Genealogical Resources at the PMI
Search the entire historical collection on our catalogue. Members can phone 9510 3393 or email library@pmi.net.au to reserve books free of charge.
Printed Items
There are items useful to beginning and advanced genealogists within the library collection at call number 929.1. These items include beginners and advanced guides to research, guides to finding shipping and books outlining how to find information about ancestors in other countries.
There are a number of published family histories on the shelf at 929.2, and these can provide useful inspiration and ideas for setting out and printing a family history.
In addition, the Library holds an extensive collection of local histories pertaining to regions, townships, cities, suburbs and localities within the state of Victoria. These can be very useful to family historians. All Victorian historical items are on our catalogue - simply do a subject search for the name of the place. If you cannot find an item about a Victorian place you are interested in, please let us know and we will attempt to acquire relevant items for the collection.
Some useful publications are listed below:
- Ancestor [magazine] : Quarterly journal of the Genealogical Society of Victoria. Melbourne, Vic. : The Society, 1980-2001. [929.1 ANC] The Ancestor Journal Consolidated Index 1984-2000 (at the same call number) will help you to find articles about particular subjects of interest.
- Fensham, Bronwyn, Barbara Wels and Kasia Zygmuntowicz. Private lives, public records: family history resources at the Public Record Office Victoria. North Melbourne, Vic. : Public Record Office Victoria, 2003. [027 PRO]
- Hall, Nick Vine. Tracing your family history in Australia: a national guide to sources. 3rd ed. Mount Eliza, Vic. : the author, c2002. [929.1 HAL]
- Johnson, Keith A. and Malcolm R. Sainty. Genealogical research directory. Sydney N.S.W.: The Editors. The library holds directories for 1986, 1990, 1994-2007. [929.1 RES]
- Num, Cora. Web sites for genealogists. Cumberland Park, S. Aust.: Cora Num, 2000. [929.1 INT]
- Pelling, George. Beginning your family history. 6th ed. Birmingham, Eng.: Federation of Family History Societies (Publications) Ltd, 1995. [929.1 PEL]
- Reid, Ralph. Australian family histories: a bibliography and index. St Clair, NSW : R.S. & A.F. Reid, 2004. [929.2 BIB]
- Jessel, Anne. Delving into Digger(TM): using Digger to search genealogical databases. Southland, Vic.: Coherent Publishing, 1998. [929.1 DIG]
TopMicrofiche & CDs
The Library holds the following historical microfiche and CD items. These items are not kept on the bookshelves so please ask staff for the item you require. Microfiche and CD items are not for loan, but available for use by members at the reader provided within the Library.
- Birth, death and marriage indexes for the state of Victoria [CD]:
Victorian Pioneer Index: 1837-1888
Federation Index: 1889-1901
Edwardian Index: 1902-1913
Great War Index: 1914-1920
Death Index: 1921-1985
Marriage Index: 1921 -1942
Marine Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria: 1853-1920
Australian vital records index
Hatches, Matches & Dispatches (An index of over 31,000 names from baptismal, marriage and burial/death records of Ballarat and surrounding areas. Baptismal and marriage records from early 1800s to 1930. Burial records from mid 1800s to 1990.) - Port Phillip gazette Victoria [CD]: 1847
- Government gazette Victoria [CD]: 1851, 1857-61, 1863-65, 1874-75, 1888, 1890
- Crown land licences [CD]: 1863
- Land tax register and valuation for Victoria [CD]: 1888
- Police gazette Victoria [CD]: 1855, 1864-65, 1868-73, 1875, 1885, 1889-90
- Australian historic records register [microfiche]
- Biography Index of the Latrobe Library [microfiche]
- Postal directories:
Bailliere's Post Office Directory 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871-2, 1875, 1880-1 [microfiche]
Wise's Victoria Post Office Directory 1884-5, 1888-9, 1891-2, 1893-4,1895-6, 1897-8, 1899-1900 [microfiche] 1914 [CD]
Port Phillip Directories 1839-1867 [microfiche]
Sands & MacDougall Victorian Directories 1861-1974
Ballarat and Ballarat East directory 1865-66 [CD] - Victorian Electoral Roll 1949
- Inquest Index, Victoria 1840-1985 [CD]
- Divorce index Victoria 1861-1900 [microfiche]
- Missing persons taken from the Port Phillip Government Gazettes 1843-1851 [microfiche]
- Port Phillip clergy 1803-1851 [microfiche]
- Absconders, runaways, deserters, escapees and reward notices taken from the Port Phillip Gazette 1843-1851 [microfiche]
- Coastal passengers to Port Phillip 1839-1845 [microfiche]
- Index to children in Victorian institutions 1860-1863 [microfiche]
- Schools indexes:
Education through the years: Creswick Primary School 1854-2002 [CD]
East Gippsland primary schools index [microfiche]
Consolidated index to Ballarat & district school student registers [microfiche] - Tetlow index to the R.K. Cole collection in the State Library of Victoria (Melbourne and metropolitan hotelkeepers) [microfiche]
