Mike, The NSW BDM indexes can be searched at http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexSrch.cgi Registration was not compulsory until 1856 in NSW so the records prior to this rely on church registers. [Some lister may be able to check the full record] otherwise there is a listing for an Archibald Walker being born in 1829 to a William & Elizabeth Walker. Reference V182996 45A/1829. This would need verifying as WALKER is such a common name. According to the 1828 census of NSW there is a William & Elizabeth Walker arriving on the "Brixton" in 1821. He was a missionary & they were living at Parramatta. His wife is listed as Elizabeth Cordelia born in the colony of NSW & aged 24. Children also born in NSW Henrietta Elizabeth aged 4, Sarah Matilda A. aged 2 & Rowland Thomas B. Walker 2. The State Records NSW Has a number of databases that can be searched, try http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/ The Colonial Secretary Papers 1788-1825 record quite a few entries about a WALKER, William (Revd). Came free per "Brixton", 1821; Superintendent of the Female Orphan School; Wesleyan Missionary to the Aborigines at http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/colsec/default.htm There is a reference to the Female Orphan school at http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/3readings/wlocality10_2_liston2.html and the following information from the "The Female Orphan School in the 1820s" states that Governor Brisbane "appointed a Wesleyan clergyman, the Reverend William Walker, and his wife to manage the Female Orphan School. Mrs Eliza Cordelia Walker, daughter of colonial missionary Rowland Hassall, was appointed matron on 4 January 1825 on a salary of £100 p.a. with her husband, William Walker, as master on a salary of £50. She was allowed rations for herself and child, and he was allowed rations. Her duties were the care and instruction in needlework of nearly 130 girls. His job was to instruct the children in reading, writing and arithmetic on the Madras or National System. Walker and his wife had spent the previous year managing the Native Institution at Blacktown. Brisbane commented, 'I was anxious also to try the experiment of the white and black Natives of this Colony imbibing their earliest intellectual and religious ideas under a common roof.' ] You would need to follow up and confirm that Archibald is connected to this family. You may like to contact the Local Studies Librarian at Parrmatta Library email parralib@parracity.nsw.gov.au and she maybe able to assist further. She could check the Parrmatta Pioneer register and the histories on Parramatta & the Female Orphan school. I will also check the Australian Dictionary of Biography for you as well. Michelle Nichols _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail now available on Australian mobile phones. Go to http://ninemsn.com.au/mobilecentral/hotmail_mobile.asp