New South Wales is the oldest established Australian colony, created in 1788. Tasmania became a separate colony in 1825 followed by South Australia [1836], Victoria [1851], Queensland [1859] and Western Australia [1887]. In 1901 the six colonies became a Federation of States of the Commonwealth of Australia. Two additional Territories were created in 1911: the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

Registration of births, marriages and deaths became compulsory in New South Wales from 1 March 1856. A central NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages was established in Sydney as well as local Registries around the State.

Before civil registration began in 1856 records of births, deaths and marriages were kept by the churches where the christenings, burials and marriages took place. Most of this information was collected by the Registry after civil registration was introduced and hand-written into large bound volumes. However, not all the detail was copied from the early church records to the civil record, so the information in the original parish register, especially in Catholic records, may include additional information. Various government Acts between 1825 and 1840 required the clergy to send in summary information from parish registers to the Registrar of the Supreme Court that was also later transferred to the new Registry from 1856.

Civil records before 1856 are therefore often incomplete or may be missing altogether. Even after the introduction of compulsory registration, parents had 6 months to register and if they were unable to get to a register office, because of distance or isolation, registration was simply forgotten.

In 1982 microfiche copies of indexes to pre-1900 civil registration and church records held by the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages were released. Since then, further indexes have been released in fiche, CD and on-line.

Currently the NSW BDM indexes show limited information about birth, death and marriage records in the following years:

- Births 1788 to 1924
- Marriages 1788 to 1974
- Deaths 1788 to 1994

The indexes are in some respects more detailed than their English equivalents. The given names of both parents are included for births and deaths, and the full spouse name is given for marriages. The location of the registration is usually stated, although it is not necessarily the location of the birth but rather the district where the birth was registered. The indexes provide a registration number which can be used to order either transcripts [from Transcript Agents] or copies of the original certificate through the Registry. Copies of the original pre-1856 records can be viewed on microfilm at State Records NSW.

Births
[1788-1918 were extracted by Christopher Hewson and Mary Pipe]

Marriages
[1788-1957 Extracted by Christopher Hewson and Mary Pipe]

Deaths 1788-2020 (Not complete)
(Extracted by Christopher Hewson and Mary Pipe, death months and days from data at FindmyPast website)