Trove

Letter G challenge

Miss W. General info , , ,

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Government Gazettes and publications
There are many ways to find information on your ancestors and their life. The government is great at keeping records other than a census in Australia.

As a true blue Tasmanian descended from both free settlers and those who had a journey overseas paid for by a government from a previous country, I can find a lot by checking government Gazettes and other publications like electoral rolls and almanacs.

The Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO) has been digitising a lot of their records that used to be microfilmed or in huge books. Here is a list of some online:

  • Government gazette papers – Trove
  • Electoral rolls
  • Convict records
  • Arrivals and departures
  • Census and musters
  • Divorces
  • Wills
  • Inquests
  • Tasmanian Post Office Directories – early form of white pages
  • Publicans licenses

It is very important to check out guides from your local archives to find out what they have either online or available if you visit them. National Archives Australia has a series of fact sheets about what is available there.

Cora Num has some great links to look through on her website including some references to England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Readers: Please leave a comment about my post or something beginning with G that relates to your family history or your research.

letter G

 

Where do I begin searching?

Miss W. General info , , , , ,

I am so lucky that my family history has mainly been in Tasmania since the early 1830’s. I began my researching by asking questions of my mother who seemed to know everything about the family or at least her side of it. My father knows very little about his side and is amazed at what I am finding out for him. Unluckily, we haven’t had any heirloom bibles or notebooks handed down in the family, so I am having to start from scratch.

My number 1 spot

The LINC webpages which has just been updated this week. These are resources related to Tasmania but they do have other links to visit outside our clean, green state. Type in the name of your relative in the search bar at the top.

This search will include

  • births RGD 33
  • deaths RGD 35
  • marriages RGD 37
  • convicts
  • wills and more

Then visit the record, remembering to take note of the source of the record. How much did you find that was useful?

My number 2 spot

The National Archives of Australia – this is for information after 1900 when Australia became one federated country rather than separate colonies. I do a record search and will find war records as well as naturalization records, some passenger lists – both boat and plane. Part of the NAA this year is the Discovering ANZACs website – joint project with National Archives of New Zealand – where all World War I service men and women have their records open to the public. See another post I have written telling you where to find more war records.

My number 3 spot

This is Trove which is part of the National Library of Australia. It has a section of digitized newspapers from all states of Australia. These are being updated all the time. What is also great is they include a citation button in top left corner where you can copy the source of the record very easily. I use the Harvard/Australian version all the time to keep things consistent in the family tree software programme I use.

Readers: What are your three favourite repositories or places to find information for your family history? Do you have some for places outside Australia?