Victorian Genealogy
Finding People and Places in Victoria, Australia.
Victoria was originally inhabited by hunter-gatherer Aboriginal people for at least 65,000 years. The various Aboriginal groups include the Boonwuurung, the Bratauolung, the Djadjawurrung, the Gunai, the Gunditjmara, the Taungurong, the Wathaurong, the Wurundjeri, and the Yorta Yorta.
DNA testing companies will provide an ethnic heritage estimate. While taking this test may prove you have indigenous heritage, it will not prove that you don't have indigenous ancestors. You may not have inherited DNA from your indigenous ancestors. See DNA Tests.
WIKIPEDIA - MAP OF VICTORIAN ABORIGINAL LANGUAGE TERRITORIES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Victorians
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA - MAP SHOWING APPROXIMATELY SOME OF THE AREAS OCCUPIED BY THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF VICTORIA COMPILED BY R. BROUGH SMYTH
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231570037/view
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - MAP OF VICTORIAN ABORIGINAL MISSION STATIONS RESERVES AND SETTLEMENTS
This is currently not operational.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/In%20The%20Community/Mission%20Map.jpg
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING COMMISSION AND FIRST LANGUAGES AUSTRALIA - GAMBAY: A MAP OF AUSTRALIA'S FIRST LANGUAGES
https://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/gambay-languages-map
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER STUDIES - MAP OF INDIGNEOUS AUSTRALIA
This map attempts to represent the language, social or nation groups of Aboriginal Australia. It shows only the general locations of larger groupings of people which may include clans, dialects or individual languages in a group. It used published resources from the eighteenth century to 1994 and is not intended to be exact, nor the boundaries fixed. It is not suitable for native title or other land claims.
https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA - MAP SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF AUSTRALIA BY NORMAN B. TINDALE
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230054338/view
VICTORIAN COLLECTIONS - MASSACRE MAP
This map shows the locations of known killings of Aborigines by Europeans for the 18 years between 1836 and 1853.The deaths of several thousand people are represented. Many thousands more died beyond prying eyes. This map was compiled for the Koorie Heritage Trust’s publication ‘Koorie’ in 1991.
https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/indigenous-stories-about-war-and-invasion
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE - COLONIAL FRONTIER MASSACRES IN AUSTRALIA, 1788-1930
This website has the following aims:
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/
For the period 1836 to 1859 records about the administration of Aboriginal affairs are held by Public Records Office Victoria, while those from 1860 to 1972 are largely, but not entirely, with the National Archives of Australia in Melbourne. The split is the result of 1975 Victorian legislation transferring responsibility for Aboriginal affairs to the Commonwealth. Records that had already been deposited with Public Record Office Victoria remained there; those not already deposited were transferred by the Victorian Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs to the Commonwealth.
In addition records are also held by the State Archives Collection, Museums of History, New South Wales. These records date from before 1851 when Victoria was the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.
HISTORICAL RECORDS OF VICTORIA EDITED BY MICHAEL CANNON (BOOKS)
Indigenous Victorians are listed in Historical Records of Victoria Volume 2A "The Aborigines of Port Phillip 1835-1839" and Volume 2B "Aborigines and Protectors 1838-1839" and Volume 7 "Public Finance of Port Phillip 1836-1840" Addendum 2. This is edited by Michael Cannon. These books are indexed. They are not online but may be found in local libraries.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - KOORIE INDEX OF NAMES 1839-1946
The Koorie Index of Names is a database which can be searched to locate references to Victorian Indigenous people who are mentioned in some archival records that relate to Aboriginal affairs. This is only searchable on-site at the Victorian Archives Centre in North Melbourne or at the Ballarat Archives Centre. It is not online.
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - INWARD REGISTERED CORRESPONDENCE TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PORT PHILLIP DISTRICT RELATING TO ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS 1839-1851 (VPRS 10)
This series contains correspondence about Aboriginal Affairs which was sent to the Superintendent of the Port Phillip District during the operation of the Aboriginal Protectorate between 1839 and 1851. They have been digitized and can be seen online.
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - UNREGISTERED INWARD CORRESPONDENCE TO THE CHIEF PROTECTOR OF ABORIGINES REPORTS AND RETURNS 1839-1851 (VPRS 11 P0)
This series contains correspondence to Chief Protector of Aborigines Robinson from assistant protectors, medical officers and dispensers, and some private individuals. They have been digitized and can be seen online.
