Ever wondered what great granddad did for a living? This list comprises links to various sources of occupation and trade / apprentice information.
Many databases are searchable online by surname or trade.
Jump to:
- Australian Capital Territory
- Queensland
- New South Wales
- Victoria
- Western Australia
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Northern Territory
- National
Australian Capital Territory
- ACT Memorial - a database of men and women who have an association with the ACT and who served in conflicts
Queensland
- Queensland CaseLaw collections - decisions made by Queensland Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, District Court, Planning and Environment Court, Land Court, Industrial Court, Magistrates Court, Civil and Administrative Tribunal and other courts and tribunals, as well as sentencing information.
- Queensland railway employees 1890-1915
- Southern and Western Railway employees 1866-1876
- Queensland mining accidents 1882-1945
- Persons called before Queensland Government committees 1860-1920
- Justices of the Peace 1857 to 1957
- Colonial Secretary's Papers 1788-1825
- Business - Companies 1863-1959
- Business - Companies, Rockhampton 1904-1975
- Business - Stage licences 1891-1904
- Government - Civil servants 1865-1867
- Government - Imperial pensions 1872 to 1915
- Government - Indigence cases 1899-1948
- Register of Seamen 1882-1919
- Teachers 1860 to 1905
- Teachers in the Education Office Gazettes 1926-1952
- Windsor Town Council Honour Roll 1914 to 1925
- Farm Lads 1922-1940
- Reformatory School for Boys 1871 to 1906
- School Admissions Registers 1878-2001
- School inspectors reports 1872-1875
- School Inspectors' Reports 1974-1991
- Corporate School Files - Works/Facilities (Works Establishment Files) 1871-1998
- Education Office Gazette Scholarships 1900 - 1940
- Teachers 1860 to 1905
- Teachers in the Education Office Gazettes 1926-1952
- Toowoomba Girls Industrial School admissions and discharges 1881 to 1903
- Toowoomba Girls Reformatory discharges 1882 to 1903
- Outdoor Relief 1892-1920
- Pensions 1908-1909
New South Wales
- NSW State Archives search - You can search the NSW State Archives here. It is the largest collection of records relating to the history of NSW and the lives of its people. It comprises over 14 million items. The records in the Collection are arranged firstly by the Government agency (a department, branch, office or official) that created them, then into series of records, then into items (bound volumes, files, documents, or objects) within the series. From there you may be able to order a copy of the records online, depending on availabilty and age of the record.
- Australian Medical Pioneers Index A database of colonial doctors to 1875
- Chemists, Druggists and Pharmacists, 1876-1920
- Register of Firms index 1903-1922 owners of firms registered under the Firms Act, 1902.
- Register of auriferous (gold) leases, 1874-1953
- Police Service Registers police appointments from 1852 to 1913.
- Publicans' Licences, 1830-61
- Railway Employees - Nominal Roll of the First Railway Section (AIF)
- Australian Railway Supply Detachment 1914
- Railway Employment Records 1856 to 1917
- Railway Employment Records This index contains 763 entries from two series of records: a register of salaried officers working for the NSW Government Railways and Tramways, 1856-1890; and a personnel register for Darling Harbour, 1909-32.
- NSW Railway archives including over a million photographs, 60,000 drawings and thousands of timetables, as well as film, sound recordings, reports and more than 90 years of ARHS magazines, which feature articles covering many aspects of railways in Australia.
- Railways and Tramways Roll of Honour, 1914-19 Name search for railway employees who died in the First World War.
- Squatters and Graziers, 1833-49
- Teachers' rolls, 1869-1908
- Nurses Index
- Fire Commissioners Personnel
Recommended reading...
Unofficial Ancestry.com Workbook: A How-To Manual for Tracing Your Family Tree on the #1 Genealogy Website
Your Step-by-Step Guide to Ancestry.com!
Ancestry.com keeps growing, but how can you find your ancestors on the huge and ever-changing site? In this workbook, an essential companion to the Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com, you'll learn how to use Ancestry.com to its full advantage with detailed guides to searching Ancestry.com's digitized records. Each section briefly discusses how to search Ancestry.com for a particular type of record (including census records, vital records, and historical publications), then shares detailed, illustrated tutorials that put those strategies into practice. And with the worksheets and genealogy forms in each section, you can easily plan your own Ancestry.com searches and apply what you've learned.
Victoria
- Apprenticeship records (1926-1990)
- Non-Government School Records (1906-1996)
- Non-government school teacher records
- Digitised photographs of schools & other education buildings 1890-1967
- School Records (1839-1873)
- School Records after 1873
- Teacher Record Books, 1863-1959
- Ports and ships - employment records 1851 on
- Railway and train employment 1855-2014
- Roads employment 1855 on
- Tram and bus employment 1877-2003
- Special Case Files, Education Department, 1862-1977
- Copy of Inward and Outward Correspondence, Board of Education, 1849-1851
- Photographs of State School Buildings in Victoria 1890-1967
- Early Publicans - Defunct Hotel Licenses (1907 – 1977)
Western Australia
South Australia
Some useful websites dedicated to South Australian history are now defunct, making it difficult to search for records online. The South Australian official archives are also not online however some of their records exist on third party sites such as FamilySearch and Ancestry (both require logins). We are endeavouring to expand our South Australian online records collection at our data site, Gendata.com.au - please visit regularly as we expand our SA collection - it's free and does not require an account. In the meantime you may find the following sites useful.
- 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.
- Genealogy South Australia
- The Pioneers Association of South Australia Inc
Tasmania
Northern Territory
The Nothern Territory Department of Arts and Museums is responsible for the Northern Territory Archives. A list of collections in the archive is available for download in PDF format (warning: 250+ pages) which can then be searched offline. The archives can also be searced online using the "Archives Navigator" service although it is not straight forward and no indexes are available.
Other lists:
- Territory Stories - provides a range of stories that record the history and development of the Northern Territory from the early days, to the present
National
- Cable Clerical Index - The Cable Clerical Index (CCI) is an index of more than 6570 Australian Anglican clergy. Only names and dates of ordination are published for those born before 01 Jan 1916.
- Ancestry.com.au - Australian electoral rolls are a good source of information for occupation details of individuals from 1903 onwards. These are best searched on Ancestry.com.au which has a full and useful index and links to the original records.
- The Goldminer's database (New Zealand) - Search the names of 50000 goldminers from the goldrushes of New Zealand 1861 - 1872
- National Police Memorial - Honour Roll - The Memorial pays tribute to Australian Police Officers who have been killed on duty or have died as a result of their duties since the advent of policing in Australia and to recognise the unique nature of police service and the dangers that police face in their daily pursuits.
- Did your ancestor drive for Cobb & Co?
- Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database
- Australian Shipwrecks
- People, Places and Themes Search - crew, owners, lives lost
[Last updated August 2024]
