Norfolk Island, Australia Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Brazil, go to the Religious Records page.

Historical Background
62% of the islanders are Christians. After the death of the first chaplain Rev G. H. Nobbs in 1884, a Methodist church was formed and in 1891 a Seventh-day Adventist congregation led by one of Nobbs' sons. Some unhappiness with G. H. Nobbs, the more organised and formal ritual of the Church of England service arising from the influence of the Melanesian Mission, decline in spirituality, the influence of visiting American whalers, literature sent by Christians overseas impressed by the Pitcairn story, and the adoption of Seventh-day Adventism by the descendants of the mutineers still on Pitcairn, all contributed to these developments.

The Roman Catholic Church began work in 1957 and in the late 1990s a group left the former Methodist (then Uniting Church) and formed a charismatic fellowship. In 2011, 34% of the ordinary residents identified as Anglican, 13% as Uniting Church, 12% as Roman Catholic and 3% as Seventh-day Adventist. 9% were from other religions. 24% had no religion, and 7% did not indicate a religion.[60] Typical ordinary congregations in any church do not exceed 30 local residents as of 2010. The three older denominations have good facilities. Ministers are usually short-term visitors. Statistics:
 * Protestant 49.6%
 * Anglican 31.8%
 * Uniting Church in Australia 10.6%
 * Seventh-Day Adventist 3.2%
 * Roman Catholic 11.7%
 * Other 8.6%
 * None 23.5%
 * Unspecified 6.6%

Information Recorded in the Records
Different denominations, different time periods, and practices of different record keepers will effect how much information can be found in the records. This outline will show the types of details which might be found (best case scenario):

Baptisms
In Catholic and Anglican records, children were usually baptized a few days after birth, and therefore, the baptism record proves date of birth. Other religions, such as Baptists, baptized at other points in the member's life. Baptism registers might give:

Marriages
Marriage registers can give:

Burials
Burial registers may give:

Digital Copies of Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog
Watch for digitized copies of church records to be added to the collection of the FamilySearch Library. Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a Family History Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations. To find records:
 * a. Click on the records of Australia, Norfolk Island.
 * b.. Click on the "Church records" topics. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * c. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the records.

Writing for Records
You will probably need to write to or email the national archives, the diocese, or local parish priests to find records. See Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters.


 * Google Maps search results for churches in Norfolk Island
 * Norfolk Island Church of England
 * Norfolk Island Seventh-day Adventist Church
 * Norfolk Island Uniting Church
 * St Philip Howard’s Catholic Church, Norfolk Island