All databases listed on this page are available online.  They are FREE (F) to view unless otherwise stated.  Those requiring a fee to view are marked with a dollar sign ($).  Databases that are FREE to view but require payment for further information, or fee-based look-up services, are marked (P).  FREE or donation-based look-up services are marked (L).  Offline databases and associated research files are listed on the resources page.  For convict databases and resources go directly to the Convict Heritage page.

Biographical Records Births-Deaths-Marriages (BDMs) NSW Births-Deaths-Marriages (BDMs) Australia Births-Deaths-Marriages (BDMs) UK & Ireland Births-Deaths-Marriages (BDMs) Worldwide Census Records Australia Census Records UK Census Records Ireland Census Records Worldwide Electoral Rolls Indigenous Record Military Records Miscellaneous Records (Australia) Miscellaneous Records (International) Shipping Lists (including Immigration & Naturalisation)

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Biographical databases featuring famous and everyday Australians.

Births, Deaths & Marriages in New South Wales are recorded by the NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages.  The Registry currently holds in excess of 17 million records including early church records (baptismal, marriages and burials) from 1788 to 1855; and birth, death and marriage registrations from 1856 to the present day.  Records are labelled Restricted or Unrestricted according to classification.  Restricted records are only available to the person named on the certificate (identification required).  Unrestricted records are open to all (identification is not required).  A record is unrestricted if - birth occurred between 1788 to 1907; death occurred more than 30 years ago; or marriage occurred more than 50 years ago.

Births, Deaths & Marriages in Australia vary according to the state or territory of registration.  Not all States are available online.

Births, Deaths & Marriages in the United Kingdom prior to 1837 were recorded in the parish registers as baptism, marriage and burial records.

All births, marriages and deaths post 1837 are recorded at the register office in the district where the event took place.

F	FreeBDMs (ENG & WLS BDM Database) (partial index with regular additions)
F	FreeBMD Birth Index (1837-1983) (partial index)
F	FreeBMD Marriage Index (1837-1983) (partial index)
F	FreeBMD Death Index (1837-1983) (partial index)
$	Irish Records Extraction Database (1600-1874)
$	Irish Gravestone Inscriptions
$	London Times, Births and Christenings (1983-2003)
$	London Times, Deaths (1982-1988)
$	London Times, Marriages (1982-2004)
$
F	Ireland BDM Exchange
F	UK BDM Exchange

Census Records Australia: the first organised survey of the New South Wales population occurred in 1795 in response to Governor Hunter's call for a muster of the inhabitants. Musters provided both a population count and a formal record as to whether the individual received provisions from the Government.  General musters, which included all the inhabitants of the Colony, were generally held once a year between 1795 and 1825.  These were supplement by  individual musters which counted settlers, livestock, convicts, females and children.  The first census was held in November 1828; then 1833, 1836, 1841, 1846, 1851, 1856, 1861 and subsequent decades till 1901.  Unfortunately only the 1841, 1891 (no names) and 1901 census have survived, at least within Australia (a copy of the 1828 Census is available from the National Archives in England.

Note: Indigenous Australians were not included in the Commonwealth Census until a referendum saw the abolishment of Section 127 of the Constitution in 1967.

Census Records for the United Kingdom are available from 1841 to 1901 at Ancestry.com.au via subscription; while an incomplete index is available for FREE at FREECen; the 1881 British Census is FREE to view at Family Search.  A number of Regional Indexes (Reg) are also available for FREE.

