Victorian Genealogy
Finding People and Places in Victoria, Australia.
Also see Aerial and Satellite Photographs.
Images may be found in the following places.
GOOGLE - IMAGES
https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&gws_rd=ssl
FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
Flickr is a popular photo-sharing and hosting service. It supports an active and engaged community where people share and explore each other's photos. You can share and host hundreds of your own pictures on Flickr for free.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS
Public Record Office Victoria holds a wide variety of photographic images; it includes both digitised and non-digitised photograph collections.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/photographic-collections
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - PHOTOWALL
This is an easy way to find photographs from the archival collection.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/photowall
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
Images may be searched through the catalogue.
MUSEUMS VICTORIA - THE BIGGEST FAMILY ALBUM IN AUSTRALIA COLLECTION (WEB ARCHIVE)
The snapshot is dated 24 April 2017.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - PHOTOSEARCH
PhotoSearch is the National Archives of Australia's photographic database. It contains more than 290,000 images. PhotoSearch may be accessed on the bar at the head of the RecordSearch page. The following is Fact Sheet 19 from the National Archives of Australia.
https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/fs-19-PhotoSearch.pdf
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - AUSTRALIAN OVERSEAS INFORMATION SERVICE (AOIS) PHOTOGRAPHS 1947-1996
AOIS photographers travelled to all parts of Australia to take photographs of everyday Australian life. They include subjects such as people, places, events, festivals, fauna, flora, health, agriculture
and industry. The following is Fact Sheet 47 from the National Archives of Australia.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - THE IMMIGRATION PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE (A12111)
From 1945, the Department of Immigration employed photographers to record the arrival and resettlement of migrants and their integration into the Australian community. The collection comprises 36,000 black and white and colour images of which more than 10,000 images have been digitized. The following is Fact Sheet 254 from the National Archives of Australia.
https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/fs-254-the-immigration-photographic-archive.pdf
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - DESTINATION: AUSTRALIA
This features more than 20,000 photographs of migrants who arrived in Australia from all over the world after World War II. It also includes migration stories uploaded by the public. This snapshot is dated 22 August 2022.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - POSTERS
The following is Fact Sheet 131 from the National Archives of Australia.
https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/fs-131-posters.pdf
TROVE - IMAGES, MAPS AND ARTEFACTS
This includes
To find these using keywords: use the pulldown menu to do a specific search for "Images, Maps and Artefacts".
TROVE - DIARIES, LETTERS, ARCHIVES
This includes:
To find these using keywords: use the pulldown menu to do a specific search for "Diaries, Letters, Archives".
VICTORIAN COLLECTIONS
A free collections management system for Victoria's cultural organisations and a tool for students, researchers and curious minds.
https://victoriancollections.net.au/
FAMILYSEARCH - MEMORIES
Users may upload photographs or search for already uploaded photographs.
https://www.familysearch.org/memories/
ANCESTRY - PUBLIC MEMBER PHOTOS AND SCANNED DOCUMENTS
This includes 234 million photos submitted to Ancestry family trees by users who have indicated that their tree can be viewed by all Ancestry members.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/1093/
ANCESTRY - PRIVATE MEMBER PHOTOS
This includes 79 million family tree photos submitted to Ancestry family trees by users who have indicated that their tree can only be viewed by Ancestry members to whom they have granted permission to see their tree.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/1094/
MYHERITAGE PHOTOS AND DOCS
This collection includes public photos, videos and documents posted by MyHeritage members on their family sites. 468 million historical photos may be found here.
