Skip to main content

Who's Your Mob?

First Nations family outside wood building.

Who's Your Mob?

First Nations Family History

Tracing your First Nations family history and don't know where to start? Discover key resources for family history research.

The material displayed contains Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and has been made available in accordance with State Library of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections Commitments.

Video guides

Discovering your family history can be challenging, especially when researching First Nations ancestry. Kickstart your First Nations family history research with State Library's Who's Your Mob? video guides.

The Who's Your Mob video guides were developed with the support of Telstra and the Deadly Digital Communities initiative, helping to develop digital skills through exploring family history.

Researching your family history

Three First Nations women standing outside a wooden shed

Before you begin

Where did your family come from? Were they affected by government legislation? Discover some of the challenges you might experience.

Two male teachers in a classroom with Aboriginal children sitting at desks

Getting started

What do you want to find out? Learn how to organise your material and how to discover more.

Wedding photo of three First Nations couples with the men all in service uniforms

Births, deaths and marriages

Find out about the births, deaths and marriages records you can access. Learn how these records can help you chart your family tree.

Black and white image of Aboriginal children, six sitting, three standing behind the others, in front of some bushes

Station, mission, police and church records

Discover what other types of records you can use to research your family. Learn how to access these records.

Page of six photos from 'The Queenslander Pictorial' 1917

Did you know newspapers can help you learn more about your family? Learn where to access newspapers online and at State Library.

Performance by Yidinji youths dressed in yellow, dancing at Palm Island centenary celebrations, 2018.

A photograph tells a story often not captured elsewhere. Discover State Library’s collection and how to access it.

Black and white image of Dr Norman Tindale holding a young Aboriginal child

The Tindale Collection

Looking for information about Aboriginal family histories in Queensland? Explore the Tindale Genealogical Collection.

Pencil drawings of the heads and shoulders of three children

The Margaret Lawrie Collection

Discover a valuable tool for your Torres Strait Islander family history research. Access genealogies of Torres Strait Islander peoples.

1st Reinforcements Queensland to Egypt, 1918

Military records

First Nations peoples have served in military conflicts from the Boer War onwards. Discover some vital sources for locating military service records.

Stack of books relating to First Nations peoples

Extending your research

Explore further resources for First Nations family history, both online and within State Library’s collection.

Images used in Who's Your Mob videos

PDF · 2 MB

You may also like

A group of Aboriginal school children standing in front of palm trees

AIATSIS family history kit

Use the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies family history kit to help organise your research.

Woman gesturing to the screen of a laptop being used by a young person. A lamp is pointed towards them and behind them are wooden shelves.

Ask a librarian

State Library of Queensland staff can help answer your questions and offer research guidance.

Boys carrying a bundle of cabbage palm leaves

First Nations collections

Explore the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through the photographs, manuscripts, oral histories and digital stories collections of the John Oxley Library.