50 year closure on Marriages

[judb]

Slightly off-topic -  it will be tricky for genealogists in the future to track down some registrations, particularly marriages, with so many 'destination weddings'.  We have attended family weddings on a Greek island and in Fiji.

I think, at times, we are a bit too precious as to privacy, especially regarding information which is already in the public domain such as on TROVE or other public sites.

Judith

 

[majm]

 

By a quick check of the NSW BDM online website and the marriages index,  I note there seems to be at least 38,000 reference numbers allocated to marriages registered in 1967.  (last year that I can use for a full year's check at present, using the YES option,Search by number only).    Now, how likely is it that there's anywhere near that many NSW marriages for that year in the SMH or any other newspaper covering NSW....

JM

[Voltaire1694]

Slightly off-topic -  it will be tricky for genealogists in the future to track down some registrations, particularly marriages, with so many 'destination weddings'.  We have attended family weddings on a Greek island and in Fiji.
...

[Editted] If it was only a celebrant ceremony, unless they civil registered the marriage in the foreign country, wouldn't they still have to register the marriage in their state or territory on return?

[Voltaire1694]

There is an interesting scene in the film The Day Of The Jackal (1973), where the main character (The Jackal), an assassin, walks around a cemetery to find a grave of a person born around the same year as himself, but who died as a young boy. He then goes to the civil registry (likely the General Register Office for England and Wales) for the boy's details (presumably a birth or death certificate) and assumes that person's identity while moving around to conduct the next hit.

[Billyblue]

Voltaire's film scenario is precisely one of the reasons for the 100 year closure on birth records in Oz.  To stop identity fraud.

Dawn M

[IMBER]

I am quite happy with the way we do things in the UK, particularly Scotland, but just to keep the pot boiling can I just point out that it's not always the obvious suspects who abuse the system:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/22/police-must-reveal-dead-childrens-identities-stolen-parents

Imber

[majm]

Slightly off-topic -  it will be tricky for genealogists in the future to track down some registrations, particularly marriages, with so many 'destination weddings'.  We have attended family weddings on a Greek island and in Fiji.
...

[Editted] If it was only a celebrant ceremony, unless they civil registered the marriage in the foreign country, wouldn't they still have to register the marriage in their state or territory on return?

Nope,  many ceremonies conducted in Australia have no formal religious ceremony within the civil service, and in NSW it has been possible for 'registry office' marriages to happen since the NSW Registrar General's Office was established in the mid 1850s.    I am confident that if the couple marrying overseas would have been eligible to marry each other in Australia, then that overseas marriage would not need to be registered in Australia for it to be recognised in Australia, I understand that the Family Court system has recognised many overseas marriages when dealing with Divorce ( cannot actually proceed with a divorce until the court has proof of marriage - Orders can of course be made in respect of other aspects of the separation, particularly in respect to the children).   

Here's some legislation  that may be of interest. 

http://www.austlii.edu.au/
http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/robdama1899n17429.pdf
http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/ma1934n1192.pdf


The Commonwealth (federal parliament) harmonised the various states Acts into the 1961 Act.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma196185/

The 2017 Commonwealth Marriage Act
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017A00129   

NSW has recently harmonised the laws to reflect the recent changes to the federal Marriage Act.

If you need more info, please let me know and I will ask some rellies (retired NSW BDM senior officers) if there's a formal registry within NSW BDM regulations etc for overseas marriages.  I know there's no such registry for interstate marriages, each jurisdiction has their own statute registration process.

ADD 

 
Also see my earlier replies (#10 and #15) 

 
JM

[majm]

https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/marriages-and-relationships/overseas-marriages

While you can't register an overseas marriage in Australia, in most cases, the marriage will be legally recognised in Australia if it's legally recognised in the country you married in

and

Recognition of overseas marriages
While a marriage that takes place overseas can't be registered in Australia, it will generally be recognised if:

It's recognised under the law of the country where the marriage took place
Both parties are at least 18 years of age
Neither party is married to another person at the time of marriage.
Recognised marriages include overseas same-sex marriages that occurred prior to December 2017.
If you married overseas, you need to:

Make sure your marriage is registered in that country
Have evidence of the marriage, including official, commemorative or keepsake documents you got at the time of the ceremony.

Google can be helpful 

ADD
https://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/Marriage/Pages/Getting-married.aspx

JM

[Jamjar]

I was married to an Egyptian and divorced in Egypt. He never came to Australia.

Last year, I applied for an Australian Widows Allowance based on the Egyptian marriage/divorce and it was granted. All I needed was to have the divorce document translated into English.

Australia does not recognise marriages if you are to be the second wife in a Muslim household, as stated by Australian Embassy in Cairo.

Married a Scot in NZ, mid 1980s, Centrelink provided for him and divorced in Australia.

Jamjar