I can’t believe it … The South Australian BDM Indexes are now online. Last year there was rumours of them coming, and now they’re here. This is BIG, BIG news for everyone with family connections to South Australia … and they’re free to search.
The BDM Indexes cover the following:
– Newspaper Birth Notices Index from 1960 onwards
– Newspaper Death Notices Index from 1972 onwards
– South Australia Cemeteries Index
– Birth Registration Certificates Index 1842-1928
– Marriage Registration Certificate Index 1842-1916
– Death Registration Certificate Index 1842-1972
The data is part of the Genealogy SA website, which is the South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society’s new revamped website.
The database allows you to search by Surname, and you can narrow it down by adding in a first name or initial, as well as a year (with + or – up to 7 years). You don’t seem to be able to narrow down search for just a birth, death or marriage … but the search results are grouped into each category, so are easily viewable by those you wish.
The above image is a screenshot of what you see when you’re looking at births.
The results you get with the various categories is:
Birth Index: Year, Registration Number, Surname, Given Name/s, Father Name, Mother Name, More Info
Marriage Index: Year, Registration Number, Surname, Given Name/s, Spouse Surname, Spouse, Given Name, More Info
Death Index: Year, Registration Number, Surname, Given Name/s, Relative Name, More Info
Cemeteries Index: Resting Place, Transcription Source, Surname, Given Name/s, Age, Year, More Info
Newspaper Birth Notice Index: Source, Surname, Other Surname, Given Name/s, Parents, Publication Year, More Info
Newspaper Death Notice Index: Source, Surname, Other Surname, Given Name/s, Publication Year, More Info
Remember that these are indexes only, so the information you get is as above. If you want further info, you can click on the More Info button, which takes you to a page where you can submit details to the Society and request a lookup for $11/request, or a transcription at $15/request.
Its good that the SA BDM are now online, however the marriage period is not far enough. NSW goes up to 1950/60 so why is SA behind. I believe all states should have free access to records for lookups. In NSW there is a transciption service, which is great and cuts the costs down. Why then doesnt all the other australian states provide this service.
The reason for the difference in year spans, is that each state has different years for privacy period. As for transcriptions , the SA Genealogy & Heraldry Society offers this service, so does Graham Jaunay who is a professional genealogy researcher in SA (www.jaunay.com).
very informative,has helped me well.
The search page for South Australian BDM has This Account Has Been Suspended. What gives
Does anyone know what the letters in brackets after the relatives name mean eg (PR), (F), (W) – this was in the death index, thanks
The codes for the main ones listed are as follows:
(PR) – possible family member
(F) – father
(W) – wife
(SS) – stepson
(DH) – husband deceased
(H) – husband
(S) – son
I love this site as I have found family members I didn’t even know about… How do I also contact a person that has left a msg please. Would like to contact Doreen Hodges, possible family member??
Hi Linda, Thanks for your comment. Some people who leave comments have a link to their own website or blog and you can get contact details from that, but I see that Doreen Hodges doesn’t (well, not one that works), so unless she is following all the comments to this post, I don’t know of any way to contact her I’m sorry.
The Genealogy SA database is now off-line for 3 months for maintenance.
Ridiculous!
They had a temporary glitch, but fortunately all is rectified now.
Have asked for information and nothing has ever been ssent – like 2 months ago, now if I try to fill the form in it just drops out. Today I cant even get, it just hangs. Also if you want to purchase death certificates for SA how do you go about it, its not quite clear. The NZ BDM is absolutely fantastic to work with, but Australia is a bit behind the times in Geneology resources.
Carol, if your’re having issues with non-responses or problems with the GenealogySA website you should get in touch with them and let them know. You can find their contact details here => http://www.genealogysa.org.au/contacting-us/contact-details.html
Does anyone know if its possible to get a transcription for a 1969 death certificate. I did a search on the SA Genealogy website and found the necessary details but when I clicked on more information it states death records between 1967 and 1972 are not available. Does anyone know why?
Doreen Hodges – I believe we are related thru Thomas Michael Dawson.
My biological mother is Viola Muriel Dawson – daughter of Ivy Olive Campbell and sister to Iris Dawson. Please contact me ASAP.I’d like to exchange info with you.
