Unlocking family stories - guide to organisations

Many organisations  provide information useful for family history research.

Libraries are a good starting point. Public libraries usually have a good supply of non-fiction books that can provide information about where your family lived, events in history that impacted upon their lives as well as books about family history research. Always check the index, footnotes and references as well as bibliographies for additional information. Historical fiction can also help provide an understanding of how people lived in past times.

Library websites provide access for borrowing e-resources such as e-books, audio books and e-magazines that may be useful. Books that are often out of copyright may be available for download as e-books.Library also subscribe to databases for the use of their members. Newspaper databases can be useful research tools.

Library websites also usually have genealogy and local history sections that should be investigated. These may provide links to genealogy websites and databases plus guides for genealogy research. There will also be links to local historical societies and may have local history databases and / or blogs.

State Libraries

State Library of Victoria - http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/
State Library of New South Wales -  http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/

State Library of Queensland - http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/

State Library of South Australia - http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au

State Library of Tasmania - http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/

State Library of Western Australia - http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/

National Library
National Library of Australia - http://www.nla.gov.au/
    Trove - http://trove.nla.gov.au/

Other libraries
Prahran Mechanics Institute - http://www.pmi.net.au/ 
Royal Historical Society of Victoria -  http://www.historyvictoria.org.au

Local historical societies also have useful research collections

Locating historical societies

The RHSV websites contains a database of societies affiliated with the RHSV –

http://collections.historyvictoria.com.au/rhsvdatabases/societies.htm

Family history and historical societies in Australia -http://www.coraweb.com.au/society.htm

Federation of Australian Historical Societies -http://www.history.org.au/Historical%20societies.html

Australian Heritage (links page) - http://www.heritageaustralia.com.au/

Archives also contain records that can be valuable for family history research. Check their family history section for guides and links to resources. Digitisation programs are making many of the documents available online.

State Record Offices

Public Record Office of Victoria (PROV) - http://prov.vic.gov.au/

-          Shipping records -  http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-23

-          Wills and probate - http://prov.vic.gov.au/research/wills-and-probate

State Records of New South Wales - http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/

Queensland State Archives - http://www.archives.qld.gov.au

State Records of South Australia - http://www.archives.sa.gov.au/

Tasmanian Archives Online - http://search.archives.tas.gov.au/

State Records office of Western Australia - http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/

National Archives

National Archives of Australia - http://www.naa.gov.au/

-          Migration

      Destination Australia (NAA) - https://www.destinationaustralia.gov.au/site/

      Making Australia Home – your family migration records

      http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/migration/home.aspx

-          War records

       Mapping our Anzacs - http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/

        National Archives website includes a list of images of soldiers in their collection

(http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/defence/service-records/servicemen-images.aspx )

National Archives (Britain)  

Discovery -  http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Home/OnlineCollections

(This resource can also be accessed via the State Library of Victoria’s e-resources page)