A guide to resources that will help you to research Aboriginal Australian family history.
For records and services useful for research in New South Wales, it is advisable to consult the websites for the following record repositories and government agencies:
The New South Wales Government's Aboriginal Affairs Department provides information about their Family Records Service.
The State Library of New South Wales' Mitchell and Dixon collections are a rich source of material relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Indigenous Engagement Branch at State Library of New South Wales "helps our people to connect with their past and strengthen their future by leading the Library in celebrating and prioritising First Nations voices, memories and collections." Their Aboriginal Australians family history online research guide provides a starting point for learning about research and resources in this area. The guide includes information about birth, death and marriage records (1788-present), Electoral rolls (1903-present), Tindale genealogies, the Australian Indigenous index and Minutes of the meetings of the New South Wales Aboriginal Protection Board and the Aboriginal Welfare Board. More information is available under the guide's tabs: Specific resources for Aboriginal family history, Books with Aboriginal family histories and Other organisations with Aboriginal records. (The publication Aborigines mentioned in the minutes of the meetings of the New South Wales Aboriginal Protection Board (APB: 1890-1939) and the Aboriginal Wefare Board (AWB: 1939-1969) mentioned in the online guide is available at the State Library of Victoria.
The State Archives & Records, the New South Wales government administrative records archive holds a significant number of records relating to Aboriginal people. Many of the records were created as a result of government legislation and policies that had a major impact on Aboriginal people's lives. State Records have produced the Aboriginal Resources: a guide to NSW State archives that provides an overview of their collections. Their Family history guide includes a link to the Indigenous family history worksheet.
The following online indexes are searchable through their website:
Indigenous colonial court cases 1788-1838
Aboriginal people in the Register of Aboriginal Reserves 1875-1904
The NSW Department of Community Services, Family Information Services has produced a valuable resource: Connecting kin: guide to records: a guide to help people separated from their families search for their records.(pdf). The guide lists records for NSW government welfare agencies, state wards, dependent children's register cards and adoptions and shows where the records are kept and how to access them. The guide lists records relating to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people separated from their families.
The New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages provide free online searches of their historical indexes.
State Library of Queensland
The State Library of Queensland provides the online guide: Getting started on your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family history which includes a step-by-step guide to tracing your family history and offers a number of links to related online resources. Their Online resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strat Islander family history research guide provides information about government and non-government web resources and is an excellent starting point.
Their online guide, Finding records relating to aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people provides links to information guides about a range of records useful in this research area.
Explore their online guide First Nations to discover photographs, manuscripts, oral histories and digital stories.
A useful resource is Tindale: genealogy name index for the Indigenous Resource Unit. If a name of interest is found in the index, contact the State Library of Queensland.
The State Library of Queensland holds the Margaret Lawrie Collection which includes names and genealogical charts relating to Torres Strait Islander families.
Queensland State Archives
Queensland State Archives (QSA) has many records about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and about South Sea Islanders. There are some indexes available in the Search Room at State Archives. Many of the records are restricted for privacy reasons and are only available to those people directly related. The website for the (QSA) also contains important information about available government resources in Queensland. Their index to the Colonial Secretary's correspondence related to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people for the years 1859-1903 is available online.
For further information on restricted records you should contact the Queensland government's Community and Personal Histories section.
The records relating to the administration of Northern Territory Indigenous Australians remain with the Commonwealth Government and are held at the National Archives of Australia (NAA) in Canberra and their branch in Darwin. Staff at the NAA can advise about access to information in their Bringing them home name index which aims to help Indigenous people find information in records held by the NAA about themselves, their families and their country.
Records held in the Canberra office have been described in the Archives' guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Commonwealth records: a guide to records in the Australian Archives, ACT Regional Office. The guide has a comprehensive index which lists the names of Indigenous people identified in the records described in the guide.
The NAA's branch in Darwin can be contacted about access to records held there. Their online guide Tracking family: A guide to Aboriginal records relating to the Northern Territory includes information about organisations holding records relevant to Aboriginal families in the Northern Territory. Records held in the Darwin office, which date largely from the 1920s, include population records, the Register of Wards, patrol officers' reports and records relating to pastoral property, health and education.
For records and services useful for research in South Australia consult the websites for the State Library of South Australia and the State Records of South Australia.
State Library of South Australia
The State Library of South Australia provides an excellent online research guide, Aboriginal family history that has been developed to assist Australian Aboriginal people wanting to trace members of their family using the Library's collections.
State Records of South Australia
The State Records of South Australia (SRSA) is the records archive of the State Government of South Australia. Their online guides, Aboriginal services, Finding your Aboriginal history and Family history research at State Records provide information about records held at the SRSA and links to other state and national collections. The guide, Ancestors in archives is an easy-to-use reference tool, particularly for family historians. Over 750 different series of records are described in a straightforward manner to guide the user through the State Records large and varied collection.
The South Australian Museum's website provides information about Tindale genealogies and data cards recorded during the Harvard and Adelaide universities 1938-1939 expeditions in South Australia.
The Western Australian government's Aboriginal History WA website provides access to an online index to assist Aboriginal people to research their family and community histories. The index provides access to the Norman Tindale Collection which includes vast amounts of genealogical information, recorded in 50 Aboriginal communities across Western Australia between 1935 and 1966.
The Department of Communities Child Protection and Family Support's guide Personal and family information Aboriginal and former Wards records-finding out about your past explains the services offered and gives contact details.
The State Library of Western Australia's Indigenous family history website provides information about 'Getting started' and links to online resources.
The State Records Office of Western Australia holds government administrative records. Their online guide, Aboriginal family history provides information about their holdings of official records that are useful for family history research.
The records relating to Torres Strait Islander people were not regularly collected or documented until about 1935, therefore, there are not many earlier records available.
The Islands are under Queensland government jurisdiction. See the Queensland section above for information about record repositories and services in Queensland.
Linc Tasmania is the combined State Library and state government administrative records archive. The guide Records on Tasmanian Aboriginals is a good starting point for using their collections and services.
Important information about Tasmanian Aboriginal family history research and the difficulties in establishing and documenting Aboriginal descent is contained in the online guide Aboriginal ancestry.
The Companion to Tasmanian history (Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies, University of Tasmania) website provides useful links such Aboriginal missions.
