Family Information Records Bureau

The Department for Child Protection’s Family Information Records Bureau and the Department of Indigenous Affairs’ Family History Services Unit are working together to help Aboriginal people access their personal records and family history.

The Family Information Records Bureau has access to information about Aboriginal families in Western Australia. This information has been gathered from former Department of Native Welfare files and other government files, with some records going back to 1920.

Files are limited in the amount and type of information they hold. This is because the amount of information recorded depended on the extent of contact with the Aboriginal family. Sometimes records are incomplete, have pages missing or the writing has deteriorated and is unreadable, and some files have been destroyed. Every effort has been made to preserve these records.

Find out more:
Aboriginal Family History information brochure (PDF)
Aboriginal Family History application form (PDF)
Aboriginal Family History consent form (PDF)

A Guide to Aboriginal Records in Western Australia (Looking West): This guide details the location of records, type of service, years of operation, information in records and contact details.

Services for adopted people: If you have been involved in an adoption, it is common to want to know basic information about the adoption.  ‘Open’ adoption and a change in the legislation means people can have access to information.

A guide for children and young people in care from 1920 (Signposts): Signposts aims to help people find records and other documents related to their time in residential, out of home care as children – or  who have lived in supported accommodation as a young person.