Queensland Intestacy Returns Index 1896-1916

This collection includes only transcripts of entries found in the Queensland intestacy returns index.

Each result may offer the following details about your ancestor’s entry:

• First name(s)

• Last name

• Birth place – There are many birth places outside the expected Australian states in this collection including, in part, England, Scotland, Ireland, China, Canada, Germany, and Italy.

• Death place – While the estates were administered in Queensland, the death place could have been outside the state. Included in this collection are various towns in New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia, as well as towns in Ireland, England, and Scotland and other places such as China, Portuguese East Africa, and the United States. Interstate and overseas locations are often listed without any indication that they are not in Queensland. Usually it is easy to recognise such towns, however it should not be assumed that just because there is a well-known town or city outside Queensland with a particular name that there was not also a town in Queensland with the same name. For example, the index includes many references to Geraldton, this was the former name of Innisfail and should not be confused with the town in Western Australia of the same name.

• Entry date

• Court responsible for administering the estate – There were three districts of the Supreme Court during the period of this index: Southern District (Brisbane), which commenced in 1857, Northern District (Bowen/Townsville), which was established at Bowen in 1875 and later transferred to Townsville in 1889, and Central District (Rockhampton), which commenced in 1896.

• Page and volume reference in the relevant gazette

The Curator of Intestate Estates and his deputies were required by the Intestacy Act of 1877 to publish a return twice each year in the Queensland Government Gazette of all the estates administered by them during the preceding six months. Although the Act required the returns to be published in the Gazette in January and July, they were actually published in a variety of months but rarely in January or July. On occasions the return for one or more divisions was not listed at all for the half-year.

This database is an index to these returns in intestacy for Queensland during the period 1896 to 1916 - listing a total of 31,347 entries. Aliases, where listed, have been indexed. Although the half-yearly returns commenced in 1877, this index covers from 1896 since from that year additional information on the deceased person was provided in the returns.

Estates listed represent a wide cross-section of the community, ranging from those with little to those with estates worth thousands of pounds. They include unknown persons as well as titled gentleman. Both men and women are represented in these files.

Other information relating to intestacies may be available in the Notices published in the Queensland Government Gazette and at the Queensland State Archives.

The Queensland State Archives holds many of the intestacy files (Central District post 1930 held at the Supreme Court, Rockhampton) and where available they provide information such as name, address and occupation of the deceased, date and place of death, next of kin, an inventory of property and its value plus other documents relating to the estate.

• Begin your search broadly. Start by searching on just a first and last name.

• You can narrow your results as needed by refining your search with the inclusion of a year or court.