Events

National Family History Week: 2 - 10 August 2008
Join us for a range of tours, talks, seminars and more. All events are free and volunteers from the Western Australian Genealogical Society (Inc.) will be available to assist you with your enquiries on event days.

Key Resources

Services

The Genealogy Centre
A starting point for genealogists is the Genealogy Centre located in the Alexander Library Building in Perth, Western Australia. The strength of this collection is records relating to each of the states of Australia, as well as to New Zealand and Britain.

View the latest titles in the Genealogy Centre.

Major References

Compiling Your Family History
Nancy Gray's guide is a very useful starting place for the beginner in genealogy. This is the twentieth edition of a volume first published in 1965.

Genealogical Research Directory
This is an annual listing of surnames being researched by genealogists throughout the world. A contact address for each genealogist is provided to enable researchers pursuing ancestors by the same surname to contact one another. This publication also lists the addresses of family history societies and archives.

Community Resources

Interest/Support Groups

Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc.
This is an active group of genealogical enthusiasts! Their web site provides many useful links.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has gathered genealogical records from all over the world. These records are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and through Family History Centres throughout the world.

FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service
This fantastic site run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints allows for online searching of the Ancestral File and the International Genealogical Index (British Isles, North America and Finland regions). These databases provide access to the vast collection of genealogical resources collected and indexed by the Church which is based in Utah, U.S.A.

Other Information Resources

Net Links

State Records Office
The State Records Office (SRO) contains numerous records that are of great value to those undertaking family history research, such as passenger lists, convict records, court case files and wills to name but a few.

The National Archives
The National Archives holds an abundance of material of interest to family historians. While they hold some colonial records, the richest sources in the collection for genealogists are those records created during the 20th century. The records they hold reflect the growing involvement by government in the lives of individuals throughout this century - whether as immigrants and refugees, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, members of the defence forces, government employees, recipients of welfare, subjects of surveillance by security and intelligence agencies, or as prisoners of war or internees.

Australia-Cemeteries
Fantastic site if you are interested in Australian cemeteries from a family history perspective or just ghoulish! This website contains alphabetical lists of cemeteries in each state. Each cemetery may have links to further information such as the cemetery home page and even in some cases actual burial data.

Australian C19th Censuses
This web site is useful for location of Australian censuses (the few which weren't destroyed) and musters.  However it does not indicate census that are held in the State Library of Western Australia.

Australian Electoral Commission
The State Library no longer has access to electoral information from 7/6/2004. To access more up-to-date electoral roll information for the various States see the above website for details.

Australian Family History Compendium
AFHC is an Internet resource for people researching their family tree. It contains information on a wide variety of categories related to genealogy, with a strong emphasis on Australian material.

Australian Red Cross : Around the world tracing and refugee services
This is for families that have been separated due to conflicts, natural disaster or other humanitarian crisis. To set an enquiry in motion you need to use "contact us" and select "tracing enquiries" from the drop down box.

Australian War Memorial
This site provides searchable databases, which have been produced from names and associated information based on records in its collections. They include the Roll of Honour (Details of Australians who died while on active service with Australian forces), Commemorative Roll (Details of Australians who died while on active service with allied forces), Nominal Rolls (Details of people who served in various conflicts) and Honours and Awards (Details of Honours and Awards made or recommended to Australians while on active service -not information on campaign or service medals).

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
This website will assist you locate graves of Commonwealth men and women who died in the two World Wars.

Cyndi's List
United States based Cyndi's List contains links to over 29,000 genealogical sites.

Digital Library of Historical Directories
The Leicester University provides this digital archive of a selection of 18th, 19th and 20th century local and trade directories for England and Wales. 

First Families 2001
First Families 2001 is a database and a collection of stories about the people of Australia, past and present.

FREE BMD
The free BMD (births, deaths and marriages) site provides free internet access to Civil Registration index information for England and Wales. The whole index has not yet been transcribed but is a work in progress. A number of counties in England are making local registrars' indexes available online, which are more recent than those available on FreeBMD.  Some have been added to these pages so please look under individual hot topics "Netlinks".

FreeCEN
Free to view online searchable database of the 19th century UK census returns.  Over 1 million entries in the database (as of October 2003).  Updated as new items become validated and available.

Genealogical Abbreviations and Acronyms
This site will assist you to understand genealogical abbreviations and acronyms.

Genealogical Resources in the United Kingdom and Ireland
A major site providing genealogy related information for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Medieval and Early Modern Sources for Family History
Medieval and early modern sources for family history from The National Archives in the UK.

Salvation Army Family Tracing Service
This site is for assisting people in locating and reuniting family members whose current wherabouts are unknown only. Please note the "we do not" list.

Some Notes on Medieval English Geneaology
This website provides a brief, practical guide to medieval English genealogy. It provides an impression of the sources available and how they can be used.