Document Retrieval Services
We operate a range of document retrieval services to assist members to obtain copies of the following documents:
- English and Welsh birth, death and marriage certificates (BDMs)
- English and Welsh probates and administrations
- Items from the Australasian Genealogical Computer Index - copies of items sourced from SAG, NLA & SRNSW only
English and Welsh certificates
We provide a service for the ordering of birth, death and marriage certificates (BDMs) from England & Wales for members who do not wish to place online orders using their own credit card. The cost from 2 January 2008 is $25. Requests are batched and sent to the UK on a weekly cycle.
Certificates are generally available for collection from 379 Kent Street about four weeks after the batch was despatched. Certificates are mailed only if an extra fee of $1.20 has been paid in advance. Where permission to do so is given, a copy of each certificate is added to our Primary Records collection.
Application forms are available here for births, deaths and marriages.
There's no provision for submitting your application electronically - complete a form for each event required and let us have them by mail, fax or during a visit to us. All details required must be completed, using the copies of the births, deaths and marriages indexes. These are available in our library, at various other repositories and many are also available online at FreeBMD. Note that it is your responsibility to ensure that the information you provide from the indexes has been correctly transcribed as due to administrative changes in London we are no longer able to double-check these details for you in the original volumes. If a certificate cannot be issued by the General Register Office only a partial refund will be issued to you.
English and Welsh probates
We provide a courier service for the ordering of probates and administrations from England & Wales. The cost from 2 January 2008 is $30. Requests are batched and sent to the UK on a weekly cycle.Documents are generally available for collection from 379 Kent Street about four weeks after the batch was despatched. Copies are mailed only if an extra fee of $1.20 has been paid in advance. Where permission is given to do so, a copy of each document is added to our Primary Records collection.
An application form is available here
It's not possible to submit your application to us electronically - complete a form for each probate required and let us have them by mail, fax or during a visit to us.
All details required must be completed, using the microfiche copies of the indexes to English & Welsh probates and administrations. These are available in our library.
Retrieval of items in AGCI
The Australasian Genealogical Computer Index (AGCI) is a huge index of data collected by 39 family history societies throughout Australasia. AGCI is available as two volumes. Volume 1 is available for purchase on a CD containing 3.9 million index entries, drawn from a wide range of sources. Volume 2 has over 830,000 index entries, relating only to the NSW Government Gazettes, 1832-1863. The CDs can be searched by forename, surname, year, type of event, type of record and contributing society. Both CDs are also available for consultation at many family history societies and libraries or can be purchased through our bookshop.
The Volume 1 CD is out of print - to obtain further details, click here. For the Volume 2 CD click here.
About two thirds of the Volume 1 entries and all of the Volume 2 entries have been provided by SAG. We can inspect, copy and mail to you:
- References you identify from AGCI and which are sourced from SAG (fiche references commencing NSAG)
- References you identify from AGCI and which are sourced from the National Library of Australia (fiche references commencing ANLA)
- References you identify from AGCI and which are sourced from State Records NSW (fiche references commencing NAO)
Please note that SAG will NOT provide copies of references sourced from other participating societies, even where we have copies in our collections - you must approach those societies directly, or visit us in person and take copies yourself. Contact details for all participating societies are provided on the AGCI CD.
How to request an AGCI record for retrieval
Once you have found an entry of interest on AGCI, carefully note the reference. Then go to our online shop, click on the "add to basket" link, complete your shopping, inspect your basket, adjust its contents if necessary to reflect the number of references you want, and then complete the order form. Use the "Order Comments" box at the checkout to carefully specify the AGCI reference(s) you previously noted!
The AGCI CDs also allow you to print out a request for further information about any particular reference and you can mail or fax that to us with your payment.
AGCI Fees
We charge $7.50 per item ordered. If possible it will be a photocopy; items that cannot be photocopied will be carefully transcribed.