Although born in England I have lived more than half my life in Australia and one of my biggest problems is tracing my ancestory online to before the 19th Century. It seems that the majority of earlier records have to be found at Registry Offices, Parish Churches and numerous and diverse sources that have not so far been able to have their records put on to the Internet. Never mind there is still much exciting stuff that can be found, for example:-
My maternal Grandmother was a Robinson, daughter of the founders of the ES&A paper business that brought considerable wealth to them. That was combined with a love for the English sport of cricket and the Robinson's are noted for establishing a family cricket team with some very notable player that existed from 1878 to 1964. Started by 3 sons of Edward Robinson and Maria Smith, one of whom was the 'E' in the ES&A business - so you can mix business with pleasure - the team involved 7 generations of Robinsons. But the connection with the sport didn't stop there because one of the sisters of that Grandmother married an E M Grace who was the brother of perhaps the most famous cricketer of them all W G Grace!
The business acumen of the Robinson's seems to go back to the 17th Century when they were successful nail makers in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. I am indebted to the connection with those mambers of the family to my brother who was able to make the connection by going to Dean and searching the local records, which corroborates my first paragraph.