Australia Project Reliable Sources

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Contents 1 Introduction relating to Pre-1700 profiles in Australia 2 Reliable Sources post 1788 2.1 Births, Deaths and Marriages 3 Primary Sources for Convicts transported to Australia 4 Secondary Sources for Specific Groups 4.1 Early Convicts 4.2 Australian First Nations People

Introduction relating to Pre-1700 profiles in Australia

Prior to European colonisation in 1788, Australian First Nations People were the sole inhabitants of the continent we now call Australia. Any creation of pre-1700 profiles of Australian Aboriginal People or Torres Strait Islanders should be referred to the leaders of the Australia Project for further review.

We are not aware of any pre-1700 reliable sources for Australia.

No other pre-1700 profiles are relevant to the Australia Project.

Reliable Sources post 1788

The Australia Project has the following page of sources and source citations relevant to Australia after 1788, including the separate Colonies up until 1901, and the Commonwealth of Australia following Federation in 1901.

Australia - Sources and Citation Examples

This page includes sources considered reliable by the Australia Project, but not specifically relevant to pre-1700 profiles.

We plan to add some of the information on that page to this page, so it is readily accessible by the broader WikiTree Community.

Births, Deaths and Marriages

• Australian Capital Territory BMD
• NSW Justice Department BMD
• Northern Territory Justice Department BMD
• Queensland Justice Department BMD
• South Australia Justice Department BMD
• Tasmania Justice Department BMD
• Victoria Justice Department BMD
• WA Justice Department BMD (see also Space:Western Australia Civil Register Team)

Burials & Cremations

• Metropolitan Cemeteries Board for Perth, Western Australia

Primary Sources for Convicts transported to Australia

• Convict transportation records, NSW census records and convict musters
• Records of trials in England, Scotland and Ireland.

Secondary Sources for Specific Groups

With secondary sources, specific details should be evaluated against the references cited in the text.

Early Convicts

The convicts who arrived between 1788 and 1830 can be difficult to research in their country of origin, due to limited primary sources linking potential records in their country of origin to the specific convict.

Secondary sources and databases include:

• Gillen, Mollie, The Founders of Australia : A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet. Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1989

• Cobley, John, The Crimes of the First Fleet Convicts, (first published 1970)

• Flynn, Michael, The Second Fleet : Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790, (1993).

• Cobley, John, The Sydney Cove books: Vol 1 (1788), Vol II (1789-1790). Vol III (1791-1792)Vol IV (1793-1795), and Vol V (1795-1800). Useful for early trial records.

• The Biographical Database of Australia (BDA) https://www.bda-online.org.au/ (subscription required, or may be accessible through some libraries)

• Digital Panopticon https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/ (this resource may not as reliable as the above records)

Australian First Nations People

Below is a list of sources relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander genealogy. They are of variable reliability and information contained in them should be evaluated against other sources, particularly contemporary records. If you have additional sources please contact Gillian to add them.

• Ford, Geoff (2012), The Place, and Family, of Aborigine Sarah Wallace (Mrs Ferdinand or Granny Lewis)
• Whitfield, Walter, self-published article, 2001