The coastline of Western Australia has been visited by many European (mostly Dutch and Portuguese) explorers since the early 17th century and possibly in the 16th century.  The first recorded landing was by Dirk Hartog, a Dutchman, in 1616.  The first Englishman recorded to have landed on the coast was William Dampier on 5 January 1688.  Dampier was supercargo of the Cygnet, a trading vessel whose crew had turned buccaneers.
In the next century and a half, many visited the west coast without forming a settlement, mostly deterred by the hostile environment.

On 9 November 1826, an expedition under Major Lockyer, under orders from Lieutenant-General Ralph Darling, then Governor of New South Wales, to found a settlement at King George Sound, sailed from Sydney.  The expedition landed at the Sound on 26 December and on 21 January 1827 hoisted the British Flag.  This settlement was to remain under the jurisdiction of New South Wales until 1831.

Acting on recommendations by Captain Stirling who visited the Swan River area in 1827 as commander of the H.M.S. Success, the British Government decided that a Crown colony should be established in the Swan River district.  Stirling was appointed Lieutenant-Governor and with a party of settlers arrived at Garden Island, near the Swan River, in the ship Parmelia in June 1829.  Captain Fremantle, in command of H.M.S. Challenger, arrived earlier, on 2 May, with a party of settlers and hoisted the British flag on the south head of Swan River, taking possession of 'all that part of New Holland which is not included within the Territory of New South Wales'.

Thus from that time the whole territory now known as Australia had been constituted a dependency of the United Kingdom.
The new Swan River Colony was officially proclaimed on 18 June 1829.  The colony included all land westward of the 129o of longitude East with a total area of 2,527,633 square kilometres.

In 1849, to address a shortage of labour, the colony was proclaimed a British penal settlement.  Between 1850 and 1868, 9720 convicts were sent there - all male.

Despite the infusion of convicts to support the growth of the Colony, the population of Western Australia grew fairly slowly and by 1891 had still not reached 50,000.  As in New South Wales and Victoria earlier in the century, the discovery of gold in 1892 swelled immigration and the  population almost quadrupled in the following ten years.

The population of Western Australia was estimated at 1,765,700 in 1996 representing 9.6% of the Australian total, with a growth rate of 1.86% which is well above the national average of 1.37%.  The growth rate seems to be increasing of late after a decline in the early 1990s.

On 27 May 1841 the Legislative Council passed 4 and 5 Victoria No.9 which was "An Act to provide for the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages, in the Colony of Western Australia".  On 9 September 1841 the Registrar General's Office began recording these events under George Frederick Stone, the first Registrar General.

The Registrar General's Office has copies of all registrations of births, deaths and marriages since its date of first registration.  But, since Western Australia is such a vast and sparsely populated state, some births, deaths and marriages, especially in the 19th century, were not registered.

To obtain certificated copies or extracts from the registrations, contact the  Registrar General's Office at the following address:

Registrar General’s Office
Level 10, Westralia Square
141 St Georges Terrace
Perth   WA   6000
Telephone: (08) 9264 1555
Facsimile: (08) 9264 1599
e-mail:  rgoperth@justice.moj.wa.gov.au

Registrar General
PO Box 7720 Cloisters Square
Perth   WA   6850

Information available from the certificates includes the following:

#  date of marriage

• births - restricted if occurred less than 75 years ago;
• deaths - restricted if occurred less than 10 years ago;
• marriages - restricted if occurred less than 40 years ago.

The registration index extracts for Western Australia are sourced from the Registrar-General's indexes, 1841 to 1905.  The information contained therein is reproduced with the kind permission of the Registrar General's Office and copyright in the information belongs to the state of Western Australia.  The Registry accepts no responsibility for any errors or omissions that may occur in these extracts.

Records Prior to 1841

Prior to 1841, however, the Anglican Church recorded baptisms, burials and marriages.  Accession 703, which is contained in "Access to Ancestors" - a research kit of resources in the State Archives of Western Australia -  is a copy of church registers showing these entries for Perth and Fremantle for 1829-1842.

In Accession 703 (Reel 214), there are eight registers which have been microfilmed.  These registers contain information on early baptisms, marriages and burials that came under the auspices of the Church of England before 1841.  The registers have entries recorded by district - Perth, Fremantle, Guildford, Albany, York, Plantagenet, Wellington, Canning and Mandjerup (Mandurah) for the period before 1842, plus a few entries for the districts of Wellington and Albany after this date.
These records and the other Births, Death and Marriages Registration Indexes can be viewed on microfiche/microfilm/CD-ROM at the Alexander Library, Perth Cultural Centre, James Street, Perth.
 

Western Australian Data

Birth Index to 1905 (Indexed by Date and Name)

Death Index to 1905 (Indexed by Date and Name)

Marriage Index to 1905 (Indexed by Date and Name)