Help needed please with an Australian birth registration Sarah Louisa McKay 1862

[iforani]

Hi
Please help! I am trying to locate a birth registration for a Sarah Louisa McKay in 1862 at Lambing Flat (Little Wombat), NSW. I have tried different variations of McKay (Mackey/Mackay/McKey etc..one birth was even spelt Markay). Sarah's parents were Emma Bryant/Briant and John McKay. Emma's married name was still Dyast/Dyest/Dyust as her husband had disappeared off the radar after serving a prison term. Emma and John didn't marry until 1878. Sarah Louisa McKay is a sister of my great grandfather, John McKay (born 1867). Sarah married John Alfred Wheeler at Mudgee, NSW in 1878. She was supposedly born at Lambing Flat (where the Chinese Riots occurred) Little Wombat. Thanks! Deb 

[Dundee]

You don't need to use any surnames in the search, you can just put in the wildcard * and mother's name or both parents, or just search for m*y.  With births outside marriage you never know which surname it might be under.  Not seeing anything of interest though so the birth may not have been registered.  I would think the registration district would be Young.

Debra 

[EddieW]

A search of the NSW births with child's name Sarah and mothers name Emma from 1861 to 1863 came up with this
It is the only one that is even close to your search but may be not close enough
Reg. No 12381/1862, Family Name MACCOOEY, Name SARAH, Father JAMES, Mother EMMA, District PENRITH
Reg. No 12381/1862, Family Name MCCOOEY, Name SARAH, Father JAMES, Mother EMMA, District PENRITH

[Radcliff]

Did she also have a brother James
I dont see his birth just a burial

[EddieW]

No birth for a James but a search for John with mother Emma
Reg. No 8261/1867, Family Name BRYANT, Name JOHN, Father none, Mother EMMA, District CARCOAR
Reg. No 8261/1867, Family Name MACKEY, Name JOHN, Father JOHN, Mother EMMA, District CARCOAR
Reg. No 8261/1867, Family Name MCKEY, Name JOHN, Father JOHN, Mother EMMA, District CARCOAR
Evidently from the numbers they are all the same person, why the different registrations I don't know
Not sure if the SARAH mentioned before and this John are related though

[majm]

Evidently from the numbers they are all the same person, why the different registrations I don't know

They are not different registrations.  The information has simply been indexed under several surnames.   The indexing process dates from the 1930s, volunteers helped prepare it, and then donate it to NSW BDM.    It is also important to remember that not until the late 1960s that surnames were included on civil birth registrations for NSW births.   So for example, my own birth certificate issued in the 1940s (and also for all my siblings, older and younger than me) does NOT give a surname for ME.  There is no heading for the surname of the child whose birth is being registered.  There is a heading for the Christian names, but NOT the surname.   Recently I ordered a current copy of my birth registration and there is now a space/heading for my family name and for given names.  As my parents were already married to each other when I was born, my family name on that document is the same as my mother's married name which happens (of course for those times) to be the same as the surname of my father.   If they were not married, then it would be in the surname that my mother was known by at that time.   

The 1860s registration did not provide for the baby to have a surname.  So the index has included all the SURNAMES on the registration under the column headings for mother and her former names (including any from marriage, which may include the baby's father's surname.)
That lack of registration of a surname for the actual baby is how the civil registration system operated in NSW from commencement (March 1856) until about 1969. 

 JM

[majm]

Here is the live link to the free to search NSW BDM website.   

There is NO Australian Birth Registration system.  Each of the six former colonies that were federated into one colony "Australia" back in 1901 continue as States, and each state continues to have its own parliament and its own institutions.  So BDM registry systems set up in the 1800s continue today, with each state's legislative systems supporting separate registration systems for each state. (The two territories also have their own separate BDM registration systems).   

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx

JM

[iforani]

Thanks everyone for your help.  Appreciated. As ever thank you, Debra. I think that your response is the most likely scenario, that is that the birth was not registered. I did try many variations of names but not with the wildcard. I forgot about that.
Radcliff, thanks, yes she did have a brother James and you are right there is no birth registered for him either. Some of the children were given Emma's maiden name or her married name of Dyast; her 1st husband (Dyast) had vanished (I believe that he was actually dead using the alias Cousins..previous posts in rootschat seem to have confirmed this) but she was still married legally and not married to John the children's father. They may have tried to conceal the births by not registering the names as John could have got into trouble with the police but maybe they didn't bother as they were living out of town at Lambing Flat, doing long hours as innkeepers/gold prospecting (one was registered by John's employer as "Markay").
Eddie, if that birth was registered at Bathurst in the name of Maccooey I wouldn't have discounted that nor discounted that John would use the alias of James (a name he liked as he named one of his sons, James) but I doubt that Sarah was born in Sydney. In someone else's tree she is listed as being born at Lambing Flat "Little Wombat". I have just ordered her marriage cert and hope that this may have some more information.
She was married when she was 15; JM, was this legal with parental consent???
Thank you, Eddie, yes there were many other children born to Emma and John; the John  born in 1867 was my great grandfather.
I have bought both of his birth registrations (one with and one without a surname). Thanks JM for all of this information, very interesting.  Deb

[majm]

Yes, a girl could marry at age 12, boy at age 14, with consent provided by responsible adult.

JM