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QUEENSLAND STATE ARCHIVES
(Resources for Family History}
Queensland
State Archives collects and preserves the public records of Queensland and now
through the Internet the Archives put out a bulletin monthly advising the public
of their resources.
State Archives does not collect manuscripts, newspapers,
photographs, books or private archives as business, church or society records.
For these, please contact the John Oxley
Library, a section of the State Library of Queensland specialising in the
history of Queensland.
Researchers
unfamiliar with archival records may find them rather confusing and difficult to
use. Records are preserved in their original order together with the finding
aids created by the relevant department. In general records are not indexed by
name, geographical location or very specific subjects. Therefore locating the
required information is often a very time consuming process involving a search
through large quantities of records with no certainty that any relevant
information will be found. Remember there is no single subject or name index to
all archival records. You may have to consult the records of many different
government departments depending on the information required.
There are many
series of records which are useful for genealogical searches. The most
frequently uses are listed below.
Passenger lists for immigrants
arriving in Queensland by ship from Europe 1848 onwards. There is a card index
by name of immigrant in the Public Search Room.
State electoral rolls,
1860 onwards. To use these records you need to know the approximate date and place of
residence. Use the key maps in the Public Search Room to work out the relevant
electorate at that time.
Wills
and intestacies 1857 onwards. To use
these records you need to know the approximate date and place of death.
Inquests, 1859 onwards, to establish
causes of deaths and causes of major fires. To use these records you need
to know the approximate date and place of death or fire.
Naturalizations,
1858 onwards,
(for non-British immigrants only). It helps to have an approximate idea of date
of arrival in Queensland and/or
date of naturalization.
Land tenure,
1840s onwards. Records or crown leases of all types, e.g. selections
(farms) and pastoral leases (stations) are held at State Archives. These are
often quite complicated to use. However a good starting place for information on
selections would be the indexes to selectors, 1868-1905, if you have the name of
the selector. For pastoral leases you could start with the index to consolidated
pastoral leases, dating from 1884 (LAN/N2)
if you know the name of the station. These indexes are in the Public Search
Room.
Admission registers for many State Schools
are held at State Archives. There is an alphabetical list of School Admission
Registers held at State Archives in the Public Search Room.
Maps. These have two main uses for genealogists.
Firstly they may
be used to locate place names.
Secondly,
parish maps often give names of original lessees or owners of land. there is a
Map Catalogue by geographical location held in the Public Search Room.
Blue
Books, 1859 onwards. These are yearly
lists of persons employed in the public service. They are indexed by name and
are located in the Public Search Room.
For further
assistance in using the records, please see the Reference Archivist Holding and
Findings Aids.
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