Genealogy in New Zealand

When you live online, the whole world is in your computer. Distances and time don't seem to be relevant. I woke up this morning and had a really hard time figuring out what day of the week it was. As a consequence it turns out I have friends and some relatives in many distant parts of the world. As a result, I end up doing research or helping others with research in all parts of the world. New Zealand is no exception. I don't know of any of my own relatives living there, but I do have friends who live there.  One of my friends who I was helping with research, had a Māori grandmother. It is truly a small world online and otherwise.

I find it interesting that the population of New Zealand is less than that of the State of Arizona, the 16th state by population in the U.S. Like Arizona, the population is concentrated in a few large cities such as Auckland with more than 25% of the population of the whole country. (In Arizona, half of the state's population lives in Maricopa County, the location of the Phoenix metropolitan area).

To get an overview of the genealogy resources available for New Zealand, I suggest New Zealand History Online. I also suggest the New Zealand Archives with over 4 million records. See also Genealogylinks.net for New Zealand, and GenealogyPro, Researching New Zealand Records. You might also want to check the resources of the FamilySearch Research Wiki for New Zealand. In addition there is a useful list on Web Sites for Genealogists, New Zealand.

One interesting site I have run across is on FamilySearch's Community Trees with the Maori pedigree charts. The information entered into the pedigree charts based on oral genealogies ranges from 13 B.C. to A.D. 1790.

New Zealand has an active genealogical community. Here are some useful websites from the genealogical community:

• New Zealand Society of Genealogists
• Federation of Family History Societies (of the United Kingdom) 

You should be aware that the United Kingdom, Foreign and Commonwealth Office will be making available to the public a large collection of files from former British territories, sometimes known as the "migrated archives". The files will be made available between April 2012 and November 2013.


There are some New Zealand bloggers out there also, here are a few:

• Genealogy New Zealand
• New Zealand Genealogy News

Happy researching in New Zealand.