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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are kindly advised that this website includes images, sounds and names of people who have passed.

All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified. Certain words, terms or descriptions may reflect the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written, but are now considered inappropriate in today's context.

Key to library resources

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Getting Started

"Except for those with exclusively Indigenous ancestors, anyone researching Australian family history will sooner or later find an ancestor who migrated to Australia from 1788.”

When you're starting to research your family history we suggest that you begin with yourself and work backwards... one generation at a time.

You can then work through NSW birth, death and marriage records and you will eventually get to a point where there are no more records.

Our Shipping and Passenger Records Research Guide is a great place to start. Use our suggested resources to search passenger records, then delve deeper into the records of ships arriving in Australia.

Accessing Library Collections