Queensland

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)

The AIATSIS Family History Unit can help people researching their Indigenous family history. The AIATSIS Finding Your Family website is an online resource with a focus on helping people to learn how to do Indigenous family history research. AIATSIS offers an Australia-wide service. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index enables you to do an online name search of some of the material in the collection. AIATSIS cannot compile family trees or help you to confirm Aboriginality, but they can offer you advice on how to begin this work yourself.

51 Lawson Crescent, Acton ACT 2601
GPO Box 553, Canberra ACT 2601
Ph: 02 6246 1111
Freecall: 1800 352 553
Fax: 02 6261 4285

State Library of Queensland

The State Library of Queensland provides family history services, with lots of online information. You can also contact librarians who can help you access the library’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander materials and family and local history collections.

Cultural Precinct, Stanley Place, South Bank, Brisbane QLD 4101
PO Box 3488, South Brisbane QLD 4101
Ph: 07 3840 7666
Ask a Librarian form

James Cook University Library and Information Services – Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family History

James Cook University Library has prepared an online guide to assist Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander family historians locate sources available to them at James Cook University in Townsville and Cairns.

Queensland State Archives

Queensland State Archives holds records of the Queensland Government. Many records contain historical information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This information exists because of the control past Queensland governments had over Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's lives. This information can be helpful in researching the family and community links of Indigenous Queenslanders.

The Community and Personal Histories team in the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships can help you with your research. An online Family history request form may help you in this process.

435 Compton Road, Runcorn QLD 4113
PO Box 1397, Sunnybank Hills QLD 4109
Ph: 07 3037 6777
Fax: 07 3131 7764
Email: info@archives.qld.gov.au

Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships – Community and Personal Histories Team

The Community and Personal Histories team can help you use Queensland Government records to research your family and personal history. If you or your family were born in Queensland, they may be able to help you with other information, such as proving your birth date. A site to find out more or to start your search with a Family history request form.

Level 15, 111 George Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
PO Box 15397, City East QLD 4002
Free call: 1800 650 230
Email: CPH@dsdsatsip.qld.gov.au

Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages has records of birth, death and marriage in Queensland from 1856, as well as some earlier church records. You can search and access historical birth, death and marriage records online. The cost of BDM records varies from state to state but is normally $30 to $50 per certificate.

Level 32, 180 Ann Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
PO Box 15188, City East QLD 4002
Free call: 1300 366 430
Email: bdm-mail@justice.qld.gov.au

Link-Up Queensland

Link-Up Queensland provides services to individuals, families or communities who have been affected by past Australian government removal policies and practices, including separation through adoption, fostering, removal or institutionalisation. It provides family history research assistance to members of the Stolen Generations.

Free call: 1800 200 855
Email: contact@link-upqld.org.au

Brisbane office

3-5 Reid Street, Woolloongabba QLD 4102
PO Box 3229, South Brisbane, Queensland QLD 4101
Ph: 07 3638 0411

Cairns office

2/128 Spence Street, Cairns, QLD 4870
PO Box 298, Bungalow QLD 4870
Ph: 07 4041 7403

Find & Connect Support Service Queensland – Lotus Place

Find & Connect supports people who grew up in orphanages, children’s homes, institutions and foster homes. Find & Connect can help you obtain your personal records, trace your history and assist you to understand why you were placed into care, as well as providing counselling and other services.

Lotus Place is a dedicated support service and resource centre for people who experienced abuse in an institutional setting including out-of-home care.

Lotus Place – Brisbane
46 Cleveland Street, Stones Corner, Brisbane QLD 4120
PO Box 3449, South Brisbane, QLD 4101
Free call: 1800 161 109
Ph: 07 3347 8500
Fax: 07 3347 8590
Email: lotus@micahprojects.org.au
 

Lotus Place North Queensland
382 Sturt Street, Townsville QLD 4810
PO Box 2027 Townsville QLD 4810
Free call: 1800 161 109
Ph: 07 4724 4410
Fax: 07 4772 0011
Email: lotusnq@micahprojects.org.au

Lotus Place Central Queensland 
Swan Office Building
159 Denison Street, Rockhampton QLD 4700
PO Box 586, Rockhamption QLD 4700
Free call: 1800 161 109
Ph/Fax: 07 4927 7604
Email: lotuscq@micahprojects.org.au

Post Adoption Support Queensland – Benevolent Society

Post Adoption Support Queensland provides specialised post adoption counselling and support for people in Queensland, including help in searching for relatives and mediation for people reuniting with family members.

