How to access South Australian Electoral Rolls

The Electoral Roll is a list of people entitled to vote. In Australia there are two parallel systems and a Commonwealth electorate is called a Division and within the state they are known as Districts.

Each electoral roll contains names and addresses. Rolls prior to 1980 also include sex and occupation.

• 1851 to 1901 (Colonial Records)
Most colonial rolls have not survived and those that do have the electors listed by electoral district. The franchise gradually extended in this period from the Legislative Assembly in 1851 giving the vote to adult males owning or leasing property with a minimum vale of £100 and the House of Assembly in 1857 enfranchising all adult male British subjects or naturalised citizens residing at the same residence for 6 months. In 1894 women were given the vote under the same conditions as men. Enrolment and voting was voluntary.

Up to 1884 an electoral roll was created for each election by the Sheriff who was also the Principal Returning Officer. From 1887 a permanent roll was established.

Electoral rolls known to have survived for the colonial period include:

Electoral rolls were published in newspapers to 1884.

The SA Government Gazettes from 1876 to 1904 also name people required to establish eligibilty to remain on lists.


• 1901 to 1988 (Commonwealth Records - divisional lists)
The Commonwealth used the rolls generated by the SA Government until the Commonwealth Electoral Office was established (now known as the Australian Electoral Commission) in 1902 was able to undertake the work itself from 1908. In 1920 a joint Commonwealth State roll was introduced. In 1911 compulsory enrolment for federal elections was introduced and compulsory voting came in 1924. Compulsion to vote in state elections was not introduced until 1942 but it did not become compulsory to enrol until 1984. In 1962 all aboriginal voters were given the right to enrol and vote. In 1973, the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.

Copies of electoral rolls in book form by division can be readily found for this period as they were available for sale to the general public. Many libraries with an interest in history hold copies. The difficulty in accessing this material lies in the fact that unless you know where the person lived, you will have to undertake a very long search as the voters are listed under their subdivision within each division and there are many subdivisions across the state. Another difficulty the researcher may face is the ever changing boundaries of electorates. People can change electorate without changing their address. You may need to refer to the Commonwealth of Australia 1901–1988 electoral distributions atlas.

Electoral Rolls known to have survived for this period include:

• From 1988 (Commonwealth Records - state-wide list)
Copies of electoral rolls on fiche can be readily found for this period as they were available for sale to the general public. Following the implementation of the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Access to Electoral Roll and Other Measures) Act 2004 on 21 July 2004, the sale of the electoral roll in any format was banned. An Australia wide electronic version of the electoral roll is available for viewing at each Divisonal Office across Australia.

Searching for a voter in this period is easy because a single alphabetical list exists for the whole state.

For more details, the reader is also referred to: A guide and index to SA Electoral Rolls on fiche 1884–1913 (incomplete) State Library FH Collection 324.99423 A963 usually located on top of the fiche drawers in the FH section of the State Library.