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There are a number of items in the State Library and other institutions which contain information relating to births, deaths and marriages.

A good place to start is with:

Dead reckoning: how to find your way through the genealogical jungle of Western Australia (016.92939 HOW). This details catalogues, indexes and records held by the Battye Library and the State Records Office, which can help the public in the tracing of people.

Also see:

• Registrar General's Office
• Cemetery Records
• Church Records
• Further Sources
• Newspapers
  
• State Records Office
• State Library
• Western Australian Genealogical Society
• Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints
  

Registar General's Office

Official registration of births, deaths and marriages did not commence until September 1841. For some earlier records see the State Records Office section below.

The Registrar General's Office Indexes to birth, death and marriage certificates from 1841 are as follows:

Online searching of Western Australian birth, death and marriage indexes is available for the following ranges of years :

• Birth indexes - 1841 to 1932
• Marriage indexes - 1841 to 1936
• Death indexes - 1841 to 1971

Western Australian Pioneers Index (births, marriages & deaths) - microfiche & CD-ROM.      

• 1841 to 1905

Other microfiche series:

• Marriage indexes - 1829 to 1896
• Marriage indexes - 1906 to 1965
• Death indexes - 1906 to 1980
• Birth indexes - 1906 to 1911, and 1986 to 1991
  (Birth notices in the West Australian)

Copies of certificates are only available from the Registrar General’s Office.

Contact details, how to purchase certificates and costs can be found on the Department of the Attorney General’s website.

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Cemetery Records

Karrakatta, Fremantle, Pinnaroo, Midland and Guildford Cemeteries can now be searched on-line by surname. Some country cemeteries are also on-line. Check the on-line catalogue under the keywords ‘place name’, ‘cemetery’ and ‘electronic’.

East Perth Cemetery: resting place of Western Australian Pioneers James A Richardson. 3 vol. (Q929.5 RIC). East Perth Cemetery can now also be searched on-line.

The Western Australian Cemeteries Index (microfiche) lists cemetery registers and/or monumental inscriptions from around the state. An index is located with the fiche.

Lonely graves of Western Australia & burials at sea Yvonne & Kevin Coate (B/994 LON).

More lonely graves of Western Australia Yvonne & Kevin Coate (B/994 COA).

For cemetery details not held by the State Library please contact the appropriate local government office.

Church Records

Some baptismal, burial and marriage registers are available at the Battye Library.

• Anglican Church – see MN 614 for listing (some registers on microfilm)
• Methodist Church – see MN 172 for listing (some registers on microfilm)
• Roman Catholic Church – see MN 812 (most registers are held at Catholic Archives in Victoria Square)
• Uniting Church – see MN 659 and MN 930 for listing (some registers on microfilm)
• Presbyterian Church - see MN 713 for listing (some registers on microfilm.
• Congregational Union - see MN 257 for listing (some registers on microfilm)

For registers not held, contact the appropriate church. Transcripts of various Anglican Church records by Canon P.U. Henn are held at Acc 399A on microfilm (these do contain some inaccuracies).

Further Sources

• Dictionary of Western Australians 1829-1914.
• Western Australian Genealogical Society – Western Australian Marriages (microfiche).
• Western Australian Genealogical Society - Index for the Plantagenet Matched Marriages 1931-1965 (microfiche).
• Western Australian Genealogical Society – Western Australian Baptisms (microfiche).
• Western Australian Genealogical Society - Baptisms September 1840- May 1999 (Uniting Church, CD-ROM).
• Western Australian Genealogical Society - Nineteenth Century Newspapers, births, deaths and marriages (microfiche).

Newspapers

Most Western Australian newspapers are held by the Battye Library. Birth, death and marriage notices are not indexed. The Western Australian Genealogical Society has indexed some birth and death notices in The West Australian and the Western Mail (see below for details).

State Records Office

From 1829-1841, Accession 703 (on microfilm) lists baptisms, burials and marriages by locality for the Anglican Church.

The State Records Office holds some registers of births, deaths and marriages in Police Station and Courthouse records. For a listing see the section births, deaths and marriages in Dead Reckoning (see above).

• Register of deaths at sea 1917-1964 & births at sea 1918-1921 (Acc 1316/19).
• Records of shipping casualties 16/12/1902–3/9/1916 (Acc 1056/61)
• Register of deaths on ships off the WA coast 1902-1917.(Acc 1056/63). Also includes some births 1906-1915.

State Library

The State Library can provide information on births, deaths and marriages in other Australian States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland plus some limited overseas resources.

Western Australian Genealogical Society (WAGS)

The Western Australian Genealogical Society(WAGS) can provide advice and may undertake research. Members of WAGS are available in the Genealogical Centre on the 1st floor Tuesday to Thursday 9.30am-1.00pm.

Address:
Unit 5/48 May Street
BAYSWATER WA 6053
Telephone: (08) 9271 4311

WAGS has also compiled indexes to birth notices (1906-1911, 1986-1991 & 1997-1998) and death notices (1985-1994 & 1997-1998) appearing in The West Australian and birth notices appearing in the Western Mail (1921-1930 & 1931-1940).

Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints runs three Family History Centres in Perth (Dianella, Attadale and Warwick) and also some country centres. They are open to the public. Each Centre holds different records, though most have birth, death and marriage indexes for Australasia on microfiche. A major source is the International Genealogical Index (IGI), compiled by Church members and available at all centres.

Their Family Search Program provides access to the IGI, the Family History Catalogue, the USA Social Security Index and Ancestral File. It also provides access to all Salt Lake City Library facilities and allows patrons to order microfilm copies of records.