ANCESTRY - AUSTRALIA HISTORICAL POSTCARDS
Mary Martin Postcards (www.MaryLMartin.com), Perryville, MD, USA. These are searchable by place.
https://search.ancestry.com.au/search/db.aspx?dbid=1707
FAMILYSEARCH - W.J. MORROW GEELONG ADVERTISER SUMMARY 1850-1866, 1870-1883, 1885-1900
This includes indexes for each year. There is also an index of photographs 1923-1935. Records were in possession of the Geelong Historical Records Centre.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/274090?availability=Family%20History%20Library
BENDIGO FAMILY HISTORY GROUP - PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE BENDIGO ANNALS 1851-1999 (WAYBACK MACHINE INTERNET ARCHIVE)
This includes people and places. The first four volumes of the Annals of Bendigo (1851-1920) by George Mackay are a collection that was gleaned mainly from The Bendigo Advertiser which started in 1853. This snapshot is dated 3 April 2021.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - AUSTRALIA IN FOCUS: PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES BY PETER NAGLE, 2003
This guide is a reference for anyone wanting to access and use the National Archives photographic collection.
Photographs and paintings of people may be dated by the style of clothing.
Photographs may be dated by the location and years of operation of the photographer. See Photographers.
MYHERITAGE - PHOTODATER
This is a free new feature that estimates the year a photo was taken using AI technology. PhotoDater uses an AI model developed by MyHeritage that is trained to understand nuances such as clothing, hairstyles, facial hair, and other objects that are characteristic of a particular decade. It then calculates the estimated year the photo was taken, together with a confidence level and average error range. The feature doesn't work on photos that are newer than 1990 or older than 1860.
CONVICT RECORDS
From the 1820s convict indents included a physical description for identification purposes. These included complexion, hair colour, eye colour, particular marks or scars, and height. See Convict Records.
Many convicts committed further crimes in Victoria and their physical description may be seen in their prison records. Their photograph may also be seen in their prison records from about 1870 if they were given a sentence of six months or longer. See Prison Records.
IMMIGRATION RECORDS
Passports issued by German governments in the 19th century included physical descriptions of the passport holder.
Some immigration records include detailed physical descriptions.
CRIMINAL RECORDS
Physical descriptions of criminals and other people wanted by the police were given in police gazettes. See Criminal Records.
PRISON RECORDS
Physical descriptions of prisoners were given in prison records. From about 1870 prison records included photographs for prisoners given a sentence of six months or longer. See Prison Records.
MILITARY SERVICE RECORDS
Physical descriptions of military personnel are included in military service records. Photographs are included from World War 2 onwards (army and air force personnel). See Military Service Records.
FAMILYSEARCH - COMPARE-A-FACE
Compare-a-Face uses facial recognition technology to analyze a picture of you, along with old family photos. It gives each pairing a resemblance percentage and ranks relatives' faces in order of resemblance.
https://www.familysearch.org/discovery/compare
AMAZON - REKOGNITION
Amazon Rekognition provides fast and accurate face search, allowing you to identify a person in a photo or video using your private repository of face images. You can also verify identity by analyzing a face image against images you have stored for comparison.
https://aws.amazon.com/rekognition/
Some family tree software include photo editors. See Family Tree Software.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Combine, retouch, and remix your pics. Add new color to your old black-and-whites. Make unwanted stuff disappear.
https://www.adobe.com/au/products/photoshop.html
ANCESTRY
An Ancestry subscription includes access to a photo editor which allows the cropping and colourizing of uploaded photographs.
MYHERITAGE - REIMAGINE
This is a downloadable application that can scan and touch up old photos in minutes with AI photo restoration, enhancement, colorization and animation. It also includes PhotoDater for free.
https://www.myheritage.com/reimagine/
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA - CARING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS
https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/Caring%20for%20photographs_0.pdf
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA - CARING FOR FAMILY HISTORY DOCUMENTS
https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/Caring%20for%20documents_0.pdf
ARCHIVAL SURVIVAL
They supply archival quality storage materials to organisations and individuals responsible for the care of collections.
https://www.archivalsurvival.com.au/
CONSERVATION SUPPLIES AUSTRALIA
They aim to provide you with all your conservation and archival needs whether you are a professional in an institution or protecting your family heirlooms.
https://conservationsuppliesaus.com.au/
If you have questions or problems with this site, email the Web Administrator.