Old burial records for NSW

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Hi 
I'm hoping someone here can shed some light on an old record of a burial.
The record came from a microfiche titled "Index to Burials (Old Records) fiche, Pre 1856 Burials Index, NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, 48X (a) 11 of 12 Tulk to Wyke".
On this microfiche was the following entry:-
Ward, Ann, age blank, year 1838, entry number 432, volume 128.
I have been in contact with NSW Registry about this record.  They gave me no information on the microfiche source document.  I followed their instructions and sent them all the information I had regarding the death and they did a search but found no death.
Does anyone know more about this Pre 1856 burial resource?  Is it still available to search somewhere? 
Information written by Anna's (yes Anna rather than Ann), sister said Anna Ward nee Best died on 21 Oct 1838 in Sydney.  She went to Sydney from Hobart after being released from prison there in mid 1837.  Another mystery is why she was sent to Sydney and not back to her family at Longford (in Tas).  She had no family in Sydney.
Anything about her time in Sydney would be great to find at this point.  Many years of nothing now! 
Thanks, Marlene

[Dundee]

The online indexes have the year as 1836.

WARD, ANN
432/1836 V1836432 128

Debra 

[majm]

I wonder if this is the same Anna WARD ... this lass seems to have been charged as an accomplice but then gave evidence in a murder trial in 1837 in Hobart, and so was pardoned by the court.  Perhaps if that's the same Anna, it may explain why she moved away from VDL.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4172149 5 May 1837 Hobart Town Courier
Supreme Court Criminal Sittings.

Also, I notice that Ancestry has the burial indexed as Ann WARD, ref V1836132 128 ...  The indexes all seem to get the Volume as 128, but there's some confusion over which year and which line number.    I am sure we can all appreciate the transcription mis-reads when we realise that the Pioneer index was prepared in the 1930s and it was the first time such an index had been available to the Reg General's office ... it was prepared by SAG volunteers, from the original handwritten records that had been used for decades ... thumb marks, bleed throughs, torn or missing pages etc.  It is easy to mis-read 1836 and 1838,  and it is easy to mis-read 132 and 432 and vice versa.

I am disappointed that the current BDM response seems to indicate that they are no longer trained to consider that once they have the surname, decade and the volume number, they are 'this close' to actually solving the dilemma ....    Their own online index clearly shows that there's NO line 432 for any 1838 burials, but with just a refresh and one change to the LAST digit in the year ... (so within the same decade) there's the entry that Debra has posted.

My non RChat relatives include a retired senior officer from NSW BDM.   He has phoned me and asked me to apologise to our OP for the in-efficiency of the current system.   I keep asking him to join RChat, but he declines. 

ADD the Volumes were bound up in around 1912.   

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/about-us/history-of-the-registry.aspx

JM

[majm]

If considering ordering the NSW BDM document, it is sensible to take the official transcription rather than ordering direct from NSW BDM as it is an Early Church Record and NSW BDM will send a typed up document anyways.

If ordering an official transcription, please do let them know that if this is your lass, the year cannot be 1836, as she was on trial in 1837.    The official transcription will give the burial details but little else of family history value.  With the cemetery details then it is a look up to find if there's a headstone for further info. 

JM

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Thank you Debra and JM 
I really appreciate your responses. 
Even though the burial can't be my Anna's I'm very glad to just know it 
Also JM your information was just what I was looking for.  Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me 
Yes, that is my Anna involved in the murder.  She was going to be tried as an accessory to the but when the trial came there was no one available to prosecute the case so she was let go. 
Any ideas on where she would've been sent to in Sydney?  Or would they have just dumped her there?
Many thanks again,
Marlene

[majm]

I think the newspaper notes she was given a pardon by the court, if so, perhaps that pardon had conditions ... eg removing her from VDL ... or perhaps she chose to remove herself from VDL because of any adverse community response to her giving Crown Witness instead of being prosecuted. 

JM

[Rufous Treecreeper]

Whoops, just read your latest JM.
Bit slow here  of course I should double check the source document 
How do I go about ordering the official transcription? 
Considering the year question the month and day of burial may be the best evidence to decide whether the year was misread as 1836.
Marlene 

[Rufous Treecreeper]

A letter written by her father at the time says she was given the choice of going home or to Sydney.  She was 17 and a bit stroppy (reading between the lines), so choose Sydney 
Marlene

[majm]

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,300394.0.html



JM