Queensland Marriages 1829-1939

You may be able to learn the following details regarding your ancestor’s marriage:

• Full name
• Registration year
• Marriage date
• Spouse’s full name
• State
• Registration number

With the registration number, you can order your ancestor’s marriage certificate from the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. By following the link provided in the Useful Links & Resources section, you can place an order for a certificate, which will often include additional information: occupation, residence, birth date and place, and parents’ names. Note that there will be a fee associated with this order.

There are over 700,000 transcripts in this record set.

Compulsory registration for marriages and other life events started on 1 March 1856 in Queensland. Since Queensland did not gain independence from New South Wales until 1859, some events may have been registered in New South Wales instead of Queensland.

James Venture Mulligan was a prospector and explorer from County Down, Ireland. The gold rush on Palmer River drew Mulligan to Queensland. He reported finding gold on 24 August and his find brought in some 30,000 prospectors. Mulligan continued his search elsewhere, getting lucky at Pine Creek in 1874 when he discovered more gold. Around this time, Mulligan began to charge for his services and was a paid £500 by the government of Queensland to discover more gold fields. Mulligan would go on to discover both tin and silver.

From these marriage records, we learn that Mulligan, recorded as James Vanture Mulligan, was married to Fanny Maria Buls on 5 March 1903. Note that his middle name is recorded as Vanture instead of Venture. Misspellings in forenames are common so searching with name variants is recommended.

Made famous as the oldest living person in Australia, Miriam Schmierer (née Baker) lived to the age of 112. She was born in 1899 and was the last-known surviving Australian born prior to the Federation of Australia in 1901. From her marriage record, we learn that she married Grenville Thomas Schmierer on 20 August 1924. In the record, she is recorded as Mirian Baker. Again, to ensure that you can locate your ancestor within these records despite such errors or misspellings, be sure to check the name variants box when you search.