Just received -------- Original Message -------- Subject: FFHS-NEWS Fwd: Rookwood burial records now online at findmypast.co.uk Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:24:12 EST From: News from the Federation of Family History Societies Sent by David Smetham Communications Officer FFHS ____________________________________ From: [email protected] Rookwood burial records now available at findmypast.co.uk . Over 233,000 burial records available to search online . It's now easier to research Australian ancestors . Records include former NSW Premier John Lang, who opened Sydney Harbour Bridge, and Peter Dodds McCormick, who wrote Advance Australia Fair Family history website www.findmypast.co.uk has published online for the first time burial records from Rookwood Cemetery, working in partnership with the Society of Australian Genealogists. Between 1981 and 1992 members of the Society of Australian Genealogists painstakingly transcribed inscriptions from headstones in Rookwood Cemetery - the final resting place for over 600,000 Australians, located in Sydney's west. The transcriptions that resulted from that mammoth 11 year project, containing 233,160 names, have now gone online for the first time at findmypast.co.uk, so that anyone around the world can search for their Australian ancestors from the comfort of their own home. It is possible to search the records by surname, forename, inscription or year of death, and each entry shows the complete transcription and grave location. The oldest graves in Rookwood Cemetery date back to 1867, and today it is one of the largest cemeteries in the whole of the Southern Hemisphere. It is therefore likely that many Australians would have a relative whose resting place is within Rookwood's gates and will be able to find their record in the new online database. The online records cover dates of death over the period 1798 to 1999. [...] Since it was opened in 1867, Rookwood has remained Sydney's most important cemetery with more than a million burials believed to have taken place there. Headstones provide vital clues for genealogists, often revealing far more than just name, age and date of death. Place of origin, religion, occupation and family relationships can all be revealed through headstone inscriptions. We'd expect many new research leads to be discovered through the availability of this material online through findmypast." [...] The new records can be found within the Parish Record Collection at www.findmypast.co.uk and are part of a much larger ongoing project with the Federation of Family History Societies to put millions of parish records online. These records are also available through findmypast.com.au, the Australia-based sister site of findmypast.co.uk. ~Ends~ -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/