Convicts

See also my talk handout 'Convicts: from trial to freedom'.

Convicts

About 152,000 convicts were sent to eastern colonies of Australia 1788-1853 (mostly to NSW or Tasmania / Van Diemen's Land) plus 9,700 convicts were sent to Western Australia 1850-1868

UK & Ireland (trial & voyage) | New South Wales | Queensland | Tasmania | Victoria | Western Australia | General

UK & Ireland (Trial & voyage)

• Archives Wales – http://www.archivesnetworkwales.info/    (See 'Family History': archives repositories, including county record offices, holding Quarter Sessions records - other than Monmouthshire)
• Assize Court Records – https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Assize_Court_Records    (on FamilySearch Wiki, a description of these court records, their history and where they are now located)
• Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) – http://www.nla.gov.au/microform-australian-joint-copying-project    (microfilm of UK records likely to be of interest in Australia, NZ and Pacific)
• Chartist Ancestors – http://www.chartists.net/    (Wanted democratic reforms & some protesters were transported as convicts)
• Convict Hulks – http://www.hotkey.net.au/~jwilliams4/hulks.htm    (includes hulks in Australia)
• Convict Love Tokens – http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/convict-love-tokens/    (tokens made by convicts to leave behind with loved ones)
• Down County Museum convict transportation – http://downcountymuseum.com/About-Us/The-Gaol/Gaol_Convicts_Database    (Convicts sent from County Down to NSW)
• Index of legal terms and offences – http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/legalterms.asp    (National Archives of Scotland)
• Ireland-Australia transportation database – http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/ireland-australia-transportation-records-1791-1853/    (Convicts transported from Ireland to Australia, incomplete for transportations prior to 1836 - temporarily this downloads a .csv file which can be searched by a program like Excel - supposedly a 'more accessible' solution is coming)
• Lancashire Convict database – http://www.lancastercastle.com/html/convict/default.php   (People tried & sentenced at Lancaster Assize - not complete)
• Lincolnshire Convicts database – http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/convictssearch.aspx    (Convicts transported to Australia, Gibraltar & Bermuda)
• Looking for records of a prisoner – http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/prisoners.htm
• National Library of Wales – http://www.llgc.org.uk    (holds church records, wills and Great Sessions (Assizes) court records)
• Newspapers – eResources on your national, state / provincial library website   (trial reports in eg Times Digital Archive 1785-1985, 19th century British Library Newspapers, British Newspapers 1600-1900)
• Nottingham Borough Quarter Session Transportations – http://cms.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/leisure/archives/archivescollections/summaryguide/archivescourt.htm    (Quarter Sessions courts tried non-capital offences, more serious crimes tried at Assizes, records held at The National Archives)
• Old Bailey Online – http://www.oldbaileyonline.org    (Trial records from London's Central Criminal Court, 1674-1913)
• Prison Hulk Registers & Letter Books, 1802-1849 – http://search.ancestry.com.au/search/db.aspx?dbid=1989
• Prison hulks on the River Thames – http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.56/chapterId/957/Prison-hulks-on-the-River-Thames.html    (article)
• Scottish convicts – http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/crime.asp   (research guide)
• Scottish High Court criminal trials – http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/highCourt.asp    (guide)
• The National Archives (UK, London) – http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk    (original trial, prison, hulk, transportation records & much more)
• The National Archives (UK, London) Discovery Catalogue search – http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/    (new catalogue search, including some name searches)
• The National Archives (UK) Research guides – http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/atoz/default.htm    ('C' for Crime and the law, courts, etc)
• The National Archives (UK) Podcasts – http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/    (large files, audio lectures, some have transcripts)
     Catching Victorian and Edwardian criminals on paper
     Criminal ancestors: trial records at The National Archives
     From crime to punishment: criminal records of our ancestors from the 18th & 19th centuries
     Journeys of discovery: Surgeons at Sea
     Prison: five hundred years behind bars
     Prison hulks
     Transportation to Australia
• Victorian Crime & Punishment – http://vcp.e2bn.org/justice/page11382-sentencing-to-departure-prison-hulks-convict-gaols.html    (Teaching resources discussing convicts and transportation)
• Wales Court of Great Sessions ('Crime and Punishment') Database – http://www.llgc.org.uk/sesiwn_fawr/index_s.htm    (National Library of Wales holds trial records for 'major' crimes)
• Warwickshire Calendar of Prisoners database – http://heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/warwickshire-county-record-office/county-record-office-resources-and-catalogues/county-record-office-calendar-of-prisoners-database/    (criminals & victims)
• What happened to your ancestor after being convicted & sentenced to transportation – http://www.hotkey.net.au/~jwilliams4/cons1.htm    (an idealistic view)
• Wives & Children of Irish Convicts 1825-1840 (Ancestry.com.au) – http://www.ancestry.com.au    (costs)
• York Assizes 1785 - 1851 – http://www.yorkfamilyhistory.org.uk/resources/york-assizes/    (Assizes courts heard 'major' crimes)

