Great Genealogy News!

Firstly, findmypast.com.au are working with the NSW State Records to digitize and publish wills from NSW from 1800 to 1952. They will hopefully be online later this year. This is super news! My Australian side of the family comes from New South Wales, and I have no idea if any of my ancestors left wills. This will be a big help! Check out the article from Gould Genealogy here.

Secondly, the Queensland Birth Death Marriage registry now allows you to purchase a certificate and download it instantly! The digital copies are $20, while a full historical certificate (posted to you in the mail) is $28. This is going to make researching Queensland ancestry much more easier & convenient. Gould Genealogy’s article about it is here.

For me, there is only one ancestor of mine who lived in Queensland - my Great Great Great Grandfather David Gill. He grew up and married in New South Wales, but for some reason, his wife Alice moved to & died in Victoria, while he moved to & died in Queensland. He died in 1922. I’d love to see if his death certificate has any clues about the separation. I went to order his death certificate moments ago, and it gave me this -

Historical Death Image unavailable? Whyy?! Oh well. I guess I’ll wait a few days and check back then. If it’s still unavailable, I’ll order the certificate as per normal.

[13/01/14 Edit: At the end of June I discovered that downloadable images of death certificates are not available for the year David Gill died. I went to the BDM Registry which is in the Brisbane CBD & purchased a copy of his death certificate.]