The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) has reported that family history purchases soared by 22 per cent over the course of 2020, rocketing by 38 and 37 per cent in May and June respectively.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Shannon Fentiman said Queenslanders had used the extra time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic to look into their family history.
“Last year we saw a spike of almost 40 per cent in purchases of family history from the RBDM, the biggest request was for images and death registrations,” Ms Fentiman said.
“A total of 31,190 family history items held by the RBDM were accessed by mid-November, up from 24,683 in 2019.”
The Attorney-General said each year the RBDM released new records available through its Family History Research Service.
“This year the RBDM has 51,661 new records available, including over 20,400 birth records from 1921, over 11,700 marriage records from 1946 and more than 19,400 death records from 1991,” Ms Fentiman said.
“The Registry is able to provide the service for certificates of death registrations but they must be from at least 30 years ago.”
She said Queenslanders could also access images or copies of certificates for births that took place more than 100 years ago and for marriages that took place more than 75 years ago.
Queensland began compulsory registration of life events — births, deaths and marriages — in 1856, but holds some records dating back to 1829.
Information about family history searches can be found on the RBDM website at this PS News link.
