Queensland Church Records

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Queensland

Queensland Church Records

Online Records

• Queensland Family history research service for births, marriages, and deaths. Index (free) and images ($).
• State Library of Queensland parish records
• 1829-1919 Queensland Births 1829-1919 - at Findmypast, index.
• 1829-1939 Queensland Marriages 1829-1939 - at Findmypast, index.
• 1829-1981 Queensland Deaths 1829-1964 - at Findmypast, index.

New South Wales Online Resources Including Area Now in Queensland

• 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 - at FamilySearch, index and images. Contains registers for different denominations throughout New South Wales, particularly around the Sydney area.
• 1787-1810 Index to baptisms, N.S.W., 1787-1800 ; Index to burials in New South Wales 1787 to 1800 (including deaths at sea on first fleet) ; Index to marriages in New South Wales, a.d. 1788-1800 ; Index to marriages in New South Wales from January 1, 1800 to December 31st, 1810, transcribed from "The Kerrison James" records - at FamilySearch, images.
• 1788-1830 Kerrison James Index to church records, 1788-1830 - at FamilySearch, images.
• 1816-1982 Australia, New South Wales, cemetery, military, and church record transcripts : COLLECTION RECORD, 1816-1982, index and images. How to Use This Collection
• 1839-1925 Index of parish register information : 1839-1925 at FamilySearch, images.

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 ($)
• 1788-1945 - New South Wales Deaths at Findmypast; index only ($)

Australia

• 1788-1922 Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922, index - at Ancestry ($)
• 1792-1981 Australia, Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981, index - at Ancestry ($). Also at Findmypast ($). Also at My Heritage ($)
• 1788-1950 Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950, index - at Ancestry ($)
• 1788-1935 Australia, Marriages, 1788-1935, index - at Findmypast ($)
• 1810-1980 Australia, Marriages, 1810-1980, index - at MyHeritage ($)
• 1787-1985 Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985, index - at Ancestry ($)
• 1816-1980 Australia Deaths & Burials, 1816-1980, index - at Findmypast ($). Also at My Heritage ($)

FamilySearch Library

• Click on "Places within Australia, Queensland". Choose a location to see if additional online church records are available.

Libraries

John Oxley State Library of Queensland
Stanley Place, South Brisbane
Queensland 4101, Australia

Telephone: (07) 3840 7666
Contact Us

• Family History Research Guides
• List of church record holdings. 2021
• Order a copy

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National Library of Australia
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Telephone: +61 (0)2 6262 1111

Address postal enquiries to:
Reader Services
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

• How do I research my family history?
• Catalogue Search
• Ask a Librarian

Societies

• The Society of Australian Genealogists, based in Sydney, provides an expert and specialist family history service, and holds microfilms of records of churches of all denominations throughout Australia and overseas. The SAG sells copies of their microfilms to family history societies, historical societies, and libraries.

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Genealogical Society of Queensland
25 Stackpole Street
Wishart, Queensland 4122
Australia

Mailing address: PO Box 1467, Carindale, QLD 4152, Australia
Telephone: (07) 3349 6072
E-mail: info@gsq.org.au
Library Catalogue
Research Services

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Archives

Diocesan Archives Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton Catholic Education Complex 143 West Street PO Box 524 Rockhampton, Qld 4700 Australia Telephone: 07 4887 3087 E-mail: archives@rok.catholic.net.au Website

Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba Archives Marian Centre, 68 Lindsay Street Toowoomba QLD 4350 Australia Postal Address: PO Box 756 Toowoomba QLD 4350, Australia Phone: 07 4632 7484 Fax: 07 4638 0034 Email: dioarch@twb.catholic.org.au Website

Catholic Diocese of Townsville Townsville Archive Centre 276 Stuart Drive Wulguru, Queensland 4811 Australia Ph: 07 4729 1392 Website

