New South Wales family and local history resources

NSW resources to help you explore your local or family history

No matter how far you dive into your local and family history research, there is always more to find. A newspaper clipping of a newly discovered event, an image you never knew existed could build your understanding of your subject's lives and you may even discover a new family member hidden in the historical records.  

This blog provides a guide to some resources available for New South Wales based family and local history research. Discover collection highlights from some of our Trove Partners to help you expand your research.  

Local history resources from the City of Sydney Archives 

The City of Sydney Archives aims to manage, preserve and provide access to the archives of the City of Sydney Council. Their collection covers the Sydney local government area from 1842 when the Municipal City of Sydney was established including the Sydney CBD and several surrounding suburbs. On their website, they provide a Historical Boundaries tool to show how the boundary as changed over time which illustrates the area represented in their collection.  

The Sydney Archives released their Archives and History Resources catalogue in February 2020. This resource centralises their collection and has made it more accessible to the public. It includes over 1 million items such as photographs, maps, plans, letters, volumes and cards. We spoke to a City of Sydney Archives representative who said: 

‘About 500,000 items in the catalogue are digitised, so you can download them free of charge. If undigitised, you can request digitisation for a small fee.’ 

A particularly rewarding record series their collection for researchers is found in their rate and assessment books. These books hold the records of assessors who were allocated to different areas of the City of Sydney local area to assess the house values to determine the rates to charge. Not all books have survived, but the ones that have include valuable information for family history and local history researchers.

The Assessment Books record details of ownership, occupation, construction, and value for buildings in the City of Sydney between 1845 and 1948. They provide valuable information for family and property history which is not available from any other source. 

A two page spread from a rate book
Rate book, 1889, Newtown Municipal Council, City of Sydney Archives, trove.nla.gov.au/work/245089013

A selection of these books has been digitised and transcribed by volunteers. The City of Sydney History Team has developed a Histories of your Home guide which includes more information about the assessment books and how they can be used in your research along with other helpful information. You can also find more information on how to use and search the rate and assessment books on their website. Find out more about researching the history of your home in our recent blog

One of their other popular collections is the 19th Century letters received by Council from the residents, business owners, organisations and charities. These are all digitised and have been given descriptions to enable easier searching by subject or using the name of a person or organisation. Some have some stunning letterheads and all will contain valuable information for your research. 

City of Sydney Archives holds many other items that have lots of value for family and local history resources. Some other resources include:  

A sepia photo of a half demolished building with a horse and carriage in front of it.
Milton Kent, Print - Buildings on the corner of Levey and Smithers Streets Chippendale, 1925, City of Sydney Archives, trove.nla.gov.au/work/244645538, found in Album - Demolition Books - Volume 12.
  • The Minutes of Council. These are the official records of meetings from Council’s first meeting on 9 November 1842 to the present day.  

A City of Sydney Archives representative shared:

‘On our home page, we have some curated collections including Villages and Suburbs, Special Occasions and Places of Interest. These contain high resolution photographs where we have them, but also letters and other material that the archivists have chosen to highlight for these particular areas or topics of interest. This is a good way to locate interesting records.’ 

Collection items from the Bega Pioneer Museum 

A sepia image of a wedding dress with a headshot of a woman in the top right corner.
Bickelmayer Wedding Dress.

The Bega Pioneers' Museum is a great example of a local resource which can assist researchers to give context and build on their local or family history research. This museum was started by a nurse, Sister Bernice Smith, who had a strong interest in local history. We spoke with Kaye, a representative from the Bega Pioneer Museum, and they said:  

‘The collection has been estimated to be about 30,000 Items and of these approximately 2,000 have been identified as having historical significance to the Bega region. They cover militaria, transport, early Bega, pioneers including a large portrait collection, communications, dairying, indigenous and many other areas. 

'One of the most significant objects is the hand drawn Australian Light Horse Illuminated Address see attachment. It names the members of all four squadrons of the Australian Light Horse many of whom had fought in the Boer War and went on to WW1.’ 

The Museum holds many family history files as well as files on businesses, schools, and towns. These records are a valuable source of information for families and historians. There is also a collection of images to explore. Their collection on Trove will continue to grow as they make more of their collection available online. 

P Rogers is the ex-president of the Bega Pioneer Museum and is currently a front of house volunteer. He says: 

‘It is a memorial to the hard work put in by the pioneers of the district - no easy stuff in those days.’ 

Life member of the museum, N Quinn, says: 

‘It shows the history of what it used to be like.’ 

The building the museum currently occupies was one of the first hotels built in the then CBD of early Bega. The Bega Valley Historical Society purchased the hotel in 1975 and converted it into a museum. The museum itself is currently under the stewardship of the Bega Valley Historical Society Inc. 

More NSW resources 

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