This is more of a general question about missing or at least undiscoverable birth records in NSW.
My great-grandmother and her sister were born in NSW around 1862-1863 (different years). For some time now, I've been looking for records of their births but have been unable to find them. I'm a pretty experienced researcher and have searched using various spellings of their names and their parents names, different years, leaving out parents' names, etc, etc and have had no luck.
I have baptismal records which show them being baptised in Goulburn but the dates don't seem correct to me. For example, I have Catherine Wilson born 13/7/1863 and baptised 2/8/1863, so she was three weeks old. Then I have her sister, Bridget, born 4/5/1862 and baptised 1/12/1866 when she would have been 4.5 years old. Why would they not have had Bridget christened at the same time as Catherine, if not before?
Also, the birth dates given at the time the children were christened differ from those recorded on their death certificates.
I understand that the birth dates given at the time of the christenings and deaths were simply those given by the family. They were not, of course, verified or required to be verified in any way so they could be wrong.
Now, the thing that I just don't get is why I had no trouble finding birth records for two older siblings (born in 1857 and 1859) and a younger sibling (born in 1866). The two older boys were born on the goldfields in a very remote settlement, yet their births were registered. The family had moved by the time the youngest was born but her birth was registered.
Can anyone suggest a reason why I might not be able to find birth records for these two girls? Or have any clever ideas of what I could try? Any and all suggestions are welcome.