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New South Wales

• NSW State Records Convict records – http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/research-topics/convicts/convicts    
      Archives In Brief 2 (Convict Records) – http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/archives-in-brief/archives-in-brief-2
      Archives In Brief 31 (Supreme Court of NSW Records) – http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/archives-in-brief/archives-in-brief-31
      Archives In Brief 82 (Records of gaol inmates) – http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/archives-in-brief/archives-in-brief-82
      Archives In Brief 100 (How to find a convict) – http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/archives-in-brief/archives-in-brief-100
      Colonial Secretary's Correspondence – http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/colonial-secretarys-correspondence-guide/colonial-secretarys-correspondence
      Holders of part of the Archives Resources Kit (ARK) – http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/archives-in-brief/archives-in-brief-46    (archives available at some libraries)
• NSW Transcription agents     (Obtain copies of records from NSW State Records, for those unable to visit themselves)
      Turtle Consolidated Services – http://home.iprimus.com.au/lturtle/
      Marilyn Rowan – http://www.nswtranscriptions.com.au/
• Aboriginal Convicts: Race, Law & Transportation – http://eprints.utas.edu.au/7467/2/Kris_Harman_PhD_Thesis.pdf    (Aboriginals tried & transported under colonial laws)
• Ancestry.com (Convict Collection) – http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/group/AUConvicts    (indents, musters, pardons & more, costs)
• Castle Hill Convict Rebellion 1804 – http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/castle_hill_convict_rebellion_1804    (article)
• Convict Ships to New South Wales – http://www.jenwilletts.com/Convict%20Ships.htm    (Some lists of convicts, surgeon's journals & more)
• Convict Tickets of Leave – http://www.sag.org.au
• Convict Trail: Caring for the Great North Road – http://greatnorthroad.com.au/    (Road between Sydney & Newcastle & database of convicts involved in its building)
• Female Factory (Parramatta) – http://www.parragirls.org.au/    (Factory = 'Manufactory' - place of work & prison, information about institution, prison, orphanage)
• Female Factory (second factory at Parramatta) – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jray/gordon/index.htm    (information, including about 1st matron)
• First Fleet Online – http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/index.html   (information & database)
• Free Settler or Felon? – http://www.jenwilletts.com/    (Newcastle / Hunter Valley convicts, settlers, soldiers)
• Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney – http://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/hyde-park-barracks-museum/stories   (Convict barracks in Sydney)
• Newcastle Penal Settlement – http://www.newcastle.edu.au/Resources/Divisions/Academic/Library/Cultural%20Collections/pdf/1981-bramble-aborigines.pdf    (article on Aboriginal/ settler race relations)
• Tocal's convicts 1822-1840 – http://www.tocal.com/homestead/vandv/index.html    (Hunter Valley NSW, info about individual convicts & convict life)

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Queensland (was NSW until 1859)

• Moreton Bay Convicts, Queensland State Archives – http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/Indexes/Convicts/Pages/default.aspx
• Moreton Bay Convict Records, Redcliffe Museum – http://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/subsite.aspx?id=55417    (records held by Queensland State Archives)
• Pre Separation Resource Guide – http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/CollectionsDownloads/Documents/Pre-Separation-Resource-Guide.pdf    (Records relating to Queensland when it was still part of NSW)

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Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land)

• Tasmanian convicts index – http://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names   (search for convict by name then follow hyperlinks to many digitised records)
• Convict Research – http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/research/browse-by-category/familyhistory/convict    (links to guides & records)
• Abbreviations and formats used in convict records – http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/research/browse-by-category/familyhistory/convict/convict-abbreviations
• Abbreviations used in Tasmanian convict records – http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~austashs/convicts/conabbrev.html   (commonly used abbreviations)
• Becoming Tasmania – http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/php/BecomingTasmania/BTMainPage.htm    (extracts from book primarily about convicts)
• Convict Department guide – http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=746412    (detailed guide to records, view online)
• "Convicts' private lives discovered in Hobart" – http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3273291.htm   (news report)
• Convicts and the Colonial Period – http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/Images/Colonial%20period%202.htm   (many articles)
• Early Tasmanian government administration records – http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/tasmaniasheritage/search/guides/early-govt-admin    (detailed guide to records)
• Female Convicts Research Centre – http://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/   (lists of female convicts, their children, and those who worked with them, also magistrates & convict ships)
• Founders & Survivors – http://foundersandsurvivors.org/   (information about convicts & descendants)
• Port Arthur (Van Diemen's Land / Tasmania) – http://www.portarthur.org.au/   (see under 'History', information about penal settlement)
• Queen's Orphanage, Tasmania – http://www.orphanschool.org.au/   (information about Hobart institution & orphans)

