Births, deaths, and marriages
Introduction
There are a range of records to help you find out more details about a person’s birth, death or marriage in Tasmania.
- Before you start, it helps if you have an idea of the approximate date of birth or death and where they lived in Tasmania. If you are looking for details in Church or cemetery records, it helps also if you know their religion.
- Official registration for births deaths and marriages began in December 1838. Even so, often people did not register births, deaths or marriages. Church records often hold the only information on baptisms, funerals and weddings for the early years of the colony
- Some surviving records on marriages and burials 1803-1838 are incorporated. The Registrar General copied information from some pre-1838 records
- We do not hold original certificates as they were given to the person making the registration and were not kept by the government
- Tasmanian registrations give less information than many other Australian states. Generally they include the following:
Births
Prior to 1896
- Given name (if known at time of registration) and surname
- Date and place of birth
- Names of parents
- Maiden surname of mother
- Father’s occupation
1896 – parents’ marriage date and place added
1902 – parents’ ages and birthplaces added
1909 – previous issue (children) added
Deaths
Prior to 1897
- Name of deceased
- Date and place of death
- Age at death
- Occupation
- Cause of death
1897 – birthplace of the deceased was added. Sometimes included since the 1880s
1914 – age at marriage and number of issue (children) added
Marriages
Prior to 1896
- Names of the people being married
- Date and place of marriage
- Age at marriage (sometimes only whether “under” or “over” age, i.e. 21)
- Occupation and status (e.g. bachelor and spinster)
- Names of witnesses to the marriage
1896 – names of parents, and places of birth added
Church records of weddings do not have further details
What is online?
Indexes to records
Digitised records
What else is there?
Other library resources
Related
What can I find from other organisations?
When to use the District Registers
The following is a summary of duplicate registers of births, deaths and marriages. The District Registrars kept these registers of the births and deaths occurring in their districts. They regularly sent returns to be added to the Central Registry in Hobart. Only some district registers found their way into the Tasmanian Archives, as listed below. All of these records are now digitised.
These registers only include marriages performed in a marriage registry.
These registers are not comprehensive. They will only be useful if you wish to cross-reference details of a registration that occurred within the date-ranges given below.
Births, deaths and marriages from the Central Registry can be found by searching the Tasmanian Names Index.
District Registers
Bothwell Registry
- Index to register of births, 1844 – 1920 (RGD101/1)
- Register of births, 1843 – 1920 (RGD8/1 – 3)
- Register of deaths, 1844 – 1920 (RGD17/1-2)
- Register of marriages, 1844 – 1874 (RGD16/1)
Brighton Registry
- Index to births,1839 – 1910 (AC853/1)
- Register of births,1839 – 1920 (RGD44/1-4)
- Register of deaths, 1885 – 1920 (RGD45/1)
Bruny Island Registry
- Register of births, 1912 – 1920 (RGD46/1)
- Register of deaths, 1912 – 1920 (RGD47/1)
Campbell Town Registry
Clarence Registry
- Register of births, 1846 – 1920 (RGD20/1-2)
- Index to deaths, 1847 – 1920 (RGD48/1)
- Register of deaths, 1847 – 1920 (RGD22/1-2)
- Notices of intention to marry, 1853 – 1859 (RGD21/1)
Franklin Registry
- Register of births, 1856 – Jun 1887 (RGD89/1-2)
- Register of deaths, 1856 – Dec 1903 (RGD90/1)
- Register of notices of intention to marry, 1857 – 1863 (RGD91/1)
Glamorgan Registry
- Index to deaths, 1842 – 1920 (RGD99/1)
Gordon Registry
- Register of births, 1901 – 1911(RGD49/1)
- Register of deaths, 1901 – 1911 (RGD50/1)
Green Ponds Registry
- Index to births, 1866 – 1920 with gaps (RGD52/1)
- Registers of births, 1866 – 1920 (RGD51/1-3)
- Index to deaths, 1866 – 1920 with gaps (RGD54/1)
- Registers of deaths, 1866 – 1920 (RGD53/1-2)
Hamilton Registry
- Register of births, 1839 – 1920 (RGD55/1-4)
- Register of deaths, 1839 – 1920 (RGD56/1-2)
- Notices of intention to marry, 1841 – 1851 (RGD57/1)
- Notices of intention to marry, 1856 – 1914 (RGD3)
- Register of births of still born children, 1884-1895 (RGD83/1)
Hobart Registry
- Notices of intention to marry, 1856 – 1914 (RGD3)
- Register of births of still born children, 1884-1895 (RGD83/1)
Huon see Victoria (Huon)
Kingston Registry
- Index to births, 1857 – 1920 (RGD59/1)
- Registers of births, 1884 – 1920 (RGD58/1-2)
- Index to deaths, 1856 -1869 (RGD61/1)
- Register of deaths, 1856 – 1920 (RGD60/1-2)
- Register of marriages, 1842 – 1865 (RGD62/1)
Lyell Registry
Norfolk Island Registry
- Register of births, 1848 – 1855 (RGD63/1)
- Register of deaths, 1849 – May 1852 (RGD64/1)
Oatlands Registry
- Index to births, 1839 – 1900 (RGD24/1)
- Register of births, 1839 – 1920 (RGD23/1-4)
- Index to deaths, 1839 -1900 (RGD28/1)
- Register of deaths, 1839 – 1920 (RGD27/1)
- Notices of intention to marry, 1842 – Jul 1897 (RGD25/1)
- Register of marriages, 1854 – 1911 with gaps (RGD26/1)
Ralphs Bay
- Register of births, 1856 – 1912 (RGD65/1)
- Register of deaths, 1857 – Sep 1911 (RGD66/1)
Richmond Registry
Ross Registry
- Register of births, 1895 – 1920 (RGD29/1-2)
- Register of deaths, 1896 – 1920 (RGD30/1)
Sorell Registry
- Index to births, 1842 – 1920 (RGD72/1)
- Register of births, 1839 -1920 (RGD71/1-5)
- Index to deaths, 1842 – 1920 (RGD74/1)
- Register of deaths, 1839 -1920 (RGD73/1-3)
- Notices of intention to marry, 1845 – 1920 (RGD76/1)
- Register of marriages, 1857 – 1911 (RGD75/1)
Tasman Peninsula
- Index to births, 1844 -1920 (RGD78/1)
- Register of births, 1844 -1920 (RGD77/1-2)
- Index to deaths, 1843 – 1920 (RGD80/1)
- Register of deaths, 1844 -1920 (RGD79/1-2)
- Register of marriages, 1843 – 1895 with gaps (RGD81/1-2)
- Notices of intention to marry, 1881 – 1898 (RGD82/1)
Victoria (Huon)
- Register of births, 1856 – 1893 (RGD92/1)
- Register of deaths, 1857 – 1911(RGD93/1)
- Register of notices of intention to marry, 1858 – 1895 (RGD94/1)
Waratah
- Index to births, 1902 – 1913 (RGD97/1)
- Index to deaths, 1902 – 1913 (RGD98/1)