STATE ARCHIVES COLLECTION, MUSEUMS OF HISTORY, NEW SOUTH WALES - RECORDS OF 19TH CENTURY BLANKET LISTS AND RETURNS OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLE 184?-1850
These include reports for Port Phillip Bay 184?,1846,1847 and 1850 and Melbourne 1848. These are in the process of being digitized.
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - NATIVE POLICE CORPS, NARRE WARREN 1845-1853 (VPRS 90)
This series consists of one journal of the day to day activities of the Native Police Corps, Narre Warren from 1845 to 1853. It has been digitized and can be seen online.
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER STUDIES - VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PROTECTORS' REPORTS 1861-1959
The website includes a digitized collection of reports relating to the following agencies:
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - ABORIGINAL MISSION STATIONS AND RESERVES 1869-1970s
This is a finding aid for Aboriginal Mission Stations and Reserves. Most of the records in the collection relate to the Aboriginal missions and reserves at Coranderrk, Framlingham, Lake Condah, Ebenezer (Lake Hindmarsh), Lake Tyers and Ramahyuck. The records are not online.
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - BOARD FOR THE PROTECTION OF ABORIGINES CORRESPONDENCE 1869-1957 (VPRS 1694)
This is a finding aid for the Board for the Protection of Aborigines Correspondence. The correspondence is not online.
For the period 1836 to 1859 records about the administration of Aboriginal affairs are held by Public Records Office Victoria, while those from 1860 to 1972 are largely, but not entirely, with the National Archives of Australia in Melbourne. The split is the result of 1975 Victorian legislation transferring responsibility for Aboriginal affairs to the Commonwealth. Records that had already been deposited with Public Record Office Victoria remained there; those not already deposited were transferred by the Victorian Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs to the Commonwealth. The National Archives of Australia also holds Commonwealth Government records relating to Indigenous Australians from 1967 to 1990.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - BRINGING THEM HOME NAME INDEX
The Bringing Them Home Name Index is a list of names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who appear in government files. Staff at the National Archives of Australia can search the Bringing Them Home Name Index for particular names. They can also search a list of World War I Indigenous servicemen. The index is not online. The following is Fact Sheet 175 from the National Archives of Australia.
https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/fs-175-bringing-them-home-name-index.pdf
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE
The following is Fact Sheet 113 from the National Archives of Australia.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - ABORIGINAL PETITIONS
The following is Fact Sheet 268 from the National Archives of Australia.
https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/fs-268-aboriginal-petitions.pdf
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - THE 1967 REFERENDUM
The second question in the 1967 Referendum was to determine whether two references in the Australian Constitution, which discriminated against Aboriginal people, should be removed. The following is Fact Sheet 150 from the National Archives of Australia. It relates to the second question.
https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/fs-150-the-1967-referendum.pdf
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY, 1987-1991
The following is Fact Sheet 112 from the National Archives of Australia.
For Buildings on Indigenous Mission Stations and Reserves see Building Records.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - MAP OF VICTORIAN ABORIGINAL MISSION STATIONS RESERVES AND SETTLEMENTS
This is currently not operational.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/In%20The%20Community/Mission%20Map.jpg
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - ABORIGINAL MISSION STATIONS AND RESERVES 1869-1970s
This is a finding aid for Aboriginal Mission Stations and Reserves. Most of the records in the collection relate to the Aboriginal missions and reserves at Coranderrk, Framlingham, Lake Condah, Ebenezer (Lake Hindmarsh), Lake Tyers and Ramahyuck. The records are not online.
