Ancestry.co.uk, the UK family history website, is launching the Australian Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes, featuring the records of almost 15 million Australians dating back more than 200 years to when modern Australia was settled in 1788. It is estimated that one in three "Britons" have an Australian in their family tree. For genealogists this is a major stepping stone to discover gaps in their family history's and to fill those gaps.

Historical Australian records go online

Famous names can be found in the records, including Australia's first prime minister Edmund Barton, Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn, and cricketer Sir Donald Bradman.

However, don't think everyone is going to be related to someone "famous" - "infamous" is more like it as the website has also released criminal records of about 55,000 convicts along with their physical descriptions, notes from their trials, journey to Australia, working life, release and death earlier this year.