Chinese Australian Family History research, find out more

Image: Portrait of three businessmen, including managers (or directors) from the firm Tiy Loy & Co. On the left is Charles Choy Tein, in the centre Choy Yuen Gum (names provided by Debbie Choy). The Crown Studios Sydney stamp on mount card beneath photograph.
Donated by Doreen Cheong in 2008. City of Sydney archives

Getting Started

The beginnings of researching your Chinese Australian heritage will be similar to that for anyone who sets out to research their family history from any ethnicity or background. The general advice from groups like the Society of Australian Genealogists is applicable and useful. You may also find State and local libraries to be full of good general resources. Local family history societies will be similarly useful.

Then what?

However there will be issues that are peculiar to Chinese Australian family history research. Here are some specialised tips and hints that we hope you will find helpful:

A beginning explanation to Chinese Names
Guide to Chinese Australian Family Research (Chinese Museum, Victoria)
Immigration Archives Guide A “how-to” about getting started with Chinese research in the National Archives of Australia records.
Finding Chinese family connections in the National Archives
- Chinese immigrants and Chinese–Australians in New South Wales
- Chinese–Australian journeys: records on travel, migration and settlement
Top 3 tips for Chinese Australian family history research by Kate Bagnall. Kate has also written a guide to the Immigration Archive records.
Chinese Australian Family Historians of Victoria (CAFHOV)
- They also have an Ancestor Register
Roots Village DB – look up your ancestral village.

Entrance of a traditional temple adorned with red banners and decorative hanging incense coils. — City of Sydney

You might also find Chinese Genealogy useful. This forum has a number of participants from Australia and New Zealand.

Want to know more?

Sometimes you just need to talk to someone over a cup of tea (green perhaps) about your latest Chinese Australian research success or brick wall. The Chinese Australian Historical Society has established a Family History Facebook Group to encourage and assist those who have an interest in tracing their Chinese ancestry in Australia. Please join and ask questions or contribute what you have found already.

Visit

Need More

Encouragement or inspiration?

Not everyone’s Chinese Australian history will be as exciting or interesting as an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Here is a selection of other stories in various mediums from around Australia.

New Sites

Retracing Chinese Australian family history and settlement a story from regional NSW -See more chenquinjackhistory.com

Mak Sai Ying a.k.a. John Shying

Genealogies and
Family Histories

Chinese Ancestors stories of some Chinese Australians in Victoria.

Damper in A Wok a work-in-progress Chinese Australian genealogy. Also with a Facebook page

Flannigan, Alison Choy (author) & Oakes, Malcolm (co-researcher) (2018). Chinese whispers: in search of ivy: a gold rush story told by generations of an Australian-Chinese family. Black Quill Press, Sydney, [New South Wales]

Family History