Family history month

August is National Family History Month Australasia and State Library of Queensland joins various libraries, archives, genealogy societies and other organisations in celebrating this event. It's a great time to start exploring your family tree or follow new leads.

Collections on display

Visit us during August and enjoy our collection display in the level 3 reading room.

The display includes essential resources for family history research, with notes about each items' usefulness.

You can also sit back and enjoy a lovely digitial display of images from our collection.

Ask our librarians and library technicians at the level 3 information desk for guidance witrh your family history research.

Books and maps on display in State Library of Queensland, level 3

The German pioneers who arrived in the Susanne Goddefroy in 1864, Brisbane Courier, 31 Jan 1914, pg12

Featured blogs

Five Pioneer Registers from State Library’s collection.

Peer into pioneer registers

Pioneer registers are useful sources for research about settlers in particular districts.

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South Sea Islanders working on a sugar cane plantation

From Across the Seas: Tracing Australian South Sea Islanders

Uncovering the stories of a minority group, Australian South Sea Islanders.

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Newspaper advertisement for a "Linray" Home, "Courier Mail 17 January 1934

The different house in the street: a lesson for today?

Learn about the different resources you can use to discover the history of a house through an enquiry received at State Library of Queensland.

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German pioneers who arrived in the Susanne Goddefroy in 1864, sitting in a group

Tips for tracing your elusive German emigrant

Tips and resources for tracing your elusive German ancestor.

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Write your family’s migration story (part 1)

Some ideas to get you started with writing your family’s migration story

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Sketches of the "Indus" emigrant ship, taken from the front page of "The Graphic" 29 June 1872

Write your family’s migration story (part 2)

More ideas to help you along with writing your family’s migration story

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Having trouble finding immigrant arrivals in the 1860s?

Read about early Queensland immigration records, ship passengers lists, newspapers and more.

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Unlocking access to FamilySearch Affiliate records

State Library of Queensland, now a licenced FamilySearch affiliate library

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Cribb and Foote family photograph

Getting started

Our family history pages are a great place to start for family history research.

Find out the steps involved in tracing your family tree.
Consult our useful websites for family historians and discover more places to search online.
Research guides will help to lead you on new and interesting paths.
Search our free indexes to see if your ancestor appears.
Become a member to access historical newspaper databases from home.