Flag and government ensign of New South Wales (internal waters only)
There is evidence of human habitation in NSW for almost 47,000 years[1]. In 1788, with the arrival of the First Fleet, Sydney Cove, became the site of a penal colony, the first permanant European settlement on the continent. In time more colonial settlements were established along the coast to the north and south of Sydney. Free settlers soon arrived and moved west over the Great Dividing Range. The discovery of gold, development of the large Snowy Hydro Irrigation Scheme and migration after the global conflicts brought more migrant to NSW, creating the culturally diverse population we have today.
The Baiame's Ngunnhu - Aboriginal Fish Traps at Brewarrina - are estimated to be over 40,000 years old.
It's hard to estimate the number of aboriginal people in NSW prior to white settlement.
Before European settlement, the area that was to become New South Wales hosted seventy or more Aboriginal languages and dialects... These 'traditional' or 'ancestral' languages, as they are sometimes referred to, include:
Muruwari, Ngiyampaa, Paakantji and Yandruwandha in northwest NSW
Mathi-mathi, Paakantji and Wiradjuri in southwest NSW
Gamilaraay, Muruwari, Ngiyampaa, Wangkumara, Wiradjuri and Yuwaalaraay in central NSW
Awabakal, Bidawal, Dharawal, Dharuk, Dhurga, Gundangara, Monero, Ngarigu, Ngunawal, Walbanga, Wandandian and Yorta Yorta in southeast NSW.
Each of these groups spoke a different language or dialect, but people could usually speak the language of neighbouring people as well as their own.[2]
Aboriginal societies across Australia had complex and nuanced kinship systems.
An Australian Family-Party from New South Wales; Lithograph from the book 'History of Mankind' by Friedrich Ratzel
Elders provide knowledge and guidance to the younger members of the extended family group, forming a bridge to the songs, stories, skills and traditions of the past. Storytelling ensures that the heritage and traditions, culture and art of the community are passed down to younger generations and, as children grow older, more information is passed on to them about their culture... Some information is sacred and can only be passed on to certain people at certain times, for instance only to initiated men or women who have carried out certain initiation rites. ...the entire community is structured and defined through complex kinship ties. These ties provide the basis for law, society, education, ownership of land, marriage, and social and moral obligations and support within Aboriginal culture.[3]
Related family groups extending several generations ranged around defined geographical areas. With the arrival of Europeans these complex family units were disrupted by disease, dispossession and forced separation. From 1910, it became government policy to remove children from traditional settings and place them with white families or on Missions. This policy continued into the 1970s.
Thousands of children were forcibly removed by governments, churches and welfare bodies to be raised in institutions, fostered out or adopted by non-Indigenous families, nationally and internationally. They are known as the Stolen Generations. The exact number of children who were removed may never be known but there are very few families who have been left unaffected — in some families children from three or more generations were taken. The removal of children broke important cultural, spiritual and family ties and has left a lasting and intergenerational impact on the lives and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. [4]
Today IATSIS - Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies - plays a pivotal role in helping people with first nations heritage rediscover their family history.
In 1787 the boundary of New South Wales was set, in London, as a line through the continent at 135 degrees of longitude. In 1828, the boundary was moved across to 129 degrees of longitude and the western part became Western Australia. In 1836 South Australia took a 'bite' from New South Wales. The establishment of Queensland in 1859 divided the remainder of New South Wales into two. The western borders of Queensland and South Australia were adjusted in 1862 to align the borders.[5]
WHERE, WHEN and HOW your ancestor arrived in Australia will inlfuence which archive you need to look in for information about their life in NSW.
Convicts
The costume of the Australasians, New South Wales Sketchbook: Sea Voyage, Sydney, Illawarra, Newcastle, Morpeth, c.1825, Edward Charles Close, SLNSW
In 1788, with the arrival of The First Fleet - 11 ships carrying over 1400 convicts plus soldiers - a British penal colony was established on the east coast, at Sydney Cove. Similar colonial settlements were established along the east coast, as far south as Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania), and Moreton Bay (Queensland). These were all managed by the colonial government, under the ultimate authority of the crown - first under King George, then, from 1837, Queen Victoria.
If your ancestor came to Australia as a convict, records may exist in both British and Australian archives. Court records, prison registers and ship manifests may be in the UK National Archives. Convict registers, authorisations to marry or Certificates of Freedom, issued when a sentence had been served, are housed in state archives around Australia. Much of this data has now been digitised.
Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1913 - TRanscriptions of Old Bailey trials. Search by a variety of parameters including keyword, name, date or crime. Records include links to Digital Panopticon, a site that cross references millions of records from fifty datasets, relating to the lives of 90,000 convicts from the Old Bailey.
Convict Records - combined dataset of convicts of transported to Australia from 1787 to 1867. includes data from the British Convict Transportation Register, courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.
Centenary of Federation - Italian Settlers Memorial, Armadale, NSW
The first first free settlers, five single men and two families, arrived in 1793. Initially settlers were overwhelmingly from the UK - England, Ireland and Wales. When gold was discovered in NSW in 1851, a rush brought people from Europe and Asia into the country chasing their fortune.
Even with immigration restrictions people came to New South Wales from across Europe. In the 1970s, an influx of boats of Vietnamese refugees eventually led to an increase in migration from Asia. Today, NSW has a diverse population with over half of residents having at least one parent who was born overseas[6].
Shipping lists, Immigration & Naturalisation records
Before 1924, the administration and recording of shipping and passenger arrivals was the responsibility of each Australian colony or state. The surviving original records are now held in each respective state archives or public records office. [NLA] either holds copies of these records or provide access to them. After 1924 immigration became the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government. All immigration and naturalisation records after 1924 are held at and available through the National Archives of Australia.[7]
British migrants on the deck of Georgic, Australia, 1949, Norman Herfort, Pix Magazine, from photographic negative, SLNSW
This collection contains records of passengers traveling to New South Wales Australia as assisted immigrants. This means their passage was paid for by an immigration scheme. These passengers arrived in Sydney, Newcastle, Moreton Bay or Port Phillip. The index includes the passenger's name, age, ship, arrival place, and year as well as any comments about their travel.[8]
Research your ancestors on MyHeritage
Births, Deaths & Marriages
NSW Birth, Marriage and Death records are held by the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. They have a dedicated page for family history research and indexes to search for historic certificate numbers. These indexes are restricted by the provisions of the privacy act.
In NSW indexes are accessible for genealogical research for:
Only a few early census records have survived in Australia. Historic Australian electoral rolls can indicate where an individual lived at certain times in Australia. On MyHeritage, you can search for New South Wales registered voters via the Australia Electoral Rolls, 1893-1949 collection in the catalog. SImply put New South Wales in the Place field to narrow down your search.
Directories
Sydney Sands Directory 1899
The Sands Sydney, Suburban and Country Commercial Directory was first published in 1858. It contained information including street addresses and businesses, farms and country towns. It's primary function was as a post office directory so it provided lists of householders, businesses and public institutions, as well as government agencies and officials[9].
The NSW Sands directtories can be searched for free at The City of Sydney Archives website. The available series consists of directories published each year from 1858-59 to 1932-33 (except for 1872, 1874, 1878 and 1881)[10].
MyHeritage holds a series of postal and telephone directories for NSW including:
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