Newspapers
Newspapers are excellent sources of information for family history. They contain birth, engagement and marriage announcements, death and funeral notices, as well as daily news commentary, providing first-hand accounts of events that may have played a role in your family's history. Local news, historical information about an area, advertisements for businesses, can all provide details about the lives of your ancestors, even if they are not mentioned by name.
Many newspaper indexes exist, which make life simple for family history researchers. Indexes may list entries in newspaper sections such as birth announcements, marriages and funeral notices or provide references to passenger arrivals, obituaries and photographs. A summary of newspaper index holdings can be found on the State Library's News and newspaper page.
Newspaper indexes related specifically to birth, death or marriage records can be found on the relevant Life events pages.
A visual Timeline of Tasmanian Newspapers [PDF 2.5MB] is available online. (Increase to 50% magnification and use your scroll bar to navigate the chart).
The Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program will be of increasing interest to family history researchers as millions of pages of early Australian newspapers become available in full text online. Already significant Tasmanian content from as early as 1825 can be viewed.
The Times Digital Archive is a valuable resource for anyone tracing family histories to the UK. This database gives access to every issue and every page of the Times (London) from 1785-1985, including articles, editorials, advertisements, illustrations, photographs, shipping news, birth, death and marriage notices and obituaries. The Times Digital Archive is available in all city libraries and to State Library of Tasmania members at home.
Related links: Life events
