Today I received an email from Ancestry.com.au that said they will soon be making their DNA tests available in Australia. Tests will initially be available by invitation only. The email gave the option to sign up for an invitation.
I am cautiously optimistic about this development. While I prefer to use Family Tree DNA for my own tests, and of course hope that my relatives near and far will choose to test there, I think that Ancestry will give genetic genealogy in Australia a real boost.
I have tested with all three of the big genetic genealogy players – Family Tree DNA, Ancestry and 23andMe. I tested with Ancestry when the product became available in the USA. At that stage, they shipped kits to Australia.
My hope is that Ancestry’s advertising will ‘normalise’ genetic genealogy. I think that is already starting to happen, but my perspective may be biased by the company I keep! I hope that by seeing a well known company such as Ancestry advertise their tests, more Australian genealogists (and their family members) will think of DNA testing as something that would be interesting to do and within reach of normal people. More potential matches for me!
The chief problem with testing at Ancestry is the sad lack of tools offered to work with matches. Two words... Chromosome browser. Tests done at Ancestry are not a lost cause, though, if you want to work with the information. It’s possible to download the raw data and upload it to free sites such as Gedmatch, or pay a small ‘transfer’ fee to load it into Family Tree DNA.
I think that it’s probably a larger leap to start DNA testing at all, than to expand your view to the additional services available. I will suggest to my promising Australian future AncestryDNA matches that they look a little wider.
Hello Shelley!! Thank you for posting this. I am a DNA testing baby having only just started heading down this path. I ordered a test with Family Tree DNA on 2 January and am still waiting for the results to come back. They think April or May. It is an exercise in patience. At this stage I can only order mtFull sequence until I can get some male relatives on board - of which I have only 2 really...sigh.
ReplyDeleteAlex it would be worth your while to get an autosomal test done. Yes, FTDNA are recently a "victim" of their popularity. Now they have your mtDNA you can just get them to test for autosomal and won't take too long or too many $$.
DeleteAlex it would be worth your while to get an autosomal test done. Yes, FTDNA are recently a "victim" of their popularity. Now they have your mtDNA you can just get them to test for autosomal and won't take too long or too many $$.
DeleteHi Shelley, thanks for the update. I did the ancestry one early 2014. Still no matches but hopefully with the expansion to UK recently and now Australia will help. Fran
ReplyDeleteThanks Shelley. I too prefer FTDNA but have now tested with Ancestry while I was in the US. I have my hopes pinned on Ancestry's expansion into UK/Ireland and yes, perhaps DNA being accessible through Ancestry will "normalise" it. Also worth remembering that Ancestry results can be transferred to FTDNA for $29.
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