How to find lost family members

Find out how you could find old friends and trace your family by taking the search online.

How do I find my family?

Peoplesearch.com.au is a free people locator website in Australia. The site has links to adoption records and public records (like electoral rolls). It can link you to search engines that help you find people through location, age, phone number and even occupation. It also contains forums where you can post information about who you're searching for.

If you're looking to find your extended family, Ancestry.com.au has a great record of older family trees, dating back to early settlers in Australia. All you need is five minutes online to start your story. Its databases contain more than eight billion searchable names spanning centuries of official records and documents, all online for easy searching.

For advice about adoption records, visit The Benevolent Society's Post Adoption Resource Centre or the Australian Government Attorney General's Department.

Read Sarah-Jane's story who found her dad on that's life! forums

Read Renee's story who contacted her mum through Births, Deaths & Marriages

Read Michael's story who found his son on Facebook

Start your story

Start with yourself and work back.
Interview your relatives, beginning with the eldest
Document and organise what you find, starting with your immediate family.
The internet is a fantastic tool to start researching your family tree.
Collaborate. Message boards and public member trees put you in contact with thousands of other members' research and knowledge

Lost a friend?

It's not only families that the internet is helping to reunite, if you want to track down an old high school friend you can log on to sites like Palseeker.

DNA Search

DNA Reunion is a site that can locate missing family members using DNA. All you have to do is get a DNA test, which can then be downloaded from the lab for free, and used to locate missing family. This is ideal for children searching for their biological parents, particularly those who have exhausted other avenues.

You can also try finding family and friends by leaving a message on that's life! Community Noticeboard.

Have you found a long-lost family member? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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