Electronic resources beginning with ‘B’

Official website of the Baha'i faith. Provides an overview of the international Baha'i community, its structure, history, beliefs and practices as well as the full text of its scriptures and sacred writings.

Search essential banking industry publications providing information about the financial services industry, banking, and industry trends.

Coverage: 1971- current

The Indigenous history of Sydney City. Contains a thematic introduction, biographies, useful contacts, and references to books, films, images and websites.

The Indigenous history of Sydney City. Contains a thematic introduction, biographies, useful contacts, and references to books, films, images and websites.

This site provides a searchable version of Bartlett's familiar quotations. The database can be searched by keyword from a known passage, phrase or proverb.

A guide to the history, politics and economic background of countries.

Some tips from the BBC about researching family history in the UK including how they researched the episodes of Who do you think you are.

This site provides links to current news stories and weather updates. It also includes links to BBC World Service and radio and TV listings.

An A-Z of religious beliefs, including rituals, philosophy, practices, statistics and a calendar.

From the Science Department of Arizona State University this interactive site includes a documentary on human evolution, news and feature articles and lines of descent in the human family tree.

A searchable and browsable database of the etymology and history of first names. It is also browsable by nationalities.

Information for adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents and anyone affected by adoption. Provides information about services available, how to undertake a search, legislation in NSW, other states and overseas, post-adoption stories and weblinks to other services such as NSW Department of Community Services and adoption support groups.

An award-winning portal created for students, history educators, and general history enthusiasts. Sites covering a wide variety of topics and periods in history are rated for usefulness and accuracy.

(State Government of Victoria, Australia)

Fact sheets on a range of topics, some with an audio version.

(BeyondBlue, Australia)

Depression, anxiety and related substance misuse disorders.

BHI Plus indexes articles from over 300 humanities journals and British newspapers. Subjects covered include architecture, archaeology, art, antiques, current affairs, education, economics, environment, ethics, film, genealogy, history, linguistics, literature, music, painting, philosophy, poetry, political science, religion and theatre.

This site provides a searchable version of the Bible. There are 10 different language editions including: German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish and Tagalog.

This cycling website lists favourite bicycle routes from riders around the world (including Australia). The routes are created and updated by users with a login/signup otherwise otherwise it provides free access to everyone.

From the Directorate-General Trade, this page links to detailed recent reports on trade between the EU and individual countries. It also contains reports on trade between the EU and trading blocs such as ASEAN and APEC.

This database contains over 627,000 article and book citations. It covers public figures, including actors, artists, business people, educators, military leaders, politicians, religious leaders, scientists, sports figures, statesmen, teachers, writers, etc.

This database covers over 550,000 people with narrative profiles and links to related full text articles, with more than 36,000 images. Search this database by name, profession, place of origin, gender, ethnicity, birth/death dates, titles of works, and keyword. This database also contains book review excerpts from Wilson's Book Review Digest Plus.

Biography Resource Centre is a comprehensive biographical database containing nearly 415,000 brief biographies of more than 320,000 people gathered from over 780 volumes from 120 reference sources published by Gale. In addition it includes the full text of articles from over 280 periodicals.

A research, education and conservation program focusing on Australian birds and the urban environment. Includes bird finder, bird groups and bird news.

'Births in Australia 1788-1828' is a comprehensive index of 27,500 of the children born and baptised into 15,000 pioneer families in the sixteen British sites around Australia from 1788 to 1828.This was compiled by James Hugh Donohoe and the CDROM is a second edition, produced in 2004.

Listed alphabetically by surname, each of the children are indexed by their father's surname, where known, or otherwise by their mother's surname, then by their given names. Their year of birth, father's given names and aliases, together with their mother's given and maiden names and aliases, where known, are also shown. Date or year of birth or baptism and the place of the event is indicated where-ever possible

The sixteen British sites are Port Jackson-Botany Bay, Norfolk Island, O'Sullivan's Cove (Port Phillip), King Island, Morton Bay, Van Diemens Land, New Guinea, Westernport, Ambon, Albany, Melville Island, New Zealand, Swan River, the Kimberleys and Cape Baron and the colony of Americans on Kangaroo Island.The total population of these 16 colonies neared 100,000 by 1828.

