Do you have a burning question for Ancestry.com.au? Perhaps you’ve hit a brick wall with your research and are not sure what to do next? Ancestry’s Brad Argent will be answering your questions in a new family history Podcast.

Simply submit your questions on our Facebook Wall, through our Sticky Notes blog or by emailing editor@ancestry.com.au. We’ll do our best to answer as many as possible.

If you are on Twitter, simply post your question on Twitter and use the hashtag #AskAncestryAU. You can also follow Ancestry on Twitter.

We look forward to helping you with your research!

The milestone was reached when Yvonne Ocheltree, from Tennessee, USA, signed up to solve a family mystery about the secret identity of her maternal great-grandfather who was born in Victorian England.

To mark this milestone Ancestry.com has given Ms Ocheltree a complimentary lifetime subscription to continue her research in a family history archive which now includes more than 10 billion historic records and images from more than 40 countries, dating back to 1270 AD.

Two-millionth subscriber, Yvonne Ocheltree said: “Ancestry.com is helping me unravel the secret knots of my family’s history and replace a mystery with a proactive possibility. In Victorian England, my great-grandmother gave birth to my grandmother out of wedlock when she was 25, and no one in my family ever heard her say who the father, my great-grandfather, was. That’s what I’m using Ancestry.com to research now.”

Ancestry.com is also offering a lifetime subscription to its longest-standing active member, Sharon Bowen of Wisconsin, USA, who has been a subscriber continuously since 1997.

Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of Ancestry.com said: “We are grateful to all our subscribers around the world for helping us reach this momentous milestone.

“When Ancestry.com began more than 15 years ago, our goal was to make family history research accessible and fun for everyone. Reaching two million active subscribers is just the latest step in the public’s growing interest in discovering more about themselves and preserving and sharing their family history on a global scale.”

Since launching 15 years ago, Ancestry.com has grown from 472 million text-only records to more than 10 billion online searchable documents and images, including prison logs, ship manifests, historic newspapers and a collection of almost 2.6 million convict records.

What have you discovered on Ancestry.com.au? Share your stories with us on Facebook.

Our helpline will now be open 7 days a week. We’ve also recently extended the hours we’re available during the week, so now we will be on-hand to help with your family history or account queries Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 9am to 4pm (AEST).

To speak to us about anything to do with tracing your family, or just get advice on how to use the site. Call us on 1800 251 838 (toll free from Australia) or 0800 442 100 (toll free from NZ) or email support@ancestry.com.au

The Museum’s archives contain information on well over 17 million people targeted by Nazi racial and political policies, including Jews, Poles, Roma, Ukrainians, political prisoners, and many others.

The Museum assists thousands of people worldwide every year that are searching for information about individuals in its collections. The World Memory Project will greatly expand the accessibility of the Museum’s archival collection and enable millions of people to search for their own answers online.

“The Nazis’ genocidal policies quickly turned millions of individual lives, filled with hopes and dreams, into massive statistics that are hard to comprehend. Through our partnership with Ancestry.com, we hope to remind the public that the Holocaust is not about numbers but about individuals just like us and to help families uncover histories they thought were lost,” says Sara J. Bloomfield, Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “The Museum’s vast archives contain documentation that may be the only remaining link to an individual life. Preserving these personal histories and making them available online is one of the most powerful ways we can learn from history and honour the victims.”

The World Memory Project will utilise proprietary software and project management donated by Ancestry.com, which hosts its own online archival project to expand its transcribed records collections. Once transcribed, the indices will be hosted exclusively on Ancestry.com and permanently free to search. The Museum will also provide copies of documents to survivors and their families at no cost. The original documentation will remain in the Museum’s archival collection.

Individuals from anywhere in the world can help in this unique effort to make collections from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum available online by visiting www.worldmemoryproject.org and registering to become a contributor.

Since a beta launch in February 2011, Ancestry.com contributors have already indexed over 30,000 Museum archival documents that will soon be searchable at no cost by users around the globe. This figure will multiply as more people participate in the project.

With more than four million Australians having descended from convicts¹, approximately one in five can claim convict history and will likely have an ancestor included in the collection.

Our extensive convict collection includes records from the England and Wales Criminal Registers, the Convict Transportation Registers, Convict Muster Rolls, Convict Applications to Marry, Convict Death Registers, and a variety of other record sets documenting the trial, journey, working life, release and death of the majority of convicts transported.

Convict records offer a unique peek into the window of early Australian history, providing researchers not only with invaluable information to paint a portrait of their ancestor, but also with clues to their ancestors’ place of birth and country of origin, allowing them to investigate earlier family history.

Notable Australians who can proudly claim convict history include:

• Maggie Beer - Celebrity Chef and 2010 Senior Australian of the Year
  Her 3xgreat-grandmother was a convict thief and her 3xgreat-grandfather a bigamist who was convicted after three simultaneous marriages. They met after both were transported to Australia.

• Tony Windsor, MP - Independent Federal Minister for New England
  His 2xgreat-grandfather was transported to NSW on the ship Midas in 1827 (the same boat as the aforementioned James Tucker) after stealing wet bedding from a clothes line and eventually died in Darlinghurst Gaol after being convicted of horse stealing.

• Rod Marsh – Cricketer
  His great-grandfather (by adoption) was transported to Australia after being charged with manslaughter following a late night brawl which resulted in a man being shot.

Australia Day is all about national pride and so is a great time to stop and think about the unique way in which our country was founded and by whom.

For those wanting to explore their early Australian heritage, like it or not, chances are that convict records will not only be the right place to start, but will also reveal colourful stories which will actually make you proud to be Australian.

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Thank you for your support and to our Queensland members, we wish you well.

The Ancestry.com.au team