The following is a list of suggested places to look for information relating to your family history. Researching your family history takes time, patience and a willingness to think laterally.

Names / Surnames / Family Names:
There are several important things to remember when looking for names of relatives:

• The name associated with the person may not be their “proper” name. For example - the name they were baptised / christened under was a popular name within the family and in order to distinguish the various “John Smiths” every male member was known by their second names.
• Many families have the same name, but may not be related.
• Some names were derived from occupations, eg., Smith or Carpenter; from physical characteristics, for example Little, and from geographic locations.
• Names may have been anglicized or shortened. The spelling of your name may have changed several times during your family's history.

Burial / Cremation Information:
Your local churchyard or crematorium may have records relating to your relatives. The records held by these may be paper based and therefore time consuming to search, but it is worth doing, especially if it yields a visit to the place where your ancestors remains are located. Headstones usually provide additional details such as names of children, spouses and of course dates of birth and death.

Census records:
Taken as a snapshot of the nation every 10 years, this is a fascinating insight into our history. Whilst some of this information is being made available online, you may need to visit your state or national library service to access the material on microforms (microfiche or microfilm). Apart from paper based records, microform is one of the main ways to guarantee the preservation of vital information required by researchers, including those genealogists who want to trace family history. Please remember though, census records can only be released 100 years after date of collection, so the latest available is 1901.

Local Newspapers:
If your family is located in and around a particular area, an interesting way to delve into their past lives is through the local newspapers. This is especially true if your family history is a colourful one.

Family Records:
Letters, bibles, photograph albums and objects and antiques handed down through the generations can yield some interesting information.

Organising your information:
Once you have begun to collect this information – and would like to keep it together in one place, it is worth taking a digital photograph to record the relevant information. This can then be corralled, along with the relevant websites you find.