Most of my family (distant family that is), who packed up their bags, farewelled their families, and set out for a new life in Australia back in the 1800s ended up in South Australia. Now many would say this is a good thing … which in some ways it is, because with my ancestors being here means I ended up here, and do love little ‘ol South Australia, so I’m thankful for that. And it also means I don’t have to research every other state of Australia either, which is a plus. But the downside comes when it comes to getting certificates.

I do like to get certificates. You know, the PROPER ones, not just the transcripts. But to buy the South Australian ones you really need to win lotto or rob a bank – neither of which are likely for me. So I simply save up my dollars bit-by-bit and birthday money (tip: money is always a great present for a genealogist, as you can never have too many certificates!) and buy them when I can. But to buy the three certificates (birth, death and marriage) for one person you’re suddenly up for about $150 when you add in the postage.

In this day and age you don’t get much for free. And even with genealogy the costs can add up quickly. Well, I’ve decided to compile a bunch of links to websites that are FREE for researching your Australian family history. So this is the first post in this series, and this one contains 33 Free Websites for South Australian Genealogy.