Convict Guide - published 2006 - Manual / Resource - Page 100
Guide to New South Wales State archives relating to convicts and convict administration
Registration of
births, deaths and
marriages
State registration of births, deaths and marriages was not introduced
until 1 March 1856. The recording of baptisms, burials and marriages in
church registers was well established in England but the first Acts in
New South Wales to regularise and validate the practice, as well as to
authorise registration were not passed until 1825 for Anglicans, 1834 for
Roman Catholics, 1834 for Presbyterians, 1839 for Wesleyans and 1840
for the Congregational, Independent and Baptist denominations.
Nonetheless, records were kept prior to these years.
Records of
Baptisms, Marriages
and Burials
The first Church of England records are of First Fleet baptisms and
burials. However, original records for some of the ceremonies that took
place prior to the dates mentioned above were either not retained by
church authorities, or were not recorded.
Between 1826 and 1855 copies of Church of England records were
required to be sent firstly to the Registrar of the Archdeacon's Court and
later to the Registrar of the Bishops of Australia. These records did not
pass into the possession of the Registrar General until 1882 following
the Clergy Returns Transfer Act 1878.
As from the date of recognition of each of the other denominations the
ministers were required to send copies of their records annually to the
Registrar of the Supreme Court. These records were transferred to the
Registrar General in 1856.
9.2
Indexes to the records
TD Mutch: Card index to births, deaths and marriages, 1787–1957
is available at the State Library of New South Wales and at State
Records on microfilm Reels 2125-2129
Pioneer series of indexes to births, deaths and marriages, 1788–
1888 available on The New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths
and Marriages website www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/
Index to the Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788–1825 *ARK and is
available on State Records' website
Colonial Secretary's Correspondence: Index to convicts and others,
1826–77 and ongoing. Compiled by Joan Reese
Colonial Secretary's Correspondence: Index to letters sent re
convicts, 1826–May 1855. Compiled by Joan Reese
Contemporary Colonial Secretary's Indexes and Registers, 1826–
1900, NRS 922 available in State Records' reading rooms
Female Factory Parramatta, 1826-1848 - Index to inmates.
Compiled by Norma M Tuck and Joan Reese
Index to Tickets of exemption from Government Labor, 1827-1832
is available on State Records' website
Bounty index to assisted immigrants, 1828–42 prepared by the
Genealogical Society of Utah available in *ARK and State Records'
reading rooms
Index to assisted immigrants, 1844–59 *ARK and available on
State Records' website
Short Guide No. 5: Index to Abstract of all licences for marriage
granted to free persons, Mar 1813–Dec 1827 available in *ARK and
on State Records' website
Index to NSW convict marriage banns, 1826–41. Compiled by Joan
Reese and Norma M Tuck
State Records Authority of New South Wales
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