To document Aboriginal descent you need to have a sequence of records going back from you to an identified Aboriginal person.
We provide access to documented records only and do not verify oral histories.
Our records include information about:
- Tasmanian Aboriginal people who were living on the Bass Strait Islands in the early 1900s.
- Descendants of Dalrymple (Dolly) Briggs and Fanny Smith.
- Historical government policies and their impact on Aboriginal communities.
Our records begin in the early 1900s, so you will need to trace your family line back to someone born around that time before we can assist further.
To start
- Start with yourself.
Record your own details and gather any documents that confirm your identity. - Add your parents’ details.
Collect documents for both parents (e.g. birth, marriage, or other records). - Identify which side of your family you believe to be Aboriginal.
This helps you focus your research on the correct line. - Trace that Aboriginal family line backwards in time.
Work from yourself → to your parents → to your grandparents → and so on. - Keep copies of any documents that show the generational links.
These records will help demonstrate a clear line back to an Aboriginal ancestor. - Continue gathering information as far back as you can.
You will need to reach someone born in the early 1900s before our records can assist you further.
Once you have traced your family members to the 1900s, you can:
- Search the Tasmanian Names Index to view many records including wills, inquests and birth, death and marriage records.
- Work your way back through these records to locate any documented lineage to an identified Aboriginal ancestor.
Notes
General hints and tips apply to all family history research, including tracing Aboriginal descent. Issues specific to researching Aboriginal ancestry include:
- Virtually all records which mention Aboriginality are records of something else and just happen to mention a person’s Aboriginality. Records of baptisms are good examples of this. There are very few instances of baptism records mentioning Aboriginality.
- Mostly archival records that identify people as Aboriginal are from first few decades of European colonisation. Later records do not indicate race. The only exception is in records about the Bass Strait islands.
- When using indexes to Government files, look under the terms that the civil servants would have used at the time. For example “half caste” is a term that was in common use.
- All archival records have gaps, even in areas with efficient record keeping practices such as the convict system. There were many Europeans in the early 1800s who did not get mentioned in records until perhaps they were parents of a later generation. Sometimes people appear in records when there is no specific record of either their arrival or birth. This does not itself prove they were Aboriginal.
- The use of the term ‘native’, ‘natives’, ‘native of Tasmania’, and similar phrases can cause confusion. It generally refers to a person’s birthplace. It does not prove the person was Aboriginal. Often death notices, obituaries, and other articles in newspapers in the 19th and 20th Centuries would say, for example, a person “…was a native of the Colony having been born in Launceston in 1830… “
Early records might say a person is a “native” as Aboriginal people were the only people who had been born in Tasmania at that time. Baptism records until about 1830 did sometimes refer to Aboriginal people as “natives”. They did not use the term for others in baptism records at that time.
Given these issues, sometimes proving Aboriginal descent can be difficult.
Related
Finishing
You may have found a record of an identified Aboriginal person, or the arrival of a convict or a free immigrant which will complete your search of the particular family line.
- The State Archivist may issue a statement of lineage. This letter outlines a direct line of descent, based solely on records held by the State Library and Archives of Tasmania.’
- Complete the research enquiry form – in your enquiry, state that you are requesting a lineage letter. Include any research and family records you have – these documents can be uploaded with your enquiry.
If you have traced your family as far back as possible and still cannot find a record identifying an Aboriginal ancestor, you may wish to seek further help. You can do this through the research enquiry form, including any research and family records you have. Private researchers are also available who can help document your family tree.
