Electoral rolls provide useful information about your ancestors whereabouts and eligibility to vote. New South Wales electoral rolls are available from 1842 to the 1990s, although rolls were not updated every year, and some of the early ones have been lost.

Each listing includes name, address, and occupation (up to 1984). It is possible to see which family members were living in the same address, and so can be used instead of the censuses available in other countries to determine whereabouts and household composition.

Australian electoral rolls were published in books for distribution. Most of these have been copied onto microfilm (in the 1800s) or indexed on microfiche (1901 onwards) and are available in some libraries.

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