Australians observe their official (and controversial) national day today, marking the anniversary of the First Fleet's landing in Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. Cue smoking ceremonies, solemn processions, choirs, bands and performance art, barbecues, parties and protest marches.
Plus a generous hug from MyHeritage in the form of a free access weekend for its entire database of Australian records.
This database holds more than 108 million Australian records from 299 collections, including electoral rolls, historical newspapers, registers, birth and death indexes, marriage records, burials, and school records.
A highlight in the Australian collection is the New South Wales Gaol Inmates & Photos collection which offers a unique glimpse into Australia’s penal history. This fascinating archive, added last year to MyHeritage, holds prison records, and features photographs of prisoners from several jails in New South Wales between 1870–1930.
If you haven't already registered for a free MyHeritage account, you'll need to set one up to gain access to the free records. This is a quick and easy process and doesn't require you to part with anything other than your name and email address.
The free access period will end on Sunday 28 January.