How to buy a South Australian Birth, Death
or Marriage certificate
You have four choices available to you.
• By Post using an application form
and supplying credit card details, a money order in Australian
dollars [AUD] or a cheque in AUD made payable to Births,
Deaths and Marriages.
• In Person at the Adelaide office and complete the appropriate
application form, present your identification and provide payment.
• Online Application using credit card payments only.
• Engage an Agent.
1. Mail and fax order
To apply by mail or fax you need to collect a form from
a Post office in South Australia OR download the form available
at the website OR
telephone the Registry (08) 8204 9599.
When completing the form it is a requirement that you provide
evidence of your identity if you are seeking a record of
an event within the embargoed period (see access policy).
If you are seeking an historical record this is not a requirement
even though the form does not indicate this. If you were
born or married outside the state then it is a good idea
to also include evidence of your relationship with your
application with photocopies of appropriate birth and/or
marriage certificates.
Although the application form does not seek the Book and
page number of the certificate sought it is a very good
idea to include them next to the surname on the certificate
sought. It is good practice to check the indexes whenever
possible to ascertain the event was registered. An application
for an unregistered event will cost the same as a successful
application. While each application includes a ten year
search in the costing, if you apply for an event that falls
outside the period stipulated in your application you will
lose your application fee. Indexes are widely available
in libraries and family history society libraries as follows: |
Access policy
Birth Certificates are only
available to the registered person, their parents, their
children, or legal custodians or
their current spouse. If a birth registration is over 75
years any person may apply.
Death Certificates are only available
to the current spouse, the parents, the children and legal
custodians. If a death registration over 25 years, any
person may apply.
Marriage Certificates are only
available to the registered persons or children of the
marriage. If a marriage registration over 60 years, any
person may apply.
Persons other than those mentioned above may apply for
a certificate if they have written authorisation from an
eligible party and upon production of identification from
that person as well as themselves.
|
SA Birth Indexes
[1842-1928] |
name, date, place*, parents inc mother's maiden
name*, district, reference
(avail as searchable CD,
fiche and books) |
SA Marriage Indexes
[1842-1937] |
name, age, marital status, father's name*, date,
name of spouse, age of bride, marital status of bride,
bride's father's name, place, district, reference
(avail
as searchable
CD, fiche
and books) |
SA Death Indexes
[1842-1972] |
name, date, place of residence, place of death,
informant's name*, district, reference
(avail as
searchable CD, fiche and books) |
* this feature is not always present |
Check what you can expect to find on a certificate.
If faxing the form you will need to include your credit
card details.
2. In person
To apply in person you need to attend the office of the
Registry at 91-97 Grenfell Street Adelaide and
will still need to follow the steps above.
3. Online
Applying
online directly with the Registry requires the use of your credit card at the
secure site. The requirements mentioned above are still
necessary.
4. Engage an agent
|
