Oceania
Australia, New Zealand
Australia
In 1770, James Cook sailed the eastern coast of Australia and claimed it for Great Britain
The eastern coast of Australia was known as New South Wales
The western coast of Australia was first called New Holland, then Swan River Colony, and later Western Australia
Penal Colonies were established from 1788 – 1868 in various parts of Australia
New South Wales began encouraging immigration around 1835 by paying bounties to skilled tradesmen and laborers
In the 1830’s and 1840’s many immigrated from Ireland during the potato famine
In 1850’s Australian gold rush spurred immigration
Useful Websites
- Australian Cemeteries
- Australian Newspaper Database
- National Archives of Australia
- New South Wales State Archives & Records
- Queensland State Archives
- State Library of Queensland
- Has a convit transportation registers database
- State Library of South Australia
- Has a database called Bound for South Australia, which contains passenger names from 1836 – 1851
- State Library Victoria
- State Records Office of Western Australia
- Trove – A National Library of Australia resource that brings together content from multiple repositories
New Zealand
- Births, Deaths, & Marriages Online
- New Zealand FamilySearch Wiki
- New Zealand GenWeb Project
- PapersPast is a New Zealand newspaper database