There are a number of offices in Queensland metro centres and regional areas as well as online enquiry.

Free call: 1800 236 762

National Archives Australia (Brisbane)

The National Archives of Australia (NAA) is a rich source of information for family historians. The NAA holds federal government records, including many about Indigenous Australians (mostly people from Victoria and the Northern Territory). The archives has offices around Australia. Records about Queensland are mostly held in Brisbane and Canberra. The Bringing Them Home name index can help you find information about Indigenous family members in National Archives records. The index isn’t available for the public to search, but an archivist will do a search for you.

16 Corporate Drive, Cannon Hill QLD 4170
PO Box 552, Cannon Hill QLD 4170
Ph: 07 3249 4200
Fax: 07 3249 4299
Email: archives@naa.gov.au

National Library of Australia

The National Library collects and makes available material of national significance about Australia and Australians. It holds books, manuscripts, newspapers, photographs and oral histories that could be useful in researching your family. Some of these resources, such as photographs and newspapers, can be viewed online via Trove. Other material, such as some oral histories can be access via the Library website. The library has a family history collection and staff who can help you to locate material in person and Ask a Librarian online.

The Library's collection holds a diverse range of material, offering a rich interpretation of Australia's past and contemporary Indigenous culture.

Parkes Place, Canberra ACT 2600
Ph: 02 6262 1111
Fax: 02 6257 1703

Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial's collections and website contain a wealth of material which can help you research the service and wartime experiences of relatives who served in Australia's military forces during conflict. Indigenous people have served in every military conflict that Australia has been involved in since the Boer War (1899−1902). Military records are a rich source of information about the men and women who served in the armed forces and they can also provide information about family members.

Treloar Crescent, Campbell ACT 2612
Ph: 02 6243 4211
Fax: 02 6243 4325
Email: info@awm.gov.au 

Noel Butlin Archives Centre

Some pastoral station owners or managers kept records like diaries, wage and ration books, and registers of births, deaths and marriages. The Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the Australian National University in Canberra holds some of these records, mainly for farms and cattle properties in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

ANU Archives
The Australian National University
Menzies Building
2 Fellows Rd
Acton ACT 2601
Ph: 02 6125 2219
Email: butlin.archives@anu.edu.au

Research guides for Indigenous family history

Research guides provide comprehensive information for people doing family history research. They often include an outline of the history of colonisation and Aboriginal protection/welfare legislation, linking these to the records that were created about Indigenous people.

Books published by AIATSIS

  • Penny Taylor, Telling it like it is: A guide to making Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, AIATSIS, 1992
  • Diane Smith and Boronia Halstead, Lookin for your mob: A guide to tracing Aboriginal family trees, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1990.

Online guides

Websites

The Centre for Indigenous Family History Studies (CIFHS) website is a name searchable archive of a selection of mainly government documents relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The site is updated with new records continuously. Many of the documents contain offensive language.

In order to do a name search in documents on this website you need to type the following into google - site:www.cifhs.com – followed by the name you are searching for in quotation marks, such as “John Smith”.

General family history organisations

Family history groups, local history societies and local libraries

Local family history groups, local history societies and local libraries are valuable sources of information and resources. They can often put you in contact with people who have a good knowledge of the local history of a town or area.. Many also have local studies collections with books, newspapers, family histories, photographs and manuscripts.

Find local libraries

You can use Australian Libraries Gateway – Find a Library to locate libraries in Queensland with family history and local history collections. Under location select ‘QLD’ and under library type select ‘Local/Family history’. You can also browse using the map.

Genealogical Society of Queensland

The Genealogical Society of Queensland’s mission is ‘helping to discover your family history’. It has the largest family history library in Queensland and offers courses and talks. As well as its main resource centre at East Brisbane, the society has five branches in the South East Queensland region.

25 Stackpole Street, Wishart, QLD 4122
PO Box 1467, Carindale, QLD 4152
Ph: 07 3349 6072
Email: info@gsq.org.au

Family history research websites

  • CoraWeb: a comprehensive, categorised and cross-referenced list of links and useful advice about tracing your family history (Australia)
  • Ancestry – Help & Advice: general family history advice, as well as information about using Ancestry’s paid services (Australia) Remember that many libraries have subscriptions which you can use on site for free.
  • Cyndi’s List: a comprehensive, categorised and cross-referenced list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online (Australia)
  • FamilySearch Learning Center: articles and short online courses put together by the largest genealogical organisation in the world (USA)

Find family history and historical societies

Last updated: 28 March 2023