A few Maori and Aboriginal children are included. However, the vast majority of entries relate to NSW, which at the time also included what is now known as Queensland. Of the total, 23,648 are from NSW; Van Diemens Land 2,600; Norfolk Island 885; New Zealand 22; Cape Baron 1; Kangaroo Island 1; King Island 5; Melville 1; and Aborigines or part Aborigines, born Australia 330.

Information was gathered from Convict Musters, Victualling Lists, Colonial Secretary Records, Mitchell Library Indexes, Newspaper Advertisements and Reports, Colonial Office Records, Shipping Indents, the 1828 Census, some literary references, baptismal, burial and marriage records, Wills and family records.

600 of the births listed were exclusively found among the NSW Colonial Secretary's Record. It is estimated that a further 1,000 births were found among other colonial records, especially wills and later marriage and death records. A comparison was also made with the smaller Tasmanian Indexes where they were found to balance.

An apology from the compiler is extended to the Aborigines, Torres Strait Islanders and Maoris for the extent of emissions, despite efforts to rectify the lack this of information.

A 2001 hardcopy first edition, with only 20,120 births indexed, is available in SRL at REF10/ NQ929.394/ 22 and ML at Q929.394/ 31 . These 20,120 children were born to approx. 10,000 pioneer families - 16,500 in NSW, 3,000 in Tasmania, 600 on Norfolk Island, 16 Aborigines or part-Aborigines, 1 at Cape Baron [i.e. Barren?] (Tas.?), 1 on Kangaroo Island (S. Aust.), 1 on Melville Island (N.T.) and 5 on King Island (Tas.).

(Black Dog Institute, Australia)

Mood disorders, in particular diagnosis and treatment of depression and Bipolar Disorder.

A national Indigenous business and community enterprise directory. As well as providing a comprehensive national listing of Indigenous businesses, community enterprises and services, Black Pages aims to be a central communication portal to promote Australia's Indigenous culture and facilitate community and socio-economic development. Links to Government and other information relating to Indigenous affairs are listed in the 'Smart links section.

A national Indigenous business and community enterprise directory. As well as providing a comprehensive national listing of Indigenous businesses, community enterprises and services, Black pages aims to be a central communication portal to promote Australia's Indigenous culture and facilitate community and socio-economic development. Links to Government and other information relating to Indigenous affairs are listed in the Smart links section.

A national Indigenous business and community enterprise directory. As well as providing a comprehensive national listing of Indigenous businesses, community enterprises and services, Black Pages aims to be a central communication portal to promote Australia's Indigenous culture and facilitate community and socio-economic development. Links to Government and other information relating to Indigenous affairs are listed in the 'Smart links section.

(Australian National University & CSIRO, Australia)

Focus on depression, symptoms, treatments and where to get help.

An information resource for teachers and students in all educational programs administered by the Board of Studies NSW. HSC resources include timetables, examination papers and reports, syllabuses and results. The site also includes resources for the School Certificate and K–6.

This bibliographic database indexes and abstracts current English language fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults published or distributed in the United States or Canada. Periodical coverage includes leading magazines from the United States, Canada and Great Britain although at least one review must be from a periodical published in the United States or Canada. Reviews of textbooks, government publications, and technical books in the law and sciences are excluded.

Book Review Digest Retrospective provides excerpts from and citations to reviews of adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction. Citations with excerpts of reviews of juvenile and adult fiction and nonfiction in the English language are also included.

A comprehensive online guide to book reviews from journals and newspapers by Thomson Gale

This site contains an all-in-one search engine for finding out who sells a particular book. It can be used to find new, used, rare and out of print books. The search engine covers Amazon, Bibliofind, Interloc as well as independent booksellers including some Australian bookstores.

This site provides an interface to the many resources available on the Internet focusing on books for collectors.

An online catalogue of publications offered by the NSW Government for purchase or free download.

This site provides information about authors, plus selected information from Publishers weekly.

BOPCRIS (British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service) is a catalogue of British government publications for the period 1688 to 1995. BOPCRIS includes abstracts and detailed subject indexing of key documents, and a limited amount of full text content.

A Wiki-based encyclopedia of boxers and boxing records. Its volunteer editors scour magazines, record books, scrapbooks, and newspapers on microfilm, attend boxing shows, and maintain contact with various boxing commissions throughout the world, to continually add records of old and new bouts. Includes records of Australian boxers and bouts.

Links to higher education institutions worldwide.

(National Breast Cancer Centre, Australia)

Provides practical information and guidance for women who have breast cancer or are concerned they have breast cancer, their families, partners and friends. Includes personal stories and expert information.