Happy New Year 2014.
Ciao,
Sharyn
I have checked out the GenealogySA website and relatives but can only identify year of death for example not day moth etc. To get “more info” it pushes me towards a pro-forma application form do I have to complete one of these for each person? Do I have to pay for the service? Hope I am missing something..
Hi Geoff, The index on the GenealogySA website only lists year, so you’re not missing something. That’s all they chose to put on on their website. If you want the day and month, you will need to either check out the Digger disks which many libraries and societies have, apply for a certificate, or subscribe to findmypast.com.au as they have the BDMs on there too.
Hi Alona,
Thanks for the response. One new question – What are “digger disks”
Thanks again in advance
Hi Geoff, Digger disks are the CDs that were produced that contain indexes to Australian states BDM records. Until very recently none of this information was online, so the disks have been a valuable source of information. Here is a list of them as at 2012 – https://www.gouldgenealogy.com/2012/02/run-your-digger-disks-on-windows-7-64-bit/. Since then a number of these have gone out of print, due to the combination of records going online, and the database software (Digger, which is where the name comes from), isn’t compatible with all versions of Vista, Win 7 or Win 8.
Sir/madam,
I would very much like to make use of your on-line service, but I am prevented by these useless, annoying and dangerous pop-up ads of products THAT I WILL NEVER, NEVER, EVER USE – I Promise you and them. Whenever I try to click on an entry site, it is immediately covered by one of these, useless, annoying and dangerous pop-up ads, and I cannot check your site to see if it can clarify my South Australian mysteries. You must prevent this bad form of advertising, I can take it down the margin, but not POP-UPS that prevent me from accessing your valuable site (or it might be if I could use it)
Beryl thanks for your comments. However if you are talking about pop-ups appearing on either this site (our Gould Genealogy blog), or the GenealogySA site which has the BDM records on it – neither have pop-ups, so it would seem likely that your computer already have a virus, so you might want to get it checked.
I am unable to get on the site. It tells me there is an internal error. Does anyone know why? Thanks.
Trying to use hyperlink as copied abov to SA BDM seems broken. Error is received using both Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Duplicate entry ‘1-‘ for key ‘whosonline’ SQL=INSERT INTO `j25_session` (`session_id`, `client_id`, `time`) VALUES (‘9481d1e564cd11708089763ffa781fcf’, 0, ‘1402788353’)
I have the same problem as Liz. I keep getting this same message
Does anyone have an answer?
Liz and Dawn, it seems that they have a computer issues at the moment. I would suggest either trying again later today, but if you continue to problems tomorrow, get it touch with the Society. But in a world where we live by computers, sadly they do crash or have problems from time to time.
You can do this, or perform drop that will. My supervisor has been picking on different employees since being promoted and is
then now after me. But some question exists as to your provenance.
Looking for history of my father, from Estonia, and his family.
Have no record of our family history.
Incredibly valuable thank you. I wonder if it possible to get a list of all the abbreviations in the BMD indexes?
I have come across some that I am not familiar with, such as C alongside marriage status, and HS alongside symbol.
Hi Peter, here’s a list of abbreviations that is listed on the GenealogySA website which should help: http://www.genealogysa.org.au/about-us/frequently-asked-questions/abbreviations-explained.html
Could you please tell me how I can go about getting my Grandmothers births certificate. I live in NSW
My question was, Is this an Australian site?
Sorry, disregard the question.I was trying to find out if diggers is an Australian site.
I have a full collection of the 42 SA BDM books which I would like to sell. Anyone interested now the database is offline. email kanicholas@tpg.com.au
Family “Raphael”. Ralph Weston Raphael died 1962. I am his grandson and am looking for records and photos. I think his father was Joseph George Raphael and his grandfather Simeon Raphael. Any help would be appreciated.
I am wanting to confirm the Death of my great uncle James O’Loughlin. I have D: 27-09-1928.
He was born in Ireland his parents Patrick O’Loughlin and Bridget Woods. His sisters Mary E, Beatrice and Kathleen Annie O’Loughlin. If l have correct details l would go ahead and order certificate. Mum is almost 94yrs and is longing to find more out abt her family as she is only one remaining I’d that generation. Much thanks Lynette