- Hospital admissions indexes:
Index to Victorian hospital admissions 1856-1866 [microfiche]
Echuca District Hospital admission book index 1882-1931 [microfiche]
Index to Bendigo Hospital admissions 2 Sep 1856-Nov 1866 [microfiche]
Dunolly Hospital Admissions 1860-1900
Index to Victorian goldfields hospitals admissions: Amherst, Ballarat, Castlemaine, Creswick, Dunolly, Kyneton, Maldon, Maryborough [CD]
Ballarat Base Hospital: admission register 1856-1913 [microfiche] - Newspaper indexes:
Index to newspaper deaths in Victoria 1988-1992 [CD]
Mansfield Newspapers 1869-1900 [microfiche]
Death notices from the Hamilton Spectator 1859-1890 [microfiche]
Burial records of Beattie & Phillips funeral directors, Warrnambool Victoria 1865-1925 [microfiche]
Death notices from the Warrnambool Standard 1982-1996 [microfiche] - Books on CD (searchable by keyword)
The gold fields of Victoria in 1862
Men of the time in Australia 1882: Victorian series
Australian family histories: a bibliography and index. 2nd edition. / compiled by Ralph Reid
The education department's record of war service
The Bendigo goldfield: resources of the "central area" / Victor J.R. Pabst - Victorian mining accident index [CD]
- Mining shareholders index 1857-1886 [CD]
- Yackandandah rate books [microfiche]
- Gisborne rate books index 1865-1870 [microfiche]
- Mildura law courts: index & court cases [microfiche]
- We hold printed, microfiche and CD indexes of cemeteries at the following places:
Alberton, Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Banyena, Bellarine Peninsula, Berwick, Boroondara, Box Hill, Bruthen, Bulla, Bumberrah, Burwood, Cann River, Cape Bridgewater, Cheltenham, Childers, Corack, Cranbourne, Dimboola, Doncaster, Drysdale, Echuca, Footscray, Foster, Gisborne, Gormandale, Greta, Harkaway, Harrietville, Hazelwood, Heyfield, Inglewood, Kyneton, Lakes Entrance, Leopold, Lilydale, Maffra, Marlo, Matlock, Melbourne General Cemetery, Moe, Mooroopna, Moyston, Myrtleford, Narrawong, Newington, Newstead, North Laen, Northcote, Omeo, Pakenham, Paynesville, Portarlington, Portland North, Rosedale, Sale, St Kilda, Stanley, Stratford, Sunbury, Swan Hill, Swanwater West, Tallangatta, Taradale, Toongabbie, Trafalgar, Traralgon, Ultima, Violet Town, Waitchie, Wangaratta, Walhalla, Warrandyte, Warrnambool, Watchem, Welshpool, White Hills, Wodonga, Wood's Point
Non-Victorian Resources
We do not actively collect genealogical resources for places other than Victoria, but when they are donated to the collection we do keep them.
- Mormon immigration index [CD]
- Vital records index - British Isles [CD]
- 1881 British census and national index [CD]
- NSW convicts index 1788-1842 [microfiche]
- The Irish link index 1984-1996 [microfiche] (though we do not hold the Irish link journal in our collection)
- Directory of Cornwall 1884 [microfiche]
- Pigot's directory of Cornwall 1830 [CD]
- Pigot's directory of Devon 1830 [CD]
- Wiggins, Ray. Registration districts: an alphabetical list of over 650 districts with details of counties, sub-districts and adjacent districts.. 3rd ed. London, Eng. : Society of Genealogists, 2001. [929.1 WIG]
Internet Resources
Victoria
- Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies (Victorian Branch)
- Genealogical Society of Victoria
- Public Record Office online indexes
- Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages online searching and image downloads for a fee.
- State Library of Victoria
Australian Births, Deaths & Marriages sites
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales online index
- Northern Territory
- Queensland online index
- South Australia
- Tasmania
General Australian and International References
- Archives of Australia - links to all the state archives in Australia, some of which have online indexes
- Australian Cemeteries - Australia wide links to online cemetery information and email addresses for cemetery lookups
- Interment.net - International and Australia wide links to online cemetery transcriptions
- Cora Num's Websites for Genealogists - an Australian gateway site for tracing your family history
- Rootsweb World Connect - a free databases containing more than 460 million names from uploaded family history files plus email lists useful for research
- Family Search containing the International Genealogical Index
- Genealogy Links.net genealogy sites for Australia and overseas
- Cyndi's List of genealogy sites for Australia and overseas
Further Information
We have many other useful items in the collection which can point you in the right direction. Library staff will be happy to guide and assist you with your research and refer you to other appropriate organisations if necessary. We are able to respond well to the needs of our users, so please request an item if we do not hold it and if it relates to some aspect of the history of Victoria.
We hope that you enjoy researching the history of your family at the Prahran Mechanics' Institute.
