New items to the collection

New items to the collection include:

The Really, really, really easy step-by-step guide to creating your family tree using your computer for absolute beginners of all ages by Gavin Hoole and Cheryl Smith

New South Wales family histories

Queensland family histories

Tasmanian family histories

South Australian family histories

Victorian family histories

Western Australian family histories
These title are essentially bibliographies of published family histories in each state.

Australian genealogy sources
Pioneer registers, biographical dictionaries, bibliographies

Resource County Roscommon: databases, source material for local and family historians (CD-Rom for loan)

Survey of Australian Genealogists

There is very little literature that studies the nature and growth of genealogy in Australia. There is now a research project underway to rectify this. A major part of this research is a survey of Australian genealogists. This survey takes place over 4 months commencing on August 1st 2009. The survey has its own website. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausgensurvey/

I encourage all Australian genealogists to participate, remember the more that respond the more accurate the survey results are.

New databases on Ancestry

Some new updates to databases on Ancestry include the following with many images being added:

Australian Convict Transportation Registers – First Fleet, 1787-1788
Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Second Fleet, 1789-1790
Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Third Fleet, 1791
Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868


New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922
New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896
New South Wales, Australia Convict Ship Muster Rolls and Related Records, 1790-1849 -New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Naturalization, 1849-1903
New South Wales, Australia Historical Electoral Rolls, 1842-1864
1841 New South Wales, Australia, Census
1828 New South Wales, Australia Census (Australian Copy)
New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Convicts' Applications to Marry, 1826-1851 -New South Wales, Australia, Convict Death Register, 1826-1879

A new database is the Port Phillip, Australia Directory, 1847 This directory contains the names, addresses, and occupations of almost 10,000 residents living in Port Philip, Victoria, Australia, in 1847. In addition to potentially finding your Australian ancestors in the directory, you will find interesting local facts about Port Philip that can give you a more detailed look at what life was like there. You’ll find members of the legislative council, local holidays, public works, custom import duties, what plants grew during each season, and more


England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915
England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915
England & Wales, Marriage Index: 1916-2005

Ancestry can be accessed via our website at www.yprl.vic.gov.au at any computer at any branch library.

New Zealand to Australia Stories

You are invited to participate as a subject in the research project ‘New Zealand Immigration to Australia: late 1960s to early 1990s’.

The aim of this project is to investigate the personal experiences of New Zealanders who migrated to Australia from the late 1960s to early 1990s. Areas of particular interest are the reasons for migration, preparations for the trip, the participants’ trans-Tasman connections both before and after migration, the experience of settling in to Australia, possible return migration to New Zealand and the role of hindsight in evaluating memories of migration.

The project is being carried out a requirement for a PhD by Rosemary Baird under the supervision, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Please email: Rosemary Baird kiwisinaustralia@gmail.com