🇦🇺 🇳🇿Australia & New Zealand Genealogy: Follow Your Family’s Journey

For Australia, use the FamilySearch state and territory guides to identify civil-registration and local research routes. Its country guide explains that birth, death and marriage registration is generally a state responsibility, not a single national collection.

For New Zealand, start with its separate country guide and official archive guidance. Check which institution holds a particular record and the date restrictions or fees before ordering it.

Search the National Archives of Australia’s RecordSearch for relevant federal holdings and use Archives New Zealand for its own collections. Read each catalog description for dates, coverage, digitization and access status.

Use names alongside arrival details, relatives, addresses and occupations. Do not assume an arrival-port match proves identity or that convict transportation describes every family’s history.

Use newspapers, cemetery records, probate and local records to test relationships. Record gaps and conflicting statements rather than adopting an unsourced family tree.

Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori family research may involve community-held knowledge, cultural protocols and sensitive records. Ask the relevant archive or community for appropriate guidance; government records may contain harmful language or omit important family relationships.