Fact sheet 89 – Births, deaths and marriages

Contact addresses for Australian births, deaths and marriages

The registration of births, deaths and marriages in Australia was initially the responsibility of the colonies and later, the states and territories. Inquiries about births, deaths and marriages within Australia should, in most cases, be directed to registrar in the state or territory in which the event took place. The table that follows indicates where registers for the Australian states and territories are held.

Contact the institutions of interest or visit their websites to get details of services offered and charges that apply for purchases of certificates.

Contact addressTelephoneAdvice about holdings

Australian Capital Territory
Registrar
Births, Deaths & Marriages
PO Box 225
Civic Square ACT 2608


(02) 6207 0460
(02) 6207 0444


Registrations for the ACT before 1930 are held by the NSW Registrar (see below).

New South Wales
Principal Registrar
Births, Deaths & Marriages
PO Box 30
Sydney NSW 2001


1300 655 236


Holds registrations for ACT before 1930.

Also holds incomplete information about deaths on war service of NSW enlistments to the Boer War (1899–1901).

Northern Territory
Registrar General
Births, Deaths & Marriages
PO Box 3021
Darwin NT 0801


(08) 8999 6119


Holds information about deaths on war service for NT enlistments to World War II (1939–45).

Queensland
Registrar
Births, Deaths & Marriages
PO Box 15188
City East QLD 4002


1300 366 430


Holds information about deaths on war service for Queensland enlistments to World War I (1914–18) and World War II (1939–45).

South Australia
Registrar,
Births, Deaths & Marriages Registration Office
PO Box 1351
Adelaide SA 5001


(08) 8204 9599


Holds information about deaths on war service for SA enlistments to World War I (1914–18) and World War II (1939–45).

Tasmania
Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages
GPO Box 198
Hobart TAS 7001


1300 135 513
(03) 6233 3793


Holds information about deaths on war service for Tasmanian enlistments to World War I (1914–18), World War II (1939–45) and the Korean War (1950–53).

Registrations for the period before 1900 are held by Archives Office of Tasmania, 91 Murray Street, Hobart TAS 7000, Tel: (03) 6233 7488

Victoria
Registrar, Births, Deaths & Marriages
PO Box 4332
Melbourne VIC 3001


1300 369 367

Western Australia
Registry of, Births, Deaths & Marriages
PO Box 7720
Cloisters Square WA 6850



(08) 9264 1555

Deaths on war service

Deaths on war service are generally not registered by the state authorities, but by the relevant service. To obtain copies of death certificates, write to:

ArmyAir ForceNavy

Soldier Career Management Agency
GPO Box 393D
Melbourne VIC 3001

Bereaved Family Liaison Officer
Directorate of Co-ordination Air Force
Russell Offices 
Department of Defence
Canberra ACT 2600

Directorate of Naval Personnel Services
Department of Defence
Canberra ACT 2601

Australian citizens overseas

Registrations for Australian citizens lodged overseas at Australian Embassies, High Commissions, Consulates-General, Consulates or other Australian or United Kingdom missions are controlled by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. These include the registration of children born overseas to Australian citizens. Access to these registers is governed by the Archives Act 1983, which provides a right of access to records that are more than 30 years old. Requests for access to registrations lodged over 30 years ago, should be directed to the Archives' National Reference Service (contact details on Fact Sheet 1 – Addresses and hours of opening).

The registers listed below have been transferred to the Archives custody.

Birth, death and marriage records held by the Archives in Canberra

Birth registers of citizenship by descent records by Australian missions in the following cities:
Birth, death and marriage records held by the Archives in Canberra
SeriesBonn1953–86A9613 
SeriesCairo1950–94A10497 
SeriesColombo1950–86A9612 
SeriesCopenhagen1955–86A9614 
SeriesHonolulu1973–88A9635 
SeriesKuala Lumpur1956–86A10842 
SeriesMadrid1963–90A10791 
SeriesLondon1949–ongoingA8307 
SeriesParis1950–90A10311 
SeriesPort Moresby (includes index)1952–86A9125 
SeriesSantiago de Chile1968–86A10790 
SeriesTel Aviv1951–86A9952 
SeriesVancouver1963–87A9294 
SeriesVienna1971–90A8434 

Requests for information about births, deaths and marriages that would have been registered at Australian overseas less than 30 years ago, should be directed to:

Department of Immigration and Citizenship
PO Box 25
Belconnen ACT 2616

Australian citizens or residents born overseas

Records of births and marriages which took place before a person migrated to Australia are not maintained by the Australian government. Where the person has been naturalised such details will usually be found on the application for naturalisation. For further information see Fact Sheet 68 – Naturalisation records held in Canberra.

Other nationalities

For information on persons of other than Australian nationality you will need to contact the registrar in the appropriate overseas country or their representative in Australia.

For more information

You can obtain more information about the record series listed above (and the items within the series) from RecordSearch, the Archives database. Follow the links in the series lists to go directly to information on that series. You can also use RecordSearch to find out about the agencies that created the records and to locate more records on your subject. You might also explore PhotoSearch to find out if there are photos pertaining to your subject.

RecordSearch and PhotoSearch are available online and in all Archives reading rooms.

Comments or other feedback can be sent to archives@naa.gov.au

updated May 2010