FIRST PEOPLES STATE RELATIONS - ABORIGINAL BURIALS
This includes a fact sheet relating to Victorian indigenous burials prior to the time indigenous Victorians were buried in gazetted cemeteries.
https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/fact-sheet-aboriginal-burials
OLD MELBOURNE CEMETERY 1837-1917
This was the first major cemetery in Melbourne. It is no longer extant. The first burial took place in 1837. No new burial plots were available after 1854. The sale of new plots took place when it reopened in 1864 until it reclosed in 1867. The last burial place took place in 1917 and the cemetery was permanently closed in 1920. The Queen Victoria Market was in close proximity to the original cemetery. When it expanded in 1877, forty five bodies from the Quaker, Aboriginal and Jewish Sections were exhumed and reinterred in MELBOURNE GENERAL CEMETERY. From 1920 to 1922 914 bodies were exhumed and reinterred at FAWKNER, MELBOURNE GENERAL, BOROONDARA, ST. KILDA AND CHELTENHAM CEMETERIES. Some 220 memorials were transferred to the Old Pioneers Section at Fawkner. The Queen Victoria Market site now covers the rest of the cemetery. There are an estimated 6,000 bodies still on the site. The burial register 1837-1865 was destroyed in a fire. There is a stone memorial on the corner of Therry and Queen Streets commemorating these people.
MELBOURNE GENERAL CEMETERY - SOUTHERN METROPOLITAN CEMETERIES TRUST
This was also known as the New Melbourne Cemetery. In 1877, forty five bodies from the Quaker, Aboriginal and Jewish Sections of Old Melbourne Cemetery were exhumed and reinterred in Melbourne General Cemetery. Burial records are not online.
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - ABORIGINAL MISSION STATIONS AND RESERVES 1869-1970s
This is a finding aid for Aboriginal Mission Stations and Reserves. The original records are not online.
Most of the records in the collection relate to the Aboriginal missions and reserves at Coranderrk, Framlingham, Lake Condah, Ebenezer (Lake Hindmarsh), Lake Tyers and Ramahyuck. Cemetery records are included.
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL - INDIGENOUS MILITARY SERVICE
This list provides information about people of Indigenous descent who enlisted for service in conflicts including the Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search/people?roll=Indigenous%20Service
KOORI COURTS 2002-PRESENT
These are for indigenous Australians who have pleaded guilty. They were under the jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court. There are also Koori Children's Courts and Koori County Courts.
AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL INFORMATION INSTITUTE - AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS LAW LIBRARY
This includes High Court of Australia and Federal Court of Australia decisions concerning indigenous issues as well as National Native Title Tribunal of Australia decisions.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/indigenous/
NATIONAL NATIVE TITLE TRIBUNAL OF AUSTRALIA
http://www.nntt.gov.au/Pages/Home-Page.aspx
NATIONAL NATIVE TITLE TRIBUNAL OF AUSTRALIA - REGISTER OF NATIVE TITLE CLAIMS
The Register of Native Title Claims (RNTC) contains information about all claimant applications that have been registered.
NATIONAL NATIVE TITLE TRIBUNAL OF AUSTRALIA - REGISTER OF INDIGENOUS LAND USE AGREEMENTS
Under the Native Title Act, the Registrar is responsible for maintaining the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs), which contains information about ILUAs that have been accepted for registration.
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA
This website has biographies of significant and representative Indigenous persons in Australian history.
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER STUDIES (AIATSIS)
This is a world-renowned research, collections and publishing organisation. It promotes knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, traditions, languages and stories, past and present.
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER STUDIES - ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index (ABI) is an index of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names selected from generally available publications held at AIATSIS. These publications are books and articles created by, with, or about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There are more than 45,000 individual names and more than 75,000 records in the ABI. This is searchable.
https://aiatsis.gov.au/research/guides-and-resources/people-and-languages
PARADISEC: PACIFIC AND REGIONAL ARCHIVE FOR DIGITAL SOURCES IN ENDANGERED CULTURES
PARADISEC (the Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures) is a digital archive of records of some of the many small cultures and languages of the world.
AUSTRALASIAN LEGAL INFORMATION INSTITUTE - AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS LAW LIBRARY
This includes indigenous legal resources including government reports, case law, legislation, law journals and treaties, plus full text of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Bringing Them Home report.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/indigenous/
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE - COLONIAL FRONTIER MASSACRES IN AUSTRALIA, 1788-1930
This website has the following aims:
https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/
CENTRE FOR INDIGENOUS FAMILY HISTORY STUDIES
This web site has been created to provide a resource for those people researching their Aboriginal heritage. The material on this site has been extracted from publically available records in various state and federal archives throughout Australia.
