Australia and New Zealand, Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's to current

General collection information

This index allows you to search for your ancestor by name in Australian and New Zealand newspapers that are available on Newspapers.com™ from the 1800s to the present. Not all newspapers from Australia and New Zealand are included. Links to the newspaper article in which your ancestor's name was found are included in the index.

Using this collection

The index may include the following information:

Historic newspapers can offer a wealth of information to add to your family history. Newspapers publish birth, marriage, and death announcements that can provide the vital dates of your ancestor's life.

They also reported on important events and happenings in the local community. Newspapers covered everything from local sports teams, school and community events, to local politics and the stories of everyday people in the community. Even if your ancestor's name doesn't appear in a newspaper, you could discover what life was like in their community during the time they lived there by reading newspaper articles.

Newspapers also published articles about negative events and difficult topics. You may find articles that state that your ancestor was a victim of a crime, or that they committed a crime or was involved in a political scandal.

In addition to searching by name and location, you can also search this collection by the following topics:

Collection in context

The newspapers that are included in this index were produced by journalists working throughout Australia and New Zealand. Newspapers are highly valuable primary historical sources, which contain the biases of the author. They also contain the terminology of the times and may include offensive or obsolete language. Newspapers typically provide the most depth and breadth of information that can be found about the community where they are published. Articles may show up across many sources and states and territories if they were syndicated by groups like the Australian Associated Press.

Newspapers played a critical role as new towns were established in Australia during the 19th century. Each town needed a newspaper to provide the legitimacy needed to attract new settlers. Until the 1880s, non-metropolitan newspapers in both Australia and New Zealand were often more influential than those published in the cities.

Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, was first printed in 1803 at a time when all newspapers were censored by the government. The first uncensored newspaper was not printed until 1824.

New Zealand's first newspaper, the New Zealand Gazette, was printed in 1839 by the New Zealand Company shortly before leaving London. Upon their arrival in New Zealand, the newspaper was established in Wellington.

Te Karere o Nui Tireni, the first Māori-language newspaper, debuted in New Zealand in 1842, while Australia's first Aboriginal-focused newspaper was not published until 1938.

Bibliography

Derby, Mark. "Newspapers." Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Last modified 22 October, 2014. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/newspapers/print.

Fogarty, Billie Stone. "Finding & Using Historic Newspapers in Genealogical Research." Family Search. Accessed 8 August, 2022. https://familysearch.brightspotcdn.com/3c/40/c9155b33c17a4e80fda5e2264765/course-handout.pdf.

Harvey, Ross. "Newspaper archives in Australia and New Zealand." Media History 5, no. 1, (1999): 71-80. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13688809909357951.

McMillan, Kate. "Media and politics - Māori and Pākehā media: politics and advocacy." Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Last modified 20 June, 2012. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/zoomify/35750/te-karere-o-nui-tireni-1842.

National Library of Australia. "The Australian Abo Call (National : 1938)." Trove. Accessed 20 January, 2024. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/title/51.

National Museum of Australia. "First free press." Accessed 20 January, 2024. https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/first-free-press.

The Family History Guide Blog. "Inside the Guide: Using Newspapers for Family History Research." Accessed 8 August, 2022. https://www.thefhguide.com/blog/inside-the-guide-using-newspapers-for-family-history-research/.