Convicts

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://www.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)
• Convict Ships, Medical Journals 1816 to 1867 – http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/grthom/web/medjour.html    (How to research surgeons' journals)
• Crime, Punishment and Protest Through Time – http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/cpp/swing.htm    (Industrial and agrarian revolution led unemployed to protest, and some protesters transported as convicts)
• Down County Museum convict transportation – http://www.downcountymuseum.com/prisoners.aspx?area=1&aName=Home&textsize=    (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/residents/archives/family-history/lincolnshire-convicts-transported/    (Convicts transported to Australia, Gibraltar & Bermuda)
• 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://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jdriver/news/Transportations.html    (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://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/490.htm    (article, digitised records are on Ancestry.com)
• 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) Access to Archives – http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/    (search English county record offices and local archives)
• The National Archives (UK) Research guides – http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guide-listing.htm    ('C' for Crime and the law, courts, etc)
• The National Archives (UK) Podcasts – http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/default.htm?WT.lp=fh-pods    (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
     Transportation to Australia
• 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://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/3C3BECFC9AF8FC7B80256E7E0056B9FE    (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 Orish Convicts 1825-1840 (Ancestry.com.au) – http://www.ancestry.com.au    (costs)
• York Assizes 1785 - 1851 – http://www.yorkfamilyhistory.org.uk/assizes.htm    (Assizes courts heard 'major' crimes)

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New South Wales

• NSW State Records – http://www.records.nsw.gov.au     (Convict indexes, Colonial Secretary's Papers - and more - select 'Indexes Online')
      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.transcriptions.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/grouplist.aspx?group=AUConvicts    (indents, musters, pardons & more, costs)
• Castle Hill Convict Rebellion 1804 – http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/castle_hill_convict_rebellion_1804    (article)
• Convict Tickets of Leave – http://www.sag.org.au    (Convicts allowed to be self-employed, select 'Databases', then 'NSW Tickets of Leave')
• Convict Trail: Caring for the Great North Road – http://www.convicttrail.org/    (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://www.hht.net.au/discover/highlights/guidebooks/hyde_park_barracks_museum_guidebook2   (Convict barracks in Sydney)
• Newcastle Penal Settlement – http://www.newcastle.edu.au/group/amrhd/awaba/history/convicts.html    (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, Chronological register of prisoners 1824-1839 – http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/research/index/ChronogicalRegisterPrisoners.asp    (Brisbane area)
• Pre Separation Resource Guide – http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/downloads/TRIM%20%20Pre%20Separation%20Resource%20Guide%20.pdf    (Records relating to Queensland when it was still part of NSW)

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Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land)

• Archives Office of Tasmania – http://www.archives.tas.gov.au/nameindexes/   (search for convict by name then follow hyperlinks to many digitised records)
• Becoming Tasmania – http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/php/BecomingTasmania/BTMainPage.htm    (extracts from book primarily about convicts)
• Colonial Secretary's Office guide – http://www.archives.tas.gov.au/guides/CSO_guide.pdf    (detailed guide to records)
• Convict Department guide – http://www.archives.tas.gov.au/guides/Con_guide.pdf    (detailed guide to records)
• "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)
• Female Convicts Research Group – http://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/   (lists of female convicts, their children, and those who worked with them, also magistrates & convict ships)
• Female Factory (Cascades, Tasmania) – http://www.femalefactory.com.au/   (information about institution & convicts housed there)
• 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)
• Tasmanian Convict Record Abbreviations – http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~austashs/convicts/conabbrev.html   (commonly used abbreviations)

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Victoria (was NSW until 1851)

• Courts and Criminal Justice - Convict Records – http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/PROVguides/PROVguide057/PROVguide057.jsp   (guide to Public Record Office Victoria)
• 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

• Colonial Secretary's Office Records – http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/collection/colonial.asp   (records at State Records Office of Western Australia)
• Convict Central – http://www.convictcentral.com/index.html   (Convict history, WA convicts & guards, all convict ships, NSW Convict women & bibliography)
• Convict Records – http://www.sro.wa.gov.au/collection/convict.asp   (records at State Records Office of Western Australia)
• 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://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/find/e-resources/police_gazettes   (police & criminals in WA - & some elsewhere)
• Western Australian Genealogy Society, Convict Group – http://wags.org.au/o/wags-special-interest-groups/convict/   (records held, will do research)

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General

• Ancestry.com (Convict Collection) – http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/grouplist.aspx?group=AUConvicts    (indents, musters, pardons & more, costs)
• Australian Royalty – http://www.easystreetretreat.com.au/australianroyalty/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.claimaconvict.net/   (contact other convict descendants)
• Convict Creations – http://www.convictcreations.com/   (information & interesting trivia about convicts)
• Convict Life – http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/pacific/australia/convict_australia/convict_life.php   (aspects of daily life for convicts)
• Convict Punishment – http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/federation/stories/s224687.htm   (article)
• Convict Stockade – http://www.historyaustralia.org.au/twconvic/tiki-index.php    (gateway site)
• Convict Transportation Registers Database – http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/info/fh/convicts/about   (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)
• 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.helium.com/items/1786032-the-influence-of-convicts-on-australia    (convict impact on language, music, skills)
• Trove – http://trove.nla.gov.au    (digitised newspapers)