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Anglican Diocese of Brisbane Anglican Records & Archives Centre 417 Ann Street Church House Brisbane Qld 4000 Australia Telephone: +61 7 3835 2333 E-mail: archives@anglicanchurchsq.org.au Postal: Anglican Records & Archives Centre GPO Box 421 BRISBANE QLD 4001 Australia Website

Anglican Diocese of North Queensland Archives and Research Centre St James Place, Level 1 155-157 Denham Street Townsville 4810, Queensland Australia Telephone: (07) 4771 4175 - Option 4 E-mail: archives@anglicannq.org

Anglican Archives Diocese of Rockhampton 89 William Street Rockhampton, Queensland 4700 Australia Postal Address: P.O. Box 710, Rockhampton QLD. 4700 Phone: (07) 4927 3188 E-mai: diocese@anglicanchurchcq.org.au List of Holdings

Writing for Records

Originals of parish records may still be held at the local church.
See the Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help in composing a letter requesting information from a local church.
Address directories for major religious groups are listed here. Baptist, Pentecostal, and Reformed churches have multiple umbrella organizations. For those, use Google.

• Anglican Directory Australia Parishes
• Catholic Find A Church, Australia
• Churches of Christ in Australia
• Greek Orthodox Churches in Australia
• Jehovah's Witnesses Find a Meeting in Australia
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Find a Ward
• Find a Lutheran Church Australia
• OCA Orthodox Church Parishes in Australia
• Russian Orthodox Church Directory of Parishes and Monasteries in Australia
• PresKey OnLine Directory, Find a Presbyterian Church in Australia
• Salvation Army Churches in Australia
• Seventh-day Adventist Congregations in Australia
• Uniting Church Congregations of Australia (Congregational)

Historical Background

• In 1823, John Oxley, a British explorer, sailed north from what is now Sydney to scout possible penal colony sites in Gladstone (then Port Curtis) and Moreton Bay. At Moreton Bay, he found the Brisbane River.
• He returned in 1824 and established a penal settlement at what is now Redcliffe. The settlement, initially known as Edenglassie, was then transferred to the current location of the Brisbane city centre, then known as the Moreton Bay Penal Colony, with the larger area known as Moreton Bay. (For instance, the survey office is the "Moreton Bay District Survey Office" and the local newspaper began as the "Moreton Bay Courier" in 1846 and only later took the name "Brisbane Courier".) 'Brisbane" appears as a tiny dot on an 1842 map, but eventually the area's principal name changed from Moreton Bay to Brisbane, and by 1859 when Queensland became a state in its own right, Brisbane was designated as its capital, and 'Moreton Bay' remained into the 21st century as a council district just above Brisbane.
• In 1839, transportation of convicts was ceased, culminating in the closure of the Brisbane penal settlement (though convicts' freedoms, for instance to move about or to marry, were still severely restricted).
• Most early immigrants came from New South Wales.
• The Earl Grey Scheme established a special emigration scheme which was designed to resettle destitute girls from the workhouses of Ireland during the Great Famine. A small group of 37 young orphans, sometimes referred to as The Belfast Girls or the Feisty Colleens sailed up to Brisbane (then Moreton Bay) on 21 October 1848 on board the Ann Mary. This scheme continued until 1852.
• On 6 June 1859, Queen Victoria signed Letters Patent to form the separate colony of Queensland as a self-governing Crown colony with responsible government. On 10 December 1859, a proclamation was read by George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland, formally establishing Queensland as a separate colony from New South Wales.
• Immigration to Australia and Queensland, in particular, began in the 1850s to support the state economy. During the period from the 1860s until the early 20th century, many laborers, known at the time as Kanakas, were brought to Queensland from neighboring Pacific Island nations to work in the state's sugar cane fields.
• Italian immigrants entered the sugar cane industry from the 1890s.
• Parish registers began for:

Baptist Church in 1854

Church of England in 1824

Congregational Church in 1855

Independent Church in 1854

Methodist Church in 1891

Presbyterian Church in 1839

Roman Catholic Church in 1844

Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1847

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.

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