Research Guides: Births, deaths and marriages: Cemeteries

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Cemeteries

Resources

Australian cemeteries index [external website]
Search over 1,100 Australian cemeteries and over 1.7M inscriptions. Find date of death, age, date of birth, the name of the cemetery and location of the grave. Most entries include a photograph of the headstone and details from the inscription such as the spouse’s name.
We especially recommend this resource for searching regional NSW cemeteries.
Australia cemetery records [external website]
Search across cemetery records from thousands of cemeteries around the world to find your ancestor’s date of birth and death, and the names of their parents or family members.
Billion graves [external website]
Search the largest index of headstone inscriptions as well as over 30 million photos of headstones. The index contains information from cemeteries all over the world including a number of Australian cemeteries. You may find your ancestor's name, date of birth and death, the name of the cemetery, who is also buried in the plot and their relationship as well as a photo of the headstone and the satellite location of the grave.
You can also record a grave in the index by downloading their iPhone or Andriod app to your phone. Use the app to record grave's location and to upload a photo of the headstone.
Cemeteries records Australia [external website]
Browse this list of cemetery websites that has been put together by Cora Num. The list includes websites of cemeteries from regional and city areas of Australia. The information available may vary as each cemetery’s records can be different.
Devonshire Street Cemetery Reinterment Index [external website]
Search the index to find name, year of death and cemetery where reinterred and also page and reel number of the register at State Archives which might have further details. The State Library also has a copy of the index and register on microfilm with the SAG registers in the Family History Service.
Find A Grave [external website]
Search the “world’s largest gravesite collection” of 190 million memorials and growing. You can also download the Find A Grave App and upload photos of gravestones.
Old Sydney Burial Ground [external website]
Download an inventory of burials as well as a burial list reference key. You may find your ancestor's name, age, date of death, a transcription of their headstone and other details such as if they were a convict and the name of the ship they arrived on.
Photographs of tombstones, chiefly in Devonshire Street Cemetery, with indices, 1900-1901 by Josephine Ethel Foster (Mrs Arthur George Foster) [catalogue record]
Find photographs and transcriptions of some of the headstones in the Devonshire Street Cemetery taken by Josephine Foster in 1900-1901.
Ancestry Library Edition [eresource]
Ancestry Library includes many cemetery indexes and records including: Australian cemetery index, 1808–2007 –Search across 800,000 transcriptions of headstones from several cemeteries in Australia. Records were primarily put together from burial registers and funeral records by local family history groups or societies. Also Sydney, Australia, Cemetery Headstone Transcriptions 1837-2003 – Search over 368,000 headstone inscriptions for burials in Rookwood, South Head, Waverly and Macquarie Park cemeteries in Sydney Australia.
Cemeteries in Australia: a register of transcripts [catalogue record]
Search lists of cemetery records to find where the records are held. You will find the type of record and the deceased’s religion. The lists are sorted alphabetically by the name of the cemetery or the cemetery’s geographical location.
Devonshire Street Cemetery re-interment register and index [catalogue record | microfilm]
Search the index (reel one) to find your ancestor’s denomination. Use this information to then search the register (within the denomination on reel two) to find details about your ancestor’s death and burial. Find their date of death, the cemetery where they were re-interred (re-buried), the location of their grave, who was issued with the exhumation permit (usually next of kin), their address and any other details noted at the time.
Find the index and register reels after the SAG reels in the Family History area. Ask at the desk for help searching the index and register. The index is also on the State Archives & Records website
Gravestone inscriptions, NSW [catalogue record]
Search through more than 3000 transcriptions of gravestone inscriptions from the ‘The Sandhills’ cemetery (Devonshire Street cemetery). Find information about your ancestor such as their date of death, age and place of birth. You will also find details about the style and condition of the gravestone, the names of others buried in the plot and the history of the cemetery. These gravestones were relocated to Bunnerong.
Macquarie Park Cemetery transcriptions [catalogue record | CD–ROM]
Search the index to find your ancestor's date of birth and death, age, denomination as well as the inscription and location of their grave. The cemetery was previously called Northern Suburbs General Cemetery.
Norfolk Island deaths: 1st settlement 1788–1814 [catalogue record | CD–ROM]
Search through over 260 deaths that occurred during the first settlement of Norfolk Island. You will find details about each person and their family. Entries vary but most include whether or not they were a convict, date of their death, when and where their trial was held, their sentence, the name of the ship and a description of their appearance. You may also find a photo of the gravestone.
NSW Dern cemetery index [catalogue record | CD–ROM]
Search for your ancestor in over 87,000 monumental inscriptions that have been indexed from 319 New South Wales cemeteries. Find your ancestor's date of death, their age and other comments.
Pioneer Memorial Park at Botany Cemetery by Cape Banks Family History Society [catalogue record]
Search through the 746 headstones in the Pioneer memorial park at Botany Cemetery that were transferred from the Devonshire Street Cemetery.
Rookwood Cemetery – findmypast.com.au [eresource]
Search through more than 233,000 entries from the mid 19th and 20th century to find the your ancestor's name, their date of death and age. Often entries included other details such as their cause of death, occupation, place of origin and religion. You may be able to discover family members as sometimes multiple names were on one stone.
Rookwood is the main burial ground in Sydney and has sections for all denominations.
Rookwood Cemetery transcriptions [catalogue record | CD–ROM]
Search across 235,000 records of transcribed headstones from the Rookwood Cemetery for your ancestor's record. You will find the year of their death, a complete transcription of the headstone and the location of the grave.
Ask at the family history desk in the Governor Marie Bashir Reading Room. Rookwood Cemetery opened in 1867 and is the largest working cemetery in the Southern hemisphere.
Sydney Burial Ground Elizabeth and Devonshire Street: 1819–1901 [catalogue record]
Search the three main indexes in this book to find a variety of information.
Waverley and South Head Cemeteries – findmypast.com.au [eresource]
Find a transcription of your ancestor's cemetery records. You can find their given and last name, date of death, age, year of birth, denomination and details about the location of their grave including the row and plot number.

Koori Mail Online Collection

Search the Australian Indigenous index to find information about births, funerals and marriages in the Koori Mail newspaper, Dawn magazine as well as historical missionary magazines.

You can view issues of the Koori Mail, 1991-present in the Koori Mail Online Collection.

Tomb of Queen Gooseberry of the Sydney Tribe of Aborigines showing the old Sydney Railway State in the background.
Royal Australian Historical Society : photographs relating to Indigenous Australians, chiefly 1922-1932.
Digital order number: a1555001

Cemetery records

Search cemetery records to find biographical information about your ancestor as well as other details such as where they’re buried, who is also buried in the plot and their relationship.

The information in the records vary from cemetery to cemetery but most records include the deceased’s name and their date of birth and death.

We have cemetery records from all over New South Wales in our collections. Search our catalogue using the place and the word ‘cemeteries’. You will also find many of the records on the shelves in the family history area.

Henry Lawson's funeral at Waverley Cemetery, September 1922
Digital order number: a6134001

Waverley cemetery
Digital order number: a6820083