The microfilm produced by the Australian Joint Copying Project has long been a first stop for those researching local or family history. The 10,400 microfilm reels however have been difficult to access even for those living near libraries holding the microfilm let alone those in rural areas. The content itself can often be dense and difficult to locate relevant information.
The National Library of Australia has begun a new project to address these problems. Thanks to the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund the AJCP Online Project will digitise the 7.5 million records captured on the original AJCP microfilm, delivering them online free of charge to all.
Camp on the Murrumbidgee, New South Wales, Papers of James Coutts Crawford https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-755475540
All of the original paper handbooks and finding aids are now available and searchable online with added and enhanced content and indexing making it easier to locate the information you want.
The original AJCP partnership of the National Library of Australia, the State Library of New South Wales and the National Archives of the UK, filmed records held in UK institutions and private hands relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
Extract from notebook kept by Florence E Coombe containing translations of Mota phrases from Records of Melanesian Mission, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-771515174/view
The records filmed cover a wide range of Australia’s history from early exploration, languages and history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, early European settlers, convicts, the establishment of Australian cities and pastoral properties, our involvement in conflicts, our social and political development, scientific discoveries, religious and missionary activities and trade.
Recipe for making French cement, Braidwood June 1851 from Memorandum book kept by George Kershaw in England and New South Wales, Papers of George Kershaw, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-879971908/view
The AJCP is now available online for all Australians wherever they are. You can search and access the records in a variety of ways including the AJCP Portal, Trove, and the National Library of Australia Catalogue. The AJCP Online project concludes in June 2020.
