Hospital Admission Registers

People born in many parts of the world (especially the United Kingdom and Ireland, plus Europe, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, West Indies, South Africa, India, China etc) were admitted to hospitals in Queensland, Australia. The hospital admission registers contain superb biographical details, which, if supplied by the patient, are often more accurate than details on certificates - and a hospital register is sometimes the only surviving source of information about the ship on which a person arrived.

Some registers are for mining areas during the time of the local gold rush. Others include sailors from ships in port.

The printed registers have space for these details:

• name
• date admitted
• age
• birthplace
• occupation
• religion
• ship of arrival
• how long in colony
• place of residence
• marital status
• place of marriage, at what age, and name of spouse
• names and ages of children living
• number and gender of children deceased
• father's name and occupation
• father's present residence if living (or 'father dead')
• mother's maiden name
• disease or reason for admission
• date of discharge, or date and cause of death
• remarks (which sometimes include medical history, social circumstances, property, employment, wages, other sources of income, other wage-earners in the family, membership of clubs or benefit societies, etc).

Note the provision for ship of arrival, place of residence, marital status, and father's present residence - details that you will not find on a Queensland death certificate.

For patients who were born before civil registration, the age, birthplace and parents' details may break down brick walls in your research. (Check whether your ancestor's sibling is in these records!)

I have indexed most of Queensland's surviving hospital registers for admissions up to 1900, plus some between 1901 and 1928. For detailed descriptions of individual record series, and names of thousands of patients, start here. If you find a name of interest but cannot visit the record office yourself, read the 'Copying Service' section near the bottom of the page where the name appears.

 

Welcome Judy and thanks for the link to your site, which is full of information.