Leslie Massey
If you're curious about the history of your house in Australia, there are many ways to research it. The National Library of Australia has created an online guide and a YouTube tutorial explaining building styles, how to find photos of properties, and how to use their services to research a home. You can also refer to state library websites, which are great resources for information on suburbs, maps, articles from newspapers, and more from historical societies. The National Library of Australia's Trove has details about suburbs, streets, and the property you're interested in, including any images or relevant newspaper articles. Additionally, federal government resources offer valuable data on historical sales trends and profiles of suburbs and regions.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| House History Search | Can be as convoluted as a lengthy family history search |
| Australian Houses | Do not go back centuries |
| House Styles | Victorian, Federation, Colonial, Art Deco, Queenslander |
| Census | Generally record the householder's address on their returns |
| Electoral Rolls | Offer detailed insight into the history of homes |
| Directories | Plug the records gap between censuses and electoral rolls |
| Rate Books | Record how much tax householders paid |
| Land Titles | Contain information on previous owners |
| Newspapers | Contain information on land sales, real estate developments, and specific buildings and designs |
| Federal Government Resources | Offer data on historical sales trends and profiles of suburbs and regions |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | Contains housing and mortgage research |
| National Library of Australia's Trove | Provides details about suburbs, streets, and properties |
| National Archives of Australia | Contains records about property sales and previous owners |
| Heritage Listing | Applies to a very small percentage of properties |
| State Library Websites | Provide information on suburbs, including maps, articles, and data from historical societies |
| Real Estate Websites | Provide sales information for properties and their suburbs, areas, cities, and towns |
| Land Title Deeds Office | Contain records of all residential and commercial property sales information |
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What You'll Learn
- Consult state library websites for information on suburbs, maps, and historical societies
- Search for censuses, electoral rolls, and directories to find previous owners
- Research house styles to narrow down the time period
- Check land titles and government records for sales trends and property profiles
- Look up old newspapers for quirky stories and mentions of your address
Consult state library websites for information on suburbs, maps, and historical societies
State library websites are a great source of information on suburbs, maps, and historical societies. The State Library of Western Australia, for instance, has a collection of approximately 1050 early real estate plans of Perth suburbs, many of which have been digitised and can be accessed online. These plans, prepared by real estate companies between the 1890s and 1930s, cover the Perth metropolitan area and some country towns.
The State Library of New South Wales also has an extensive collection of maps, with over 200,000 in total. The library offers online access to maps of Sydney and the Cumberland Plains from the 1770s through to the 1960s. The Dictionary of Sydney, available through the library, offers the Atlas of the Suburbs of Sydney (1886-1889), as well as other online maps. The library also provides access to the City of Sydney Archives, which holds thousands of 19th and 20th-century maps produced by the Council, government authorities, and private surveying firms.
State Library Victoria holds a wealth of rare and antique maps, including 19th-century township, parish, county, and squatting maps. The library also has several thousand auction plans showing the layout of suburban estates, fire insurance plans, aerial photographs, and geological and goldmining maps.
The State Library of South Australia provides access to maps of Adelaide and its suburbs, dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These maps provide information on streets, allotments, water supply, railways, tramways, and stations.
By consulting these state library websites and their collections, individuals can gain valuable insights into the history of their houses and neighbourhoods in Australia.
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Search for censuses, electoral rolls, and directories to find previous owners
Electoral rolls, censuses, and directories are valuable resources for uncovering the history of your house in Australia and finding out who lived there previously. These records can help you determine when a house was built, who it was built for, and any changes in ownership and residence over time.
Electoral Rolls
Electoral rolls are lists of people who are registered and eligible to vote in various types of elections, such as federal, state, territory, and local government elections, and referendums. In Australia, electoral rolls have been maintained since at least 1903, and they contain valuable information for house history research.
The National Library of Australia holds a comprehensive collection of historical Commonwealth electoral rolls, which you can access in person. These rolls can help you locate the residential address of a known person in a particular year, as well as track changes of address over time. Additionally, they can help identify other adult family members living at the same address.
