Every free, official Australian record source used in the guides on this site, in one place. Bookmark this page: it’s the quickest way back to the right search box. Links are checked regularly, but archives do move things, so let me know if one breaks.
Births, deaths and marriages
- NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages: Family History Search. Free index to births over 100 years ago, deaths over 30 years ago and marriages over 50 years ago, back to 1788. Guide: How to search NSW BDM for free
- National Library of Australia: Births, deaths and marriages guide. Links to every state and territory registry, with each one’s date limits.
- The Ryerson Index. A free, volunteer-built index to death and funeral notices in Australian newspapers. Excellent for deaths too recent for the BDM index.
Military records
- National Archives of Australia: RecordSearch. Digitised WWI and WWII service records, free to view and download. Guide: How to find a WWII service record
- DVA WWII Nominal Roll. Search by name to find a service number, date of birth and place of enlistment.
- DVA Nominal Rolls (all conflicts). Rolls for WWI, Korea, Vietnam and other service.
- The AIF Project (UNSW Canberra). A free database of WWI Australian Imperial Force members, with unit, fate and next of kin.
- Australian War Memorial. The Roll of Honour, unit histories, photographs and personal collections.
Newspapers
- Trove. The National Library’s free archive of digitised Australian newspapers, gazettes, photographs and more, from city dailies to small country papers.
Arrivals and immigration
- Museums of History NSW: Immigration and shipping records. The State Archives collection, including assisted immigrant lists and shipping records.
- National Archives of Australia: RecordSearch. Passenger lists, migrant selection documents and naturalisation records, mostly for 20th-century arrivals.
General research help
- National Library of Australia: Family history research guides
- Museums of History NSW: Family history guide
- FamilySearch. A free account gives access to a large collection of indexed records and a shared family tree.
New to all this? Start with How to start your family tree in Australia.