I fully support Sue's and Annie's comments.
May I also stress that the two NSW BDM births registered in the Broken Hill DISTRICT in the
1916- 1918 era EDIT - 1916-1919 era, may well contain differing information, AS IT DEPENDS on the informant's recall when providing the information to the part time clerk working for the part time deputy registrar.
IMPORTANTLY, I recall on earlier threads that it may well be that the births at Broken Hill back over 100 years ago, involve at least one male who MAY WELL BE STILL ALIVE, and that RChat has a NO LIVING NAMES rule.Broken Hill BDM district covered hundreds and hundreds of square miles. And BDM registrations were available to be conducted at various locations within that area. That admin process, as with all the NSW BDM registration processes until after WWI (so from 1918) were VERBAL, NO FORMS.
Who would you anticipate attended to the birth registrations? - The Husband or The Wife. I suggest that HE registered the birth ... He is an Engineering bod, he can read maps, survey maps, scientific reports, make decisions, and here he is in his late 30s, and FINALLY he is a parent. His wife is a 'slip of a girl' in her 20s.
He goes to the local Court House (this is the usual locality for deputy registrars in that era in outback NSW and elsewhere in NSW).
He answers the questions the clerk asks - the clerk has conversations about "where's the next rush going to occur? " They waste time chatting. The clerk relies on HIS own memory too, and fills in the column headings on the ledger FACING THAT CLERK, on the counter (four foot wide, and some are four foot six inches high). When both the Clerk and the INFORMANT (father of the baby) are finishing off their cuppa tea at the counter .... the clerk BLOTS the details and then turns the ledger book (it is huge, I have seen these leather bound books, not easy to lift, etc)... to face the informant.
And what does the informant say ...
where do I sign ....
So clerk stretches across the blotted page, passes the quill, and says : HERE MATE.
Baby's MUM has NOT fibbed, has not lied, has not mis-led. Husband comes home that evening, he has a "receipt" confirming the baby's birth has been registered, and it names baby and both parents.
END OF STORY.
JM
