Indigenous Family History

Find Your Story...

Aboriginal family history at the State Library of Western Australia

Whether you're a seasoned researcher or just getting started, the Battye Library holds materials that can help you trace your family tree. The library holds key resources including mission records, photographs, oral history recordings and published books which can offer information on people, places and communities throughout Western Australia.

Getting started

National Family History Week 2010

In case you missed it, please feel welcome to view the paper given for National Family History Week at the State Library of Western Australia. It outlines the different collections within the Battye Library and gives tips for finding information online. Simply follow the link below:

Finding Your Story: Aboriginal Family History at the State Library of Western Australia

Online guides to get you started

The following online resources and websites will give you an overview of Aboriginal records held here at the State Library and in other collections around Western Australia. They will also give some pointers for getting started with your research.

• Looking West: a guide to Aboriginal records in Western Australia / by the Records Tasakforce of Western Australia
• Signposts: a guide for children and young people in care in WA from 1920 / by the Department for Community Development 
• Department for Child Protection - Personal and Family information
• Aboriginal History Research Unit / Department of Indigenous Affairs
• Aboriginal Family History / State Records Office of Western Australia
• Family History Kit / Australian Institute for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
• Find and Connect - Resource for forgotten Australians

Guides to finding information at the State Library

Come into the Battye Library to pick up a range of information sheets to get you started on your Family History journey. Alternatively, you can download them here. These guides will help you to identify useful material in our collection and online.

• Katitjin: a guide to Indigenous records held in the Battye Library / by Heather Campbell
• Key Aboriginal Family History Resources in the Battye Library
• Birth and Marriage Records
• Death and Burial records
• Online Resources
• Finding Photographs
• Where To Next: Collections of Aboriginal Records

Applications and consent forms

Some departments and organisations with personal records require you to complete an Application form and/or a Release of Information consent form. You can download these from the Department of Indigenous Affairs website. Alternatively, they can be downloaded from the Department for Child Protection website. For help with filling out your forms contact the Aboriginal History Research Unit.