Short Guide 2 - Birth, death and marriage records: Baptisms
About Baptisms | Indexes | Registrar General records | Colonial Secretary records | Governor's records
About Baptisms
In the earliest years of the colony records of baptisms rather than births were kept. If a child was not baptised there might be no record of its birth.
It being essentially necessary that regular Returns should be transmitted annually to England of the Exact state of the Population of the Colony, and that regular Accounts for this Purpose should be kept in the different districts and Parishes throughout the whole of the territory, of all Births and Deaths. His Excellency the Governor accordingly directs that exact and correct registers shall in future be kept by the several Chaplains … of all Births and Deaths that may occur in their respective Parishes or Districts, transmitting regular Quarterly Returns thereof to the Principal Chaplain at Parramatta, from which he will make up a general one to be laid before the Governor …"
- General Order dated 15 September 1810 (Copy in 4/1725 No. 124 pp. 107-8)
Indexes
Online Index to NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages
Available on the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages website.
Microfiche Indexes to NSW Births Deaths and Marriages
* Pioneer series, 1788-1888
* Federation series 1889-1918
* Between the wars series 1919-1945 (deaths and marrigaes only)
Available to view on microfiche in State Records' reading room.
Microfiche copies are also available at the the Society of Australian Genealogists, the Mitchell Library and in many libraries throughout Australia.
Thomas Davies Mutch: Card index to births, deaths and marriages, 1787-1957
We hold a microfilm copy of the original index which is held by the Mitchell Library.
The Index is believed to cover all relevant extant records relating to New South Wales from 1787-1828, except for the Newcastle Register and the Methodist Church records, and selected records to 1957. Later entries are from tombstone inscriptions and the most recent from news-cuttings and relate only to comparatively few families. A list of the records included is at the beginning of the index, and further information is available in the Mitchell Library.
| Description | Dates | Reel |
|---|---|---|
|
Abbott - Youngston |
1787-1814 |
2125 |
|
Abbott - Curtin |
1815-1957 |
2126 |
|
Curtis - Jurd |
1815-1957 |
2127 |
|
Kable - Roper |
1815-1957 |
2128 |
|
Rose - Zillman |
1815-1957 |
2129 |
Registrar General records
NRS 12937, Microfilm copies of Registers of Baptisms, Burials and Marriages, 1787-1856 *ARK
Set of 48 rolls of microfilm published by State Records in co-operation with the Genealogical Society of Utah and the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Sydney. Copies available in State Records' reading room Reels 5001-48; the Society of Australian Genealogists; the Mitchell Library and in a number of other libraries.
A full description of these records is contained in Short Guide 4.
Colonial Secretary records
NRS 898, Special bundles, 1794-1825
Reel 763
* Norfolk Island: Annual return of births, deaths and marriages, 10 April 1810-10 April 1811 [4/1169 p.287a]
See full list of titles in the Guide to Colonial Secretary's Corresponence
NRS 905, Main series of letters received, 1826-1982
* Church of England: Returns of baptisms, marriages and burials, 1835-38
The returns are listed in the Mutch Index.
See item list
Governor's records
NRS 4558, Norfolk Island — Returns of inhabitants, list of births, deaths and marriages, 1870-71
COD200
The return records when born, child's Christian name, parents' names, abode, when baptised and by whom baptised.
NRS 4556, Norfolk Island — Register of births, deaths and marriages, 1894
Reel 2386
Returns of births, deaths and marriages registered by Isaac Robinson.
*ARK signifies that a copy of the record or guide is part of the Archives Resources Kit and is held by the community access points.
