South Australia, while not being a part of Cook's original annexation of the east coast of Australia, was, in part, included in Captain Phillip's formal possession of the whole of the eastern part of the Australian continent on 26 January 1788. Possession encompassed all land westward as far as 135 degrees of longitude, which is an imaginary line roughly down the middle of the present western and eastern boundaries of South Australia.

On 15 August 1834 an Act was passed, creating South Australia a "province", and settlement took place towards the end of 1836. The first Governor, Captain Hindmarsh R.N., arrived at Holdfast Bay on 28 December 1836 in the Buffalo, and on the same day, the new colony was officially proclaimed. At that time, the northern and eastern boundaries (lat.26^o S and long.140^o58'E respectively) coincided with the modern boundaries. The western boundary, however, was on long.132 E, approximately running through Cape Nuyts. On 10 December 1861, the western boundary was extended to coincide with the eastern boundary of Western Australia, making the boundaries similar to those today.

Nearly two years later on 6 July 1863, the whole of the Northern Territory was brought under the jurisdiction of South Australia. It was transferred back to the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1911.

South Australia was not established as a penal settlement. In 1832, Wakefield argued that this new colony, unlike New South Wales, should not become 'a colony where immigration is left to chances or consists of the scum of the Mother Country, comparitively useless as labourers, and incapable from the disproportion of the sexes from becoming the parents of a numerous progeny'. Despite no real gold rushes, the population of South Australia increased rapidly in the early days, with numbers increasing five-fold between 1844 and 1851, boosted by immigration schemes financed by land sales.

In the mid-nineteenth century, South Australia attracted immigrants from Germany second only in numbers to Queensland. The population of South Australia was estimated at 1,474,400 in 1996, 8.1% of the Australian total. The growth rate, at 0.34%, is much less than that of the Australian average, 1.37%.

The compulsory registration of births, deaths and marriages in South Australia was introduced by law on 1 July 1842. The indexes of these civilly registered events are available for public view for the period 1842 to 1906 (births, marriages), 1842 to 1905 (deaths). There are indexes available of some South Australian parish registers of events prior to 1842.

More detailed information on entries in the South Australian indexes, certified copies or extracts can be obtained from the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs, Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Office:

Due to the confidentiality of the information, the following conditions apply:

• Open access to birth records that are 75 years or older;
• Open access to death records that are 25 years or older; and
• Open access to marriage records that are 60 years or older.

Similarly, all death certificates must be applied for by the spouse, a parent or a child of the deceased person. If the deceased has no surviving spouse, parent or children, a brother or sister or other kin may apply. Written authorisation from the above mentioned persons applies to other applicants.

Finally, all marriage certificates must be applied for by at least one of the parties involved in the marriage, or a child of both parties. Written authorisation from the above mentioned persons applies to other applicants.

More detailed information on services, fees, search facilities and privacy considerations can be found at the Registry’s very informative website with the URL http://www.ocba.sa.gov.au/births.htm

Information to be obtained on the certificates includes:

Birth Certificates 

The following indexes have been extracted from birth, death and marriage indexes on microfiche published by the South Australian Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Office and reproduced here with the kind permission of the Principal Registrar.

The indexes for South Australia list the surname, christian names, date period, book number and page and occasionally the date.

From the tables below, the year of the event can be determined from the book number. In the extracted lists following, the dates (years) of the events are included.

BIRTHS 1842 - 1906

DEATHS 1842 - 1905

MARRIAGES 1842 - 1906

Other Sources

Another good source of information for South Australian family history studies
is the South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc. You can contact the SAGHS on:

South Australian Data

Birth Index to 1906 (Indexed by Date and Name)

Death Index to 1905 (Indexed by Date and Name)

Marriage Index to 1906 (Indexed by Date and Name)

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