Family history in Queensland and more

For some time Queensland genealogist Judy Webster has provided a terrific free resource with advice and indexes that help genealogists to research local, interstate and overseas ancestors by using historical records.

Judy has recently updated and moved her website to Judy Webster

Features of the new site include:

• 135 pages, and more than 53,000 names (including tens of thousands of people from other States and countries, especially the UK, Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia and New Zealand) from Judy's indexes to original records in Queensland State Archives.

• Additional names from certificates, headstones, church plaques, published local histories, etc.

• Tips on how to research 'black sheep of the family' and people who 'vanished'.

• Unusual sources useful for problem solving (including records of asylums, hospitals, Police, Justice Department and Courts).

The site is now easier to use, with a different font, a new 'main menu' navigation bar, and 'breadcrumb' navigation links. Many pages have a section called 'Other Suggestions'. Before using the customised search box, read 'Site navigation tips'.

Judy has also written her book  Tips for Queensland Research which is currently available.

More on Australian BDMs

New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages have increased their indexes by one year.

Births to 1909, Marriages to 1959, deaths to 1979

The Queensland births, deaths and marriages online historical indexes have been recently updated. Births are now available to search up to and including 1914, deaths up to and including 1964, and marriages up to and including 1934.

Queensland Indexes

Search Queensland historical indexes online.
Birth Records (1829 - 1914)
Death Records (1829 - 1964)
Marriage Records (1829 - 1934)

Launch of the Convict Transportation Registers database

The State Library of Queensland has launched a new resource to research convict ancestors. This database has been compiled from British Home Office (HO) records which are available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP). The HO 11 Criminal - Convict Transportation Registers series has been indexed by the State Library of Queensland and the index contains the following information:
- Name of convict, including any known aliases
- Place of trial *
- Term of years
- Name of ship and date of departure
- Place of arrival
- Miscellaneous notes e.g. Died at sea; Ticket of Leave, etc.
* The date of trial is recorded on the original registers and will be gradually added to this database
Over 123,000 out of the estimated 160,000 convicts transported to Australia are recorded in this database. These include prisoners sent to New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), Moreton Bay (Brisbane), Western Australia and Norfolk Island. Also recorded are some ships which were bound for Gibraltar. The records cover the period of 1787 to 1867.
These records mainly include those convicted in England and Scotland. Only a small number of Irish convicts appear in this series of the Home Office records. The database also includes soldiers who had been court-martialled and sentenced to transportation. These "soldier convicts" may have been convicted in various British colonies including the West Indies, India, Pakistan and Canada.
The site also features some well-known Queenslanders with convict backgrounds.

Queensland historical indexes online

Queensland historical births, deaths and marriages indexes are now available to search online at
http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/bdm/IndexSearch.htm

The indexes cover the time period 1829-1914.

This is an excellent additon to online research for family history researchers in Australia