New South Wales (NSW) State Archives and Records manages and provides access to the “New South Wales State archives collection, a unique and irreplaceable part of Australia’s cultural heritage dating back to 1788.”

They have a list of online indexes. “You can start by using KeyName Search to do a single search of many of our indexes (but not all) or select from our listing below.” They also have a list of research guides to help you locate records at the Archives. And they have online galleries with collections that might help in family history research.

Some popular online collections at the NSW State Archives include:

• Census and Musters

  • 1841 Census Index

• Colonial Secretary

  • Letters 1788-1826

  • Colonial Secretary’s Letters relating to Land 1826 to 1856

  • Unemployed in Sydney, 1866

• Convicts

  • multiple digitized Convicts indexes

• Divorce

  • Divorce Records index 1873 to 1923

• Immigration and Shipping

  • Assisted Immigrants Index, 1839-1896

  • Bounty Immigrants Index, 1828-1842

  • Unassisted Immigrants Index

  • Assisted Immigrants Digital Shipping Lists

  • Miscellaneous Immigrants indexes

  • Vessels Arrived in Sydney 1857-1925 (with vessel year you can visit Mariners and Ships in Australia for passengers till 1884)

• Inquests

  • Coroners Inquest request 1796-1824

• Maps and Plans

  • A complete listing of the Surveyor General’s Crown Plans from the Select List of Maps and Plans (and Supplement), 1792-1886.

• Probates and Wills

  • Probate Records – Supplementary Index, 1790 to 1875

• Railways and Railway Workers

• Schools

The NSW State Archives has many on-site collections that are not currently digitized and available online.