Search Northern Territory Deaths 1824-2012

Each record includes a transcript. The amount of information listed varies, but Northern Territory Deaths 1824-2012 usually include the following information about your ancestor:

• Name
• Approximate age at death
• Death date
• Place of death
• Burial date
• Cemetery and/or Memorial Service

These records are the result of an attempt to extract information about all Northern Territory related deaths from a range of sources including cemetery registers, headstones, newspapers, probates, police journals, coroner inquests and testamentary causes. The project is ongoing. Note that some Territorians who died and/or were buried in other states are also recorded in these records.

The Northern Territory was not settled until late 1869, with a steady increase in population during and after 1870. There were two settlements, one at Fort Dundas on Melville Island (1824 – 1829) and the other at Fort Wellington at Raffles Bay on the Coburg Peninsula (1827 – 1829). Convicts, military personnel and free settlers alike lived there, though these military garrisons were abandoned by 1829. Both settlements were administered from England through New South Wales, which is why some of the early deaths during this period were recorded in that state.

The Northern Territory was administered by various states, including New South Wales, Victoria and finally South Australia, until 1911 when it was transferred to Commonwealth Government of Australia. It received self-government on 1 July 1978 in accordance with the Northern Territory (Self Government) Act 1978.

Please note:

• The ‘@’ symbol means ‘a.k.a.’ – It is used in the first name and last name columns where there are several spellings of a name.
• Place of death and cemetery – Although the majority of burials occurred in the Northern Territory, there are also records relating to deaths of former Northern Territory residents who may have died or been buried in other states.
• Dates – Some entries have several dates with a reference in brackets. For example: ‘1905-08-07 (NTA) 1905-10-10 (NT) (SA)’. These abbreviations refer to where the death was recorded:
• ‘NTA’ indicates the date on which the death was recorded in the Northern Territory Archives
• ‘NT’ indicates the date on which the death was recorded in the Birth, Deaths and Marriages Index for the Northern Territory
• ‘SA’ indicates the date recorded in the Birth, Deaths and Marriage Index for South Australia.

This is because birth, death and marriage records for early Northern Territory events may be officially recorded in the South Australian index, the official Northern Territory index, or even both, yet neither place has total coverage until after 1911.

There are also cases of unrecorded deaths or funerals that are mentioned in the Northern Territory Times and Gazette yet not officially recorded in either the South Australian or Northern Territory birth, death and marriage indexes.

• Last name not recorded – This indicates that the person was generally known to have one name only, though of course it does not necessarily mean that they didn’t have a last name.
• Female maiden name – Where the married last name of a woman was unknown, the maiden name has been listed to help identify the deceased.
• The question mark symbol ‘?’ is used to indicate that the information presented came from local knowledge but has not been confirmed.

Data provided by the Genealogical Society of the Northern Territory Inc.