Queensland Genealogy News (BDMs, seminar, records)

(1)  Queensland Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages can now supply more death certificates as images, with 1939-1953 being added to the list. The Registry has also extended 'available births' to 1914, 'available marriages' to 1939, and (after I contacted them to point out the mistake on their Web page) 'available deaths' to 1984. (See also 'Free Certificates in Archives Files'.)

(2)  Genealogy seminar, Brisbane, Sat. 1 Feb 2014 (Broncos Leagues Club, Fulcher Road, Red Hill). Four main presentations by renowned international speakers Chris Paton and Thomas MacEntee (both of whom I have heard and can recommend), plus short presentations by local and sponsoring partners, an exhibition, and special offers and hundreds of dollars worth of prizes. The four main talks are 'Irish land records', 'Scottish inheritance records', 'Building a genealogy research toolbox' and 'You use WHAT for genealogy? Wonderful uses for unusual tools'. You can book for the morning, afternoon or full day. Click here for more details of this seminar or here for other presentations by Chris and Thomas in Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart, Sydney and Perth.

(3)  New records available at Queensland State Archives include Caboolture Divisional Board / Caboolture Shire Council rate books and valuation registers.

(4)  My weekly posts in the '52 Weeks of Genealogical Records' series will include many tips relevant to Queensland research.

Some Queensland Certificates as Images

It is now possible to save money by downloading some Queensland birth, death and marriages certificates as images. Whether you receive an image or a certificate on paper depends on the date and type of event.

At the moment the Registry's Web site says:

* Births: 1825-1890 available as images or certificates; 1891-1913 available as certificates only.

* Deaths: 1825-1890 & 1965-1979 available as images or certificates; 1891-1964 & 1980-1983 as certificates only.

* Marriages: 1825-1889 as images or certificates; 1890-1938 as certificates only.

Before you buy certificates, see the advice in 'Free Certificates in Archives Files.'

For more tips about births, deaths and marriages in Queensland, see my Web site.

More Queensland death indexes online

Queensland Registrar-General's indexes to births to 1914, marriages to 1938 and deaths to 1983 are now online - but note that some indexes (births to 1919 and marriages to 1939) are available on microfiche but not online.

Once you know a year of death, it's much easier to search for a recent Supreme Court probate file - which, if it exists, will include the death certificate, thus saving you a lot of money.

There are other tips about Queensland birth, death and marriage records on my Web site and in the book Tips for Queensland Research. See also 'Free certificates in Archives files'.

SCHOLEFIELD and CHARLES: Birth Certificates in Land Files

In 'Free Certificates in Archives Files' I mentioned some record series in which I had found birth, death and marriage certificates. I recently came across another example.

Birth certificates for Edward George SCHOLEFIELD (1906) and Ethel Irene Rose CHARLES (1904) are in a 'dead farm' (land selection) file.

The source location is Queensland State Archives item ID 73066, file no. 6297. If you can visit the Archives and inspect the file (which is quite large), you can take digital photographs of the certificates.

A friend and I are creating an index for certificates that we find in odd places (land selection files, Colonial Secretary's Office correspondence, etc). In the future (perhaps 2014 or 2015) the names from that index will be added to my main Web site.

Free Certificates in Archives Files (Thrifty Thursday)

Before buying certificates, check whether there is a free alternative!

The sources mentioned below are in Queensland, but similar records exist in many interstate and overseas repositories.

Before buying a certificate from the Queensland Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, check whether that certificate is included in a file at Queensland State Archives. If it is, you can either take a digital photograph or save an image to a USB memory stick free of charge. (The Archives keep changing their Web site, so use Google to find the current URL.)

At the Archives you can often see certificates that you cannot buy from the Registry (because of differences in access restrictions). Certificates in archival files are often more accurate than typed copies issued by the Registry now.

From about the mid-1890s onwards, most Queensland Supreme Court 'will' files, and some 'intestacy' files, contain the death certificate. There are also probate files in Queensland for many people who died in other States and countries.

I sometimes find that the information on the death certificate in a probate file and the information on the certificate you bought from the Registry are significantly different! In one case the certificate in the probate file listed children who were not mentioned on the copy my client had bought from the Registry. In another case the probate file's copy showed that a person had lived in both the Northern Territory and Queensland (and how long in each place), but a more recent typed certificate from the Registry did not mention that.

I have seen birth, death and marriage certificates (including some from overseas) in many series of records. They include (but are not limited to):

• Supreme Court probate files ('wills' and 'intestacies'), divorce files and equity files
• Public Curator insanity files and Supreme Court insanity files
• Lands Department selection files
• Colonial Secretary's Office correspondence
• Police staff files
• Court of Petty Sessions maintenance records
• Police watchhouse records.

More information about those sources is in the book Tips for Queensland Research. For wills and probate records see also Queensland Genealogy and Archives Research Tips.

Postscript 1:  For the rest of Australia, see Kerry Farmer's suggestions re certificates.

Postscript 2:  A friend and I are creating an index for certificates that we find in odd places in Archives files. In the future, names from that index will be added to my main Web site.

Supreme Court equity files

I chose this week's topic, Queensland Supreme Court equity files, in honour of Marianne Eastgate, who passed away on 5th September. Marianne was the driving force behind the Pre-Separation project that indexed virtually all records of the Moreton Bay District of New South Wales before it became Queensland in 1859.

Marianne's many other contributions to family history include an index to Queensland's Supreme Court equity cases 1857-1895. The cases include gold miners' disputes; rights of minors, incapacitated persons, lunatics and inmates of asylums; disputes over wills; liquidation of companies; and people with money in a bank. The files contain many birth, death and marriage certificates (including some from overseas), land records, powers of attorney etc. The index, which includes names of most plaintiffs, defendants and witnesses mentioned in the files, is in the Public Search Room at Queensland State Archives.

Qld BDMs: recent changes

Searches in Qld Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages online indexes have been improved. You can now use wildcards and variable date searching, and registration numbers include district identifiers (Brisbane/country). Be sure to read the 'Search Tips' on the Registry's Web site.

Note that microfiche indexes are available for Qld births 1915-1919 and marriages 1935-1939, which are not online.

The price of Queensland certificates has risen again. Before buying them, look for certificates (especially death certificates) in State Archives sources as explained in the 2008 edition of Tips for Queensland Research.

Ancestry's recent announcement re Australian birth, death and marriage indexes is misleading. They do not have complete coverage for all States for the date ranges quoted, and many names are missing. I suggest that you check what indexes can be searched (usually free of charge) elsewhere.