A quick and easy way to see if we have records about your family is to use NameSearch. Simply put in your family name and select the type of records you want to search.
See below for how to do more advanced family history research.
It surprises many people to hear that the National Archives is a rich source for family historians. The National Archives holds records – mostly paper documents and photographs – from the departments and agencies that make up the administrative arm of the Australian Government.
Many of these records are about people – individuals who migrated here, who served in our armed forces, who were interned or investigated by the government, who were Indigenous, who applied for a copyright... the list goes on.
These records form a national memory of the ways Australian people have interacted with their government over more than a century. They also hold information and stories of a personal nature – just the kinds of thing family historians are looking for.
The trick is to identify how your family members might have had contact with the federal government, and so identify what sorts of records we might have about them.
Read on for how to find your family in the National Archives.
Before you start researching your family in the National Archives, you need to know some basic information about your family. Talk to older relatives and ask them questions. See if you can locate family documents, such as birth or marriage certificates and letters.
Keep good notes, including details of where you got particular pieces of information. You will almost certainly need to go back to check the information you have found out at this point.
You might also like to do some general reading about doing family history research, and make contact with your local family history group.
> Go to Fact Sheet 200 – Beginning your family history research
> Go to Family history resources – Other organisations that could help
The National Archives holdings are extensive. In fact, the records in our collection take up around 350 kilometres of shelving. It is also a diverse collection, covering all aspects of the work of the administrative arm of the Australian Government from Federation in 1901, and more.
Among these records are many that might interest family historians, but we do not have records about every family.
Once you have some background about your family, it is worth getting to know a bit about the National Archives.
Understanding the types of records we have – and don't have – will help you decide if we might have records connected to your family.
You don't need detailed knowledge of archives or history to use our records. But if you have a broad understanding of how we arrange and manage records in our care, you will be better placed to find records that interest you.
> Go to Scope: What's in the collection
> Go to What's not in our collection
> Go to The CRS System: How our records are arranged and controlled
Next you should think about how your family members might have interacted with Australia's federal or Commonwealth government – because National Archives records reflect the functions and activities of the Australian Government since 1901.
Three government functions which have created many records of interest to family historians are immigration, defence and Indigenous affairs. So, if your family migrated to Australia during the 20th century, served in the Australian armed forces or are of Indigenous background, there is a good chance we have something relevant to your family in the collection.
There are many other ways that your family might have had contact with the government, too.
One way to think about possible interactions of your family and the government is to think about dealings that you might have with the Australian Government today – applying for a passport, receiving a pension or other government benefit, travelling out and back into Australia, applying for a relative to visit from overseas, registering a patent or trade mark, becoming an Australian citizen, receiving a government grant or scholarship, enrolling to vote.
Another way is to ask yourself, did anyone in the family:
For more ideas, see the resources listed below.
> Go to Fact Sheet 201: Tracing ancestors in the National Archives
> Go to Family Journeys: Stories in the National Archives of Australia – in the National Archives online shop
> Go to Finding Families: The Guide to the National Archives of Australia for Genealogists – in the National Archives online shop
> Go to Explore: Topics in our collection
> Go to Fact Sheet 86: Family history sources held in Canberra
> Go to Fact Sheet 87: Family history sources held in Adelaide
If you think it's likely that the National Archives holds records about your family, you can start by doing a quick surname search using NameSearch.
NameSearch lets you search the collection more effectively for records relating to individual people. It's easy to use – simply enter a family name, select the category of records and click 'search'.
NameSearch searches particular categories of records, such as defence service or immigration, rather than the whole of the collection. You can read more about what categories of records it includes in NameSearch – tips on searching.
Please note that if you plan to order any original records to view in a reading room, you will need to access NameSearch after you have registered as an archives user and then logged in to RecordSearch. You can access NameSearch from the link on RecordSearch's general search screen. See Use RecordSearch database for how to do this.
> Go to NameSearch
A quick surname search is only the beginning to researching family history in the National Archives.
You can do more complex searches – and maybe locate more records – using our collection database, RecordSearch. You can request that your family's records be put online, or you can view them in a reading room. Or, if your initial searches haven't found anything, you can ask our reference officers for help.
We have prepared a step-by-step guide to researching at the National Archives. It lays out the research process in a clear and simple way, and includes information about using the RecordSearch database, ordering copies, requesting access examination and visiting a reading room.
> Go to Research: A step-by-step guide to research at the National Archives
The National Archives has made providing access to defence service and immigration records a priority.
> Go to Defence service records – for how to get copies
> Go to Making Australia Home – for how to make an immigration records inquiry
In the national censuses of 2001 and 2006, millions of Australians opted to have their personal census information kept as part of the Census Time Capsule. Family historians were instrumental in arguing for this valuable information to be kept for future generations.
The Time Capsule is being kept secure by the National Archives and is closed for a period of 99 years. It will be released to the public in 2100 and 2105.
> Go to Census Time Capsule