Researching your Victorian ancestors

Birth, death and marriage certificates (BDM's) are vital documents to help family historians establish relationships of family members backwards in time. They are used to build the basic structure of the family history tree. For information on what's included on a certificate, please go to the Comparison of Australian BDM Certificates document, which appears to the right of this page.

Certificates are kept by the relevant Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages in each Australian state and territory. To obtain a copy of an historical certificate you first need to check the relevant index to find the registration number.
See below for a list of indexes and information on how to order certificates.

Divorce was possible in Victoria in the second half of the 19th century when the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act came into effect in 1861.  Prior to this very few Victorian residents obtained divorces under English ecclesiastical law.

Records for 1861-1944

The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) holds Divorce files and cause books created between 1861 and 1944. The following indexes should help you with your research.

1861-1938 - Victoria Divorce Cause Books
Records include a petitioner’s name and a respondent’s name, as well as the case file number.
Digitised copies of these records can be accessed through the Find my past database (see below).

1860-1940 - Victoria, Australia, Divorce Records
The case file will contain a number of documents that might include:

•  the petition stating the grievance
• affidavits (or supporting statements) by the petitioner
• a formal answer by the respondent and any co-respondents (in cases of adultery, both parties to the adultery were summoned)
• further affidavits in support of that answer
• orders by the court directing who is to pay for the costs of the case
• a praecipe, which is an order to the clerks of the Court to produce a writ containing the formal decree made by the justice. The praecipe will often have a summary of the decision.

Digitised copies of these records can now be accessed through the Ancestry database (see below).

1860-1944 - Victoria, Australia, Divorce Records

Physical copies of these records are held at the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV). For information on how to search and request copies from PROV please go to their Divorce files and cause books webpage.

1861-1900 - Divorce Index Victoria.
Available in the Newspapers & Family History Reading Rooms, call number GMF 105 Box 2

1861-1938 - Divorce Index Victoria - Index to Divorce Cause Books
Available online through the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV)
Volume 1, 1861 -1884     Volume 2, 1885 -1897     Volume 3, 1897 -1910
Volume 4, 1911- 1924     Volume 5, 1925 -1932     Volume 6,  1932 -1938

Download the relevant collection and search through it to find a specific case i.e. `Grealy v Grealy' or `Cooksey v  Cooksey'.

 
Records for 1936 -1975

Researchers seeking access to Victorian divorce records created between 1936 and 1975 can contact the Registry of the Victorian Supreme Court for advice about access:

Supreme Court Registry,
Level 2, 436 Lonsdale Street, 
Melbourne, VIC., 3000
Tel: 03 9603 9300
Fax: 03 9603 9400

Office hours: 9.30am - 4.00pm
Supreme Court website  (includes application forms and and payment advice)
 

Records created after 1975

In 1976 the administration of divorce was transferred from Victoria to the Commonwealth. Researchers seeking access to Victorian divorce records created after 1975 can contact the Family Court (Victoria) for advice about access:

Family Court of Australia (Victoria)
Phone: (03) 8600 3763 or 1300 352 000  
Email: enquiries@familylawcourts.gov.au
 

For further information on how to access divorce records including a list of Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) records relating to divorce in Victoria please consult the PROV Divorce files and cause books  1861-1944.

For detailed information on birth, death and marriage indexes and certificates, please see our Researching births, deaths and marriages in Victoria blog.

 Raftopoulos, Mrs. Paul. wedding party - bride, groom and three others, H2004.61/488

Place names - abbreviations

If you are having trouble identifying a place name consult  VICNAMES - the register of geographic names. On this website you can find over 45,000 Victorian place names.

Consult the following guide -

Given names - abbreviations

The BDM indexes often include abbreviated given names. Hy for Henry, Wm for William and so on. When searching fo a name try using the asterisk wildcard symbol to search for variations of a name e.g. Eliz* will retrieve Eliza, Elizabeth, Elizabetta.

For examples of abbreviated names go to FamilySearch Abbreviations Lists for Personal names site.
You can also find a comprehensive list of first name abbreviations on the Genealogy InTime Magazine website.

Use the Trove - Historic Australian Newspapers archive to locate birth, marriage and death notices in newspapers. For further information on how to search for notices go to the How to find items in newspapers research guide.

If the newspaper is not available on Trove, search the library catalogue to see if there is an index to that particular newspaper title e.g. Births, deaths and marriages printed in the Hamilton spectator 1859-1920.

Search the Ryerson Index to death notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers. Originally created by the Sydney Dead Persons Society, its strength lies in notices from NSW papers however more Victorian notices are now being indexed.

Search Victoria Funeral Notices,1981-1997. Available in the library on the FindMyPast Australasia database, this index is built from funeral notices from the Melbourne Herald Sun.

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