Genealogy at the library

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The library can be your favourite destination when you are working on your family history and genealogy.

The Genealogy Room

Located on the first floor of the Whangārei Central Library, the Genealogy Room contains microfiche and microfilm files, electoral rolls plus an extensive collection of genealogy reference books. There are also more resources in the nearby Northland and New Zealand Rooms.

Genealogy help

Genealogy volunteers, who are experts in the field, are available to help you with your family research.

They are available Monday to Saturday, generally from 10:00am to 12:00pm.
These times may differ at short notice.

If no one is available when you visit, ask our friendly library staff for help with access to the Genealogy computers for self-directed research.

Genealogy computers

There are computers with free access to websites such as Ancestry.com to help you find your ancestors around the world, or search New Zealand Electoral rolls to track your relatives as they moved around the country.

See below for a full list of research resources on these computers.

Printing is available. Printing charges apply:

  • A4 per page: black and white 10 cents; colour $1.00
  • A3 per page: black and white 20 cents; colour $2.00.

Resources on Genealogy Room computers

Websites - free access at the library

  • Ancestry library edition
  • FindMyPast
  • My Heritage library edition

New Zealand births, deaths, marriages, obituaries and burials

  • BDMs (Births, Deaths, Marriages) as published in the Bay of Plenty Times 1872 to 1910
  • BDMs as published in the New Zealander newspapers 1845 to 1866
  • Burial Locator includes over 3 million records collected from newspapers, headstones, burial records, etc.
  • Early Auckland births from the 1800s and deaths to 1900s taken from various sources
  • The Jim Pearce Index is of obituaries as reported in Wellington’s Evening Post from 1929 to 1977
  • Marriages 1836 to 1956.

New Zealand Military

  • Nominal and Descriptive Rolls of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Waikato Regiments 1863 to 1867.
  • Northland Servicemen and Roll of Honour including photographs of individual Northland servicemen.

Additional New Zealand information

  • Cyclopedia of New Zealand Volumes 1 to 6 (1897 to 1908) contains a wealth of information about individuals involved in business, politics, the arts, etc. and localities within New Zealand.
  • The Dodds Family Files contains information relating to the family of Irish couple John and Rachel Dodds who arrived in Auckland in 1869 and settled at Paparoa.
  • The Genealogical Research Directory (GRD) 1990 to 2007 will help you find others researching your family.
  • Māori Land Court Minute Books 1865 to 1910 - Index only.
  • New Zealand Electoral Rolls 1881, 1893 and 1911. Search surname, given names and/or occupation.
  • New Zealand Genealogical Index is a comprehensive collection of a wide variety of New Zealand information including school rolls, divorce, cemetery records plus much more.
  • The Phyllis Courtenay Collection records Phyllis’s research into Northland families in name or place order.

Australia

  • Australian Shipping for arrivals and departures from Australian shipping ports. Search over 92,000 names, plus shipboard diaries, shipwrecks, etc.
  • Convicts to New South Wales 1788 to 1812.
  • Index of British Army Personnel in Australia 1788 to 1870.
  • The Queensland Police Gazette records all police information in Queensland from 1864 to 1870.
  • Victoria Outwards to New Zealand 1852 to 1923. Search surnames, ship or port.

United Kingdom

  • Burkes Landed Gentry of Ireland 1899.
  • Parish Locator for England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland will help you pinpoint the location of a UK parish and find out which information is available for that parish.

Microfiche

Read past issues of Northland's local paper, The Northern Advocate, on our microfiche readers to find, for example, death notices, sports awards, obituaries, or even a court report for a miscreant relative.

See below for the complete list of items in the Microfiche collection. 

Microfiche collections

Births, deaths, marriages (BDMs)

  • Births 1840 – 1990
  • Deaths 1849 – 1990
  • Marriages 1840 – 1990
  • Māori Births 1913 – 1961
  • Deaths 1913 – 1961
  • Marriages 1911 – 1954
  • IGI All United Kingdom, Wales and Ireland
  • BDMs for South Australia 1842 – 1916
  • New Zealand Cemetery Transcriptions (More than 900 cemeteries)
  • War Deaths 1914/18 – 1939/45.

