Hospital records

If you were born in a hospital, the hospital may have kept medical records with measurements and other birth details. You can contact the hospital where you were born to check, though hospitals do not have to retain these records and often dispose of them after 7 years.

Some records might be kept longer, especially if they’re from a church-affiliated facility or a hospital that has closed, in which case the records may be archived by the church administration or donated to state or territory libraries or archives. For instance, the State Library of New South Wales holds records from St. Margaret's Hospital, Darlinghurst.

Birth announcements

If your parents placed a birth announcement in a newspaper, it might confirm details like the place and date of birth. It's important to remember that these announcements, especially in past decades, tended to be brief and rarely included the time of birth.

To search for birth announcements, you can search Australian newspapers held at the National Library. Learn more in our research guide on Australian newspapers.

Family records

Often the best information is found within your family. Your parents or other family members may have kept medical booklets or hospital wrist or ankle tags. Some hospitals started providing cards with additional birth details as early as the 1920s, according to an article published in the Newcastle Sun. It’s worth checking if these keepsakes are stored with other family treasures like early school reports, a first tooth, or a lock of hair from your first haircut.

If you can’t find these keepsakes, consider asking extended family members if they’ve kept letters or correspondence mentioning your birth. An aunt or uncle might have held onto a letter that includes these details.