Thursday 25 August 2016

Free access to FindMyPast Australia this weekend

This weekend, FindMyPast Australia is offering free access to its collection of more than 70million Australian records. The free access period runs until 11:59pm AEST on Monday 29 August.

To access the records, you'll need to register with FindMyPast Australia. This is simple enough, and doesn't require you to provide credit card or personal details other than name and email address. Just follow the Start Now button on the free access page here.

When researching in the collection, be sure to check out FindMyPast Australia's latest addition: The Victoria Coastal Passenger Lists, 1852–1924.

Launched just a couple of weeks ago, these records contain details of more than 3.2million passengers and have never been online before. The lists record local journeys from port to port round Australia, which can help researchers locate the whereabouts of an ancestor who appears to have gone missing.

The information provided varies from record to record, but most will include name, age, estimated birth year, nationality, month and year of arrival, ship's name, departure and destination ports and native place. The latter may mean place of birth but sometimes means last place of residence.

This offer has now expired.