It has been said that up to 30% of Australia’s population claim some degree of Irish Ancestry. With Women’s history month still underway be inspired by Twenty Irish-Australian Women who shaped Australia.
What better day than St Patrick’s Day to delve into your Irish roots?
Let’s get started! Do as much research as possible for your Australian ancestors, including your Irish in Australia before jumping into overseas research. This will hopefully establish a time frame and specific place in which to search. The following is a list of some of the resources available to uncover your family history in Ireland.
Resources
Irish Genealogy Toolkit
Provides free templates and forms, getting started tips, a list of top free websites, records and more.
GENUKI
Library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland. It is a non-commercial service, maintained by a charitable trust and a group of volunteers. This site also provides link to actual archives and libraries, cemeteries, churches and other useful information when looking to visiting in person. Find out about resources that can help you learn more about the place. It also includes a useful timeline of Irish events. Ordnance survey maps were published in the 1830s for Ireland and are a great resource for family historians.
Cyndi’s List
Free categorized and cross-referenced list of more than 337,000 links for genealogical research. Visit the Categories page and browse to find the links arranged by localities, ethnic groups, occupations, religions, record types, methodology and more.
National Archives of Ireland
Free access to wills, transportation registers and more
Irish Genealogy
Irish Government site with free access to civil records as well as a range of transcribed Catholic and Church of Ireland parish registers
Ireland Reaching Out
Articles and Message boards
FamilySearch
Includes 1901 Ireland Census
In The Library
Find My Past Library Edition
Claims to have the largest collection of historical Irish records online. Including 1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland, land and substitute records such as the Griffiths Valuations 1847-1864, Births, Deaths and Marriages indexes and parish records, legal and criminal records, newspapers and military records, travel and migration records. Check out their video “Irish Family History is easy”
Includes passenger lists, births, deaths and marriages, census records and more
British Newspapers Archive
Search hundreds of millions of pages of historical newspapers from the United Kingdom and Ireland from the 1700s.
*Access in library only. Researchers are asked to register with an email address and password when using the BNA. Login when you access the database each time. Save personal searches, bookmark articles and more via the "my research" tab.
