At 10:25 AM 29/04/2007, you wrote: Janet The government administration of our two countries are and were different. Births, deaths & marriages have been recorded by state authorities since the 1850s. Yours were recorded by hundreds of local counties, some starting after 1900. Naturalization here has been similarly centrally recorded, while yours were under county authorities. We lack censuses, but have many records in central archives which are more difficult to search in America. It's useful to understand something about administrative practices in order to know what records might be available. Gary =================== >Katrina, > >What a challenge you Australian researchers must have! Thank you >for the heads up. Also, thank yuu for the other info. I've already >checked some out and they look to be helpful. > >Best Wishes, Janet _________________________________ Gary Luke ~ gary@feraltek.com.au Sydney, Australia