Mysterious NSW BDM registration number 999999

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm currently doing some research and came across a person who's NSW birth registration number is 999999/1891. This seems oddly high, especially given the next highest number I could find was registration number 39553/1891. The puzzle grows more complex however, as I discovered there's about 57 records with the same 999999/1891 registration number. I've seen maybe four entries with the same number before, but 57 is a big jump up from that. Also none of them have a district attached to them; not even an early church code.

...I suppose this isn't really a question, just a weird observation I've come across. If anybody has some insight it'd be appreciated lol

Thanks,

Zach.

Comments

Interesting question, Zachariah. You could ask them: there are email addresses at this link.

Answer 1

Maybe, late registration or corrected entry?

Answer 2

I've run across this before - several births that were accepted and registered decades after the births, since it was recorded in the family bible and civil registration was impractical in the locality at the time. I guess they treated the bible entries as sufficient evidence. Something similar may have happened here.

Answer 3

This might not answer your specific question, but when data wrangling at work I use an integer like 9999 or 999999 as a placeholder for a missing value.

Maybe in your case they have registered the birth many years later, but can't assign the next sequential number for that year as the system won't let them.