This site provides a hypertext version of the 1894 edition of Brewer's dictionary of phrase and fable. The contents can be browsed.

A biographical and bibliographical database of more than 3000 Australian scientists with links to related articles and images. It includes scientists who were Australian by birth and those who undertook significant scientific work in Australia.

This site contains the Report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

This site contains the Report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

Birth, marriage and death records are the most important way of tracking down your ancestors. The trouble is the BMD records in the General Register Office civil registration index only go back as far as 1837. These records pre-date civil registration and form an invaluable tool.

The aim of this site is to provide you with access to records of birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial taken from non parish sources from 1534 to 1865:

Includes records of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials of British subjects overseas and on board ships.

You can also trace non-conformist ancestors on this website with records ranging from Methodists and Baptists to Presbyterians and Quakers.

You can also trace miscellaneous foreign marriage returns from 1861 to 1921. This collection includes marriages recorded by foreign registration authorities, churches and British embassies. Marriages by British servicemen abroad, including First World War servicemen and former prisoners of war, are also listed.

You can search for free but you need to register to buy credits to view full records and images of the original pages.

The Naval & Military Press have digitally scanned 175 large-scale (1:10,000 or approximately 6-inches to 1 mile) World War 1 trench maps held in the Imperial War Museum in London to provide an almost complete coverage of the British section of the Western Front in the 1914-18 war, from the North Sea at Nieuport in Belgium southwards to St. Quentin.

Produced by Naval & Military Press in association with Public Record Office (now National Archives) in 2004, this CDROM is a fully searchable database of the original 81-volume set of books which recorded details of 665,000 Soldiers and 37,000 Officers in the British Army who died in World War 1.

In 1919 His Majesty’s Stationery Office published, on behalf of the War Office, a single volume that listed the commissioned officers who died in the war and, in 1921, an 80-volume set of books was published recording details of the Soldiers who died in World War 1. These 81 volumes covered every regiment and corps of the British Army. However, deaths were arranged regimentally, so that if the unit in which a man was serving at the time of his death was not known, it could be extremely time-consuming to trace his entry.

The CDROM version can be searched for Regiments, Battalions, surnames, Christian name(s), initial(s), born (town), born (county), enlisted (town), enlisted (county), regimental number, rank, killed in action, died of wounds, died, theatre of war of death, date(s) and supplementary notes ie: previous regiments, decorations, etc. The data on dead officers is in a separate database.

You can combine various elements to find, for example, every soldier who died of wounds on the second day of the Battle of the Somme, every soldier killed at the Battle of Ancre or all the soldiers born in Belfast.

Britain went to war in 1914 with an army based on voluntary enlistment, numbering just over 247,000 at the outset with 486,000 Reserves and Territorials. In January, 1916, conscription was introduced and by November, 1918, nearly a further 5 million men had enlisted, over half of them volunteers.

Further information is available at Soldiers Died 1914-19 CD-ROM.

Produced by Naval & Military Press in association with Public Record Office (now National Archives) in 2000, this CDROM contains the complete Army Roll of Honour preserved at the Public Record Office under reference WO 304. The Roll covers soldiers killed in action or who died of wounds or disease between 1 September 1939 and 31 December 1946 in World War 2. It includes those deaths in service which were non-attributable (ie:natural causes) but does not include men executed for such military crimes as desertion.

It allows searching of every element in each record. Searches can be executed for: Regiment or Branch of Army at 1st September 1939, Regiment or Branch of Army at death, surnames, Christian name(s), initial(s), born (major towns or county), place of domicile (major towns or county), army number, rank, theatre of war or place where fatal wound was sustained or death occurred, decorations, and by date.

Searches can be made by one or as many elements as you wish. For example, you could search for every soldier who died during the Western Europe Campaign 1944/45; or in North Africa or At Sea or indeed in any of the other 31 Theatres of War or places classified. It is even possible to search for all privates called William, who died in Burma.

The CDROM has drop down lists for Branch of the Army, Regiment, or Theatre of War, and on screen buttons for you to click on with your mouse for other elements within the search field. After completing your search you can view and sort the data on screen and print out your results. A ‘Wild Card’ facility is available to help locate an individual’s record. The CDROM has the facility to print out a full colour memorial scroll for any casualty on this database.