http://www.cifhs.com/default.html
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA - ABORIGINAL PEOPLE AND FAMILY HISTORY
A guide to resources that will help you to research Aboriginal Australian family history.These include the Diane Barwick papers which are held in the Library's Australian Manuscripts Collection. Diane Barwick was an anthropologist who undertook extensive research into kin networks among Aboriginal Victorians.
https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/aboriginalfamilyhistory
FIRST PEOPLES - STATE RELATIONS
First Peoples - State Relations broadly works on Aboriginal policy reform, with a focus on self-determination and treaty, community strengthening and engagement and cultural heritage management and protection. First Peoples - State Relations is also responsible for the implementation of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 and the Aboriginal Lands Act 1970.
https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/
FIRST PEOPLES-STATE RELATIONS - ABORIGINAL HONOUR ROLL
The stories of Aboriginal people, past and present, who have made an outstanding contribution to Victoria.https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/aboriginal-honour-roll
VICTORIAN ABORIGINAL HERITAGE COUNCIL
The Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council was created under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 to ensure that Traditional Owners throughout Victoria play a central role in the protection and management of their heritage.
https://www.aboriginalheritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/
BUNJILAKA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL CENTRE
This is part of Museums Victoria.
https://museumsvictoria.com.au/our-museums/
KOORIE HERITAGE TRUST
This organization relates to the Aboriginal people of South Eastern Australia. It offers a range of programs and services including the only public collection in Victoria dedicated solely to Koorie art and culture comprising artefacts, pictures and photographs as well as an Oral History Program and a Reference Library. It also offers a Koorie Family History Service.
http://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/
LINK-UP VICTORIA
If you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, over 18 years of age, living in Victoria or Tasmania and have been separated from family, community and culture they can assist you to find and be reunited with your family, culture and traditional country.https://linkupvictoria.org.au/
CONNECTING HOME
Connecting Home is an independent Aboriginal organisation supporting survivors of the Stolen Generations across South Eastern Australia. We work collaboratively across the Aboriginal and broader mainstream service sectors, to respond to the varied needs of survivors and their families.https://connectinghome.org.au/
TROVE NEWSPAPERS - THE AUSTRALIAN ABO CALL 1938
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/
KOORI MAIL NEWSPAPERS 1991-PRESENT
The website has a digitized collection of the Koori Mail, Australia's fortnightly national Indigenous newspaper.
STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES - INFOKOORI, AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS INDEX
INFOKOORI is an index to the Koori Mail a national fortnightly newspaper published in Lismore, New South Wales, that focuses on the Indigenous people of Australia, from May 1991 to July 2016. It is also an index to biographical information from various magazines including: Our Aim (1907-1961), Dawn (1952-1969), New Dawn (1970-1975) and Identity (1971-1982). Other historical information about Aboriginal people and communities, from newspapers published in New South Wales, is also being added to INFOKOORI.
https://primo-slnsw.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/search?vid=KOORI
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - FINDING YOUR MOB
Researching Aboriginal family history at the Victorian Archives Centre.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/finding-your-mob
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - FINDING YOUR STORY
Produced by Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, Public Record Office Victoria and the Victorian Koorie Records Taskforce, Finding Your Story is reference tool for Indigenous Victorians seeking information on their separation.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/koorie-services/finding-your-story
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - WALATA TYAMATEETJ-RESEARCH GUIDE
walata tyamateetj is a guide to assist researchers locate records about Aboriginal people in Victoria, held at both Public Record Office Victoria and the National Archives of Australia, in particular the various government agencies overseeing the administration of Aboriginal affairs in Victoria since 1838.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/walata-tyamateetj-research-guide
PUBLIC RECORDS OFFICE VICTORIA - FOOTPRINTS: THE JOURNEY OF LUCY AND PERCY PEPPER
Archival records can help Aboriginal people connect with their histories, trace the experiences of ancestors and learn about the times and places in which they lived. Footprints reveals the story of Lucy and Percy Pepper who were affected by laws and government policies that defined who was ‘Aboriginal’ and who was not in early twentieth century Victoria.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/footprints-publication
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY: THE ROYAL COMMISSION AND ITS RECORDS 1987-91 BY PETER NAGLE AND RICHARD SUMMERRELL, REVISED 2002.
This guide is the only comprehensive listing of the huge volume of records created by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
If you have questions or problems with this site, email the Web Administrator.