1841 - Conducted on the night of 6 June 1841 (15 years & over had age rounded down to the nearest 5 years)
1851 - Conducted on the night of 30 March 1851 (30/31 March 1851 in Scotland)
1861 - Conducted on the night of 7 April 1861 (7/8 April 1861 in Scotland)
1871 - Conducted on the night of 2 April 1871 (2/3 April 1871 in Scotland)
1881 - Conducted on the night of 3 April 1881
1891 - Conducted on the night of 5 April 1891
1901 - Conducted on the night of 31 March 1901

Channel Islands | England | England (Reg) | Isle of Man | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Scotland (Reg) | Wales | Wales (Reg)

Channel Islands | England | England (Reg) | Isle of Man | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Scotland (Reg) | Wales | Wales (Reg)

Electoral Rolls in Australia include Local, State and Federal.  From 1843 to 1856, only men owning freehold property or of wealth were permitted to vote.  From 1858, all adult males who had lived in the electorate for the preceding six months, and who were British subjects by birth, or had been naturalised for five years and had lived in the colony for the preceding two years were required to vote (excluding police, serving members of the armed forces, paupers, prisoners and the indigenous).  In 1893, the property vote and the six months residence requirement were abolished.  In 1902, Australian women gained the right to vote in both Commonwealth and New South Wales elections.  In 1955, electors of either sex had to be British subjects by birth or naturalisation and be aged 21 years or more. In the case of New South Wales, electors must have lived in Australia for six months, in the state for three months and in the relevant electoral sub-division for one month before enrolment.  In 1962, Aborigines were given the option to vote in Federal Elections but were still denied a vote in State elections.  Compulsory enrolment and voting for Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders was not introduced until 1984.

Click Here for a complete Guide to Electoral Milestones (off site)

Note: Until 1970 an 'adult' was classified as 21 years of age and over.  By 1974, the Commonwealth and other states had dropped the age to 18 years.

Indigenous databases are limited.  For detailed information on researching Indigenous family history in the State of New South Wales see:

A Guide to New South Wales State Archives relating to Aboriginal People; and (or)

Connecting kin: guide to records - a guide to help people separated from their families search for their records.

Military records within Australia are readily available from the Australian War Memorial and the National Archives of Australia.

Miscellaneous databases that pertain to Australian genealogy and social history.

Miscellaneous databases that pertain to International genealogy and social history.

Shipping Lists (including Immigration & Naturalisation) vary in regards to the amount of information available.  It often pays to cross reference different databases.  The term 'assisted immigrant' refers to those people whose passage was subsidised or paid for through one of the several assisted immigration schemes which operated to New South Wales from the United Kingdom and other countries.

F F Assisted immigrants arriving Moreton Bay-Brisbane, 1848-59 F Assisted immigrants arriving Port Phillip, 1839-51 F Assisted immigrants arriving Sydney, 1844-59 (includes Newcastle) F Assisted immigrants arriving Sydney, 1860-79 F Assisted immigrants arriving in Sydney, 1880-96 $ 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 F Australian National Historic Shipwreck Database F Australia Passenger Indexes, NSW 1810-1857 F Convicts and Convict Ships NSW, Port Jackson, 1787-1800 F Convicts and Convict Ships NSW, Norfolk Island & Tasmania, 1801-1849 F Convicts and Convict Ships NSW, Norfolk Island, Sydney & Hobart, 1840-1847 F Emigrants from Great Britain & Ireland to Australia, 1825-1832 F Emigrants from Scotland to Australia, 1852-1857 F Emigrant Shipping: Surnames List for passengers into Australia F Emigrant Shipping: Surnames List for passengers into New Zealand F Famine Orphans from County Cork to Australia (female only) F Index to Inward Passenger Lists to Victoria from British, Foreign and New Zealand Ports 1852-1923 F Index to Registers of Assisted British Immigrants to Victoria, 1839-1871     F Miscellaneous Immigrants, 1828-43 F Naturalisations NSW, 1834-1903     F Naturalisations TAS, 1835-1905 F Naturalisations VIC (Croatians), 1855 F Outward Passengers from Victoria to Interstate, UK, NZ and Foreign Ports, 1852-1876                                                                 F TAS Index to Departures, 1817 - 1867 F TAS Index to Naturalisations 1835-1905 F Unassisted Immigrants, 1842-55 F Vessels Arrived in Sydney, 1837-1925