What We Record

The Australian Cemetery Index is not a record of burials, but a record of inscriptions on headstones or plaques found in each cemetery at the time it was surveyed. If the person you are seeking is not listed for the cemetery where he or she is known to have been buried, this means that we did not find any legible marker for that person. If there was once a marker of some sort, it has not survived. We do not have information additional to that shown.

Primarily, we record the information shown on the headstone. However, we do not usually list other names that appear on the inscription, except for the name of a spouse. These can be obtained by viewing the image of the headstone or plaque. The remarks column contains any further information that may be available and, in particular, that which indicates relationships between individuals on the cemetery list. For an explanation of abbreviations used in this context see the Abbreviations page.

Typical sources referred to include the NSW Indexes of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the World War 1 and World War 2 Nominal Rolls compiled by the Australian War Memorial.

An attempt is also made to indicate the name and address of the authority that is responsible to administer and maintain the cemetery and its records of burial. In regional NSW, public cemeteries are generally the responsibility of the local Shire or City Council. However, local government mostly acquired this responsibility only in the late 1960s. Before then, cemeteries were usually administered by trusts comprised of honorary members whose numbers and tenure frequently changed. In some cases, excellent burial records were maintained and passed on to the local Council when they took over the cemetery. In other cases, records were poorly kept or were even lost resulting in little information being now available about burials earlier than the 1960s.