Government Gazettes contain a vast amount of historical and genealogical information. However, they are largely an untapped resource, and the few complete runs that are available are usually only found in major libraries. Even for researchers who do have access to these the sheer size and extent of the Gazettes is daunting. That's what makes this digitised collection such a valuable genealogy tool for anyone researching a family history or building a family tree, or for those learning more about the society during this time
Tens of thousands of ordinary people and localities, small and large, are mentioned every year in the Government Gazettes included here, covering from 1855 to 1905. But they offer researchers much more than simply names and places. They will help you reconstruct events and circumstances in the life of individuals and communities.
Government gazettes for a particular locality eventually become standardised with the type of material listed. In this collection, you can expect the Government Gazettes to include the following information that will usually list names and sometimes name of emigrant vessel, addresses and/or occupations:
Appointees to government positions
Appointments of magistrates and Justices of the Peace
Appointments of returning officers
Crown land leases
Dissolution of business partnerships
Notices or rewards for lost or stolen property and stock
Property owners subject to compulsory land acquisition by government
Purchasers of land lodging caveats under Real Property Act
Unclaimed property (railways)
Witnesses to executions
Gazettes are published by governments and their agencies as a means of communication to officials and the general public. As such they are useful, not only to monitor the actions of the government, but also as far as family historians are concerned, they are valuable primary source documents
Searching through a PDF (Portable document format) is different from searching through fully transcribed record sets. Here are some tips to keep in mind while you search for your ancestors:
The search feature uses direct search. It will search for the exact word or phrase you type in the search field. There are no name variants available through this format.
All search results will bring you to the page on which your search word has been found and not to an individual transcript. You can then read through the page to find your result.
A name search will return results which have the search terms on the same page within the document. This means that searching for John Smith will return pages where the names 'John' and 'Smith' occur. For this reason your search may return the name William Smith or John Brown. By inserting quotations around the full name the search function will locate the terms together; for example, “John Smith.”
To search for your ancestor by their name, write it as it would appear on the document. For example, if your relative was known as ‘Will’ it is likely that the name used for official records was ‘William.’
If you are unable to find your relative on your first search you can try different name variations. A number of register books only use abbreviations for first names.
For example, if your search is unsuccessful for William Smith, try W Smith or Wm Smith.
Perusing the PDF
If you wish to read through the whole document you are searching, then order the results by page number. You can start from the beginning of the document and read through to the end using the next button above the image.
Page numbers often correlate with the individual images of the documents rather than the page numbers used within the publication. Therefore page 1 starts with the cover page.