The Roll of Honour was originally compiled by the War Office between the end of 1944 and March, 1949, as a direct result of the failure of accurate lists being published in the national press. Further details on its history at Army Roll Of Honour 1939-45.

This 2004 CD-ROM contains the complete scanned images of 1,164 single and double pages of the muster rolls of the British ships that were in action at the Battle of the Nile on the 1st and 2nd August 1798. The software does not allow printing.

The rolls list about 8,169 names and give rank, number, age, where born, date appeared on ship, wounded or killed.

Also included are : the medal roll for persons who received the Naval General Service Medal with a clasp Nile; the Captain's logs for the period 31st July to 7/8th August 1798; and the muster roll for the naval hospital at Gibraltar for the period July 1798 to March 1799 .

The Roll of Ships at battle - HMS Leander, HMS Culloden, HMS Theseus, HMS Alexander, HMS Vanguard, HMS Swiftsure, HMS Audacious, HMS Defence, HMS Zeaous, HMS Orion, HMS Goliath, HMS Majestic, HMS Bellerophon and HMS Minotaur.

Findmypast.com is a family history website based in London, England, providing fee-based access to the following indexed UK records:

(1) Births, Marriages and Deaths (1538 - 2005) - England & Wales Births, Deaths and Marriages from 1837 to 2005; British overseas Births, Deaths and Marriages from 1761 to 2002; Births at sea 1854-1887; Marriages at sea 1854-1883; Deaths at sea 1854-1890; Civil service evidence of age 1752-1948; Divorces and matrimonial causes 1858-1903; National burial index records 1538-2005; Index to death duty registers 1796-1903; Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-18; Royal Naval Division 1914-1919; Army Roll of Honour 1939-45; City of London burials 1742-1904; & GWR shareholders 1835-1910.

(2) England and Wales census records - 1841, 1861, 1871, 1881 (free) & 1891 (all with person or address search).

(3) Migration (1793 - 1960) - Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 (also see A journey of discovery ); Register of passport applications 1851-1903; Bengal Civil Service Gradation List 1869; India Office List 1933; East India Register & Army List 1855; Indian Army & Civil Service List 1873; & East India Company's Commercial Marine Service Pensions List 1793-1833.

(4) Military records (1656-1994) - Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-18; National Roll of the Great War 1914-18; Royal Naval Division 1914-1919; Other army lists roll calls 1656-1888; Armed forces births 1761-1994; Armed forces marriages 1818-1994; & Armed forces deaths 1796-1994.

(5) Directories & occupations (1858 – 1925) - Civil service evidence of age 1752-1948; GWR shareholders 1835-1910; Clergy List 1896; Kelly's Handbook 1901; Medical Register 1913; & Medical Directory For Ireland 1858.

the National Trust Names database contains information on the size and geographical distribution of 25,630 family names. The information is based on the findings of a project based at University College London (UCL) that is investigating the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current (1998) and historic (1881).

To qualify for inclusion in this list there must have been at least one hundred entries under that family name in the Great Britain electoral register for 1996.

A key feature of the names database is that every family name has been given a detailed classification code explaining what type of name it is. To help people better understand the characteristics of individual family names each name has been arranged into one of 225 categories, based in part on the meaning of the name but also on its form, on its origins and on its historic and current geographical concentrations.

To cater for the variety of non English surnames now found on Britain's electoral registers, the classification system has incorporated culture, ethnicity and language, reserving two major classes for celtic names and for those imported from abroad.

Within the Celtic group Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Cornish family names are separated out. Within the imported from abroad group it is possible to separately analyse a number of key cultural ethnic and linguistic groups. Names are separately identified as originating from East Asia, from South Asia, from the Muslim World, from Black Africa, from a Hispanic culture and from non Hispanic Europe. There is a further sub group consisting of Jewish names.

Some 8% of the names on the database are too individual or obscure to fit within any of these categories. In addition to these there are some names which may have more than one origin.

This site provides the complete, updated Encyclopædia Britannica, plus selected articles from more than 70 magazines including Newsweek, Discover and The Economist. It also provides a guide to more than 125 000 sites and you can also search the text of more than 100 million web pages to find more information.

The national body in Britain promoting local history and serving local historians. The association publishes The Local Historian, quarterly journal, and Local History News, a topical magazine, both of which are indexed and archived on the website.This gateway site to local history also provides links to local societies and national local history bodies.

