There will not necessarily be more information on the certificate than is recorded on the indexes. Graham Jaunay's website lists the information available from certificates over time. However, you may wish to obtain a copy of a certificate for your own records.
Copies of certificates can be purchased from the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Office.
More recent certificates may be limited to the person named, their parents or their children. You may need to provide proof of identity for non-historical certificates.
Marriage of Rose Kelly and Captain Arthur Blackburn V.C., 1917, Ive and Bagot Album. (B 28519/32)
This link opens in a new windowBy 1842 there were five denominations operating in South Australia (Anglican, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodists, Catholic. Presbyterian & Congregational). However, due to early laws governing marriage celebrants, most marriages were performed in the Anglican Church (Holy Trinity on North Terrace) by the Rev. Charles Howard, the Colonial Chaplain, and later the Rev. James Farrell.
To view a listing of early churches in the colony use Graham Jaunay's Genealogy website.
You can also look at the lists published in the book, Index to marriages solemnized in South Australia 1836 to July 1842. (The information was compiled from a range of sources.)
There are other sources you can search to find information about a marriage. You might use these if you haven't found what you are looking for in the Marriage Indexes.
District births, deaths and marriages indexes. These are microfiche copies of births, deaths and marriages indexes from the District Registers, compiled by the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society. The District Registers are the records held by the local district, before they were sent to the central Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry. The indexes held at the State Library will give you the book, page and entry number of the marriage registration. You would then need to look this up in the District Register itself. You can see the District registers in the particular Districts themselves. For example, the Angaston District Register would be held in Angaston. Copies of the Registers are available to use in the South Australian Genealogy and Heraldry Society Library in Unley.
The State Library holds a number of Church Records. These can hold references to births, deaths and marriages. If you know what church your family attended, you can check whether the State Library holds their records on the library catalogue by searching under the name of the church. Then you will need to look at the records themselves at the library in the Family History area or the Somerville Reading Room. If you would like help checking whether we have church records that may be useful to you, you can come into the Library or Ask Us from home.
The State Library holds many other sources of information about marriages. You can do a Subject search on the library catalogue for an extensive list, or you can Ask Us to help you find something specific.
Information about divorces and separations can be difficult to locate.
The Matrimonial petitions index (1859-1893) held by State Records is on microfiche at the State Library. It lists those applying for various official forms of separation and divorce.
Historic newspapers on the Trove website may contain reports of court cases relating to divorce and other matrimonial issues.
