19th Century British Library Newspapers

A rich collection of primary source material, this database provides full runs of 48 titles from the 19th-century, totaling more than two million easily searchable pages.  Here you will find a broad yet detailed view of British life in the 19th century; from business to sport, from politics to entertainment and the arts. Articles include monumental historic events, such as the battle of Trafalgar and the  defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as reports on the cricket match that started the Ashes, Jack the Ripper and Florence Nightingale.

Coverage: 1800-1900
Access: onsite@slq + offsite access for e-services members and Queensland public library (QPL) account holders
Licence: unlimited users

AHRR: Australian Historic Records Register

Consists of diaries, letters, photographs, sketches, financial documents, recipes, minute books, and other source documents dating from settlement to 1988. Also includes a listing of historic documents held in private hands.

Coverage: Settlement - 1988
Access: online@slq + offsite access for e-services members and Queensland public library (QPL) account holders
Licence: 4 users

Ancestry

Contains a large number of databases and tools for family history research. Some of their major databases include 19th century census records for England, Wales and Scotland, an index to births, deaths and marriages for England and Wales for 1837-2005, Australian electoral rolls (except South Australia) for 1901-1936, British phone books for 1880- 1984 and assorted parish records for England. Ancestry also features a learning centre that includes tips on how to get started, how to organise and chart your family tree and how to read old handwriting.

Coverage: Updated regularly
Access: onsite@slq only
Licence: unlimited

CHRONICLES: The Australian Chronicles - An Index to Sources of Australian Biography

This database is of use to students, researchers and genealogists as a source for biographical information on a wide range of Australians. Source documents include Who's Who in Australia, biographical dictionaries, local histories and published family histories.

Coverage: 1879+
Access: onsite@slq + offsite access for e-services members and Queensland public library (QPL) account holders
Licence: 5 users

Convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database

You can find details for over 123 000 of the estimated 160 000 convicts transported to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries - names, term of years, transport ships and more.
Please note: The original records on which this database is based is not an exhaustive list of all convicts sent to Australia.

Coverage: 1787-1867
Access: freely available

Directory of Australian Associations

Find my past (Australia)

Find my past (UK)

One of the leading online resources for UK family history research. Use it to piece together the story of your British ancestors. It contains birth, marriage and death indexes, census returns from 1841-1911; a wealth of information from parish registers, UK military records and a huge number of English emigration records tracing the movement of passengers out of the UK from 1890 – 1960.

Access: onsite@slq only
Licence: 10 users

Find my past (Ireland)

Produced as a joint venture with the award winning Irish research and publishing house Eneclann, this site provides access to a range of Ireland specific resources, some of which have not previously been available online.  They include Irish prison registers, landed estates records, Griffith’s valuations, historical national directories, indexes to wills up to1858, military records of people involved in the 1798 Rebellion and of Irish men  who lost their lives during WWI, gravestones and memorials, emigration records for individuals who left America bound for Great Britain and Ireland, obituaries, and electoral rolls, 1832-1838.

Access: onsite@slq only
Licence: 10 users

Historic Australian Newspapers, 1803 to 1954

The Australian Newspapers Beta service allows access to historic Australian newspapers digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program.

Coverage: 1803 to 1954
Access: freely available

Miners involved in Queensland mining accidents (1882-1900)

In the period 1882 to 1900, Queensland mining accidents were listed annually in the Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings. This index lists, in alphabetical order by last name, the names of those miners involved and provides details of the accident.

Coverage: 1882-1900
Access: freely available

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

The most authoritative biographical dictionary of British people, containing more than 57,000 entries. Included are noteworthy people in any walk of life who were connected with the British Isles or British history worldwide. 

Coverage:  4th century B.C. onwards.  Does not include living people.
Access: onsite@slq + offsite access for e-services members and Queensland public library (QPL) account holders
Licence: 9 users

Papers Past

Papers Past contains more than one million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. Includes publications from all regions of New Zealand.

Coverage: 1839-1932
Access: freely available

Persons called before Queensland Government committees (1860-1901)

This index covers select committees, royal commissions and boards of enquiry published in the Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings.

The following information is provided:

• the name of the witness
• occupation of the witness
• the name of the enquiry
• the year, volume and page of the Votes and Proceedings.

Approximately four and a half thousand people provided information at these enquiries. The advantage of this list is that it indexes people from a variety of backgrounds and includes civil servants, miners, farmers, graziers, labourers, railway employees, publicans, builders, seaman, clergyman and police.

Coverage: 1860-1901
Access: freely available

Persons before Queensland Government committees (1902-1920)

This index covers select committees, royal commissions and boards of inquiry published in the Queensland Parliamentary Papers.

The following information is provided:

• the name of the witness
• occupation of the witness
• the name of the enquiry
• the year, volume and page of the Votes and Proceedings

Nearly three and a half thousand people provided information at these inquiries from 1902 to 1920. They came from a variety of backgrounds and included civil servants, miners, farmers, graziers, labourers, railway employees, publicans, builders, seamen, clergymen and police.

Coverage: 1902-1920
Access: freely available

Queensland railway employees, June 1890 - June 1901

In the period June 1890 to June 1901, the appointments and removals of Queensland railway employees were listed annually in the Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings. This index collects the names of those employees and presents them in an alphabetical listing.

Coverage: 1890-1901
Access: freely available

Queensland Southern and Western Railway employee appointments and removals, 1866-1876

In the period October 1866 to June 1876, the appointments and removals of employees of the Traffic Branch of Queensland Southern and Western Railway were published in the 1876 (vol. 3) edition of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings. These indexes collect the names of those employees and present them in two alphabetical listings, one for appointments and one for removals. The appointments listing is presented over four pages devoted to appointments, with another two pages listing the removals.

Coverage: 1866-1901
Access: freely available

Queenslanders in the South African War, 1899-1902

Search the State Library's own database for the names of Boer War soldiers whose portraits appeared in 1899-1902 issues of The Queenslander newspaper.

Coverage: 1899-1902
Access: freely available

Times Digital Archive

Complete digital edition of The Times (London), searchable by keyword. Database includes  all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate searching.

Coverage: 1785-2006
Access: onsite@slq + offsite access for e-services members and Queensland public library (QPL) account holders
Licence: 3 users

Who's Who in Australia

Who’s Who in Business in Australia