How to Find and Read Australian Naturalisation Records
Before she left Sicily, my nonna, Maria Sulfaro née Stagno, was the person people in town came to when they needed a letter written. Young men asked her to write their love letters, and families dictated letters to relatives who had moved across the world. Maria was waiting too. Her husband, Giuseppe, left for North Queensland in 1951, and it was four long years before she and their three children joined him.
In 1960, a police constable in Innisfail assessed her application to become an Australian citizen. He reported that she “cannot speak, read or write the English Language” and “has shown no interest in learning the Language.”
He was right, which might seem strange for a woman who had spent years putting other people’s words on paper. But the words Maria loved were Italian, and I’ve sometimes wondered whether holding on to her language was also a way of holding on to the homeland she missed.
This series, Beyond the Record, explores the gap between what a record says and who a person was. Here’s how to find your family’s naturalisation file and read it closely enough to uncover the stories the officials left out.
What can a naturalisation file tell you?
Naturalisation files can contain much more than an application form. Depending on the circumstances, they may include correspondence, sponsorship details, addresses, occupations, interview reports, assessments of an applicant’s English and character, and the date and place of their citizenship ceremony.
Some files also bring together immigration and sponsorship paperwork, spanning several years and multiple family members. My grandparents’ file runs to 124 images, from Giuseppe’s sponsorship in 1950 to Maria’s oath of allegiance in 1962. Naturalisation wasn’t compulsory, though, so not every migrant has a file.
1. Find your ancestor’s file
Start with the National Archives of Australia’s RecordSearch. Search by surname and try alternative spellings, including both “naturalisation” and “naturalization”, as historical file titles use either.
Where you look depends on when and where your ancestor applied. Files held in Canberra include series A1 (1903 to 1938), A659 and A435 (1939 to 1950), and A446 (1953 onward). State offices hold their own series too. My grandparents’ file is in J25, the Queensland Branch’s case files: NAA: J25, 1959/4144, barcode 1658798. Many files are already digitised, and you can request copies of those that aren’t.
Search every name in the file title. File titles often list the whole family and sometimes the sponsor. Ours reads: “Sulfaro, Giuseppe [born 1917] - Nationality: Italian; wife Maria [nee Stagno] - born 1921; family Paolo [born 1944], Gaetana, Carmelo - [Applicant: De Roma, Antonino]”.
If you can’t find your ancestor, try:
Their surname without a first name
A spouse’s maiden name
Other family members listed in the application
The sponsor’s name
Alternative spellings or variations of the surname
Still can’t find anything? Ask NAA staff to check the Citizenship Index (1904 to the present). Provide your ancestor’s full name, alternative spellings, date of birth, date of arrival and state of residence.
2. Read beyond the application
Start with the order of the documents. Don’t assume they’re arranged chronologically. In my grandparents’ file, the newest papers are at the front: Maria’s 1962 oath is image 10 of 124, while Giuseppe’s 1950 sponsorship application is image 123. Reading from the back lets you follow the story as it happened.
Understand the rules of the time. Australian citizenship was introduced on 26 January 1949. Before then, naturalisation conferred British nationality, which a man’s wife and minor children generally acquired automatically when he was naturalised. After 1949, family members had to apply for Australian citizenship in their own right. That’s why Maria has her own application, interview and oath, while the children were included in Giuseppe’s application when he became an Australian citizen in December 1959.
Look closely at interview reports. These are often the most revealing documents in a file. Maria applied on 24 May 1960 and was interviewed that July through an interpreter. Her report, like Giuseppe’s, came from Senior Constable R. T. Grant of the Innisfail police rather than an immigration officer, so check the letterhead and signature. A local officer may have recorded details about an applicant’s English, employment, character and standing in the community that no standard form asks for.
Note whether an interpreter was present, what the officer said about the applicant’s English, and whether the application was approved, deferred or rejected. If there is more than one assessment, compare them. When Maria reapplied the following year, the officer reported that she “appeared to have adequate knowledge of the English language” and could converse “with-out the assistance of an interpreter.” The file doesn’t say what changed, but it gives you a starting point for asking questions.
