Learning Centre

Representative government in Australia began in New South Wales in 1842 and the right to vote was based on land ownership and gender. To qualify for enrolment men had to prove one or more of the following: that they owned property worth a hundred pounds; earned a hundred pounds a year; held a pastoral licence, or had paid ten pounds or more a year for lodgings.

By 1858, the conditions for eligibility were somewhat relaxed and included all adult males who had lived within the electorate for the previous six months and were either British citizens by birth or naturalised citizens of five years (living in the colony for the previous two years). People still ineligible to vote included paupers, prisoners, policemen and military members (and of course women, indigenous Australians and non-British subjects who did not gain the right to vote until the early to mid 1900s).

Because electoral rolls were published consistently, they are a valuable resource for tracking individuals over time and place, and are a good substitute for Census information which was often incomplete or infrequent.

In 1842, New South Wales included all of the present day mainland Australian states and territories except for Western Australia and South Australia.

The New South Wales Electoral Rolls: 1842-1864
Ancestry is proud to announce that a collection of Australia’s earliest electoral rolls has been added to the site. This new collection contains approximately 30,000 records of those pioneering men who were eligible to vote for the very first representative government in Australia.

The collection provides detailed information about our first voters, including their full name, the year they were enrolled, place of residence and nature of qualification for voting.

*Image Source: The State Library of NSW

Many influential figures in Australia’s early colonial life appear in the collection, including:

• William Charles Wentworth, born in NSW in 1793, was a pioneer landowner, explorer and a politician. Wentworth founded the University of Sydney and the “The Australian” newspaper.
• Famous Australian astronomer John Tebbutt, born in Windsor in New South Wales in 1834, began observing and recording the movement of stars from a very early age and at 19 years built an observatory from which to study them.
• Robert O’Hara Burke, born in 1820, led the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north. He died in the desert in 1861.
• Kevin Rudd’s ancestors Thomas Rudd and Edward Rudd, and also Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull’s 2xgrandfather William Bligh Turnbull were also amongst the first in Australia to vote.

This new addition to the site contains the names of people arriving into the United Kingdom from places outside Europe and not within the Mediterranean Sea, unless the vessels sailed originally from outside Europe and picked up passengers in a European or Mediterranean port en route.

The lists are arranged under the names and ports of arrival. Note that passenger lists of cruise vessels are included, which arrived with the same passengers with which it left.

The information contained in the collection includes name, age, date and port of arrival, port of departure, vessel name, shipping line, occupation and (from 1922) the intended address in the United Kingdom of each passenger. There are approximately 18 million names in the collection.

1900 United States Federal Census
This database is an index to individuals enumerated in the 1900 United States Federal Census, the Twelfth Census of the United States. Census takers recorded many details including each person's name, address, relationship to the head of household, color or race, sex, month and year of birth, age at last birthday, marital status, number of years married, the total number of children born of the mother, the number of those children living, birthplace, birthplace of father and mother, if the individual was foreign born, the year of immigration and the number of years in the United States, the citizenship status of foreign-born individuals over age twenty-one, occupation, and more. Additionally, the names of those listed on the population schedule are linked to actual images of the 1900 Federal Census.

Social Security Death Index
The Social Security Administration Death Master File contains information on millions of deceased individuals with United States social security numbers whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration. Birth years for the individuals listed range from 1875 to last year. Information in these records includes name, birth date, death date, and last known residence.

Missouri Death Records, 1834-1931
This database contains death registers from Missouri covering the years 1834 to 1931. Information contained in this database includes the following: name of deceased, gender, race, birth date or age at time of death, death date and place, parent's names and spouse's name.

Missouri Birth Records, 1851-1910
This database contains birth registers from Missouri covering the years 1851 to 1910. Information contained in this database includes the following: child's name, gender, race, birth date, and birthplace; father's name and age or birth date; mother's name and age or birth date.

When did your family move to Australia? Are you a first, second or third generation migrant to Australia?

Do you have any wonderful family traditions from your ancestral homeland…..particularly associated with the festive season?

Ancestry.com.au is celebrating International Day of Migrants on Thursday 18 December 2008. If you’re one of our many Ancestry.com.au members who’ve got a great family story to tell and would be willing to share it, we’d like to hear from you.

In 150-200 words or less, tell us about your family….

• Where are you and your ancestors from?
• When did you arrive in Australia?
• Why did your family settle in Australia?
• Do you have any family traditions from your ancestral homeland?
• Do you celebrate the festive season with any special family traditions?

Please also include...

• Your name and contact phone number and email
• The state where you live
• If you are willing to share this story in the media

Please email your brief outline or story to mystory@ancestry.com.au (or paste this address into an e-mail).

As an Ancestry member your privacy is always our first concern, therefore please be assured that even if you do respond to this email, nothing further will be done with the information you provide without your prior approval.

We look forward to hearing your story.

The Ancestry.com.au Team

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