To access more recent electoral rolls, you can visit any Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) National or State Office to view an electronic version of the current Australian Electoral Roll. Individual AEC Division Offices provide access to the electoral roll for their specific division.
It's important to note that electoral roll arrangements have changed over time. Until 1990, names were listed alphabetically by electoral division and subdistrict. From 1990 onwards, the rolls are arranged alphabetically by state. To find the correct electoral division for a specific year, you may need to refer to maps or other resources.
Censuses
Censuses are official counts and descriptions of a country's population, and they can provide valuable insights into the history of your house and its previous occupants. While I couldn't find specific details about accessing Australian census records, they are likely to be an important resource, as they are in other countries.
Directories
Directories, such as street directories and almanacs, can be extremely useful in your house history research. They often list most business and private residents by township or street and include valuable statistics about townships.
The Sands Directory is mentioned as a useful street directory for house history research in Australia. Additionally, the State Library of South Australia provides digitised and hard copies of almanacs and directories, which can be accessed through their website or in their Research Centre.
In addition to these resources, you can also explore other records like council rates assessment books, health inspector's reports, council meeting minutes, and building plans held by local councils. Online services like Property Registry and InfoTrack offer property ownership searches across Australia, providing access to land titles and property evaluations for a fee.
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Research house styles to narrow down the time period
Researching the architectural style of your house is a great way to narrow down the time period in which it was built.
First, it is important to note that Australian houses do not go back centuries, and generally, information is more readily available for houses built before World War II. The first major waves of home styles in Australia date back to the colonial era, ranging from 1788 to around 1840.
- Pre-colonial Indigenous architecture
- Old colonial Georgian (1788–1850)
- Early Victorian (1840–1860)
- Victorian Gothic (1850–1880)
- Workers’ cottage (1840–1900)
- Queenslander (1840–1939)
- Mid-Victorian (1860–1875)
- Late-Victorian/Italianate/Boom Style (1875–1901)
- Queen Anne (from 1895)
- Edwardian/Federation homes (early 1900s)
- Art Deco (early 1900s)
- Mid-century Modernism (post-World War II)
- Brick bungalows, fibro cottages, and early modernist designs (1940s)
- McMansions (late 1900s to early 2000s)
Some distinctive features of the above styles include:
- Victorian homes: ornate facades, fretwork, and flourishes
- Queenslander homes: designed for warm, tropical climates and flood-prone areas, with elements of Victorian and Federation architecture
- Edwardian/Federation homes: red brick exterior, embellished wood detailing, terracotta tiles or galvanised iron roofs, stained glass, bay windows, pressed-metal ceilings, plaster ceiling roses, and cornices
- Art Deco: geometric architectural or design elements, timber-veneer wall panelling, chevron patterns, parquet floors, stylised sunrise and floral patterns, brick bands, canopies, and copings
- Mid-century Modernism: pitched roofs, open-plan living areas
- McMansions: large size, mass-produced, multi-storey, lacking an identifiable architectural style, emphasising size over quality or attention to detail
To identify the style of your house, you can refer to online guides, books, and state-specific resources. For instance, the State Library of Victoria provides a research guide with instructions on how to find plans and maps for local and family history research. The Public Record Office also holds an extensive collection of plans. Additionally, newspapers can be a valuable source of information on land sales, real estate developments, specific buildings, and the people who lived in a particular property.
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Check land titles and government records for sales trends and property profiles
To find out more about the history of your house in Australia, one of the first steps is to check land titles and government records for sales trends and property profiles. This can provide valuable insights into the property's past and help you make informed decisions, especially if you're considering buying or selling. Here are some steps to guide you through the process:
Identify the Relevant Government Office
Start by identifying the relevant state or territory government office that maintains property records. In Australia, different states and territories have their own systems:
- Victoria: LandData
- New South Wales (NSW): NSW Valuer General's Office or NSW Lands Registry's Historical Land Records Viewer
- Queensland: Property and Land Valuations or Queensland State Archives
- South Australia: South Australian Integrated Land Information System (SAILIS) or State Records of South Australia
- Western Australia: Landgate or State Records Office of Western Australia
- Tasmania: Land Information System Tasmania (LIST) or Libraries Tasmania
- Northern Territory: Land Titles Office or Northern Territories Archives Service
Obtain the Property Identifier
Before initiating the search, you will need a property identifier, which can be the street address, title volume/folio number, lot/plan number, or any other valid reference number for the specific parcel of land.
