There are more than 2,000 digital resources available at the Research Centre, using one of our many computers. A user-friendly menu will guide you through what’s available and the Library Assistants are also there to help.

Resources include:

• publications from across Australia including trade directories, pastoral directories, telephone directories, gazetteers, almanacs, government gazettes, police gazettes, and electoral rolls, together with a range of history books focussing on various Australian localities
• burial records – ranging from indexes for particular cemeteries to photos of headstones, primarily within Australia and the United Kingdom
• Huguenot records: French protestants who were compelled to escape France, particularly in the 17^th and 18^th centuries
• Queensland railway records
• New Zealand post office directories and government gazettes
• The Indian Army and Civil Service List, July 1861and Thacker’s Indian Directory, 1895
• The Government Police Gazette for each of Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia
• the Qld Education Office Gazette (1899-1959)
• The Paracensus of Australia 1788-1828: a compilation, from various original records, of people who lived in or visited Australia during 1788 to 1828
• And much more

Entries for digital resources in the catalogue will show “Availability: Not available: Computer Network Item.” The items are available but only via the Research Centre computers or a Kiosk lookup. Search for digital records by selecting “CD/PDF” as an item type at the bottom of the “Advanced Search” page.

The collection of publications is physically the largest part of QFHS’s resources. Held on secure shelving in easy reach, the collection includes publications covering many topics.

Highlights include:

• Local histories
• Family histories
• Bibliographies
• A comprehensive collection of Australian WWI military unit histories
• An excellent collection of publications about
  • each Australian state
  • Central Europe
  • Ireland
  • United Kingdom
  • And more
• Instructional publications on
  • Genealogy and family history
  • Record types eg. census, wills, birth and baptism, land records, emigration, newspapers and more
  • Writing and publishing
• And much more

Items in this collection appear in the catalogue as “Research only – Lending Restrictions Apply.” There are plenty of desks and comfy chairs at the Resource Centre at which to use them.

QFHS has a lending library for the use of members. Lending library books are catalogued with a call number prefixed with LL.

Many books in the lending library have come from member donations or are duplicates of those in the reference library. Some are only in the lending library, such as the small collection of family history novels.

They are available to members for loan for 30 days. Three books can be borrowed at a time. The Library Assistants at the Research Centre will check out the loans.

The QFHS Family History Book Award is awarded annually by the Society for the best history of a Queensland family published in book form within the last five years.

Books submitted as entries are held on the Book Award shelves and catalogued as “Book Award Shelf.”

They are available to our members for loan for two weeks. The Library Assistants at the Research Centre will check out the loans.

The Research Centre holds an extensive collection of records on microfilm and microfiche.

There are well over a thousand entries in our catalogue for microfiche resources, including many records from early settlement in Australia and in Queensland. Monumental inscriptions, marriage licences, Queensland Catholic Church records, directories and gazettes are just some of the treasures to be found here.

QFHS has retained many microfilms previously supplied by FamilySearch, not only for Queensland but also England, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, and others. These are listed here.

QFHS also has a complete set of microfilmed New South Wales pioneer BDM : pre-1856 registers of baptisms, burials and marriages. And there are many more colonial records available here.

Both microfiche and microfilm can easily be viewed with the ScanPro viewer, which includes the facility to scan the image of interest and save it to your USB.

The Library Assistants can guide you to the relevant cabinets and help with setting up and using the ScanPro.

QFHS publishes its own journal Queensland Family Historian every quarter. It also subscribes to or exchanges journals with many other Family History or similar societies, world-wide. These provide fascinating insights into the families and local histories of people and places from where our ancestors came.

Journals may be in either hard-copy or digital form at the Research Centre. Members can access recently arrived digital issues online here.

Find them in the catalogue by using the keyword “Journal” (and any other refining term) and selecting “Journal” from the “Refine your search” menu to the left of the search screen.

Library Assistants can guide you to find journals of your choice at the Research Centre, either on the shelf or on one of our computers.

Our research kiosk provides a quick-search facility for digital journals. You can access this here.

We hold an extensive collection of publications regarding cemeteries. Finding a death record can be an important step in validating your research on an individual.

Our records include:

• Monumental inscriptions
• Funeral Director records
• Cemetery register transcriptions
• Scrapbooks of Personal Notices from newspapers
• The George Bond Photograph Collection

The George Bond Collection is unique to QFHS. It is a collection of gravestone photographs taken across the state and some interstate, by monumental mason George Bond. These are held offsite but can be accessed by emailing your request to secretary@qfhs.org.au giving two weeks notice of your visit. The index to the collection is here.

Find them in the catalogue by using the keyword “Cemetery” (and any other refining term) and selecting “Cemetery Room” from the “Refine your search” menu to the left of the search screen.

Library Assistants can guide you to find these publications at the Research Centre, either on the shelf or on one of our computers.