Links to records relating to how our country was settled. Most links have online databases that you can use to search for records by surname, area or address.
Australian Capital Territory
- ACT Heritage Register - organised by suburb or district in which the place is located and includes all the places or objects nominated, provisionally registered or fully registered
Queensland
Queensland Archives has compiled indexes of their archival records. Use these links to get to the page and search the index by name.
- Search the indexes
- Land orders 1865 to 1866
- Land orders 1862 to 1878
- Land orders 1861 to 1874
- Land Orders 1861 - 1878
- Lands sold 1842-1868
- Lands sold 1849 to 1861
- Land sold 1842 to 1859
- Register of lands 1861 to 1868
- Mineral leases 1871-1940
- Miners rights 1874-1880
- TB Home applications 1923 to 1932
- Perpetual Lease Selections of soldier settlements 1917 - 1929
- Leases, Selections and Pastoral Runs and other related records 1850-2014
- Applications by Selectors 1868-1885
- Treasury Rents Payable on Pastoral Runs 1860-1911
- Redeemed Land Orders 1860-1906
- Register of Pastoral Holdings 1863-1880
- Rents payable on pastoral runs 1860 to 1911
- Transfer of runs 1848-1874
- Registers of Agricultural Lessees 1885-1908
- Land selections 1885-1981
- Gympie Mining Claims 1868 - 1901
- Soldier Settlement ledgers 1917 to 1929
- Road and Bridge Job Files 1861-2017
New South Wales
- Court of Claims relating to Land, 1833-1835 - early or disputed land ownership
- De-pasturing Licenses, 1837-46 and 1851 - De-pasturing Licences permitted settlers to graze stock on Crown Lands "beyond the limits of location". The "limits of location" refer to the nineteen counties of settled area extending from Sydney
- Registers of land grants and leases, 1792-1865
- Surveyors' Field Books, 1794-1860 - records surveyor's name, date and locality.
- Surveyors' Letters, 1822-55 - These are letters received from surveyors, mostly relating to matters such as the survey description of farms, reserves, churches, schools, rivers and mountain ranges, or forwarding tracings and plans of these after survey.
- Surveyor General's Crown Plans, 1792-1886 - A listing of the Surveyor General's Crown Plans
- Register of auriferous (gold) leases, 1874-1953
- Closer Settlement Promotion files, 1913-1958 - transfer of land ownership originally obtained under the Closer Settlement and Returned Soldiers schemes
- Closer Settlement Transfer Registers, Jul 1919-Apr 1925 - transfer of land ownership originally obtained under the Closer Settlement and Returned Soldiers schemes.
- Closer Settlement and Returned Soldier's Transfer files, 1907-1951 - Relating to the transfer of land ownership originally obtained under the Closer Settlement and Returned Soldiers schemes.
- Registers of Settlement Purchase, 1905-1937 - land settlement under the Closer Settlement and Returned Soldiers schemes
- Soldier Settlement miscellaneous files index 1916
- Squatters and Graziers, 1833-49 - de-pasturing licences and others who were occupying Crown land beyond the Nineteen Counties, and who were visited by Commissioners of Crown Lands.
- Colonial Secretary Papers, 1788-1825 - surname index of early NSW settlement
- Colonial Secretary - Letters relating to Land - Colonial Secretary's papers, 1826-56
- Colonial Secretary - Main Series of Letters Received, 1826-1894
Victoria
- City of Melbourne building plans and permits (1916-1960)
- City of Melbourne early building records (1850-1915)
- Government Building Photos 1926 to 1965
- Historic plan collection (1836-1984)
- Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works plans (1891-1970)
- Melbourne Harbour Trust Photographs 1870s-1983
- Non-government school building records
- Parish and township plans
- Pastoral runs
- Planning schemes 1946-2007
- Public building files and plans
- Public Works Department plans
- Rate records
- Researching your house
- Valuation registers (1930-1979)
- World War I Soldier Settlement Scheme
Western Australia
- State Records Office of Western Australia Official State records are held by the State Records Office of Western Australia however indexes are not available online as yet. The State is looking to implement a more user friendly way of searching the archives, however in the interim you can search the system for records. They do have a copying service - email or call them for details and costs. Alternatively, contact one of the local Western Australian Historical Societies as they may be able to locate what you are after.
- Historical search requests
- Welcome Walls projects - Free Online Search In Fremantle, over 400 panels commemorating the names of migrants who arrived through this area have been erected at the Western Australian Museum - Maritime at Victoria Quay.
South Australia
- South Australia state library catalogue
- The Manning Index of South Australian History The Index contains many thousands of references to South Australian newspaper and magazine stories for the years 1837 to 1937. It also includes extensive selected text from the indexed publications, other primary and secondary sources and numerous extracts from Mr Manning's own writings.
Northern Territory
Other links
Tasmania
National
[Late update September 2025]