- Home
- Articles
- World Records
- Full list of Australia and New Zealand records
- Newspapers, Directories & Social History
Find your ancestors in Newspapers, Directories & Social History
Records in this collection
- Aldine History of New South Wales
- Aldine History of South Australia
- Australian Almanac & Sydney Directory 1834 (O'Shaughnessey)
- Australian Almanac 1831-1873
- Australian Dictionary of Dates & Men
- Australian Handbook 1889, 1900, 1904
- Ballarat & Ballarat East Directory 1865-1866
- Ballarat & District Directory 1904
- Barrier Miner Business Directory 1891
- Blairs Cyclopaedia of Australasia
- Border Watch Almanac and Directory 1934
- Brief History of Canberra 1927
- Chronicles of Early Melbourne 1835-51
- Civic Record of South Australia 1936
- Cook's Interstate Business Directory 1937
- Cyclopedia Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Cook Islands
- Cyclopedia of New South Wales
- Cyclopedia of New Zealand Volume 1-6
- Cyclopedia of South Australia 1907-1909
- Cyclopedia of Tasmania 1900
- Cyclopedia of Victoria
- Cyclopedia of Western Australia 1912-1913
- Dictionary of Australasian Biography
- District Directory of Albury and Regions Around 1901
- Fords Australian Almanac 1852-1853
- Founders of Australia
- Foxs History of Queensland 1919-1923
- Geelong & Western Directory 1866-1867
- Glance at Australia in 1880: Embracing a Squatters and Farmers Directory of the Whole of Australia
- Handbook to Australasia 1859
- Hawkesbury & Shoalhaven Calendar, Directory, Guide & Historical Record
- History of West Australia
- Hue and Cry Police Gazette Index
- International Genealogical Research Directory 1981-1993
- Johns Notable Australians 1906
- Letters from Victorian Pioneers
- Men of the Time in Australia: Victorian Series
- Names in Government Gazettes, Victoria 1858-1900
- National Directory of South Australia 1867-68 (Butler)
- New South Wales Almanac and Country Directory 1921, 1924
- New South Wales Almanac and Hand Book 1854, 1857
- New South Wales Commercial Directory 1947 (Wise)
- New South Wales Country Directory, 1895 - 1929
- New South Wales Country Trades Register 1898
- New South Wales Directory 1867, 1928
- New South Wales Government Gazette 1832-1850
- New South Wales Government Gazettes 1832-1863
- New South Wales PO Directory 1875-1936
- New South Wales Pocket Almanac 1820
- New South Wales Telephone Directory 1913-1953
- New South Wales, Sydney Directory 1847-1913
- New South Wales, Sydney PO Directory 1857 (Cox)
- New Zealand Directory 1866-1867 (Stevens)
- New Zealand Gazette 1876-1886
- New Zealand PO Directory 1890-1933
- New Zealand, Early History of New Zealand 1890
- New Zealand, History of Otago: Origins and Growth
- New Zealand, Industries of New Zealand 1898
- New Zealand, Women’s Suffrage Petition 1893
- Northern Territory Almanac Directory 1887-1890
- Northern Territory Section of the Adelaide Almanac & Directory for South Australia 1908-1930
- Northern Territory Section of the Queensland Post Office Directory 1920-1921
- NSW Calendar and PO Directory 1833
- NSW Telephone Directory 1934-1935 Sydney
- Official Municipal Year Book & Shires Directory New South Wales 1907
- Otago Settlement Jubilee 1898
- Port Phillip Government Gazette 1847
- Pughs Moreton Bay Almanac 1859
- Queensland Government Gazette 1859-1905
- Queensland Government Gazette Consolidated Index 1859-1919
- Queensland PO Directory 1868-1915
- Queensland Telephone Directory 1931-1959
- Queensland, Brisbane Directory & Squatters guide 1876 (Shaw)
- Queensland, Brisbane Directory 1878-1879, 1919
- Queensland, Brisbane PO Directory & Country Guide 1885-1888
- Queensland, Darling Downs Almanac and Directory 1900
- Queensland, Pughs Almanac & Queensland Directory 1860-1927
- Radio Call 1937-1956
- Representative Men of South Australia
- Six Colonies of New Zealand 1851
- Slaters Queensland Almanac 1882,1887 & 1903
- South Australia PO Directory 1903 (Wise)
- South Australia, Commercial & Trades Directory SA 1882-1883
- South Australia, Notable South Australians
- South Australia, Pastoral Pioneers of SA
