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Archiver > GSV > 2000-05 > 0958080073


From: Clive Luckman <>
Subject: Current Newspaper BDM Notices
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 07:21:13 +1000


Several days ago in a posting to GSV-L I promised to summarise what I knew
about efforts to index current newspaper notices.

The Sydney DPS has an excellent effort for Sydney papers and their index is on
the net. See http://www.southernx.com.au/dps/dpsindex.htm for the index and
details about their work.

Peter Edkins () recently began indexing "The Age" BDMs
and plans to put the index on the web in the same manner as the Sydney DPS. In
the meantime he told me that he is happy to provide a look up service.

The Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra (HAGSOC) has been indexing the
Canberra Times (deaths only at present) for many years, and they provide a
lookup service. Check www.hagsoc.org.au

Starting in March 1997 I began to download notices from News Corporation
newspapers that are on the Internet, and by April 1997 I was routinely
downloading all Births, Deaths, Funerals, In Memoriams, Anniversaries,
Engagements and Celebrations. As time went on and I learnt more about what the
papers carried on their web pages I added other categories that have some
relevance for family history. See page 12 in Ancestor for Winter 1998 (Vol 24
number 2) for background. I also added the Canberra Times having discussed it
with HAGSOC. The downloading process is largely automated.

By way of indicating the current status of this work I summarised the notices I
downloaded in March 2000. This summary shows the Place of Publication,
Newspaper name (and yes, the spelling is "Nothern" on the web pages), and the
number of notices.

ACT Canberra Times 606
Townsville Charter Towers Miner 56
NSW Cumberland Newspapers 1169
Gold Coast Gold Coast Bulletin 463
Melbourne Herald Sun 13797
Townsville Herbert River Express 48
North Queensland Innisfail Advocate 81
Victoria Leader Newspapers 17
SA Messenger Newspapers 17
QLD Quest Newspapers 66
Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun 130
Adelaide Sunday Mail 92
Perth Sunday Times 52
North Queensland Tablelander 42
North Queensland Tablelands Advertiser 81
Adelaide The Advertiser 6599
National The Australian 53
North Queensland The Cairns Post 671
North Queensland The Cairns Sun 4
Northern Territory The Centralian Advocate 101
Brisbane The Courier Mail 2332
Sydney The Daily Telegraph 1092
Hobart The Derwent Valley Gazette 2
Hobart The Mercury 2164
Darwin The Nothern Territory News 312
Brisbane The Sunday Mail 17
Hobart The Sunday Tasmanian 95
Darwin The Sunday Territorian 3
National The Weekend Australian 2
Melbourne The Weekly Times 2
Townsville Townsville Bulletin 329

My effort is largely directed to the future family historians. The older the
notices the more valuable and the more notices the more valuable also. A friend
(and to a lesser extent, myself) is working on the problem of a data base
searchable by any combination of name etc etc which is a technical solution we
have proved to our satisfaction. In the meantime I am happy to do limited
searches provided the number asked of me is bearably low and only for family
history purposes.

I am rigorous in not risking copyright infringement or offending any personal
sensitivities. I know that most do not share my concern that such risks exist.

Finally Judy Webster's excellent "Specialist Indexes in Australia, A
Genealogist's Guide" should be consulted for the many other efforts to index
old newspaper BDMs. A copy is in the GSV library and I think the GSV bookshop
still has the latest (1998) edition A new edition is due out this year. See
her web page at http://www.judywebster.gil.com.au/index.html

Should anyone become aware of other indexing efforts that do, or may duplicate
any of those of current newspaper notices I mention above please tell me.

Cheers
Clive

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