New South Wales Church Records

How to Find Records

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Online Resources

 * The New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages includes church records that were kept from 1788 to 1855, prior to collection of vital records by the government.
 * Card index to New South Wales church records
 * New South Wales church records
 * 1816-1982 - Australia, New South Wales, cemetery, military, and church record transcripts : COLLECTION RECORD, 1816-1982, index and images. How to Use This Collection
 * 1814-2011 - Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011 at Ancestry ($) - index and images
 * 1839-1963 - New South Wales, Australia, St Peters Cooks River Select Births, Marriages and Burials, 1839-1963 at Ancestry.com ($) - index and images
 * 1838-1918 - New South Wales, Australia, St. John's Parramatta, Church Records, 1838 to 1918 Ancestry.com, ($)

Civil Registration and Church Records

 * From 1788 to 1856 the only birth, death or marriage records kept in New South Wales were the registers maintained by the established churches. As registrar's offices assumed responsibility for registration, they requested copies of earlier church records to incorporate into their collections. The New South Wales Registry holds transcriptions of these early church records. Any surviving original registers are located in the NSW Archives.
 * Unfortunately, the extant records for this period are not comprehensive. Some ministers, missionaries and other authorized administrators kept records but not all were in a position to be this diligent. In addition many of the records contain inaccuracies and bad spelling. Distances to town centres, distrust of authority and lack of participation in formal church services contributed to the church registration system's inability to adequately record the details of all births, deaths and marriages that occurred in New South Wales.
 * The church records are indexed with civil registration.
 * New South Wales Birth, Death, and Marriage Index
 * 1788-1914 - New South Wales Births at FindMyPast; index only ($); Also at MyHeritage ($)
 * 1788-1945 - New South Wales Marriages at FindMyPast; index only ($)
 * 1788-1966 - Australia, New South Wales Marriage Index at MyHeritage; index only ($)
 * 1787-1986 - Australia, New South Wales Death Index at MyHeritage; index only ($)
 * 1788-1945 - New South Wales Deaths at FindMyPast; index only ($)

Information Recorded in Church Records
The information recorded in church or parish registers varies somewhat from religion to religion, and later records generally give more complete information than earlier ones. Most church registers for the Anglican, Catholic, and Presbyterian denominations provide the following information:

Baptisms

 * Birth and baptism dates
 * Place of baptism
 * Christian name of the child
 * Christian and surname of the father
 * Christian name of the mother (some include maiden surname)
 * Parents’ abode
 * Occupation of the father
 * Name of the officiating minister

Children were generally baptized within a few days of birth. If a child died soon after birth, death information was sometimes added as a note.

Marriages

 * Date and place of marriage
 * Full names of the bride and groom
 * Parish of residence of the bride and groom
 * Marital status of the bride and groom prior to this marriage
 * Married by banns or license
 * In the case of a minor, whether with consent of parents
 * Name of the officiating minister
 * Signatures or marks of the bride and groom
 * Signatures or marks of witnesses

Marriage registers may also include other information about the bride and groom such as their ages, occupations, and names of parents. In cases of second and later marriages for a woman, they may include her former married names along with her maiden name.

Marriage registers sometimes include the published banns. These were announcements of intent to marry which were made for two or three Sundays prior to the marriage, and gave an opportunity for anyone to come forward who knew of any reason why the couple should not be married.

Burials

 * Dates of death and burial
 * Place of burial
 * Name of the deceased
 * Place of abode at time of death
 * Age of the deceased
 * Occupation of the deceased
 * Name of the officiating minister

Occasionally parents' names, cause of death, and even the date and place of birth are given for the deceased. Burials were recorded in the records of the church where the person was buried. The burial usually took place within a few days of death. Burial records exist for individuals for whom no birth or marriage record exists. In addition, stillbirths may have been recorded in a burial register when no baptism occurred.