South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society

21/01/2026

Looking for something to do this summer? Get up to 25% off in our Redbubble store and grab a genealogy-themed jigsaw, perfect for family historians who can't get enough of solving puzzles! 🧩 Link in the comments 👇

We also have notebooks to keep your research on track and tote bags for your trips to the library, plus mugs, coasters, t-shirts and more.

You can also visit the Genealogy SA Library to pick up a present - or a treat for yourself 🎁

Genealogy SA Library, 201 Unley Road, Unley
Tuesday 10.00am to 9.00pm
Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10.00am to 4.30pm
Selected public holidays 1.00pm to 4.30pm

19/01/2026

Are you ready to take your DNA analysis skills to the next level? Want to solve non-parental events or adoption cases, or fit those unknown matches into your tree? Learn how to use the What Are The Odds (WATO) tool for genealogy!

📅 Monday 16 February, 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
📍 Online via Zoom
🎟 $49 Genealogy SA members / $99 non-members
Booking link in the comments 👇

This two-hour seminar will teach you how to use the genealogical tool 'What Are The Odds?' (WATO) created by genealogist and web developer Jonny Perl at DNAPainter.com. This tool allows you to identify potential places where a DNA tester can fit into a family tree based on shared DNA, allowing you to solve mysteries in your own ancestry, as well as solving where unknown matches fit into your family tree.

16/01/2026

You can almost hear wedding bells in our latest database update, with almost 10k new marriage records added! Search now – link in the comments 👇

💒 4,400+ new records have been added to our index of parish & church marriages. This update of records is the first in 3 years and includes records from 14 new parishes or churches across South Australia.

👰🤵 We are also filling the gaps in our index of SA BDM Marriages. This update includes more than 5,300 marriages from 1945, improving the completeness of our index (which covers records between 1842 and 1950). There are still a few gaps outstanding from the 1940s, so stay tuned for future updates as our team completes this work.

More information about available records can be found in the Information Sheet for each dataset. Thanks as always to our wonderful volunteers for their invaluable work in transcribing, checking, correcting and adding these records.

Images: Genealogy SA Photographic Collection. P00244-05, Wedding of Donald Ross Hawkins and Patricia Margaret White, 1953. P00207-01, Wedding of Edward Albert Dansie and Rose Pitman, 1909.

14/01/2026

Book in quick for 'Sharpen your Research Skills' – only a few tickets left!
Take yourself from a hobbyist family historian to the next level of professional genealogy with this in-person workshop.

📅 Sunday 22 February, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
📍 Genealogy SA Library, 201 Unley Road
🎟 $79 Genealogy SA members / $129 non-members
Booking link in the comments 👇

Join us for this intermediate course and develop your analytical research abilities. This course will teach you how best to approach your genealogical investigations, track your research, and cite your sources. We will introduce you to fundamental research skills and international professional genealogical standards, share tips and tricks from experienced researchers, and work through practical examples of analysing the accuracy of documents.

Image: SLSA PRG 34/27/2/5, Women Graduates of the University of Adelaide, 1891.

12/01/2026

Twilight Talks are back for 2026! Join Curator Corinne Ball as she discusses her research into Adelaide's Destitute Asylum.

📅 Tuesday 3 February, 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
📍 In the Genealogy SA Library or online via Zoom
🎟 Members FREE / Non-members $20
⬇ Booking link in the comments

The Destitute Asylum housed the poor, elderly, sick, vulnerable, and rejected, providing gerontology, transition, and hospice services, as well as respite and maternity care. Curator Corinne Ball will talk about her decade of research into the sometimes difficult stories from South Australia's social welfare system, and the families who passed through it.

Image: State Library of South Australia B 0124. Destitute Asylum & Mounted Police Barracks, viewed from North Terrace, c1868.

09/01/2026

Diving into your family history in 2026? The Genealogy SA Library is the place to be! Join us for our first tour of the year and find out how to navigate our extensive and unique collections!

📆 Saturday 10 January, 2pm
📍 201 Unley Road, Unley

Learn about our fantastic family history resources and the best way to navigate our extensive collections. Suitable for visitors, new members or current members who would like to get to know our library better.

In 2026, our library tours will run twice monthly: on the second Saturday at 2pm, and on the last Tuesday at 11am, from January to November. No booking required, and the tour is FREE for Genealogy SA members ($20 for visitors, includes full-day access to our library resources with volunteer assistance).

07/01/2026

New year, new database updates! We're excited to announce another very large update to our online databases – start searching today at
www.genealogysa.org.au/resources/online-database-search

👩‍🏫 School Admissions – 55,000+ records added from 35 schools

👩‍⚕️ All Other Records/Miscellaneous: Nurses – 109,000+ records of Nurses added, with coverage ranging between 1922 and 1955

⛪ Parish/Church Baptisms – 11,000+ records
⛪ Parish/Church Burials – 10,600+ records
This our first major update to this dataset since 2018, adding records from more than 18 new parishes or churches across South Australia.

📰 Newspaper Births – 16,000+ records
📰 Newspaper Deaths – 45,000+ records
📰 Newspaper Marriages – 4,500+ records
These newspaper records have been added from the Ian Shillabeer collection , covering notices from 'The West Australian' , 1880 to 1915.

