Australian BDM certificates

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General information
Each State or Territory in Australia maintains its own records. This can make searching difficult as there is no central repository. In addition, there are privacy restrictions on the years that the available indexes cover which vary from State to State.

Not all States or Territories have their indexes on-line. And those that do may charge a search fee. The information provided in the indexes varies from State to State.

Some forum members have the indexes on CD or have access to information on pay per view sites so please post a query if the information you are looking for is not on-line.

Some States allow Transcription Agents who will provide a copy of a certificate. The cost of the certificate may be reduced depending on what information the customer requests be transcribed.

What you get on a Birth Certificate
Please check the registrars web sites carefully to see if the information that you require is available for the year of interest.

This site may also assist: jaunay.com/bdm.html

These will generally record the following information:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Full names of both parents including maiden name of mother
• Occupation of Father
• Place and date of parent’s marriage
• Age of both parents and place of birth
• Names and ages of previous children
• Name and address of informant and relationship to child
• Names of witnesses

What you get on a Marriage Certificate
Please check the registrars web sites carefully to see if the information that you require is available for the year of interest.

This site may also assist: jaunay.com/bdm.html

These will generally record the following information:

• Name of both parties
• Date and place of marriage
• Age of both parties
• Marital status of both parties
• Place of birth of both parties
• Address of both parties
• Occupation of both parties
• Names of parents including maiden name of mother
• Father’s occupation of both parties
• Name of minister and religion
• Names of witnesses

What you get on a Death Certificate
Please check the registrars web sites carefully to see if the information that you require is available for the year of interest.

This site may also assist: jaunay.com/bdm.html

These will generally record the following information:

• Name
• Occupation
• Age
• Date and place of death
• Usual residence
• Where born
• How long in Australia
• Name and occupation of father
• Place of marriage
• Name of spouse
• Age when married
• Marital status
• Names and ages of children
• Name and address of informant
• Cause of death and duration of illness
• Place of burial or cremation
• Name of minister
• Names of witnesses to burial

Click on the following links for more detailed information for each registry office. Alternatively simply scroll down the thread.

Note that the cost of certificates has not been included in the information here as it is usually indexed to rise each year.

• Australian Capital Territory
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Tasmania
• Victoria
• Western Australia

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Registration began in 1930. Prior to that time events were registered in New South Wales.

Web site
Department of Justice and Community Safety, Office of Regulatory Services

Restrictions

Unrestricted access is allowed to certificates for:

• Births which occurred over 100 years ago
• Marriages which occurred over 60 years ago
• Deaths which occurred over 30 years ago.

Despite the impression this site creates you do NOT have to provide proof of identity etc for certificates if they fall within these categories. See the Access Policy.

Indexes

Only the Death Index is on-line. It is free to search.

Purchasing certificates

Copies of certificates may be ordered on-line.

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Registration began in 1788

Web site

NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages

Restrictions

Unrestricted access is allowed to certificates for:

• Births which occurred over 100 years ago
• Marriages which occurred over 50 years ago
• Deaths which occurred over 30 years ago.

Indexes

Births, Deaths and Marriages are on-line and are free to search.
Also available on CD.

Transcription agents

New South Wales allows transcription agents.

Purchasing certificates

Copies of certificates may be ordered on-line.

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Registration began in 1870. For 1856 – 1863 events were recorded in New South Wales. For 1863 – 1870 events were recorded in South Australia.

Web site

Department of Justice

Restrictions

Unrestricted access is allowed to certificates for:

• Births which occurred over 80 years ago
• Marriages which occurred over 60 years ago
• Deaths which occurred over 30 years ago.

Indexes

Not available on-line.
Available on microfiche and CD.

Purchasing certificates

Copies of certificates may be ordered on-line.

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Registration began in 1856. However, records are held from 1829 for baptisms and burials and church marriages.

Web site

Department of Justice and Attorney-General

Restrictions

Unrestricted access is allowed to certificates for:

• Births which occurred over 100 years ago
• Marriages which occurred over 80 years ago
• Deaths which occurred over 50 years ago.

Indexes

Births, Deaths and Marriages are on-line and are free to search.
Also available on CD.

You can search birth indexes up to 1914, marriage indexes up to 1937 and death indexes up to 1964. Note that these ranges exceed the restricted years. If you require a restricted record, you will need to complete the relevant birth, death or marriage certificate application form.

Purchasing certificates

Copies of certificates may only be ordered by mail.

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Registration began in 1842

Web site

Office of consumer and business affairs

Restrictions

Unrestricted access is allowed to certificates for:

• Births which occurred over 75 years ago
• Marriages which occurred over 60 years ago
• Deaths which occurred over 25 years ago.

Indexes

Are available at

http://genealogysa.org.au/resources/...databases.html

Also available on CD.

Transcription agents

The South Australian Genealogical and Heraldry Society provides a transcription service.

Purchasing certificates

Copies of certificates may be ordered on-line.

Free marriage data base

A free searchable data base for some marriages is available here (thanks to Jade26 for the link). The data base records the names of the parties and the date of the marriage.

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Registration began in 1838. However, records are held from 1803 for church baptisms marriages and burials.

Web site

Archives office of Tasmania for registrations prior to 31 December 1899
Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages for registrations after 1 January 1900

Restrictions

Unrestricted access is allowed to certificates for:

• Births which occurred over 100 years ago
• Marriages which occurred over 75 years ago
• Deaths which occurred over 25 years ago.

Indexes

Not available on-line.
Available on CD

The Colonial Tasmanian Family Links Database is a useful tool however it will NOT give you a registration number.

Purchasing certificates

Copies of certificates may only be ordered by mail.

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Registration commenced in 1853

Web site

Department of Justice

Restrictions

Unrestricted access is allowed to certificates for:

• Births which occurred over 100 years ago
• Marriages which occurred over 60 years ago
• Deaths which occurred over 10 years ago.

Indexes

Births, Deaths and Marriages are on-line and incur a charge to search.
Also available on CD.

Purchasing certificates

Copies of certificates may be ordered and down-loaded on-line.

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Registration commenced in 1841.

Web site

Department of the Attorney General

Restrictions

Unrestricted access is allowed to certificates for:

• Births which occurred over 75 years ago
• Marriages which occurred over 60 years ago
• Deaths which occurred over 25 years ago.

Indexes

Births, Deaths and Marriages are on-line and are free to search.
Also available on CD.

Purchasing certificates

Copies of certificates may only be ordered by mail.