User:Hanna5974/sandbox/australia church

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

Historical Background

 * The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion.
 * Australian society was predominantly Anglo-Celtic, with 40% of the population being Anglican. It remained the largest Christian denomination until the 1986 census.
 * When the First Fleet was sent to New South Wales in 1787, Richard Johnson of the Church of England was licensed as chaplain to the fleet and the settlement.
 * In early Colonial times, the Church of England clergy worked closely with the governors. Richard Johnson, a chaplain, was charged by the governor, Arthur Phillip, with improving "public morality" in the colony, but he was also heavily involved in health and education.
 * Authorities were suspicious of Roman Catholicism for the first three decades of settlement and Roman Catholic convicts were compelled to attend Church of England services and their children and orphans were raised by the authorities as Anglicans.
 * The Church Act of 1836 established legal equality for Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Presbyterians and was later extended to Methodists.
 * The Australian Constitution of 1901 provided for freedom of religion.

Information Recorded in the Records
You will usually find the following types of records for Congregationalists:
 * Baptisms
 * Marriages
 * Burials
 * Admissions
 * Dismissions
 * Minutes

Information Recorded in the Records
Typically, Methodist church records may consist of the following:
 * Baptisms (infant and adult)
 * Marriages
 * Burials
 * Ministerial Records

Information Recorded in the Records
Membership lists usually consist of: Marriages usually consist of:
 * Names of members
 * Baptisms date
 * Admission date
 * Place of registration
 * Birthplace and date
 * Full name
 * Gender
 * Father's name
 * Occupation
 * Age
 * Birthplace
 * Mother's name
 * Marriage date and place
 * Previous issue
 * Informant

Information Recorded in the Records
Most records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints available are membership records which usually consist of:
 * show the births and blessings of children
 * baptisms
 * confirmations
 * marriages
 * move-ins and move-outs
 * deaths

Information Recorded in the Records
Typical Lutheran records include:
 * Baptisms
 * Marriages
 * Deaths

Information Recorded in the 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.