Visitors to the Genealogical Society of Victoria’s premises in Melbourne, are in for a treat. Along with offering users access to Ancestry, FindMyPast, the OriginsNetwork and Burke’s Peerage and Gentry, they now offer free downloads from The National Archives (UK) Documents Online service.

This allows you online access to The National Archives (UK) collection of digitised public records, including both academic and family history sources. Normally most of these records cost £3.50 per document to download, however, the Genealogical Society of Victoria now has available to members (and others for a day member fee) this great resource. Normal costs for printouts apply, but you can download to your USB drive/memory stick, etc.

The National Archives holds millions of records, all of which are useful for genealogists, and historians. Just a few of the records that you can find on DocumentsOnline are:
Aliens Registration Cards
Combat Reports, Second World War
Death Duty Registers: country court’ registers between 1796 and 1811
Domesday Book
Early Irish Maps from State Papers c1558 – c1610
French Muster Rolls
Poor Law Union Correspondence
Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills 1300-1858
RAF officers’ service records 1918 – 1919
Registers of Seamen’s Services
Registry of Shipping and Seamen, Movement Cards
RN Officer’s Service Records
Royal Hospital Chelsea
Royal Marines Register of Service
Royal Naval seamen’s Wills 1786 and 1882
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve: Records of Service, WW1
Victoria Cross Registers
Victorian Prisoners Photograph Albums
War Diaries
WW1 Airwomen’s Records
WW1 Women’s Royal Naval Service
WW1 Campaign Medals
WW2 Seamen’s Medals