This index provides details for over 5 million electors in Queensland registered to vote on the 1903, 1906, 1913, 1922, 1934, 1941, 1949, 1959 and 1969 Commonwealth Electoral Rolls. The database lists all the information recorded in the main rolls (and the supplementary rolls, where available)–National Archives of Australia: BP94/2 (Commonwealth Electoral Rolls for Queensland).
The material in this index is a unique source of public information on individuals at the time. The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 granted women the right to vote at the national level and enrolment on the national rolls was compulsory from 1911 so Queenslanders from all walks of life are included. Combining the range of information with the search specifications and sorting facilities can be especially useful for finding family groups, for example by specifying a surname and sorting on place of living within subdivision.
Detailed information on each of the items follows.
No.
Each subdivision has sequential numbers for all the electors listed on the roll and these have been included to assist in the location of the name in the original record – though the names are generally in alphabetic order it is not always the case. During indexing some inconsistencies in the numbering were found, but the original numbering has been retained.
Surname
Surname of each elector
Given Names
Christian names of each elector, at full length
Title
These have been placed into a separate field (junr., senr., Rev., &c.)
Sex
M or F – however, there are many cases in the original lists where the name and sex do not appear to match. Occasionally, this field has been left blank in the original lists; in some entries the sex has been recorded as ‘B’, ‘D’, ‘E’, ‘FM’, ‘H’, ‘N’, ‘R’, ‘RF’, and ‘T’.
Place of Living
This field may include a full street and town address, just a street address, just a town address, a property name, or other description. We have indexed this field exactly as recorded and made no inferences about any part of the address if it is not recorded in the original lists.
Occupation
This has been entered exactly as recorded in the lists. Some occupations in the rolls were obviously recorded incorrectly but conjure an interesting picture: folk lift driver, picture farmer, laughterman, wordsman, floor payer... to name a few.
Subdivision and Division
These fields identify the roll on which the electors were registered.
Apparent inconsistencies
Since we have recorded the information exactly as listed there will appear to be some inconsistencies in the data – for example, Surnames of all the members of a family at a given address do not always agree; Addresses given under Place of Living are not always consistently recorded for the members for a family.
In some cases, where examination of independent records indicates a surname for one of a family group is incorrectly entered, then the name has been entered twice – once as recorded in the roll and once with the surname matching the other family members.