Births, Marriages & Deaths
Civil Registration
Government recording of births, marriages and deaths in Australia is done at state or territory level. In Victoria this official recording, known as civil registration, began on 1 July 1853.
Some of our indexes include dates earlier than 1853 and this is because the information has been gathered from other sources such as church records.
Online Indexes
Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages
Use this website to find births, marriages and deaths in Victoria for the following dates. Please note that fees apply to view results and download certificates.
| Births | Marriages | Deaths | Format |
| 1836-1911 | 1836-1942 | 1836-1985 | Website |
Other Indexes
We also hold the following indexes to births, marriages and deaths in Victoria in the Genealogy Centre on the 1st floor:
| Births | Marriages | Deaths | Format | Location |
| 1836-1888 | 1836-1888 | 1836-1888 | CD-ROM (Pioneers index) |
Geneo 1 |
| 1889-1901 | 1889-1901 | 1889-1901 | CD-ROM (Federation index) |
Geneo 1 |
| 1902-1913 | 1902-1913 | 1902-1913 | CD-ROM (Edwardian index) | Geneo 1 |
| 1914-1920 | 1914-1920 | 1914-1920 | CD-ROM (Great War index) | Geneo 1 |
| 1920-1985 | CD-ROM (Death index) | Geneo 1 | ||
| 1921-1942 | CD-ROM (Marriage index) | Geneo 1 | ||
| 1837-1920 | 1837-1930 | 1837-1985 | Microfiche | Cabinet 60 Drawers 23-24 |
Ordering Certificates
Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages
Certificates can be ordered or downloaded from the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Their website has details of costs and how to apply.
What information will I find?
Australian birth, marriage and death certificates can contain lots of useful information for the family historian. Death certificates, in particular, can be very informative and often contain the names and ages of children and the length of time spent in Australia. For a detailed breakdown of information recorded, see our guide:
Information found on certificates for Australian states, New Zealand and the British Isles
Other Sources
Other useful sources of information include indexes to newspaper notices and church records. To find these, try searching our online catalogue using these keywords + victoria:
- baptismal records
- birth announcements
- church records
- death notices
- marriage records
- matrimonial advertisements
- obituaries
- registers of births
- wedding anniversaries
Related Pages
See these pages for other information related to Victorian births, marriages and deaths:
Page last updated: Thursday 17 January 2013