The Australiana Index includes references to published sources such as newspapers, journals and books. Published items will often be available at other large libraries, such as university and state libraries.
You will also find references to unpublished files: Local History, Biography and Subject; Family history letters and Shipping letters files. These files include answers to previous enquiries and ephemeral material, for example, leaflets and pamphlets. The amount of information varies from one or two lines to several pages. There are also references to newspaper cuttings files and volumes on various topics. These unpublished items are only available at State Library Victoria.
For assistance in accessing any of the items referred to in the index, contact our Ask a librarian service.
The Australiana Index is comprised of a number of smaller indexes. These smaller indexes include:
All entries compiled since December 1993 are available via the Australiana Index. Emphasis is on Victorian history and includes references to constructions such as buildings of various types, institutions, gardens, sporting facilities, cemeteries and natural features such as rivers and mountains.
There is some coverage of regions bordering Victoria, including southern New South Wales, Tasmania and the eastern part of South Australia, as well as other capital cities.
Pre-1993 entries in the Local History Index are accessible on microfiche in the Newspaper and Family History Reading Room.
All entries compiled since December 1996 are available via the Australiana Index.
Emphasis is on biographical information about Victorians, prominent Australians and others who have relevance to Australian research.
Includes reviews from The Age from June 1981 to June 1996 and from The Weekend Australian from June 1981 to December 1996. Covers reviews of all books written by Australians, or about Australia, published in Australia, and Australian subjects published overseas. Fiction, poetry and drama have not been indexed since May 1992 as this information is now covered by the AUSTLIT database.
An online index to Robert K Cole's Index of Victorian hotels : manuscript, 1841-1949, which is an important resource for locating information about Victorian pubs and publicans. The index contains over 21,000 names of hotel licencees or owners, transcribed from the Melbourne city and suburban volumes of Cole's original Index. Cole's Index is held in the State Library Victoria Australian Manuscripts Collection (MS 7592). Copies of his Melbourne and suburban hotel volumes are available in the Newspapers and Family History Reading Room.
The online Cole-Tetlow index was compiled by Library volunteer Eric Tetlow. It allows searching by hotel name, location, street address and dates when the hotel licence was held. It provides volume and page numbers referencing Robert K Cole's original Index volumes. These volumes include information gathered by Cole from various sources including post office directories and licensing court records along with newspaper and trade journal notices. The volumes sometimes contain additional information - check the 'Supplementary information' section of the index entry to see if the original manuscript record contains any additional information to what is in the online index.
An online index to Robert K Cole's Index of Victorian hotels : manuscript, 1841-1949, which is an important resource for locating information about pubs and publicans in country Victoria. Index entries are transcribed from the country volumes of Cole's original Index, which are held in the State Library's Australian Manuscripts Collection (MS 7592). The volumes sometimes contain additional information - check the 'Supplementary information' section of the index entry to see if the original manuscript record contains any additional information to what is in the online index.
The Darragh index helps locate Germans living in Melbourne between 1861 and 1924.
Comprising over 1200 names, with a further 640 names of wives, children and parents appearing within most entries, the index was compiled using the Melbourne German Sick and Relief Society's archival records held in State Library Victoria's Manuscripts Collection (MS 13467). This collection consists of minute books, membership records, financial records, published histories of the Society, photographs and various documents concerning friendly societies.
In addition to the name and date of joining the Society, or date of nomination if unsuccessful, there is also information about marital status on joining, occupation, date and place of birth, date of death, date of leaving, address at the time of joining, date of arrival in Victoria and on which ship.
The Melbourne German Sick and Relief Society, or Melbourner Deutscher Krankenverein, was founded in 1861. It provided sickness and death benefits to members and also supported members and others who were in need or out of work. The Society's records, spanning 63 years, have been translated from the Gothic script and indexed by Dr Tom Darragh, author of a number of books about the history of Germans in Victoria.
The card and microfiche indexes are located within the Library and may be consulted by visitors. Reference staff are able to check these indexes for citations of interest on behalf of remote users.
For assistance in accessing any of the card indexes, contact our Ask a librarian service.
