Australia & New Zealand share WWI archive

It was announced on Remembrance Day, a day to mark the anniversary of the armistice which ended the First World War, that Australians and New Zealanders will be able to access a shared archive of World War I records online to commemorate the Anzac centenary at Discovering Anzacs website.
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps which comprised troops from the First Australian Imperial Force and 1st New Zealand Expeditionary Force that was formed in Egypt in 1915 and operated during the Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey.
The Discovering Anzacs website, developed by the National Archives of Australia, went live on Remembrance Day and Archives New Zealand will make their World War I records available on the site from April 2014.
As well as providing access to digitized Australian and New Zealand service records from World War I, the website will contain other records including files on internment, munitions workers and the Boer War. 

New Zealand Servicemen's Gaves

Alan Steel, a New Zealand genealogist from Waikouaiti, has been photographing and documenting the graves and plaques of servicemen and women in Otago cemeteries. So far he has recorded over 6,000 memorials to servicemen and women to help family historians fill gaps in their family stories. Alan has made such an impression, there is a story about him in the Otago Daily Times, with more about the work he is doing. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/252912/genealogist-adds-record

New Zealand now on-line

I had always been disappointed I could not check New Zealand Birth, Death and Marriages records on-line, however the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Amendment Act 2008 allows the Register-General to now make historical information available. (http://www.bdm.govt.nz/)

This means that you can search for:
Births that occurred at least 100 years ago
Stillbirths that occurred at least 50 years ago
Marriages and eventually Civil Unions that occurred 80 years ago and
Deaths that occurred at least 50 years ago or the deceased's date of birth was at least 80 years ago.

You can use the link above, or go directly to the historical records database.

The site contains an excellent time line detailing the development of BDM records in New Zealand and further information about the records.

There are around 11 million births, deaths, marriage and civil union records.
Births Deaths and Marriages was originally part of the Colonial Office.
Births and deaths have been officially recorded since 1848.
Marriages have been recorded since 1854.
In 1911, it was required that Māori marriages be recorded.
In 1913, it was required that Māori birth and deaths be recorded.
Separate Māori and General registration systems were kept until 1961 although some Māori are registered in the general system.
As registration could not be enforced many Māori births and deaths were not registered.
Registers were also established to record overseas marriages and war deaths covering all wars since WWI.
Later registrations provide more information to researchers than earlier ones, however there is still a lot of useful information to be gathered from the early records.

If you have New Zealand ancestors, this is certainly a site worth checking.