Ancestry Magazine

Your Aussie ancestor may or may not have a convict background, but you’ll never know until you check out the vast record sources available “down under.”

For many people, associations of Australia include the outback, herds of horses running along the open country, kangaroos, and more. Popular movies about the wild world “down under” (e.g., Crocodile Dundee, The Man from Snowy River) have only served to heighten this image. In recent years, of course, the 2000 Summer Olympic Games have broadened perspectives and given the world a glimpse of another side of Australia.

Researching your heritage among Australian records doesn’t have to be a wild experience like your ideas of “down under” have likely been. In fact Australian research is fundamentally the same as British research. A few details are helpful in knowing the best and most effective ways to research the lives of your Aussie ancestors.

Geographically speaking, Australia is as large as the United States, but it has a population of just over 19 million people, most of whom live on the coastal fringes. The country is made up of six states: New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania, and two territories: the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Federation was achieved in 1901; until then, each state was a separate colony of Great Britain. Therefore, when tracing your Australian ancestors, it is advantageous to know which state they might have migrated to or lived in.

A Brief History
Aus tralia’s population (excluding the aboriginal tribes that have inhabited Australia for thousands of years) goes back to the British Commonwealth. Its rich heritage is established in part by the fate of some eight hundred convicts brought from the British Isles in 1788. These people, who traveled in a group known as the First Fleet, comprised eleven ships and over 1,300 convicts, soldiers, military families, and crewmen. England had recently lost a war with America and the country needed another place to send convicts (British prisons were very overcrowded). The land, Australia, discovered by James Cook in 1770, was chosen. The first city established by this group was Sydney in New South Wales (NSW).

Convicts continued to be transported to Australia for many more years. Further shiploads of convicts arrived in New South Wales until 1842; in Western Australia until 1868; and in Tasmania (originally called Van Diemens Land) until 1853.

Convict Records
Because convicts represent the first of the white settlement in Australia, the records that exist for them are the oldest. But convicts are also well-documented in Australia. Projects are currently underway to index all the convicts that came to Australia and will show name, age, birthplace, trial place, occupation, and marital status. (The convicts were are both men and women, as well as children as young as nine years old). An index of convicts’ relatives will soon be accessible as well.

Convict Indenture or shipping records can be very descriptive. Consider, for example, the record of Luke McCabe. He was sent to New South Wales on the ship Ferguson in 1829. The record lists him as twenty-seven years old, married, born in Meath Ireland, a weaver and labourer charged with highway robbery. He was sentenced to life at Cavan in 1828 and subsequently transported. He stood 5′ 5″ with ruddy brown hair, hazel eyes, and a mole on his right cheek.

James Smith, an “indifferen t boot closer” from London, was listed as age twenty-two in 1833 when he was transported. He is described as having “lost two front teeth right side of upper jaw, scar back of left thumb, woman’s bust and M, Adams inside lower right arm (tattoos), scar near knuckle of middle finger of right hand.” Another convict had an occupation listed as “good for nothing.”

Further convict documents include Musters, Assignment Lists, Pardons, and Tickets of Leave. These can also reveal details of an ancestor. For instance, Luke McCabe applied for his family to join him in 1836. He gives his wife’s name as Mary Brady of Losset in Meath near the town of Kells. His daughter Mary McCabe is listed as age seven. (She must have been born after he was transported as she is not mentioned on the Convict Indentures described above).

A special database of Irish convict information can be found online. Also, check out the links to convict websites.

Immigration Records
Aside from its convict-laden beginnings, Australia also saw growth through immigrants and settlers, and has in its past stories of squatters, gold rushes, even clashes with aborigines and bushrangers (outlaws).

Immigration to Australia began with people coming from the British Isles and later from Germany and Denmark. It is only in the past two decades that Australia opened up immigration to allow Asians and those from the Middle East.

Several gold rushes in Australia brought people from all over the world. Many of these people paid their own way on the ships and were often just numbered or referred to as Mr. Green or J. Green, for instance, on ship records. However, evidence of their lives in Australia can often be found in Civil Registration Indexes. Many of these gold seekers eventually settled and became a part of the colony by marrying, rais ing children, and ultimately being buried there.

