Piecing Together the Past : A study about the significance of digitally accessing family records between Australia and England, and the key players responsible

Abstract: With the rise in popularity of ancestral research many people have had to search for some records abroad and are therefore reliant on access to archives in more than one country. One of the countries heavily reliant on archives abroad is Australia, a multicultural country that received many British settlers from 1788. The purpose of this master thesis is to understand the importance of accessing this archival information between Australia and England and how the international gaps between countries can make ancestral research difficult. The theoretical starting point for this study is Saar’s (2017) three genealogical dimensions which I will use to analyse the responses gained from the relevant actors within the field such as archivists and librarians, when trying to find out what can be done by them to help understand and bridge the gaps in ancestral research between countries. All data has been collected through online interviews with both Australian archivists and some selected libraries that have archival holdings. The results of the study show that Australians studying family history rely on access to England’s records because their pasts are otherwise incomplete without them. Not only this but there is a need to understand their own story in Australia’s complicated history. The study also shows that ancestral research needs both archivists, genealogists, librarians, and other history sleuths who can find and connect the information.