Moonee Valley Family & Local History Blog

Did you know you can now search the Victorian Government's Births, Deaths and Marriages index for free online? Until now searching this index came at a cost to people who wanted to do family research, but not anymore. Start searching Victoria's:   Birth records from 1836 - 1914 Marriage records from 1836 - 1942 Death records from 1836 - 1988 The index for these records is free, however if you're after a digital or physical copy of any record you will have to pay. Rates are $24 AUD for a digital copy and $31 AUD for a posted physical copy. Index of Birth record from BDM search To start your search visit the Births, Deaths and Marriages website today.

Starting out on your family history work backwards from the known (yourself) to the unknown (forebears). Fitting all the pieces together so that they fall into place, you need to work methodically and don't jump generations. Start by gathering together documentation of your own family, birth, death and marriage certificates, notices from newspapers, cemetery inscriptions, photos etc. NEVER believe everything on a Birth, Death or Marriage certificate. NEVER completely trust the spelling of surnames, places names etc. as transcriptions from original documents can be difficult to read and result in incorrect information being copied. ALWAYS check surname variants when researching. ALWAYS have at least two separate sources of proof for each event. REMEMBER that everything is only speculation until vertified. ALWAYS photocopy certificates and important documents and leave the originals in a safe place. NEVER carry original documents around with you. Information is not all on-line, there...