Eleanor Catton’s Man-Booker award-winning tale “The Luminaries” is an excellent yarn, but it unfortunately fails the Family History test. Not giving anything away, much of the plot centres on a stolen identity, and a missing birth certificate for Crosbie Wells who was born in Newington, London around 1809. Oops! This was, of course, well before the advent of civil registration, consequently Crosbie Wells would not have had a birth certificate to steal!

Auckland Libraries catalogue

If a prize-winning novelist can make such an error, it is perhaps worthwhile reminding ourselves of the timeline for vital records.

Although a form of Civil Registration for England and Wales was proposed as early as 1752/3, the system of registering births, deaths and marriages that we know today was not actually introduced until 1 July 1837. In Scotland, registration began on 1 January 1855, and in Ireland births, deaths and marriages were registered by the state from 1864, with non-Catholic marriages registered from 1845. Civil registration in Australia commenced in Tasmania in 1838, Western Australia in 1841, South Australia in 1842, Victoria in 1853, New South Wales and Queensland in 1856, and Northern Territory in 1870. In New Zealand official recording of European births and deaths began in 1848, with marriages recorded from 1854. So, remember that if you are searching for a birth, death or marriage before these dates you will need to consult the relevant church registers - where they exist!

Keith

This year the Central Auckland Research Centre is excited to be taking an active part in Auckland Libraries’ Dare to Explore summer reading adventure for 5-13 year olds.

Children on the Dare to Explore programme complete a number of challenges ranging from jandal throwing to fishing for books. Part of the aim is to have children coming into the libraries around the Auckland region to have fun, increase their love of reading and feel comfortable as library users.

There are six lists of challenges. The children need to do their home library challenges but have the option to complete the challenges from the lists of the other five; Geyserland, Wild and Windy; Sunny Sounds, Coast to Coast; and Bottom of the South.

They get a passport that is stamped when a challenge is completed and a party to go to when they have completed their home library’s challenges.

We decided that it would be fun (and appropriate) for us to have the crest making challenge, with inspiration coming from our many books on Heraldry and Crests.


Marie has created a cabinet full of different kinds of crests from people such as Sir Edmund Hillary and Catherine Middleton (now the Duchess of Cambridge) and pictures of Heralds and Knights in full attire, and we plan to have tables with art materials for the children to make their own.
 

Each branch has to do their own challenge, taken from the lists, and the Central Auckland Research Centre decided to do find out who the NZ Prime Minister was in the year that you were born.

Come in and see the wonderful colourful timeline that Sam has done, with pictures. Staff in the Research Centre plan to put our own names by the Prime Minister in power at the time of our births (due to our demographic, most of us will be down in the first cabinet - not in the second containing Lange up to Key).

Come and see us! We love having children come to visit us in the Research Centre.

Bridget