Guide to researching your family history

Part of the Family history research topic

Learn about our historical research service and how to search for Queensland historical records.

What records are available

We keep records of life events (births, deaths and marriages) that took place in Queensland from 1829.

These are the records you might find available:

• Birth records
  • 1829 to 1925—images and certificates
• Death records
  • 1829 to 1979—images and certificates
  • 1980 to 1995—certificates only
• Marriage records
  • 1829 to 1950—images and certificates
• Some historical church records available:
  • baptisms and burials between 1829 and 1856
  • church marriages between 1839 and 1856
  • marine birth and death records until 1920
• Some World War I (WWI) historical death records:
  • handwritten death records of fallen service personnel who enlisted in Queensland for World War I.

Who can use the service

Anyone can search the historical records online.

You can also buy a historical certificate, or an image if one is available. You don't have to provide proof of ID.

Before you start

Before you start searching, collect as much information as you can.

You will need to:

• know the name of the person you want to search for
• have an idea of when the event happened in Queensland.

If the event was registered outside of Queensland, contact the interstate or overseas registering authority.

Make sure the name is correct

The name you have might not be the same as their registered name.

Convicts transported to Australia often changed the spelling of their names to hide their past, and names were often changed to English.

The Irish Ó Fearghail may have changed to:

• O'Farrell
• Farrell
• Farrelly.

People may be registered under a more formal name if they were known by:

• a shortened form of their name
• a more common form of their name
• their middle name.

Try using variations of the person's first names. Historical records sometimes used formal first names when the person was commonly known by a different name.

A person known as Jack is likely to have been registered as John 100 years ago.

The formal names of Albert, Bertram, Herbert or Robert may have been known as:

• Bob
• Berty
• Bertie.

How to search

To search the for a life event, enter at least 1 name, either the first or family name of the:

• the person (for any event)
• person's parent (for birth and death).

No fields are required, so you can try using as few or as many as you like.

For exact matches only, you can select one or both checkboxes, but this may limit the results.

Refine your search if you need to, or search using the refined date ranges.

You can include the registration details that you know, for example the:

• year
• code
• number.

To search for World War I death records:

• choose the death filter (optional)
• enter at least 1 name (optional)
• use the registration prefix 'F', which identifies a record as a WWI entry created in 1922.

Open a result by clicking on the person's name to:

• make a purchase. You will need to sign-in with your Queensland Digital Identity (QDI) if you wish to access your purchases in the future.
• view any additional records for the person searched, including possible siblings
• bookmark the page so you can return to the record and similar names later.

Search results

Search results will show records that match closely with the provided names, including:

• parents (for births and deaths)
• the other party's name (for marriages).

You can open records in the search result by clicking on the person's name to:

• find out what products you can order
• order and pay for an image or certificate
• view other records for the person searched, including possible siblings
• bookmark the page so you can return to the record and similar names later.

You can download the top 100 search results for free.

You may be interested in

Order a historical record

Correct a historical record