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Schools, hospitals and orphanages

We hold many of the 19th and early to mid-20th century records on Queensland government:

  • schools—including state schools (primary and high schools) and state rural schools, as well as some departmental records about administration of grammar, mission and church or non-vested (private) schools.
  • hospitals—including limited information about hospital patients, as many of these records are not permanent or haven’t survived. We do not hold any records from private hospitals
  • asylums
  • medical staff
  • orphanages
  • children’s homes.

Please note: All school admission registers are subject to a 15-year restricted access period and many hospital records are restricted for 100 years.

Finding school, hospital and orphanage records

Research guides

Research guides give information about the types of records you might find on different topics, and relevant series of records that may help get you started.

School records:

4 Tips to finding school admissions

Duration 2:21

Hello and welcome to Queensland State Archives.

We hold many records about Queensland state schools from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The most interesting information about individuals are the admission registers, closely followed by the Corporal Punishment registers.

1. To find an individual’s school admission record

To find a person you will need to know the name of the school and an approximate date of admission.

Type the name of the school into the Basic Search box and press enter. A tip is type the place name and the word ‘school’ – I’ll type in Warwick East School

Choose View results for the Series line and choose admission registers

Select View items

Identify the date you are interested in – the list may not be in date order so search until you find the relevant date range

Make a note of the Item ID for your records

Some of our school admission records have been digitised and a scanned copy can be viewed, downloaded and/or printed.

2. To view digital records

To view the image click on the link

And open the PDF file

3. To view non-digital records

The school records that haven’t been digitised can either

Be viewed at 435 Compton Road Runcorn

Or you can request a quote for a copy of the records to be sent to you

4. To find additional information about schools

In addition to school admission registers we hold a variety of information about state schools. Type the name of the school into the Basic Search box and enter.

Choose ‘View results’ in the Item area

This will show you a list of records associated with the school

You can find information about the administration of the school, the school’s buildings and grounds, statistical information about attendance and sometimes school inspectors’ reports.

If you have any questions or would like to give us some feedback contact us via the ‘Contact the State Archives’ link using our online form

For other videos visit our YouTube channel and subscribe to keep up to date with any new additions.

You can also subscribe to our other social media for information about some of the great things held at QSA

Thanks for watching

Hospitals and health care:

Orphanages and children’s homes:

  • Research guide to orphanages and children’s homes—an overview of some of the records we hold on behalf of the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services. Some records about children admitted to orphanages and homes may be subject to a restricted access category.

Search the indexes

The indexes are collections of information from our most popular records (usually peoples’ names) that link to ArchivesSearch catalogue. Search indexes about schools, hospitals and orphanages below.

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Search the catalogue

ArchivesSearch provides access to QSA’s collection of records, including documents, letters, land orders, maps, plans and images. For help searching, read the ArchivesSearch help guide.

  • Spelling of names was not as consistent as it is today, so be sure to check alternatives—e.g. Thompson and Thomson.
  • Names may have been incorrectly indexed as the handwriting is sometimes difficult to read or the ink has faded.
    • The capital letters L, T, F and S are often confused as lower-case letters n, m, u and w. This means that Taylor may indexed as Laylor or Brum may be indexed as Bruin.
    • The use of double ‘s’ (ss) often looks like fs, so Ross will be indexed as Ross but may appear in the record as Rofs.
  • Names may have been written in the record phonetically as the clerks wrote the names as they heard them. Think about how it could be spelt as it was heard.
  • Some given names are abbreviated as they appear in the original record
  • Some records are restricted for several years.
  • Some records have not survived.
  • A blank cell indicates that there is no information recorded in the original.

Contact us

Contact us if you need further help.

Last updated:
27 August 2024
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