Internet resources: Historical Australian records go online

Family history website Ancestry.com.au has published the entire collection of Australian births, marriages and deaths indexes, from 1788 to 1985, featuring the records of more than 15 million Australians.

It is the first time such records have been combined on a fully searchable online database. Website spokesman Brad Argent believes the publication of the records will motivate a lot of Australians to search their history. "It makes the whole process of starting a family tree so much easier, because you can zero-in on someone's history just by typing in a single name," Mr Argent told.

Information was sourced from a collection of microfilm archives and online records from state record offices and took four years to complete. "We certainly want to add to this database over time as we get access to more material," Mr Argent said.