Ancestry site free for a week

Records to be made available included the company's NZ and Australian military history collections and some UK-based assets which contain information on Commonwealth forces. Photo / Mark Mitchell

An online family history database is opening its military records tomorrow as an Anzac gesture.

Ancestry.com.au is offering free access to its collections covering 100 years of conflicts involving New Zealand.

The company estimates that its database holds more than 12 million records and images relating specifically to Anzac events.

Free access to the company's records will be available from 2.01am tomorrow until 1.59am next Monday.

Users will still need to sign in to gain access, but will not be charged for the five-day period.

Ben Mercer, the company's content director, said the information would show where and when soldiers enlisted, where they trained and served and what happened to them. Other records list next-of-kin, addresses and occupations.

Records to be made available included the company's NZ and Australian military history collections and some UK-based assets which contain information on Commonwealth forces.

The Australian website is an affiliate of Utah-based Ancestry.com, a listed company which says it has around 2.7 million paying subscribers across its websites. It calls itself the world's largest online family history resource.