- South Australian Almanac & Directories 1839-1883
- South Australian Directory 1902-1930 (Sands)
- South Australian Government Gazette 1841-1870
- Stewarts Handbook of Pacific Islands 1921 & 1922
- Strays Collection Australasia 1987-1998
- Tasmania PO Directory (Wise) 1890-1947
- Tasmania Telephone Directory 1953
- Tasmania, Hobart Gazette 1903-1906
- Tasmania, Hobart Town Gazette 1827-1880
- Tasmania, Jubilee History of Tasmania
- Tasmania, Walch’s Tasmanian Almanac 1891-1915
- Tasmanian Cyclopedia 1931
- Tasmanian Directory 1867-68, 1887
- Tasmanian Government Gazette 1907-1919
- Tasmanian Royal Kalendar & Almanack 1849 & 1850
- Teggs New South Wales Pocket Almanac 1842
- The Scottish Australasian 1910-1918
- Victoria and its Metropolis 1888
- Victoria and Riverina Traders Directory 1937
- Victoria, Annals of Bendigo v1 1851-1867 & v3 1892-1909
- Victoria, Melbourne Almanac and General Intelligencer 1858 (Williams)
- Victoria, Melbourne Directory 1854-1893
- Victorian Directory 1904 (Sands)
- Victorian Government Gazette 1851-1901
- Victorian PO Directory (Wise) 1888, 1904, 1914
- Victorian Year Book 1873-1878
- Western Australian PO Directory 1905-1942
- Wragge's Australasian Weather Guide and Almanac 1898, 1903
NEWSPAPERS, DIRECTORIES & SOCIAL HISTORY
Your past? Read all about it!
The newspapers, directories and social history category contains over 25 million
records, covering a period from the 1820s to 1990s. Many of these records are underused
resources, and really are worth delving into if you're exploring your family history or building a family tree!
Government Gazettes were weekly newspapers published by governments to communicate
with officials and the general public. They are useful to monitor the actions of
the government, as well as valuable primary source documents for family historians
as they contain a vast amount of historical and genealogical information. Tens of
thousands of ordinary people and localities are mentioned every year in Government
Gazettes and they will help you reconstruct events and circumstances in the life
of individuals and communities.
Examples of the types of information you will find are government notices, public
works notices, land sales, tenders notices, appointees to government positions,
appointments of magistrates and Justices of the Peace, crown land leases, deceased
estates, dissolution of business partnerships, bankruptcy and insolvency, notices
or rewards for lost or stolen property and stock, unclaimed letters and property,
witnesses to executions and so much more.
Some of the other valuable resources include the
Australian Handbook covering a wide variety of topics such as statistical
information about Australian colonies, police, banking, emigration and more. The
Strays Collection
Australasia is a great tool if your ancestors strayed. A stray is anyone
who married, lived or died away from his/her place of birth. Imagine how many Australians
and New Zealanders down through the last two centuries are strays! There are many
more records to discover, many of these being useful directories such as country
and telephone directories.
This is an example of the original publication which includes a biography on people and information such as name, employment and details of where they were born and dates on when they arrived in Australia. You can also find interesting illustrations of people and places.
This is an example of one of the many government gazettes available. You can find details on land transactions, court notices, notice of acts, tenders and contracts, police auctions of stolen property, statistics, unclaimed letters, impoundments of cattle and horses, reward notices and more. There is a huge amount of information (which include physical descriptions) relating to convicts including absconders, those who were granted tickets of leave and certificates of freedom, deserters, apprehensions and more. Government gazettes offer much more than simply names and places. They will help you reconstruct events and circumstances in the life of individuals and communities.