During the years that the British Empire controlled the colonies of Australia (ie from 1788 until 1948 and in some legal senses until 1986),Native of Australia meant the person was born in Australia. As they were born in Australia they were automatically a British Subject. This applied regardless of where either of their parents were born, or of the "race" of either of their parents.
Queensland was part of the colony of New South Wales until 1859, and civil registration for BDM events did not commence in NSW until 1856. I think the document you mention would actually be a baptismal certificate and not a birth certificate, as you mention "early 1800's". It could of course have the actual date of birth but it should also have the date of the baptism. Several of my forebears were in NSW quite early after the first settlement (1788), and of course several generations were born before civil registration commenced, so I have a number of baptismal certificates, wedding certificates and burial certificates issued in the 1900's and based on the records from the early 1800's. I also have found that the actual parish records often contain more details than the documents issued by the civil BDM registrars.
There are BDM registrations for Aborigines, just as there are BDM registrations for children of immigrants, .... the search to find either is hampered by :
a) it was not ever a requirement to denote the race of a person on their baptismal certificate however, the NSW BDM online index includes Early Church Records where the various headings have been used to include "Aboriginal" and "Aborigine" ... usually in the surname column but sometimes in the given name, or the father's or mother's name.
b) it was not ever a requirement to denote the race of a person on their civil registration for BDM.
In looking at the enlistment records for British Subjects who were native of Australia (or naturalised) it is not until you look at the "complexion" of the volunteer who enlisted that you may have some indication as to the "race" question, however, it is important to remember that among those who arrived in Australia in the first fleet and later during the penal era, either as ships crew, marines/garrison forces, government appointees, convicts, free settlers or any others, there were persons who were born in many parts of the world, (eg slaves from the West Indies, who have been convicted of a serious crime and sentenced to transportation or eg sailors from the sub-continent as crew on the transport ships etc etc etc) and the colour of one's skin was simply not an important detail to note down and record.
All British Subjects, MALE and FEMALE were entitled to enrol and vote, from fairly early after Federation (ie from say 1903), and it is often overlooked that those early rolls may well contain names of persons who were of Aboriginal descent. You see, the electoral rolls did not include a person's race either ....
Hope this helps answer your question,
Cheers, JM
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,530831.0.htmlI've got a birth certificate for a family member in QLD born in the early 1800's with 'native of australia' printed on it. Not sure what this means as i've never seen it before on any other birth certificate i've got. This particular person i have been able to track only 1 parent but not the other. I've had someone once tell me it means they are Aboriginal or at the very least part Aboriginal. It's been bugging me and i'd like to know for sure what it means?
Just wondering if anyone might know what it means?
Thanks!