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Victoria (was NSW until 1851)

• Courts and Criminal Justice - Convict Records – http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-57   (guide to Public Record Office Victoria)
• Register of Convicts c1842-1854 – http://prov.vic.gov.au/research/prisoners-and-convicts    (large file)
• Victoria Government Gazette Online Archive 1836-1997 – http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/    (includes 'NSW Government Gazette' 1836-1851)
• Westernport Settlement of 1826-28 – http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nswgdhs/westport.htm    (now Corinella, Victoria - convicts, military & settlers)

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Western Australia

• Convict Records – http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/collection/convict-records   (records at State Records Office of Western Australia)
• Colonial Secretary's Office Records – http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/collection/colonial-secretarys-office-records   (records at State Records Office of Western Australia)
• Convict Central – http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts//index.html   (Convict history, WA convicts & guards, all convict ships, NSW Convict women & bibliography)
• Convicts in Western Australia – http://slwa.wa.gov.au/dead_reckoning/indexes_and_catalogues/a-f2/convicts   (records about WA convicts in state library & elsewhere)
• Fremantle Prison – http://www.fremantleprison.com    (See also WA convict database & articles under 'History')
• Police Gazettes of Western Australia – http://slwa.wa.gov.au/find/wa_resources/police_gazettes   (police & criminals in WA - & some elsewhere)

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General

• Australian convict colonies map – http://goo.gl/maps/Vk2Y    (my map of convict colonies in Australia)
• Ancestry.com (Convict Collection) – http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/group/AUConvicts    (indents, musters, pardons & more, costs)
• Australian Royalty – http://australianroyalty.net.au/search.php?ged=purnellmccord.ged   (information about convicts & their descendants)
• Bushrangers and Convict Bolters – http://www.australianhistory.org/bushrangers   (information about bushrangers & convict escapees)
• Bushranging Act (1830) – http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/lawdemo/DOCS/BUSH.htm   (law to suppress bushrangers, led to certificates of freedom for ex-convicts - & harassment of free settlers)
• Claim a Convict – http://www.hawkesbury.net.au/claimaconvict/   (contact other convict descendants)
• Convict Creations – http://www.convictcreations.com/   (information & interesting trivia about convicts)
• Convict Life – http://www.pilotguides.com/tv-shows/short-history-of-the-world/a-short-history-of-convict-australia/   (aspects of daily life for convicts)
• Convict Punishment – http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/federation/stories/s224687.htm   (article)
• Convict research: finding out further family history – http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/convict2    (guide)
• Convict research: how to trace a convict ancestor – http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/convicts-research    (guide)
• Convict Stockade – http://www.historyaustralia.org.au/twconvic/tiki-index.php    (gateway site)
• Convict Transportation Registers Database – http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/convicts   (index of convict transportation registers, incomplete)
• Convict Women – http://tinyurl.com/6orcr6u   ("Whores, damned whores and female convicts: Why our history does early Australian colonial women a grave injustice")
• Convicts transported from South Australia – http://www.jaunay.com/convicts.html   (those tried in SA courts, see also subscription site findmypast.com.au)
• Cora Num's Convict Records – http://coraweb.com.au/convict.htm    (gateway site, also excellent book on convict sources)
• Fellowship of First Fleeters – http://www.fellowshipfirstfleeters.org.au   (for descendants of all those who came on First Fleet)
• 'Liberty or Life!': The Convict Pirates of the Wellington – http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2009/12/20/%E2%80%98liberty-or-life%E2%80%99-the-convict-pirates-of-the-wellington/    (article about convict escapees, pirates & public sympathy)
• The influence of convicts on Australia – http://www.lifepaths360.com/index.php/australian-convicts-influenced-infrastructure-language-folklore-and-the-national-character-6689/    (convict impact on language, music, skills)
• Trove – http://trove.nla.gov.au    (digitised newspapers, photos & much more)