A notary public is a public official who acts as a qualified witness to legal and official documents required to be utilised in countries outside of Australia and to also certify documents as true copies of the original documents for use overseas. In some cases, documents required to be used in Australia are also required to be notarised, but these situations are generally in the context of a foreign person about to permanently depart Australia (for example, making a claim for a refund of PAYG instalments or superannuation) or for use in a foreign embassy or consulate.
The terms public notary and notary are often used interchangeably with notary public and, in most cases, they mean the same thing. However, in some overseas jurisdictions, a notary public is the equivalent of a justice of the peace in Queensland and this can cause some confusion.
In Queensland, a notary public is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. All appointees in Queensland are also lawyers (either practising lawyers or retired lawyers).
Dale Treanor was appointed as a notary public for the provision of notarial services in the City of Cairns in 1996. Since then, he has undertaken a wide range of notarial services for use in many countries and is familiar with the requirements of many of these due to the frequency of dealing with the requirements of those countries.
If you have documents which need to be notarised and want to start the process with Dale Treanor, please download our guide which sets out what you need to do