Victoria, Australia death certs

[Merry]

BK6 updated from this thread

If you think I've been missing, I've been on my hols!

Thanks to Kate for letting me know about Ancestry's National Probate Calendar - Thanks to these indexes, I have 'solved' a little tree mystery and need to decide whether I can afford to finish it off.

One of my relatives was born in 1897 and appears on the 1901 census but not the 1911, possibly because her mother and step-father had a property in France they lived in from time to time. I have a photo of her aged about 13/14 and until a few months ago that was the end of the trail, when I discovered she was still alive in 1922 as she was a witness at her sister's wedding.

About two or three years ago I was in contact with this woman's closer cousin who told me she had once been told that our relative had died abroad after a botched illegal abortion and the family had been told never to mention her name again. I had presumed if this was true she had probably died in France, but now I've seen an entry for her on the NPC stating she died in January 1931 in Melbourne.

So, my question is, how difficult/expensive is it to get the death cert? (OK, so I should have just said that at the start!! lol) And/or what about a newspaper report? Could there be anything online anywhere, if perhaps there was an inquest or if the death was newsworthy? I don't know that I believe the abortion story, but I'm nosy and want to know what happened to her!

[kiterunner]

Try the Australian historical newspapers site; it goes up to 1954:
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

[kiterunner]

As for the death certificate, you can buy an uncertified scanned copy online from the Victorian BMD site:
Victoria Historical Research (http://online.justice.vic.gov.au/CA2574F700805DE7/page/Historical+research?OpenDocument&1=60-Historical+research~&2=~&3=~)

You have to have the registration number to do this, so you would need it from the BMD index first, which you have to pay to view (unless ancestry has the reg numbers too - I'll check in a minute). It looks as if the uncertified image costs $17.50 if you provide the reg number. Not sure what that is in pounds sterling...

[kiterunner]

Ah, ancestry does give the reg number, though you don't get to see the index image so I don't know how accurate it is.

[Merry]

About £10 I think. I will search the newspaper - thanks (again)

[Merry]

Ah, ancestry does give the reg number, though you don't get to see the index image so I don't know how accurate it is.

Oooh, thanks! We were typing at the same time!

[kiterunner]

I just realised, you can check whether the registration number ancestry gives you is correct by putting it into the Victoria BMD search (because the search itself is free, and it tells you how many results it finds before asking you to pay to view them).

[kiterunner]

Findmypast has Cemetery Burials and Memorial Inscriptions for Victoria (1835-1997) as part of its parish records collection (they used to be on that family history society site that merged with findmypast, can't remember its name), plus there is Australian findmypast which you can get a free trial of:
http://www.findmypast.com.au/index.php
They have loads of databases but I'm not sure if they will have anything to help in this particular case. I know they do have some newspaper articles but not sure if it goes up to 1931.

[Merry]

Thanks, I'll have a go at that later, when the visitor has gone!

[HarrysMum]

Merry......I haven't bought any Vic certs, but as a rule, Aussie certs have much more info than UK ones. Of course, with a death cert, you only get what the informant knew. You do get the burial as well, though.

Not sure if that cause of death would make it to a newspaper unless the "procurer" was charged over the death, but the cause of death may tell you. There may have been an inquest as well for that type of death.

Did I see the postage for overseas was $13???? I was looking at 4am.....lol

I'll ask around if there are any cheaper ways of getting it.

[Merry]

Heavens, I didn't think about the postage!!

It's a shame I don't seem to have any current contact details for the much closer relative, as I'm sure she would have rushed to get the cert! lol

[Kit]

I've bought a birth from VIC BMD. It was a scanned uncertified copy and was emailed to me so there wouldn't be any postage involved. I just printed it off myself.

The bonus of getting it this way was that I got the entire page that the entry was on. It turns out that the person I wanted had a twin sister and i doubt I would have found out if I had gotten a certified certificate.

Try the newspapers as well. There may be a death or funeral notice giving the names of the nearest and dearest, even if there isn't any report of an inquest.

[Merry]

I've tried the newspapers, but I've not found anything.

[Merry]

Oooh, Ive just seen that someone has updated their tree on Ancestry with the date of death etc and that have also added a cause of death - chronic nephritis (along with burial details inc plot number etc and details of her journey to Australia). I bet this is accurate as I know they didn't have any death info a couple of months ago and the tree seems accurate otherwise.

Don't think I'll be getting the cert now, as it's such a distant relative, but maybe this thread will be of help to others trying to get Victoria certs.