Australian Death Certificate

[dreen22]

I have a Death Certificate for an ancestor who died in the Goldfields of Creswick in 1905.
He had left Cornwall in 1864 and as far as is known never returned. His eldest son John
jnr went to Australia too, in 1884. It is not known whether they ever met up, I like to think they did, but the younger son died in Sydney, unmarried, in 1911.

Now, on John's Death Certificate in 1905 it states that John jnr is about 41yrs, which was correct, but his younger son James (back in Cornwall) was dead!. James was very much alive and did not die until 1928. Would there be any way for that information to be changed on the Death Certificate? Not of major importance, I know, after such a long time, but it would be nice to have the correct information.

dreen22

[Infolass]

Australian death certificates are the least reliable for accurate information. They can be only as reliable as the knowledge of the informant - in which in many cases will not be a family member. It is terrific that you have this alternative information. It is also a reminder to not rely on any one source of information for important things like death dates. I do not beleive that you can request a change on the certificate. But check with the authority from which you purchased it.

[kylejustin]

if there is an obvious mistake like date of burial is before the date of death, the registrar will change it, but anything else is not changeable.

[Eric Hatfield]

Australian death certificates are the least reliable for accurate information.

Yes, I have already found this. And I have experienced it from the other side also. Two years ago I had to provide some information for my mother's death certificate, and there was no real check on anything that I am aware of. Of course I gave accurate information as I knew it, but even my brief foray into family history has shown me that quite a bit of the information on certificates is unreliable. Some times I think it was just carelessness (e.g. ages on marriage and death certificates don't agree) but sometimes it seems that false information may have been given deliberately to deal with an illegitimate birth. I had expected that there would be some rigour in checking that the person who died was indeed the person who was born and married, but it doesn't seem to happen - I guess it would be too difficult.

[Yvonne from Oz]

There is a fair amount of cross checking of information for modern death certificates, at least in the questions asked,
but historically it was whatever the informant thought. If it is a woman giving info on a husband or child, I have found the information
tends to be more reliable than if it was a man giving the info (ducks for cover)

But often it was the son (or son-in-law) as women didn't do those things.
I bet they were so uncomfortable being asked all the questions, and wishing they were anywhere else but!!!!

[dreen22]

Thank-u for all your replies, much appreciated.