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Queensland's First World War death registers digital story

By JOL Admin | 12 October 2017

First World War registers

State Library recently commissioned a digital story, to highlight the unique First World War death registers held at Queensland’s Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM). These registers are hold almost 10,000 names, but none of the soldiers registered died in Queensland. Between 1921-1924, as a means of providing Queensland families with some kind of closure, the then Registrar-General George Porter took it upon himself to register the deaths of those who had, in his words, "given their lives for Queensland". Copies of completed death certificates were then made available to relatives for two shillings.

https://vimeo.com/channels/qanzac100/231037049

George Porter (1876-1968) was appointed to the Queensland Public Service as a messenger in 1892 and became a clerk in the Statistician’s and Registrar-General’s Office in 1902, a second clerk with the Registrar-General’s Office in 1911 and Deputy Registrar-General and chief clerk in 1918. After a period as Acting Registrar-General from 1 October 1921, he was officially appointed on 1 April 1922, holding this position until 31 July 1930.

To learn more, see our previous blog entries:

Casualty records revealed at the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages World War One commemorative death certificates

To see more of State Library’s QANZAC100 digital stories, look for our channels on YouTube and Vimeo.

References

30961 Queensland's First World War Death Registers 2017

Office of Economic and Statistical Research. Q150 Statistical Stories: Government Statisticians in Queensland

Robyn Hamilton – Coordinator, QANZAC  Content, State Library of Queensland

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