Uniting Church Records in Australia

Libraries
Located in NSW, the Assembly uses the Mitchell Library as the main repository for the national records of the Church.

Mitchell Library Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales 1 Shakespeare Place Sydney NSW 2000 Australia Telephone: (02) 9273 1414 Enquiries: Ask a Librarian


 * Births, marriages, and deaths guide

Societies

 * The Society of Australian Genealogists, based in Sydney, provides an expert and specialist family history service, and holds microfilms of records of churches of all denominations throughout Australia and overseas. The SAG sells copies of their microfilms to family history societies, historical societies, and libraries. Of those church and parish registers which have been deposited into the Sydney Diocesan Archives, the Society of Australian Genealogists has microfilmed the baptism, marriage & burial registers up to approximately 1930, and in some cases up to more recent dates. This was part of the "Joint Copy Project" records in conjunction with the National Library of Australia and the Mitchell Library (State Library of NSW). They have also borrowed registers directly from parish offices.

Writing to Local Churches

 * Uniting Church: Find Your Church

Birth, marriage, and death registers are kept at the current individual churches. Contact the current minister to find out what records are still available.
 * Make an appointment to look at the records. Or ask the minister of the church to make a copy of the record for you.
 * To find church staff available, you might have to visit on Sunday.
 * Ask for small searches at a time, such as one birth record or a specific marriage. Never ask for "everything on a family or surname".
 * A donation ($25-$40) for their time and effort to help you would be appropriate.
 * If the church has a website, you may be able to e-mail a message.
 * See the Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters.

Historical Background

 * The UCA is Australia's third-largest Christian denomination, behind the Catholic and the Anglican Churches. The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when these churches united:
 * most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia,
 * about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and
 * almost all the churches of the Congregational Union of Australia.


 * According to the church, it had 243,000 members in 2018. In the 2016 census, about 870,200 Australians identified with the church; in the 2011 census, the figure was 1,065,796.
 * There are around 2,000 UCA congregations.