State Archives Collection

Colonial Secretary

Convicts

Divorce

Immigration & shipping

Inquests

Land

Probate & wills

Schools

How to use the State Archives Collection

The largest collection of records relating to the history of NSW and the lives of its people

Plan your visit

State Archives Reading Room, Kingswood

First Nations Community Access to Archives

This project aims to improve access for First Nations people to important archival material about culture, kinship, stories, and languages within the State Archives Collection

Ask an Archivist

We’re here to help you access and use our collection

Assisted Immigrants index 1839-1896

Passengers arriving in Sydney & Newcastle 1844-59, Moreton Bay 1848-59 & Port Phillip 1839-51

Convicts index 1791-1873

140,000+ entries including certificates of freedom, bank accounts, & tickets of leave

1841 Census index

Records the population by police districts, counties & towns. The head of the household is recorded in the returns

Gaol inmates & prisoners photos index

Browse 50,000+ entries & download digitised photos from 1870 to 1930

Discovering the State Archives Collection

Explore the State Archives Collection on the MHNSW website

Researching your house and property

Learn how to find house and property records in the NSW State Archives Collection

Probate packets

This webinar focuses on the sources for probate in the State Archives Collection and how to find them

Unassisted passenger lists online

Unassisted passengers are those who paid their own way. This webinar explains how to search lists of unassisted passenger arrivals to NSW

Equity Court records

Since 1823 the Equity Jurisdiction has dealt with matters of fairness and the enforcing of rights not recognised at Common Law

First Nations Community Access to Archives

Join the First Nations Community Access to Archives project team in deep listening to learn about the journey of storytelling, truth-telling and language revitalisation

Oyster culture leases files

The government started to encourage oyster fisheries from 1868 and later introduced oyster leases. This webinar focuses on our series of NRS-1302 Oyster cultures leases files, which tell the stories of the people who held these leases between 1920 and 1978

Colonial Secretary's minutes, 1826-1927

A deep dive into the minutes, highlighting how these documents that dealt with Government policy, detailed plans and proposals also captured the lives of individual people, and how to find them

Canberra – the federal capital contest

This record series from the State Archives Collection sheds light on the proud efforts a number of towns, villages and other areas took to present their submissions to become the capital of the new Commonwealth

Sydney Opera House drawings

An International Competition for the design of a National Opera House at Bennelong Point was held in 1956. We hold the original drawings submitted by Jørn Utzon and other competition records

Celebrating federation

The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed on 1 January 1901. The Federation Pavilion in Sydney’s Centennial Park was the focus of the inauguration ceremonies and a five mile procession through the decorated streets of Sydney was greeted by large crowds

Cummeragunja Walk Off

The Cummeragunja Walk Off which began in February 1939 has been described as the first ever mass strike of Aboriginal people in Australia. It brought about changes to the Aborigines Protection Act of NSW

Eveleigh Workshops during the 1917 railway strike

On 2 August 1917 the General Strike began. It started in the Randwick Rail Workshops & Eveleigh Carriage Workshops & quickly spread to other industries until about 100,000 workers were on strike

Tilly Devine & the Razor Gang Wars, 1927–1931

Learn about the Razor gangs and their leaders Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh

History of Taronga Zoo

Can you imagine Sydney Harbour without Taronga Zoo perched on Bradley’s Head at Mosman? For one hundred years families have been making the trip by ferry, tram and car to see the exotic and native animals at Taronga and get a picturesque view of the harbour

Central Railway Station: Through the Lens

Highlighting the transformation of Central Railway Station from its opening in 1855 to 1921 when the clocktower was completed