access to records containing information about living persons.
Records the public can see are:
• births over 100 years ago
• deaths over 30 years ago
• marriages over 75 years ago.
Locating Records Online
FamilySearch has many records online for Australia. Ancestryhas some records for Australia, as does FindMyPast, and MyHeritage. The National Library of Australia has resources as well as Trove (for newspapers), Australian Cemetery Index, MyAncestors.com.au, New South Wales State Archives, and New Zealand Birth, Death and Marriages Online.
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