RESOURCES

TIPS FOR RESEARCHING FAMILY HISTORY

ANCESTRY
  • Ancestry can be a great resource but it comes with a big caveat that there is a LOT of misinformation in many trees. It thrives on the impulse to simply click and gather rather than check facts. Sometimes clicking can be useful to see what hints are thrown up but then those facts should be checked against other sources like Births Deaths and Marriages Registers and certificates.
  • It provides a portal for information and the indexes such as immigration, census, births/deaths/marriages can be useful to get data from in one place.
  • Not everyone is open to adjusting their trees if they are incorrect
  • https://www.ancestry.com.au/
ALTERNATIVES TO ANCESTRY
BIRTHS DEATH MARRIAGES
  • A great source for registered details, again a caveat, a certificate is only as good as the informant for the certificate. Although there are fines for submitting incorrect information it appears it was less strict further back in time. If the alternative information refutes the certificate it should be investigated and tested.
  • Sometimes people slip up with well crafted pieces of misinformation in their children’s birth certificate records. Always good to cross reference if there is a question mark over any information, especially if someone has a reason to use a little license in embellishment.
  • Occasionally certificates are misfiled or dated so cross reference births with deaths and marriages.
  • Sometimes transcriptions from the original hand written certificates can also cause errors. Use a good transcription agent or cross reference with the original where possible.
  • Names are often mis-spelt so if you cannot find a record it may be under another alternative spelling.
  • Can be a good start to get at least a year date for a BDM
  • NSW – have to order the certified certificates at a cost of $35 and can be slow to be delivered. Note the Year range option at the bottom can be used to using days and months to narrow an actual birth date https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search?0
  • A cheap alternative which provides all the information on the certificate but not certified at the cost of abt $20 is to use a transcription agent like Laurie Turtle –http://home.iprimus.com.au/lturtle/
  • QLD – downloadable original certificates available immediately abt $20 https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/
  • VIC – downloadable original certificates available immediately abt $20 https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history
BAPTISMAL and CHURCH RECORDS
  • A good cross reference to births, deaths and marriages certificates/registrations.
  • It is possible these may be used to find especially earlier records or when then is no birth registration.
  • Most churches have a central archivist in a district.
RYERSON INDEX
  • An index started many years ago by Joyce Ryerson and was originally created by the Sydney Dead Persons Society where volunteers index all the death notices in Australia – EXCELLENT RESOURCE especially for newer deaths after 1991. Strength is in NSW and Sydney notices in particular.
  • http://ryersonindex.org/search.php
TROVE
  • An invaluable resource, it is surprising what was recorded in newspapers, like the old style form of social media!
  • https://trove.nla.gov.au/
  • Newspapers https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/ – make sure you use it like google with alternative search words. The right hand search menu allows you to narrow searches to states, certain newspapers, family notices etc as well as years and months.
  • https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/category/images a terrific source for old maps to find County and Parishes – maps may contain references like names of land owners and Volumes-Folios which are essential to help navigate the NSW Lnd Titles Historical Viewer
STATE LIBRARY OF NSW or other STATES
STATE ARCHIVES
  • These are a treasure trove of information and old original documents like probate packages, gaol inmates, immigrations, child protections, asylum records, etc. They have indexes and items can be purchased. You can also go into the archives to look at the original documents, it is useful to pre-order what you want to look at before going in but that is not always possible.
  • A caveat is that their indexes vary from state to state and can be difficult to navigate
  • Probate Papers can give details of assets, sometimes death certificates, highlight why some families split apart, give Vol-Fol for properties owned etc
  • Bankruptcy Papers – can give details of assets and usually contain a statement why they went bankrupt that have to submit to court. Sometimes Trove newspapers document these as well. They can also highlight character like a reference in one where it was described by a creditor who said he had helped a fellow and his family when they were in trouble only to find it was like ‘turning your back on a black snake’ when they found he owned nothing with everything in his young son’s name.
  • NSW https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/
  • QLD https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/arts/heritage/archives
  • VIC https://prov.vic.gov.au/
NATIONAL ARCHIVE OF AUSTRALIA
  • The go to place for all Australian records
  • Has lots of resources coming online and are always helpful when called
  • https://www.naa.gov.au/
LAND TITLES
TREE SOFTWARE
  • Family Tree Maker – easy to use and downloads trees from Ancestry which can be made into different forms with the click of a button https://www.mackiev.com/ftm/
ROYAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIAN GENEALOGISTS
FACEBOOK GROUPS
  • Many towns and areas have history or old photo Facebook groups which are generally well run and sometimes helpful
  • eg Narrandera Old Photos
HISTORICAL SOCIETIES
  • Local areas usually have Historical Societies and Family History Groups which can contain many resources like Family Files, photographs and histories of local areas.
  • Sometimes previous researchers have left records of their research which can be extremely helpful.
RESEARCHERS

There are researches who will sometimes go into places like State Archives and Libraries when those in regional areas etc cannot get into these main city based organisations. It can also be more cost effective than travelling to the Archives etc and spending time finding records that an experienced researcher can find very quickly. If you google search you will find some alternatives but I have used Lorraine Turtle with great success. She photographs original material and emails me digital files.

TIP: Often the biggest breakthroughs have come in the form of a hand written note on an original document. In the case of Sarah Ann Bishop this came on the file of her sons record at the Randwick Children’s Asylum where a pencil not said Aunt Thomas Shaw WELLINGTON. After a Trove search to start with the name and date range I found Thomas Shaw came up with numerous references and that Mrs Thomas Shaw was Sarah’s sister Lydia Shaw nee Bishop. From there running the names back through Ancestry and NSW BDM I was able to find all of Sarah Ann Bishops’ family which had previously not been traced. So original documents are well worth using. https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/category/newspapers?keyword=thomas%20shaw%20wellington