New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Coroners' Inquests, 1821-1937

Source Information

Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Coroners' Inquests, 1821-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.
Original data:
  • New South Wales Government. Registers of Coroners’ Inquests and Magisterial Inquiries, 1834–1942 (microfilm, NRS 343, rolls 2921–2925, 2225, 2763–2769). State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.
  • New South Wales Government. Sydney City Coroner: Registers of Inquests and Inquiries, 1862–1926 (microfilm, NRS 1783, rolls 1391–1396). State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.
  • New South Wales Government. Reports of Inquests, 1796–1824 (microfilm, NRS 2232, rolls 2232, 2233). State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.

    • © the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales and is used under licence with the permission of the State Records Authority. The State of New South Wales gives no warranty regarding the data's accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any particular purpose.

    About New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Coroners' Inquests, 1821-1937

    This database contains registers of coroners’ inquests for New South Wales, Australia, for the years 1821–1937. Coroners were responsible for inquiring into any unnatural or sudden deaths in their jurisdiction. They also investigated deaths when a body was unidentified, a cause of death was uncertain, or the deceased was in the care of the state. Coroners could investigate fires that caused destruction of property, as well. Magistrates could take depositions about circumstances of death in more remote areas where no coroner was available.

    Coroners' registers can contain information similar to that found on a death certificate. Depending on the date and the form used for the inquest, records in this database may include the following:

    • name of deceased
    • age
    • birthplace
    • estimated date and place of death
    • date and location of Inquest
    • verdict of inquest (probably cause of death)
    • name of the coroner or magistrate
    • name of doctor
    • occupation of deceased
    • personal property belonging to deceased

    Earlier registers will show district, before whom the inquest was held, when and where held, date received, name of deceased, finding and the date of the death certificate. The later registers also record age of deceased, locality of birth, locality of death, and cash or property owned at the time of death.