Thanks to all of you who sent us your experiences of researching your family tree. Read on for Anne Young from Canberra, Australia’s experience:

‘I have been researching my tree for quite some time and I have enjoyed very much the connections I have made with distant cousins who share the interest in family history. I have also found that understanding my own family history makes larger events much more comprehensible and immediate.

Perhaps the strangest coincidence I discovered was the brother of my great great great great grandmother (my 4x great uncle) having afternoon tea one day with the husband of my husband’s great great great great aunt (4x great aunt’s husband).

Both men were living in the Australian colony of Victoria before the gold rushes and both men were interested in Aborigines. Francis Tuckfield, related to my husband by marriage, was a notable Methodist missionary. My 4x great uncle, Henry Dana, formed a police force staffed by Aboriginal men. Perhaps it is not surprising they met, but it still gave me a thrill to find such a stretch of the tree meeting on 17 February 1840.’

If you have an experience you’d like to share with us and our readers, email casestudies@findmypast.co.uk with ‘My experience’ in the subject line. We look forward to reading your stories!

In previous findmypast newsletters we asked you to email us your experiences of tracing your ancestors. Thanks to all of you who got in touch - your stories make for fascinating reading. Read on for Vivienne Whiddett-Hare’s story:

‘I was evacuated from Battersea, London to South Derbyshire in 1944 aged 6 weeks. My mother, who I found to be unmarried with a lot of children, (I have found 10 but my sister, who I met before she died, told me there were 14) asked the couple who I was placed with in south Derbyshire to adopt me, which they did.

I was 60 years old when I started my family tree which now has around 2,000 names. I also met my eldest sister and a brother and have spoken on the phone and exchanged e-mails with quite a lot of my family in Italy and Australia, as well as the UK.’

If you have an experience you’d like to share with us and our readers, email casestudies@findmypast.co.uk with ‘My experience’ in the subject line. We look forward to reading your stories!

Findmypast is coming to Australia in May for the findmypast in Australia Roadshow, organised by Unlock the Past. Elaine Collins, findmypast’s director of content acquisition, will be in Australia for a week of events to promote the fantastic range of services that findmypast offers.

If you’re unable to attend one of the events this time around, Elaine will be returning to Australia for a more extended tour, which will include Perth and Canberra as well as the other capital cities.

Further details can be found here:
http://www.unlockthepast.com.au/events/national-roadshow-australian-cities

Despite large disparities in climate and terrain, and their separation by thousands of miles of sea,  Australia and Great Britain share a similar culture, the same Queen, and in many cases the same ancestral lines.

We’ve just added over 863,000 records for the states of Victoria and New South Wales in Australia, which include government notices, burials, and convict arrivals.

Convict arrivals in New South Wales (1788-1842)

This index, built from government indent records, holds the details of 97,797 convicts who arrived in New South Wales between 1788 and 1842. With the index you can discover the name, date of arrival, and the ship transported on for each convict.

The majority of convicts remained in the state of New South Wales, but some were sent elsewhere in Australia after arriving. Upon arrival the indent list would be checked against the convicts, before the convicts were handed over to the New South Wales authorities.

The convict records are found in our ‘other records’ section.

Search for your forebears in the convict arrival records now

Cemetery Burials and Memorial Inscriptions for Victoria (1835-1997)

This index, which comprises over 185,000 records, is built from transcriptions of cemetery memorials and burial registers. It covers 197 cemeteries in Victoria, plus a few in other Australian states. It details the name and title of the deceased, the Australian state or territory, whether the event was a death or burial, the year of the event, and the cemetery.

These records form part of our Parish Records Collection.

Search the Parish Records Collection now

Victoria funeral notices (1981-1997)

This index, built from funeral notices from the Melbourne Herald Sun, contains over 119,000 records for the period 1981-1997. The name and title of the deceased is listed along with the year of the funeral, the Australian state, and details of the cemetery or crematorium.

Again, these records are held in our Parish Records Collection.

Search the Parish Records Collection now

Names in Government Gazettes, Victoria (1858-1900)

This is an index of over 461,000 records gathered from notices printed in the Victorian Government Gazette between 1858 and 1900. The nature of the notices varies considerably, covering everything from the leasing of land; law and order; licensing; tenders and contracts and other subjects.

These records form a part of our ‘other records’ section. They contain all the information that was published in the Government Gazette.

Search for your ancestors in the Government Gazette records now