Family History

Interested in researching your family history?

• Start with yourself and work backwards.

•  Follow the unusual name, the line with the most stories, or the elderly relative with the information you cannot find in official records.

• Identify your heritage photos.

• Carry out as much research as possible in Australia, before you "go" overseas.

• Historical birth, marriage and death certificates will help you confirm family stories and grow your family tree.

• Keep organised with a free software program to record all your research and start an online tree or a blog.

• Collaborate with others.

• Aim to share your research with others.

• Explore our Starting your Family History Tip Sheet to get started.

• Search the collection for your topic of interest and visit the Genealogy Reference collection in the History room at Ivanhoe Library and Cultural Hub.

• Keep in touch with YPRL's local and family history programming.

• Explore Genealogy e-Resources at the library.

Ancestry Library Edition

Only available on site in the library

Ancestry® is the world's leading resource for online family history and genealogy among the genealogy giants along with the free website FamilySearch.

Get started by choosing the Search link, then the Card Catalog to search record collections specifically related to your research. You can filter your search by category, location and dates. You can also sort the catalogue by Database title, date added, date updated, and record count. It is always worth a look as new content is added regularly.

Search these popular record sets:

• Australia. Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980

• Australia and New Zealand. Find A Grave Index, 1800s - current

• Australia. Birth, marriage and death indexes (separate collections, various time frames)

Find My Past Library Edition

Only available on site in the library

Over half of Australians claim British and Irish ancestry.  Search the UK Census and 1939 Registry as well as other collections for Australia and New Zealand, United States and Canada.

Please note the 1921 Census is searchable, but records cannot be viewed on the Library Edition.  Some historical newspapers are not also accessible.

Search  these popular local record sets:

• Victoria Electoral Rolls

• Australian Imperial Force nominal roll 1914-1918

• Western Australia and South Australia Postal Directories 

British Newspapers Archive

Only available on site in the library.  Create a free account and bookmark your favourite articles.

The British Newspaper Archive is an online newspaper archive created by the partnership between Findmypast and the British Library. Includes over 65,500,000 pages dating from the 1700s.

Search people, places, events and more or browse by date, country, county, place and recently added.

Gale Primary Sources

Access from home with library membership

Access a single, integrated search across all primary source collections included in the Gale Primary Sources platform. The platform includes 17th, 18th and 19th century British newspapers and select periodicals as well as material related to 19th century British politics, theatre and music, children's literature, and maps and travel literature.