A digital library of documents about people, places and businesses from the medieval and early modern period, created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust. Includes some volumes from the Victoria County History series as well as links to directories and lists such as the Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, which lists officials in the Church of England 1541-1857.

Produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2001, this second edition 17-disc set contains approximately 10.4 million birth and christening records and 1.9 million marriage records from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man. The Channel Islands are not included. Both civil and church records from 1530 to 1906 are indexed but coverage varies greatly from parish to parish depending on the availability of relevant records.

The set actually comprises 16 data discs and one unnumbered disc containing the Family History resource file viewer 4.0 software, which should be loaded onto the computer before you access the data discs. An additional update from a series data disc also has to be uploaded for access purposes.

The 16 data discs contain the following: (1) Births & Christenings: A; (2) Births & Christenings: B; (3) Births & Christenings: C; (4) Births & Christenings: D-F; (5) Births & Christenings: G; (6) Births & Christenings: H-J; (7) Births & Christenings: K-L; (8) Births & Christenings: M; (9) Births & Christenings: N-O; (10) Births & Christenings: P-R; (11) Births & Christenings: S; (12) Births & Christenings: T-Y; (13) Births & Christenings: W-Z; (14) Marriages: A-F; (15) Marriages: G-O; (16) Marriages: P-Z.

Records that appear in the index generally contain names of the individuals, parents’ names, the date and place where the birth, christening or marriage took place, the name of a person's spouse, and reference information which allows you to locate the original record on a microfilm from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) world-wide network of Family History Centers. You can locate your nearest center at Find a Family History Center Near You .

Names in this index have been standardized. This means that variant name spellings are listed under a common name. For example, Smyth, Smithe, Smeith, would all be indexed under the name Smith. This allows you to search a name without knowing the exact spelling. However, you are still able to search under the exact spelling of an individual's name if you wish.

The records that comprise the index are extracted records, which means that someone copied selected pieces of information from the original record. However, not all of the genealogically important information was extracted. Therefore, you should use the reference information provided in this index to locate the original record on microfilm and evaluate the original record yourself.

Be aware that this is not a complete index. Your ancestor may not appear in this CD-ROM set even though you know that he or she lived in a time and place covered by the index. The amount of information available varies greatly by time period and locality.

This site provides access to the Library's catalogues of more than 12 million items including books, newspapers, printed music, cartographic items and Asian, Pacific and African collections.

The British Newspapers 1600-1900 collection includes the 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers and the 19th Century British Library Newspapers.

A database of still images and footage from historical cinema newsreels produced by one of the oldest media companies in the world, British Pathe. Low-resolution previews may be downloaded for free. High-resolution licensed clips are available for purchase online.

A database of still images and footage from historical cinema newsreels produced by one of the oldest media companies in the world, British Pathe. Low-resolution previews may be downloaded for free. High-resolution licensed clips are available for purchase online.

Search for UK business and residential telephone numbers.

This site provides a searchable database of the British telephone directory. It contains telephone numbers for individuals and businesses, including organisations such as government bodies and charities.

An Australian resource produced by the Buddha Dharma Education Association for the dissemination of information about Buddha and his teachings. Contains sound files, images and ebooks for download.

An Australian gateway to international Buddhism sites.

This site provides the full text of the most recent Federal Budget Papers and earlier papers back to 1996-97.

This site provides the full text of the NSW Budget Papers from the 1996-97 financial year to the present

Laws and standards for all aspects of construction in Australia.

The Business entry point (BEP) is an initiative of the Australian Federal Government. The site provides information on running a business, the ability to register with the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission as well as access to detailed information related to specific business topics.

This index lists types of small businesses and a corresponding sample business plan, profile or book about the business with sources provided after each entry.

Subscription database which will provide full text articles from the current Business Review Weekly as well as access to back issues from October 1996. Free access to some BRW articles.

Business Source Complete provides full text for nearly 3,800 scholarly business journals, including full text for more than 1,100 peer-reviewed business publications. Coverage includes virtually all subject areas related to business. This database provides full text (PDF) for more than 350 of the top scholarly journals dating as far back as 1922. Also includes country reports, company and industry profiles and market research reports.

This online database provides information on Australian public and private companies including company activities, contact details, company directors, branches, subsidiaries, company websites, tradenames and agencies. The company information is fully searchable which allows you to locate information such as companies within specific industries, companies by region or see who sits on which boards.

Covers Roman, Greek and medieval Byzantium/Constantinople.