Name of Site: First Families 2001
URL:
www.firstfamilies2001.net.au
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Review: As part of the 2001 Centenary celebrations (hang on, I don't remember any celebrations in 2001!), the Victorian State Library has created a fascinating archive of historical information relating to Australia and its occupants throughout the ages. Searchable and browseable, there are timelines, individual stories and genealogical records - just type in a name and see. There are family tree printouts to use, a school project book, links aplenty and a picture gallery to enhance the mostly text-based info available. If they could continue to expand this it could well be a definitive Aussie archive and a great place to look up all your friends and family. - SS
Name of Site: GenealogyToday
URL:
www.genealogytoday.com
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Review: I've got a pretty uncommon surname, and I have yet to even find my own father in these Websites, yet I am reassured that one day my family will pop up somewhere. Like this site, the resources are getting better and the databases are sweeping wider and wider - one day they will actually hook into the Polish navy's list of submariner crew from 1939. Genealogy Today provides you with a whole swag of tools, tips, historical information and even a shop for all your root tracing needs. If you are really keen, you can employ a professional to go where no amateur can go, to find out for sure if you really do carry traces of Tutenkamen's DNA. If I could go back far enough, perhaps my dad's sub-aquatic exploits can be traced back to a sardine. Only time, and enterprises like this, will tell. - SS
Name of Site: Ancestor Search - Australia
URL:
www.ancestor-search.com/locality/australia.html
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Review: Yet another multi-linked, multi-search, multi-faceted mega site to find out who you are. Claiming upward of one billion direct connections to human beings living and dead, if you don't find yourself here, face it, you are a schmuck. Some databases require signup before search, which I guess adds yet more names to the list. This is a global site, but has taken the time to give the Aussies a fair crack at finding out who they are. Sadly I think I have to accept that it was other families who came, saw and conquered, and all I am going to inherit is the fee for these reviews, which I'm going to spend creating a new identity for myself. Just call me "Mr Windsor". - SS
Name of Site: Genealogy.com
URL:
www.genealogy.com
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Review: I've just traced the genealogy domain name tree right back to its roots. They do it justice, too, the grand daddy of all family tree sites. America is the centre of the world as usual, so you'd better hope to have a bit of confederacy in your genes. However, there are nice tools, such as "Family Tree Maker" to play with - only US$29.99, set up your own home page, post to the message boards and await replies from long lost billionaire great uncles, learn some tricks from the professionals, and follow links to over 72,000 sites - phew! By the time you've finished at this website, you'll have great, great, grandkids of your own! - SS
Name of Site: RootsWeb
URL:
www.rootsweb.com
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Ease of Navigation: Signposted
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Review: When it comes to such a librarian-esque pursuit as genealogy, I suppose it's a given that the sites will look much like output from a steroid-fed database, still it's always nice to find a site that breaks the mould. Unfortunately RootsWeb is not that site, in fact as the oldest and largest free genealogy site on the Internet, it actually has more informational content than an overweight squirrel has nuts at the end of autumn. What this means of course is a powerful search facilities, a database of some 300 million ancestor names, mailing lists, message boards, resource clusters and hundreds of genealogy websites hosted on the free webspace RootsWeb provides. All in all an invaluable genealogical companion! - SS
Name of Site: Lineages
URL:
www.lineages.com
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Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
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Review: Despite what you might think, there is actually money to be made in genealogy, as this site proves. With a staff of close to 40 professional genealogists, Lineages caters to beginning researchers and family historians with software, research rooms, searchable databases, books and more. In particular I liked their first steps section, which introduces you step by step to the methods for locating those hard (or impossible in my case) to find rellies. From a guide to how to write successful queries to learning about "Soundexing", this is a must for anyone with a long summer holiday coming up! - SS
Name of Site: National Archives of Australia - Genealogy Fact Sheets
URL:
www.naa.gov.au/Publications/fact_sheets/default.html#genealogy
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Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
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Review: If you are going to begin your search for a rich great grand uncle, this is a great place to begin - the National Archives. Forget all the genealogy hype, try good old fashioned hyperlinks. The NAA taps into the vast array of record-keeping our overlords have maintained over the decades, and allows you to begin tracing where you or your relatives may fit into the grand scheme of social control we call civilization. Unfortunately you will have to pursue them further before coming up with actual names, as they don't just give it all out over the ether, but you can get a great head start by knowing just how detailed the records are and seeing just where you might fit in. - SS
Name of Site: Genealogical Journeys
URL:
www.genealogicaljourneys.com
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Review: Through a neat array of icons and family emblems, you are transported back in time to discover the rich and colourful histories that we all share to some degree. Amazingly what looks like it could be a clunky old site from the 1900s turns out to be well worth clicking around. Tons of features like chat room, discussion boards, historical archives, links, polls, web rings, and ancestral line tracers will have you wishing you were featured here somewhere. Oh well, just think, in 1000 years time, people will be tracing back to today to find their roots, so you'd better get out there and make something of yourself, or you'll let your own descendants down just like your ancestors let you down here. - SS
Name of Site: WorldGen Web Project
URL:
www.worldgenweb.org
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Ease of Navigation: Signposted
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Review: This is a good idea - rather than have all these genealogists and genealogy sites working independently trying to attract members, why not get together and harness their brain and computer power to build the mother of all genealogy databases. No more ethnocentricity, just pure family trees mapping the spread of the human plague across the globe. This is more for the genealogist than the hapless soul searching for meaning, but you can still go to the country of your origins here to unearth your kin, not literally of course. This is as close as I came to finding my roots, so if you are having little luck, give it a go, you never know what you'll discover. - SS
Name of Site: Kindred Trails
URL:
www.kindredtrails.com
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Ease of Navigation: Signposted
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Review: After all this tree tracing, it's nice to finally find a site that looks and feels like the warm and fuzzy sensation I'm going to get when I actually find a distant relative. Colourful cartoons and interesting ideas, such as family reunion invites, colour coded tracing tools, classifieds, mugs and family books give me a warm glow as I continue my fruitless search. One great part of this site is where you can tell stories, write poems, post your biography for all to see - giving the site a human face, instead of the endless surname searches and date of birth data. Here are real people tracing real lives leaving a trail that maybe one day their own descendants can trace - so long as they can keep paying their hosting fees. - SS
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