Our Heritage and Research team can assist you with our family history research resources. Visit us at He Puna Wānanga - Heritage & Research at He Puna Manawa, 21 Devonport Road to make use of our vast selection of genealogy resources listed below.
Books
- Published and printed material
Family History Reference Collection
- Research Guides, shipping, map books, directories, Burke’s Peerage and dictionaries of surnames.
Reference Collection
- Local histories, family histories, official war histories, school jubilee publications, biographies; Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: the latest (1990-2000) and Scholefield (1940); Who’s Who in New Zealand, Tauranga Photo News 1962-1970.
Journals
- New Zealand Genealogist
- Family Tree (UK and NZ versions)
- Practical Family History
- Family History Monthly
- he Volunteers (Military history)
- Tauranga Historical Society Journal
- Historical Review (Whakatane Historical Society)
- Ohinemuri Historical Society Journal
There are many useful journals – this is just a selection
New Zealand Directories
- Tauranga Burgess Rolls 1886 – 1891; 1893 – 1900
- Local electoral rolls for Tauranga
- Parliamentary electoral rolls for New Zealand: microfilm 1854 to early 1900s, 1941, 1949; microfiche 1898 – 1938, 1943, 1946, 1954 – 81; hard copy 1984 to the latest version
- Wises: microfiche 1866 – 1955; hard copy 1911, 1939, 1956, 1957, 1958
- Wises Te Puke 1892 – 1951; Te Puna 1910 – 1951; Maketu 1910 – 1925; Katikati 1891 – 1951
- A selection of hard copy directories for the 19th and 20th centuries for different regions of New Zealand.
- Current New Zealand wide telephone books
- Historic Bay of Plenty telephone directories
- Māori Reference Collection including family reunions, Waitangi Tribunal reports, Raupatu document bank, Tauranga Māori Land Court Minute Books.
Microfiche
Not everything is online!
- New Zealand births/deaths/marriages index 1840-1990
- Māori births/deaths 1913-1960
- Māori marriages 1911-1951
- Births/deaths/marriages from provincial newspapers and church records
- Directories and provincial rolls
- Accidents, obituaries, biographies, wills
- Bankruptcies
- Cemetery transcripts
- Citizenship/naturalisations
- Government – miscellaneous
- Māori land claims 1855-1955
- Military – miscellaneous including war deaths in both World Wars
- Patents 1860-1890
- Religion – officiating ministers 1848-1900
- Settlers and land – Canterbury, Otago, Taranaki
- Shipping – Comber Index, etc.
- Turnbull Biographies Index
- Women named in the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand
- Pre-1900 families index
- IGI New Zealand
- IGI England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Pacific Islands
- Australia: Victoria births/marriages 1853-1913, deaths 1853-1960; New South Wales births/deaths/marriages pre 1856-1905; South Australia, Northern Territories, Tasmania miscellaneous
Microfilm
- Electoral rolls, newspapers, Archdeacon Brown’s papers
- New Zealand Woman’s Weekly,
- Te Puke Times 1913-1975
- Daily Southern Cross 1861-1876
Electronic Information
- The library subscribes to Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, MyHeritage. These are all freely accessible on Public PCs in our library and in He Puna Wānanga - Heritage & Research.
- The Research PCs in He Puna Wānanga - Heritage & Research contain Early Auckland Births & Deaths; BDMs from The New Zealander, Gallipoli; NZ Marriages; NZ Burial Locator; Tauranga Burials and Cremations; NZ Society of Genealogists’ Index; and other resources.
Pae Korokī
Tauranga archives online. Discover the diverse and unique stories of Tauranga Moana, our digitised archives, maps, images and publications, here: Pae Korokī
Resources available by appointment:
- Archives and manuscripts, Unique unpublished material. Diaries, letters, and other records of Bay of Plenty families, businesses, churches, clubs and organisations.
- Archdeacon Brown’s original papers (The Elms Collection – microfilms and typescripts available for access/viewing).
- Sladden collection and rare material, including all volumes of the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand (1897)
- Munro collection
- Maps and charts - Tauranga and districts from 1865, Tauranga harbour and other New Zealand charts from mid-1800s, Pacific voyages and early explorers
- Photographs
- Hard copy newspapers, including:
- Te Puke Times 1976 to date
- Bay of Plenty Mirror 1972-1974
- Tauranga Argus and Tauranga Record 1866-1868
- Bay Sun 1975-1988
- Katikati Advertiser 1969 to date
- Mount and Papamoa Times 1990-2001
- Bay News 1991 to date
- Weekend Sun 2001 to date
Full access available at your library
- Find My Past
Search through billions of family history records from across the globe, including birth, marriage and death records, census records, military records, historical newspapers and lots more.
- Ancestry.com
Trace your family history across billions of records, including census, vital, military and immigration records from the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
- MyHeritage Library Edition
The MyHeritage database includes birth, death and marriage records from 48 countries, the complete U.S. and U.K. censuses, immigration, military and tombstone records and more than 3 billion family tree profiles.
Related Information
- Tauranga City Council Online Cemeteries Database
Information regarding burial locations for all six cemeteries operated by Tauranga City Council; however it does not include Mission Cemetery or Māori burial grounds information.
- Archives New Zealand
Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga is the official guardian of New Zealand’s public archives.
- Papers Past
Digitised NZ newspapers, letters, diaries, magazines and parliamentary papers from the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Family Search
Images and index of ship passenger lists from 1839 – 1973.
- The Ultimate Guide to Census Records
US Census Records and general information around what these records can reveal about your family history.
- NZ Society of Genealogists
Assistance for people wishing to compile family histories from sources in NZ and overseas.
Family History Charts