Important Dates in New Zealand Civil Registration

1848    Registration of European births and deaths commenced

1854   Registration of European marriages commenced

1856   Registration of European births, deaths, marriages became compulsory

1867    Legislation passed providing for divorce

1876    Additional information recorded on birth and death registrations

1880   Additional information recorded on marriage registrations

1881   Adoption Act passed – legal to adopt children under the age of 15

1894   Legitimation Act passed allowed for the re-registration where a child was

Born out of wedlock and the parents had subsequently married

1907    Infant Life Protection Act passed

1911    Registration of Maori marriages became compulsory

1912   Additional information recorded on birth and death registrations

1913   Registration of Maori births & deaths became compulsory

Registration of stillbirths became compulsory

1915   Births of adopted children able to be re-registered under adoptive parent’s names

1924   Re-registration permitted of ex nuptial births where parents have subsequently

remarried

1933   Marriage of persons under 16 years of age prohibited

1944   Marriage Emergency Regulations empowered the Registrar General to register

           overseas marriages of New Zealand service personnel

1951   Births & Deaths Act 1951 allowed for late registrations of births not previously

           registered

1952    Registration of European and Maori marriages amalgamated into one system

1954   Change of name by deed poll registered with the Registrar – General

1961    Registration of European & Maori births and deaths amalgamated into one system

1978     Deaths of New Zealanders while overseas no longer able to be registered in NZ

1995   Births of all children born before 1972 whose parents were not married, where the

child was registered in the fathers surname have been converted back to the Mother’s maiden name (Microfiche indexes have not been changed)

1998   All District Registers closed and their paper based records transferred to Archives NZ  where the registry began digitizing over 10 million records

2002     Now named the Central Registry and part of the Identity Services Department.