The Registry Office was established in 1841 with a Registrar General as its chief officer, to administer the requirements of the Act to register births, deaths and marriages in Western Australia.

The Registry Department was responsible for the registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages within the Swan River Colony.

The Department was also responsible for the collection and reporting of statistical information. (A Government Statistician was first appointed in February 1896 in the succeeding Registrar General's Department).

The 1894 Act repealed the 1841 Act to register births, deaths and marriages and allowed for the establishment of District Registrars each with a defined district. From 1906 births, deaths and marriages are recorded by district and number. With the establishment of the Commonwealth combined with the Government Statisticians Office until 1957.

Previously the Registrar General's Department, it combined with the Government Statisticians Office upon federation in 1901. The Department remained as such, and responsible to the Colonial Secretary's Office and its successor, the Chief Secretary's Department until 1957 when the two functions were split. The Registrar General's office was created to operate as a Division of the Chief Secretary's Department and its successors.