Another curiosity regarding the Australian and the Kenyan one is the folds.
The vertical folds in the Australian one are almost equidistant as if it was folded in half and half again. The folds in the Kenyan one are not equidistant. The rightmost quarter is not equal to the other quarters.
I was trying to figure out that if the Australian one was used as the template would some photo shop process possibly shrink the Australian requiring the lines on the left to be extended rightwards (accounting for the top right 53XX number to be within the lines) rather than hanging in the margin and also cause the right side to be cut as extra causing the shorter section right of the rightmost fold.
I understand there are other differences in the folds.
The other curiosity I saw is that these older versions show that someone had to draw the lines within which the data was typed. The result is that some vertical lines meet the horizontal ones and some do not. Both the Kenyan one and the Australian one have the same gap in the bottom of the section labeled Mother.
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lrc.nsf/pages/R61CHP3
III REGISTRY OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES
A. Structure
3.10 Until 1975 the Registry was part of the Registrar General’s Department. It is now administered within the Attorney General’s Department, having been briefly a part of the Department of Services. The office of Principal Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages was created in 1975 and was held by the respective departmental heads. In 1984 the current Principal Registrar was appointed, the first to have a separate position and be located within the Registry.
3.11 The Central Registry is located in Sydney, and consists of four divisions, namely:
* Registration Division which compiles the registers and indexes, and makes amendments and corrections to the registers where appropriate. This Division is responsible for external, (ie, local and regional) registries.
* Certificates Division which maintains all the registers and indexes, and produces the certified copies of registered particulars when requested or authorised. The Family History Advisory Service assists users of the genealogical resources of the Registry.
* Administrative Services Division which is responsible for the data entry of all registrations in the computerised registers, and for general administration of the Registry.
* Client Services Division which attends to all postal, telephone, and personal enquiries and requests for Registry services, and is responsible for performing civil marriages.
3.12 Until 1974 the State was divided into several districts, each with a registrar who maintained the district registers, with duplicates centralised in the Sydney office. Administration was altered by the Registration Act 1973 which abolished the districts and created local registrars at several country centres and regional registries at Newcastle and Wollongong.
3.13 Local registrars (who are usually the local clerks of the court) act as receiving agents for information lodged for registration, and maintain duplicate registers for local production of certified copies of registered particulars. They are authorised marriage celebrants. Regional offices process birth and death registrations from different parts of the State. All other registrations are effected, and central registers and indexes maintained, at the Sydney registry, which now employs computer technology for these purposes.
B. Functions of Principal Registrar
3.14 As head of the Registry, the Principal Registrar is responsible for a variety of functions. They are:
* Establishment and maintenance of the registers and indexes, including effecting amendments where necessary.
* Registration of all births, deaths, marriages, legitimations, stillbirths, memoranda of adoptions, and parentage information lodged with the Registry.
* Issue of certified copies and extracts of registered particulars to applicants entitled to receive them, on payment of the prescribed fee.
* Supply of information to government departments and agencies.
* Civil administration of marriages, including solemnisation and related services.
* Preservation of all original records relating to births, deaths and marriages in New South Wales.