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Family History Month

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.

A group of four women and one man sitting outside a wooden house

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.
Ask a librarian for help researching your family history or arrange a research appointment.

Onsite events and webinars

Person looking at computer screen

Booking required

Introduction to family history

Thu 1 Aug · 12–1pm

Join our family history specialists for this online webinar to start your family history, and discover many useful resources.

Photograph of an Italian family in a yard

Booking required

Italian immigration: researching Italian immigrants to Queensland

Tue 6 Aug · 10–11am

Join State Library research librarians to learn about the resources available for finding information on Italian family history.

Deck of the Artemisia 1849: the first vessel to bring immigrants direct to Moreton Bay

Booking required

Moments in migration: exploring the immigrant experience in images

Fri 16 Aug · 10–11:30am

Join National Archives of Australia and State Library of Queensland in finding and using images to chart the transformative experience of immigration.

A map showing Brisbane streets and buildings in 1848

Booking required

Exploring records of Moreton Bay pre-1860: Colonial Secretary's Correspondence and more

Fri 23 Aug · 10–11:30am

Join speakers from Queensland State Archives and State Library of Queensland who will cover the people, places and events of this period from 1824 to 1860.

Black and white image of First Nations family 1935-1950

Booking required

Who’s Your Mob? Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander family history workshop

Thu 29 Aug · 10am–1pm

Who’s Your Mob? connects Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders with State Library of Queensland’s research expertise and collections.

Family history appointment service

Book a family history research appointment. Our qualified library staff can assist you with your research.

staff member showing client how to use microfilm reader in library

Family history resources

Client using a public computer.

Databases for family history research

Databases are an excellent way to find information on your ancestors, enabling you to gather material from multiple sources. Our family history databases include historical newspapers, and biographical sources.

A typical family watching tv in 1959

Family history webcasts and videos

Family history webcasts cover major family history topics, including birth, death and marriage records, newspapers, immigration and shipping, house histories, World War 1 records, and the roles of the major family history societies and repositories.

First Nations family outside wood building.

Who's Your Mob?

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

From the blog

Miss F. E. Lord standing in the garden

Florence Eliza Lord: more than historic homes

F E Lord (Florence Eliza Lord) is best known for a series of over 140 illustrated articles on historic homes in the Queenslander from January 1930 to December 1932. However, she wrote hundreds more articles providing engaging accounts of early Queensland. Learn about F E Lord and discover her varied works.

Two men sitting at a table reading newspapers ca. 1929

Newspaper sources at State Library

Discover State Library of Queensland's newspaper collection, from microfilm and paper copies to online databases to clipping files, scrapbooks and cuttings books.

Old black and white photograph of two soldiers in WW1 uniforms

First Nations military history video and webpage

State Library of Queensland has released the latest video and webpage in our Who’s Your Mob? First Nations family history research series. The new video and webpage focus on military records, explaining what these records are, how they can help First Nations family history researchers, and where to look for different types of records.