You are about to search the following Genealogy SA databases:
New Database - released 29/6/2020
Shipping arrivals in South Australia from 1836 to 1952 records - 277,959 records from 1836 to 1952
# All databases with this suffix - # - are "works in progress" and are continually being added to and will be updated both in our library and online regularly.
* Please note, we do not have original death certificates from 1968 to 1972, only index records, therefore we cannot transcribe death certificates 1968 to 1972.
** Newspaper births - non-members are provided with a limited view, members are provided more detail and have the service available to order look-ups. Non-member look-up requests will be refunded immediately, the look-up service will not be available to non-members.
Before requesting a birth, death or marriage certificate, check our What is in a Certificate When? document. This lists all of the the fields that may be available in the certificate that you request.
Our index records contain abbreviations that are defined on our site at Abbreviations Explained
Specifying a date range for your search can speed the search process. The indexes for Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates have date restrictions due to government regulation. Read the story of the Genealogy SA BDM Certificates.
Use the wildcards to search for parts of names, or names that begin or end with certain characters, * for multiple characters and ? for one character. eg. If searching for Joraslafsky or anything similar, enter *lafsky to find anything that ends in lafsky.
If searching for O’Dea or anything similar, enter O?Dea to find that name. The ? Wildcard replaces the apostrophe.
Likewise, if you want to find someone born in 1888 with Last name of Longbottom or similar, you enter Date 1888 and Last name Lon*. Note - the wildcard search requires 3 characters plus the wildcard symbol. This will give you hundreds of results to wade through
Biographical Index of South Australians search tips:
- The event year may be either the year of birth or year of death. This is due to no definite date of birth or data of death field were created in the original database published 1989/1990
- when you have found a spouse, do another search which may give you additional information such as birth and death dates
If your search narrows down to a person of interest, remember that you have only searched an index. An index is usually an extract taken from a more detailed source document. If you get a result from our index and you want more details, order a source document transcription or lookup, which you can do online through this website.
Transcriptions and Lookups are processed on Monday and Fridays, you can expect a response within one week.
Well don't quit! If you are certain your missing relative should be in South Australian records, try varying your search criteria. Indexes sometimes have spelling or other errors, often reflecting an error in the original document. Untick the 'exact matches' box and look for different spellings, places or time periods.
People often contact us about errors they believe they have found. The Society will receive advice of suspected errors, and we may be able to correct index errors in the future, where we can access the original source document. Please send error reports to the webmaster or our research co-ordinator.
Be persistent and try different ways of searching. If your efforts don't help your research, or you still face a brick wall, you could always consider a Genealogy SA Research Request.
Society Library & Research Centre
201 Unley Rd, Unley SA 5061
PO Box 3114, Unley SA 5061
(08) 8272 4222
ABN: 64 788 909 036
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