Conduct an Online Search
Most government offices and land titles registries offer online search options. Visit the website of the relevant office and follow the instructions to search for the property using the identifier you have obtained. You may need to pay a small fee for this service.
Request Information via Email or Phone
In some cases, you may need to contact the land titles office via email or phone. They will guide you through the process and provide instructions on how to submit a request and make the necessary payments.
Understand the Information in the Land Title
Land titles and property certificates provide essential information about a specific parcel of land. This includes the land ownership name (registered proprietor), encumbrances, caveats, notices, land use restrictions, easements, debts, and land value detractors. Understanding these factors can help you make informed decisions and reduce risks associated with the property.
Explore Additional Data Sources
Complement your research by exploring other data sources, such as real estate websites, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and property listing sites. These sources can provide insights into past sales data, market trends, suburb profiles, rental history, and comparable sales in the same area.
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Look up old newspapers for quirky stories and mentions of your address
If you're looking for quirky stories and mentions of your address in old newspapers, there are a few ways to go about your search. Firstly, you can try searching for your address in online newspaper databases. Trove, a digital repository developed by the National Library of Australia, is a great place to start. Trove provides free access to digitised historic Australian newspapers published between 1803 and 1954, including national titles and those published in each Australian state and territory. You can browse by title, date, and location, as well as perform keyword searches.
To search for your address in Trove, enter the street name and suburb into the search bar and filter the results by selecting "Newspapers and Gazettes" as the category. You can further refine your search by date range to focus on a specific time period.
In addition to Trove, there are other online resources that can be useful. The State Library of Victoria, for example, provides access to Australian and New Zealand newspaper databases through its website. You can also try searching for specific newspaper titles, such as "The Sydney Morning Herald" or "The Age," in conjunction with your address or street name.
Another option is to visit your local library or state library, such as the State Library of Victoria, and access microfilm or microform collections of historical newspapers. These collections often include a wider range of dates and titles, but they can be more time-consuming to search as you need to scroll through the microfilm by date.
When searching for quirky stories and mentions of your address, keep in mind that older articles may only include an index reference to the full article, including the title of the newspaper, article title, year of publication, and date. You may then need to request the specific article through the library's catalogue or online services.
Finally, don't forget to explore ethnic and community-specific newspapers, such as "Le Courrier Australien," which can provide unique insights into the history of your house and its place in the community.
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Frequently asked questions
There are several ways to find the history of your house in Australia. You can search the National Library of Australia's online portal, Trove, for old newspapers and gazettes, which may mention your address or stories relating to your suburb or street. You can also try searching for your address on Google, which may bring up information about when your house was sold, the sale price, and its rental history. Additionally, you can check with your local council, which may have records, aerial photos, or land survey data related to your property.
The National Library of Australia also has an online guide and a YouTube tutorial explaining building styles and how to find photos of properties. The State Library of Victoria has a Maps for Local and Family History Research Guide, which provides instructions on how to find plans in the catalogue. You can also check out real estate websites such as realestate.com.au, which has detailed sales records, suburb profiles, and market trends.
Censuses, which were usually conducted every 10 years, can be a useful resource for finding out who lived in your house in the past. Electoral rolls and registers, land titles, and rate books, which recorded how much tax householders paid, can also provide information about previous owners.
Historical local newspapers, land and estate surveys, and government or legal documents can be useful sources of information. Directories, such as official Post Office listings, trade almanacs, and business indexes, can also be helpful for filling in the gaps between censuses and electoral rolls.
Yes, you can visit your local council or state library, which may have catalogues, indexes, auction plans, maps, pictures, and books related to your house and local area.