In reverse, the California Gold Rush saw boatloads of people leave Australia to find their fortune. Records for these emigrants would likely not be found among Australian records.

In 1828, a proper immigration system was established to encourage immigrants into New South Wales. The immigrants were known as “Bounty Immigrants.” The original records of this time are kept at the State Archives Office of New South Wales and have been microfilmed by the Family History Library. These records are, on the whole, extremely informative as they give the name of the immigrant, age, place of birth, occupation, parents (and whether they are living or deceased), relatives, and ship of arrival. The index to these records will soon be available on Ancestry.com.

The Assisted Immigration Records into New South Wales from 1844 to 1896 are indexed and available online. The records include early immigration to Port Phillip (Melbourne, Victoria) and Morton Bay (Brisbane, Queensland). Immigration Records in Victoria for both Assisted and Unassisted Immigration 1852—1889 are online.

Victorian shipping records are not as informative as those for New South Wales, but they do provide age, place of origin, and sometimes other comments. The shipping records of just over 20,000 people from Germany, Denmark, and the British Isles into the Port of Maryborough, Queensland, have been indexed and will soon be available on Ancestry.com. The remaining records for immigration into Queensland have been microfilmed by the Family History Library and are found at the State Archives of Queensland. They are not yet available online. For information on immigration websites for the various states, go online.

Each state has produced its Assisted Immigration records on microfiche and/or microf ilm and the copies are available for purchase. The Australian Immigration Wall of Honour can be found online with a link to the Virtual Wall of Honour, which lists the details of immigrants to Australia. You may find a relative on either site.

Civil Registration
Civil registration began in New South Wales in 1856, in Victoria in 1853, and in Queensland in 1859 (previously under New South Wales). These states followed the Archer system of registration, which was far superior to the system used in Tasmania (since 1836), Western Australia (1841), and South Australia (1842). These states followed the English system of registration, but did improve it in the last part of the nineteenth century to include some of the Archer system registration questions.

A typical birth certificate for New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria shows the name of the child, birth date and place; father’s name, age, birthplace, and occupation; mother’s name, age, and birthplace; the parent’s marriage date and place; previous issue; witness to the birth, and informant. (The other states adopted this information later.)

A marriage certificate shows the names of both parties; place and date of marriage, church and religion; occupations, ages, birthplaces, residences; parents’ names, occupations of fathers, witnesses.

A death certificate shows the name and occupation of deceased; date and place of death; cause of death; informant; parents names; age, birthplace; burial place, witnesses to burial, religion and minister; marital details, names and ages of children. It also gives the length of residence in Australia, which helps estimate an arrival date.

Remember that death certificates are the least correct of any certificate (the person most likely to know the correct information is now dead and it is left to a grieving spouse or child to supply the information). Many times ages or years have been approximated or the names of the parents of the deceased may be listed as unknown. This is often the case when a single person migrated and married in the colonies. His spouse and children may have never met his parents who remained behind in his native place and may have only been referred to as Dad, Mum, or Grandma.

Discount certificates can be obtained in most states if a reference number is obtained from the indexes.

Availability of Civil Records
Australia is unique in its civil registration (vital records) indexes. Each state’s records have been indexed and published on microfiche and CD-ROM. These indexes are available for purchase from the various registrars.

The Family History Library has also created an Australian Vital Records Index that consists of the birth, death, and marriage indexes for New South Wales (1788—1888), Victoria (1836—88), Tasmania (1803—99), and Western Australia (1841—1905). Unfortunately, the indexes for Queensland and South Australia were not available when the CD was produced. This set is very valuable; each state sells its indexes of the Australian Vital Records for approximately $275 ($137 US).

Both New South Wales and Victoria now have their indexes placed online. The state of New South Wales has three indexes available: Pioneer (1788—1888), Federation (1889—1919), and Between the Wars (Marriages and Deaths 1920—45). The indexes are available online and are free of charge.

