Thousands of people use the National Archives' vast collection of Australian Government records each year. They include academic and professional historians, family and local history researchers, hobbyists, journalists, students and lawyers.

Whatever the purpose of your research or the nature of your inquiry, we welcome your interest in the collection.

Before you begin to delve into the National Archives collection – for your family history or other research project – we strongly suggest that you start by doing some basic fact finding. Arming yourself with some basic facts at the beginning will make the process of finding relevant records that much easier in the long run.

You could consult some secondary sources on your topic. Secondary sources might include websites, books, encyclopaedias that you find in your local or state library. Reading some secondary sources should increase your knowledge of your topic and its historical context. It might also lead you to other sources of information and may give you clues about where to begin your research.

Researching a person

If you are doing research about a member of your family or another individual, you should first find out as much as you can about them. Talking to other family members is a good place to start. You might also look to see what is in your family archive – personal documents such as passports, personal letters and photographs can yield lots of clues. Useful details to find out include:

• their full name, including any middle names, maiden or former names or aliases
• alternative spellings of their names – this is particularly helpful if the person migrated from a non-English speaking country
• date of birth
• nationality or country of origin
• date of arrival in Australia
• any places the person is connected with – such as where they lived, where they arrived in Australia, where they enlisted for war service

In your fact-finding you need to work out if the person may have interacted with the Australian Government, also known as the federal or Commonwealth government, in any way. If they did not have any dealings with the Australian Government, it is unlikely there is information about them in the National Archives.

You might like to think about whether they:

• migrated to Australia in the 20th century, particularly under a government scheme
• served in the Australian armed forces or in the civilian services
• could have been subject to government surveillance
• were of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background
• were naturalised in colonial Victoria or South Australia, or after 1904
• worked for the Australian government, including for the railways, lighthouses and post offices
• lived or worked in Australian territories such as Norfolk Island and Papua New Guinea