New Zealand Electoral Rolls

  • 1869/70, 1870/71, 1871/72, 1873/74, 1874/75, 1875/76, 1879/80
  •  1882/84, 1887, 1890, 1893, 1894, 1896
  •  1900, 1905/06, 1911, 1914, 1919, 1922, 1925
  •  1931, 1935, 1938, 1943, 1946, 1951, 1954
  •  1960, 1963, 1966/67, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1981
  • Māori Voters 1908, 1919, 1949/51.

Directories and indexes

  • Army Reserves and Defaulters
  • Auckland Directories 1856, 1866/67, 1873/74, 1883/84, 1891, 1898, 1909, 1923
  • Auckland Provincial Directory 1875/76
  • Bankruptcies in New Zealand 1881 - 1890
  • Chapman's Gazetteer of the Province of Auckland c1869
  • Chronicles of the NZEF Volume 1 Index
  • Comber Index of Shipping to New Zealand 1837/89
  • Commonwealth Naturalisation Certificates
  • Convicts Absconding in New South Wales Vol. 1, 1830 - 1832
  • Convicts Apprehended in New South Wales Vol. 1, 1830 - 1832
  • Convicts Assignments in New South Wales Vol. 1, 1830 - 1832
  • Fencible Land Grants and Taranaki Crown Grants
  • From Dalmatia to New Zealand
  • Imperial Regiments in New Zealand
  • Machinery Accidents 1879 - 1919
  • Masters, Mates and Engineers 1866 - 1921
  • Mining Accidents 1879 - 1958
  • New Zealand Patents Applications 1860/90/91
  • New Zealand Expeditionary Force World War 1
  • New Zealand Expeditionary Force World War 2 Nominal Rolls
  • New Zealand Index 1908
  • New Zealand Index Annual
  • New Zealand Registered Ships
  • New Zealand River Drownings 1840 – 1887
  • New Zealand Roll of Honour Index to Photos Weekly News
  • New Zealand School Teachers 1907
  • New Zealand Shipping Company Register 1875/93
  • New Zealanders Serving in Other Forces World War 1
  • NZ Contingents to the South African (Boer) War
  • Officiating Ministers in New Zealand 1848 - 1900
  • Passenger Lists Victoria to New Zealand 1852 - 1870
  • Persons Granted Citizenship 1949 - 1981
  • Port of Wellington Entry 1875/93
  • Pre-1900 New Zealand Probates
  • Province of Canterbury: List of Sections Purchased to April 1863
  • Public Service Appointments 1912 - 1927
  • Return of Freeholders of New Zealand 1882
  • Settlement of Otago by T M Hocken and Val Maxwell
  • Index Settlers pre-1861
  • Sheep Owners Returns 1880 - 1900
  • Shipboard Diaries 1840, 1900, 1912
  • Stone’s Directory Dunedin/Invercargill 1866 and
  • Otago/Southland 1807, 1909, 1915
  • Taranaki Jubilee 1891 (Chronicle)
  • The Budget 1875 Articles from January - June publications
  • Turnbull Library Biographies Index
  • Wellington Business Guide and Telephone Directory c1869
  • Wills at Land & Deeds Wellington
  • Wise’s Directories 1866 - 1940
  • Witness Commissions/Committees 1858 - 1935.

Family research queries from outside Whangārei

If you live outside the Whangārei area, we can answer queries concerning relatives who lived in the Northland area.

  • email us with as much information as possible to: whglibrary@wdc.govt.nz or
  • use the Ask a Librarian form: 

Ask a Librarian

Other Whangārei family research resources

Whangārei Cemeteries

Search the burial records for the Maunu, Kamo (Ketenikau), Onerahi, Kioreroa and Ngunguru (Cape Horn) cemeteries.
The database is updated in the second week of the following month.

Whangārei Cemetery Search

Related Information

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