Every family has a story, one that’s filled with interesting characters, romances, heroes and villains. All you need to do is follow your curiosity. Ancestry.com.au gives you all the tools you need to begin your search in uncovering the exciting details of your parents, your grandparents, your grandparents' grandparents and beyond. And who knows? Maybe along the way, you’ll find out a little more about yourself as well. Here’s a quick guide on everything you need to get started!
Creating a family tree
If you’re starting your genealogy journey and don’t know where to begin, all it takes is just one name! The Ancestry platform helps kickstart your search by allowing you to enter what you know. Start with your grandparents, your great grandparents or even just your parents.
The program connects with thousands of databases around the world to help give context to your search. After a while, you’ll see the program leaving you ‘leafs’ on the various family members you’ve added to your tree. These are “Ancestry Hint’s” they’ll provide you with unique clues to help you figure out where to start looking next.
Ancestry Academy
After you’ve followed your knowledge as far as you can take it, it’s time to do some detective work. You’re going to need to go through old census records, read the wills of your great grandparents closest confidante, maybe even go through old grave records to find where your ancestors were buried! Ancestry Academy is a free resource that gives you the skills and tools you need to start thoroughly investigating leads.
The video resources on there will help you make sense of old birth and death records. You’ll get tips on mining the obituaries of newspapers from 1818 that will save you time and help you find the answers you seek.
If you really get stuck, you can even hire a genealogy specialist via the platform to help you. These professionals have spent years assisting clients in tackling complex family history mysteries, finding family members through DNA analysis and using a suite of online and offline resources to help you find the family history answers you seek.
Community Message Boards
One of the amazing things you’ll realise in exploring your genealogy is that you yourself are someone else's missing puzzle piece too. There is a whole community of people looking to learn more about who they are and where they’ve come from, and you could hold the key that unlocks the next phase of their discovery!
Ancestry.com.au has a vibrant online community where you can contribute your findings and research, share tips and facts that you’ve found that might just lead a long lost cousin right to your doorstep. Having someone to share this journey with is half the fun!
Take your journey to the next level with the Ancestry DNA test
Ever wondered what’s in your DNA? Ancestry.com.au gives you the chance to find out. Millions of people have uncovered something new about who they are and where their ancestors originated from; there is a real chance you will too! If you’re looking to breathe new life into your family history investigation, why not start...with you?
Three easy steps to learning more about the cultures in your DNA
- Order a kit with easy-to-follow instructions
- Activate your kit and return your saliva sample in a prepaid package to the Ancestry labs
- In roughly 6-8 weeks, you’ll be notified of your results online.
What you’ll receive in your results Your results are 100% unique to you and could unlock many secrets, insights and stories of your family of origin. With your personalised results you’ll receive:
- A percentage breakdown of your ethnicity estimate
- Locations and details from over 1,500 regions - sometimes even down to the city!
- Depending on your regions, you may receive a timeline of historical changes of that place with expert-curated content
- A potential journey map that describes how and why your family moved from place to place around the world
Ancestry.com.au is one of the world’s largest consumer DNA databases. By taking the test you might have the opportunity of being matched to more living relatives you didn’t even know about!
Start your genealogy journey today with Ancestry.com.au and Cashrewards
From creating your family tree right through to the Ancestry DNA test, Cashrewards is proud to offer cashback to members looking to learn more about their family and themselves. Sign up to become a Cashrewards member and you’ll receive cashback when you shop at over 1800 retailers across Australia. Join today!