Remember that an interview report is one person’s assessment, shaped by the expectations of the day. Maria’s report doesn’t mention the practical barriers migrant women faced in learning English. As the sociologist Ellie Vasta has noted, classes were often limited and held at times that didn’t suit mothers. A report can be true and still leave out the why.
Follow the people behind the paperwork. Look at who wrote each letter and who signed it. Giuseppe’s first letter in 1958 carries his signature but was probably written by his son Paolo or a friend. Later letters for both him and Maria came from a G. Randazzo, a name worth searching in local records and newspapers. Helpers like this may have been relatives, friends, interpreters or members of the local community.
Build a timeline. List every date and address in chronological order, and look for gaps, changes and inconsistencies. Between Maria’s two applications, the family moved from 74 to 32 Mill Street, Mourilyan. Each date and address is another question to investigate. Did the family move for work? Did Maria attend English classes? Did someone help her prepare for the second application? The documents won’t always provide the answers, but they can tell you where to look next.
3. Take the research beyond the file
Within a month of Maria and the children arriving in Innisfail in 1956, Cyclone Agnes hit the North Queensland coast. The family was living in a tin-roofed house propped up on wooden posts. My aunt remembers the roof sounding as if it would blow off, and Maria, who had never seen a cyclone, asking Giuseppe what was happening.
The next day, after he had repaired the damage, she asked him whether a cyclone could carry the house back to Italy if they took it off its posts. She knew it couldn’t, but she was already missing a home she would never see again.
Maria loved the Italian community around Mourilyan, and with Italian-speaking grocers nearby she rarely needed English. My mum, Margarita, was born in Innisfail, and once she started school she only wanted to speak English, which upset Maria, who had chosen to hold on to Italian herself. My uncle Carmelo remembered the older children having to translate between them. None of this appears in a government file, but it helps us understand the person behind the report.
Print the interview reports and show them to relatives who knew your ancestor. A specific document prompts far richer memories than a general question like “what was Nonna like?” Ask about particular names, addresses and events. Record who shared each memory and when, and consider those recollections alongside the documentary evidence.
Look for other records too. Follow the names and addresses into:
Electoral rolls: trace addresses and household members, keeping in mind that enrolment eligibility varied.
Passenger arrival records: confirm arrival dates, ships and travelling family members.
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: citizenship certificate lists can help confirm dates and addresses.
Local newspapers and directories: look for community activities, employment and changes of address.
Church and cemetery records: establish family relationships and connections to the local community.
And ask whether anyone still has the citizenship certificate itself. The government kept the file, but the certificate went home with your ancestor.
Australia Day, 1962
On 26 January 1962, Maria swore her oath of allegiance in Innisfail and became an Australian citizen. Her file records the date, place and oath. It doesn’t record the letter writer from Giardini, the night of the cyclone, or the home she would never see again. For those, you have to go beyond the record, and your ancestor’s file is where that search begins.
Quick reference
Where to search: National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch.
Can’t find a file? Ask NAA staff to check the Citizenship Index (1904 to the present). Provide a full name, alternative spellings, date of birth, date of arrival and state of residence.
Canberra series: A1 (1903 to 1938), A659 and A435 (1939 to 1950), A446 (1953 onward). State offices hold their own series, including J25 for Queensland.
Other records to explore: passenger arrivals, electoral rolls, Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, local newspapers, directories, church and cemetery records, and family-held citizenship certificates.
This post is part of Beyond the Record, a series about the stories hidden in family records.
Sources
National Archives of Australia: J25, 1959/4144, “Sulfaro, Giuseppe [born 1917] - Nationality: Italian; wife Maria [nee Stagno] - born 1921; family Paolo [born 1944], Gaetana, Carmelo - [Applicant: De Roma, Antonino]”, barcode 1658798.
National Archives of Australia, “Naturalisation records held in Canberra” (fact sheet).
Vasta, E., “Gender, Class and Ethnic Relations: The Domestic and Work Experiences of Italian Migrant Women in Australia”, in G. Bottomley, M. de Lepervanche and J. Martin (eds), Intersexions, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1991.
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, “Certificates of Australian Citizenship” (example list, 1970).
Family recollections from the author’s aunt, uncle and mother.
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