Similarly, Victoria has five indexes online: Pioneer (1836—88), Federation (1889—1901), Edwardian (1902—13), Great War Index (1914—20), and Deaths (1921—85). These indexes are also available online. There is a small fee to use this site. The other states have yet to get their information on the Internet. Although there is a helpful Web site for Tasmania worth visiting. It contains over 500,000 entries.

Church Records
Fortunately, no state religion was ever imposed on Australians, although freedom of worship began on shaky footing. The English government was reluctant to allow the Catholic Church to set up in the colonies. However, as the English government were transporting many Irish Catholic convicts, it relented, and in 1820 the first Catholic priest was assigned to Sydney. Church records are normally still in the custody of the respective church archives or local parishes. Some of these records have been microfilmed by the LDS Church. The pre-1856 New South Wales parish registers have been microfilmed and are a major resource. To view them, you will need to get a reference number from the New South Wales indexes, then you can order the appropriate microfilm.

Prior to civil registration, church records of christenings, marriages, and burials were the main records. These do not give as much information as the latter civil registration certificates, and information varies between religions. Some, for example, give the mother’s maiden name on a christening, but others do not.

Resource Centers
Every Australian state has an Archive Office (or in Victoria, a Public Record Office). These are all available online. The Family History Library has microfilmed genealogical documents for each state and they are available in the Family History Library Catalog either online or via CD-ROM. Remember that the records are organized under three government systems: federal or commonwealth, state, and local. For instance, Australian military would be found under “Australia,” then “Military.” Probates would be found under the appropriate state (i.e., “Australia,” then “NSW Probates”) Church records would be found under a place, (i.e., “Maryborough,” part of “Australia,” then & quot;Church Records”).

There are hundreds of genealogical and family history societies in Australia, with a major one existing in every capital city, and smaller ones in every state and district. There are also thousands of local historical societies. Details can be found in the Genealogical Research Directory (Library of Australian History, annual). Besides the State Archives Office, there is also a branch office of the National Archives in each state. These keep national records such as immigration and ships’ passenger lists. They are online.

The state libraries located in the capital cities also have good collections of genealogical records, and they are online. Also, Australia has approximately 150 Family History Centers throughout the country.

Other Resources
Biographies. Western Australia has produced a series of biographical books called A Dictionary of Western Australians 1829-1914. Also, the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society has compiled Biographical Register of South Australians 1836-1885 with pocket biographies.

Naturalization records. Naturalization records of Australia can also give details on a man born in a non-Commonwealth country, e.g. Italy, Germany etc. Individuals whose countries already showed allegiance to the British Monarch did not have to be naturalized. Naturalization was handled by state prior to Federation in 1901.

Miscellaneous records. There are obviously many more documents you can access for Australian research, such as wills, land records, the International Genealogy Index, occupational and local history records, and more. Study the LDS Family History Library Catalog for Australia and other related websites to help you learn more.

Professional research. Australia has an organization for professionals called the Association of Australian Genealogists and Record Agents (AAGRA).

Tracing Living Relatives
If you are seeking Australian relatives that are still living, several resources are available to help you in your search. The Australian White Pages phone directory is whitepages.com.au. It is a searchable free database, but it does not include people with unlisted numbers.

It is compulsory to vote in Australia in federal, state, and local elections. Fortunately, this creates the Electoral Rolls that name every voter over eighteen years of age with his or her full name and address. These rolls are not online and were once sold on microfiche. However, they have been withdrawn from sale. They are publicly available at any electoral office.

Most newspapers will also print letters to the editor in which you can ask for assistance in tracing living relatives. The book How to Trace Your Missing Ancestors, Whether Living, Dead or Adopted (Hale & Iremonger, 1998) can give you other hints.

Australia’s various state governments have, on the most part, been generous in opening up their historical records and duplicating them for greater public access. Although the nation is comparatively young to the rest of the English-speaking world (213 years old), it is proud of its convict heritage and the settlers, soldiers, and immigrants who, together with the indigenous peoples of the land, have given Australia its own very unique character.

Janet Reakes, AG, is the author of twenty-six genealogy guide books. She writes a syndicated newspaper column that reaches fifteen newspapers, and is a talk-back radio specialist with regular segments that air on National Australian Radio.