To learn more about each dataset (including information about the records, the source and the coverage periods) head to the Online Database Search and look for the link to the PDF data sheets in the right hand column.

Thanks as always go to our dedicated volunteers, whose work enables this wonderful and ever-growing collection of records.

Images: Genealogy SA Photographic Collection. P00221-04, School class photograph - Croydon Primary School Grade 4, 1932. P0091-003, Lutheran church, Light Pass, ?1933.

The Genealogy SA Library will CLOSE at 4:30 pm on Saturday 20 December and will REOPEN on at 10:00 am on Tuesday 6 January 2026. Our research and transcription services will also be on holiday during this closure.The Genealogy SA office will CLOSE at 4:30 pm on Friday 19 December and will REO...

05/01/2026

Happy New Year from Genealogy SA! Our library is back in action from 10:00 am on Tuesday 6 January, so drop in and find out how we can help you with your family tree!

Get into genealogy with our extensive resources, including South Australian BDM records, newspaper death notices, burial records and more! Plus, enjoy in-library access to Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast, The Genealogist, FamilySearch Affiliate resources and other must-have genealogy tools.

We also have a massive collection of books, journals and records, including family and local histories, how-to books, records on microfiche and more. Genealogy SA members can even borrow select titles – just ask our helpful volunteers.

Genealogy SA Library, 201 Unley Road, Unley
Tuesday 10.00am to 9.00pm
Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10.00am to 4.30pm
Selected public holidays 1.00pm to 4.30pm
Genealogy SA members: FREE! Visitors: $30 full day access, $20 half day access

Image: Genealogy SA Photographic Collection P00142-088. Holiday card from the Keller Family: 'Wishing you a merry Xmas 1940 & a bright New Year, from Martha, Eddie & family Kellar's. To Min.'

19/12/2025

Merry Christmas from Genealogy SA! We're taking a well-earned break over the holidays, and will be back in action in 2026.

📚 The Genealogy SA Library will close at 4:30 pm on Saturday 20 December 2025, and reopen at 10:00 am on Tuesday 6 January 2026. Our Research Services will also be closed during this time.

👩‍💻 The Genealogy SA office will close at 4:30 pm on Friday 19 December 2025, and will reopen at 9:00 am Monday 5 January 2026.

While we're on holiday, don't forget that our online databases are available for research 24/7! Members can also use our services online, including renewals, MyHeritage home access and our journal, the South Australian Genealogist.

17/12/2025

Book in early for our next in-person education event and learn how to sharpen your research skills! Take yourself from a hobbyist family historian to the next level of professional genealogy with this workshop.

Sunday 22 February, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Genealogy SA Library, 201 Unley Road
$79 Genealogy SA members / $129 non-members
Booking link in the comments 👇

Join us for this intermediate course and develop your analytical research abilities. This course will teach you how best to approach your genealogical investigations, track your research, and cite your sources. We will introduce you to fundamental research skills and international professional genealogical standards, share tips and tricks from experienced researchers, and work through practical examples of analysing the accuracy of documents.

You will learn about Boolean searching, the FAN club, utilising Ancestry's card catalogue and FamilySearch collections, how to use maps and how to gain the historical context that will guide your research. And much more!

Image: SLSA PRG 34/27/2/5, Women Graduates of the University of Adelaide, 1891.

15/12/2025

Get your diaries out – our library tours will be back in the new year!

In 2026, we will be running tours twice monthly, January to November.
📅 Second Saturday of the month, 2:00 pm, starting 10 January
📆 Last Tuesday of the month, 11:00 am, starting 27 January

Learn more about the family history resources available at the Genealogy SA Library, including our subscription databases, BDM indexes (with certificates on microfiche), newspaper personal notices, family and local history books and much more!

You can register your interest and share with your friends via our events pages - links in the comments 👇

13/12/2025

Have you caught up on the latest edition of our journal, The South Australian Genealogist? Members can log in on our website and read full issues online!

Here's a sneak peek of a festive story from the November issue: 'Memoirs of an Antipodean Christmas: A day of thanks and atonement', by Peter M Lyster.

"I feel that it is time to thank Mum and Dad for all those Christmases past. Mum, cooking a Christmas lunch for us after long hours of work at the Home for Incurables in Adelaide, where she was a ward sister. Dad, finally getting a reprieve from delivering Christmas mail on the post office bike around Myrtle Bank doing double-shift. I tried to do that summer job once and got bored after two weeks. Then there was the amount of shopping they must have done surreptitiously to get us all our toys.

"Our Christmas often started with a hot shirtless, sleepless night. This frequently bemuses my American friends – I once met someone who asked me if Christmas in Australia was in December. Among the presents I got was a plastic NASA spacecraft that was sprung open by a rubber band and a parachute came out – it never worked satisfactorily and ended up plummeting to earth, in pieces. For me that was entertainment. There was a circular track train that I found so boring by 10:00 am that I had an irresistible desire to disassemble the engine; it never worked again … By midday we were in a cloud of ennui, surrounded by corpses of Christmas presents."

Images: The cover of the November issue of The SA Genealogist / Peter's parents at Christmas lunch