The colony of South Australia was established in 1836. 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.

Compulsory registration of births, deaths and marriages in South Australia was introduced in 1842. The civil registration records are held by the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Office within the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs. However, detail on the certificates is less detailed than in many other Australian states.

The first indexes to some of the early South Australian civil registration records were released in 1982 in printed and microfiche form. There are separate indexes for births, marriages and deaths before civil registration commenced, mainly from church records, from 1836 to 1842.

Currently the BMD Indexes for South Australia cover the following years:

- Births 1837-1928
- Marriages 1842-1948
- Deaths 1842-1994

The indexes are now available on-line on the genealogysa.org.au website. They can also be accessed (on both microfiche and CD) at The State Library of South Australia and other local libraries and genealogical societies. They are available on CD for the following years: Births 1842-1928, Marriages 1842-1927 and Deaths 1842-1972. South Australia Family History has SA Marriage indexes on-line from 1836-1852, including pre-Civil Registration marriages and marriages not submitted to the Registrar.

The indexes include details of the registration district of the event. The full form of the abbreviated district has been included in brackets in the extracts below.

The index provides a registration number which can be used to order either transcripts [the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society provides a transcription service] or copies of the original certificate through the South Australia Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

There is only one entry for the Northern Territory for Deaths 1824-2004. [Source: Digger CD]
1928 May 25 Richard Lovelock, 80 yrs, Magill South Australia
[Note this entry is repeated in deaths for SA below]

Births 1842-1928
(Source: Digger CD. Compiled by the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society Inc assisted by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and published by the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society Inc and Macbeth Genealogical Services Pty Ltd under licence from the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Government of South Australia. Lovelocks extracted by Christopher Hewson, Robyn Hand and Robert Sterry)

 
Births 1972-2007
(Source: Newspaper Birth Announcements recorded on the South Australia Online BMD website at https://www.genealogysa.org.au)

Marriages 1842-1937
(Source: Compiled entirely from information extracted from the marriage registrations held by the South Australian Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Office. Lovelocks extracted by Christopher Hewson, Robyn Hand and Robert Sterry.)

Deaths 1842-1972
(Main Source: Digger CD. Compiled mainly from information extracted from the death registrations held by the South Australian Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Office. Lovelocks extracted by Christopher Hewson, Robyn Hand and Robert Sterry.) Other entries are based on Headstone or Grave Marker imagery at Billiongraves.com.