Why was this website started?

For many years, the only way for a genealogist to find when an ancestor married in Western Australia was to search through the Registrar Generals Microfiche Index. The name would be used to look for the year of the marriage. If the name of spouse was not known, a painstakingly-long search was needed to find an entry with the corresponding registration district and number for that year to “match” the couple. Some years ago, the LDS Church came to the rescue by indexing the early microfiche from 1841 to 1905 and adding them to a searchable database which they produced on CD. Eventually this information was released on a searchable database on the Justice website. This was certainly a very welcome addition to resources available to genealogists but still meant that the old painstaking process for finding marriages after this time still existed.

Why "reverse marriage"?

Continually frustrated by time-consuming searches of the microfiche index, genealogist Liz McLennan and her husband John decided to start their own indexing project. Over a period of years, they transcribed the years 1906-1920, producing a limited number of microfiche of their work which they called the Western Australian Reverse Marriage Index. For those who have wondered about the name, it was coined because of the need to search for a surname of one partner of the marriage and then, when found and the registration district and number was known, the process needed to be reversed. The index was again searched, this time by registration district and number to find the name of the matching partner.

How did this website start?

As time passed and the internet developed as a medium that was embraced by genealogists, Liz felt that this may be answer for her growing database. She therefore posed a question to the Perth DPS genealogy group who she knew had the same ideals of indexing and sharing Western Australian genealogical resources freely with genealogists the world over, asking how best her data could be used to help other researchers. Perth DPS members were quick to appreciate what a wonderful project this was and offered their support. It was quickly organized for the Reverse Marriage site to be born, being hosted and maintained by DPS list member Mark Snell.

How does the database get updated?

Shortly after this Adrian Norris, who unknown to Liz had also been doing his own indexing project on this difficult-to-use microfiche index, made contact and we were extremely pleased when Adrian offered his work to be added to the index. Volunteers from the Perth DPS group were then called for to continue the work and years are now added at regular intervals as the work is completed. The hope is that eventually all years up to and including 1965 will be on site for the benefit of all those searching out their Western Australian roots.

Recently another indexing project came to our attention when we were contacted by the Albany Regional Family History Society who had done their own indexing project for WA marriages in country towns. The society kindly offered their data for inclusion on the site and we now have a link on our main page to the “Country Marriages” database for 1951-1965.

How accurate is this database?

Although great care is taken when transcribing the Western Australian Marriage Index, errors unfortunately do occur. The quality of the microfiche in parts is extremely poor causing some entries to be very difficult to read and occasionally illegible. The microfiche index also has its own errors. These include missing entries and the registration number or district being entered incorrectly. If any errors are noted we welcome feedback and corrections to help improve the database.

How are errors checked and corrected?

After transcribing a year, an error check of our work is done then data is sorted to match partners with the same district and registration number. This is followed by another check to find any entries that do not match correctly. A solution is then sought for these mismatched people. Many resources are checked such as Cemetery listings, National Archives records, birth and death records, genealogical notice boards and forums and even death notices to help find the name of the missing partner. When all avenues have been exhausted, unfortunately there are often a handful of names that we just can’t sort. Hopefully in the future we will be contacted by a researcher who knows the answer and a correction can be made. Please take the time to click on the “Browse Missing Partners” link and see if you may hold the key to solving any of these mysteries.

What do special symbols or brackets mean?

On the microfiche index there are many handwritten additions, some helpful and some confusing. If a handwritten entry is not in reference to an entry already listed, we enter the data adding a # symbol after the surname to denote that the entry is a handwritten addition. If the entry is to add additional information such as another name used by the individual, we will enter the name in brackets next to either the surname, Christian name or both. The reason may be that the original entry was not correct, the individual changed their name, or took the name of a step parent or in the case of a female it may be a clue to a previous marriage name.

How are hyphenated names, and marriages of Aboriginal, Chinese and other nationalities treated?

We have endeavoured to enter the data as it was entered on the microfiche index and therefore at present there are many examples of hyphenated names that have been entered twice as they were on the original index. With the name of Aboriginal people, the index lists the tribal name if known and also the English name that was used. Both these have been included in the surname field as per the original index as either name may have been used by the person but both names were not used together as in the manner of Christian name and surname. The way in which other nationalities names such as Chinese are recorded are also as per the original microfiche index.

Who do I contact?