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Family history

Starting your research

The Library's collections offer a wealth of resources to the Australian family historian.

You will find most family history material on microfiche and microfilm in a special area of the Newspapers and Microforms Reading Room. Check our guide to Family history sources in the Newspapers and Microforms Reading Room to see what we hold.

Staff can help you locate resources and use the microform equipment, but cannot do extensive or ongoing genealogical, historical or other research for you.

You can search the Library's catalogue for specific topics, such as published family histories, local histories, ship information and biography.

Check eResources for our many online resources relating to family history.  Some of these you need to come to the Library's reading rooms to use.

Try both 'family history' and 'genealogy' when searching as both these terms are often used.

Frequently asked family history questions:

Major resources in the collection:

Material relating to your family history may be found in other parts of the Library's collections such as: