Precise date of Australian marriage?

[ElizabethHerts]

On my tree I have HENRY HATCH PURKIS marrying JULIA MARIA DONALDSON COLES
in 1877 at Concord, New South Wales, Australia.

They have three children of whom I'm aware:
Arthur Henry Coles Purkis
Alice Purkis
Henry Purkis

Is there any way I can find out the actual date of the marriage and the birth dates of the children?

This is my mother's branch of the family. Her maiden name was Purkis.

[kiterunner]

If you haven't got a world sub to ancestry then you can get the years from the free online NSW indexes:
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/searchHistoricalRecords.htm

[kiterunner]

Sorry, pressed to post the reply too quickly! Ancestry also has only the year, 1877, for the marriage. I suppose you could order the marriage cert or a transcription of it to get the exact date but maybe we can find it another way, e.g. newspaper listing or some such.

Searching for births with surname Purkis and parents' names Henry and Julia on either site comes up with:
Arthur H C 1879
William James 1880
Alice Julia 1883
All St Leonards district. The year is year of registration, so it's possible the birth year is the one before the one listed. As for exact dates of birth, again, you would get it from ordering the birth certificate or a transcription of it, but maybe there will be a newspaper birth announcement or similar...

[ElizabethHerts]

KiteRunner, thanks for that - very useful.

My mother knew and met "Aunt Alice" and Arthur and visited their children in Australia. The third one I gave I had no details for, so perhaps that is William James.

They are all descended from my ancestors James Purkis and Charlotte Jane Purkis (née Hatch).

[kiterunner]

Ooooh, try this historical newspaper site:
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

I searched for Henry Hatch Purkis and the first match that came up is his marriage, 20th Sep 1877!

[kiterunner]

Birth announcement from 1st Nov 1879: PURKIS, October 24, at her residence, Falcon-street, North Shore, the wife of Henry H Purkis, of a son.

[ElizabethHerts]

KiteRunner, many thanks!

It is interesting because Julia Maria Donaldson Coles was adopted.

Her adopted parents were William Coles from Portsea Hampshire and his wife Julia Sophia (née Leigh). Her parents were William Donaldson and Charlotte Underwood.

I'm not sure why she is called William Coles' "niece".

[kiterunner]

And from October 23rd 1880:
PURKIS, October 18, at Falcon-street, St Leonards, the wife of Henry H Purkis, a son.

[kiterunner]

And from 28th March 1883:
PURKIS - March 20 at her residence, Falcon-street, St Leonards, the wife of Henry H Purkis, of a daughter.

[ElizabethHerts]

Ooh, I've found Alice's birth now!

[ElizabethHerts]

Snap, KiteRunner! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I'm not at all conversant with Australian research.

[ElizabethHerts]

Fantastic! If you search the newspaper there is a picture of Enid Purkis, daughter of Mr and Mrs A. H. C. Purkis announcing her impending marriage to Stuart Bilbe. My mother visited them a couple of times.