CONVICT RECORDS
Web Sites for Genealogists
- An Australian site for tracing your family history by Cora Number

CATEGORIES
* General
* Trial, Gaol & Transportation Records
* Hulks
* Australan Capital Territory
* New South Wales
* South Australia
* Tasmania
* Victoria
* Western Australia

General
Ancestry.com.au. This commercial site offers access to the Convict Transportation Registers 1788-1868 . These are arranged by First Fleet 1787-1788, Second Fleet 1789-1790, Third Fleet 1791 and other fleets, and ships 1791-1868. Convict musters 1806-1849, convict pardons 1834-1859, convict lists 1787-1834 and the 1828 census are also available. The records are fully indexed with a free surname search. A variety of subscription options offer access to digitised copies of the original records.

State Library of Queensland - Convict Transportation Registers Database 1787-1867. This database, compiled from British Home Office (HO11) records, details over 123,000 of the estimated 160,000 convicts to Australia. It lists name, sentence details, ship, departure date, arrival date and place for those convicted in England, Wales and Scotland, not Ireland. Court-martialled soldiers from British colonies (West Indies, India, Pakistan and Canada.) sentenced to transportation are also included. It also offers the facility to post comments on the convict records as a way of sharing information. The dates of conviction are being added to each record as an ongoing project.

Convicts to Australia - A Guide to Researching your Convict Ancestors by the Perth DPS. This site contains information on many aspects of the convict system and includes a glossary, bibliography and extensive online convict databases.
personally love this page - it has links to:
* Vimeira - arrived in WA in 1865
* Research Guide
* Timeline 1718 - 1011
* Convict Ships to Australia
* Western Australian Convicts 1850-1868
* NSW Convict Women
* Convict Tales - huge page of colourful accounts of individual convicts and the shps they arrived on
* Links to indexes and lists of Convicts

Convict Ships ? Medical Journals 1816-1867. This index by Graham Thom is designed to help you access medical journals that were kept by surgeons on convict ships, 1816-1856 (mostly to Australia) and on emigrant ships 1825-1853 bound for Australia and New Zealand. The original records are held by the National Archives (Kew) at Admiralty 101 and Ministry of Transport 32. They are available on film through the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP). For details of the AJCP and how to access these records see Australian Joint Copying Project .

Surgeons at Sea - Royal Navy Medical Officers' Journals (ADM 101). This project is indexing all the names mentioned in the journals and diaries compiled by Royal Navy surgeons and assistant surgeons who served on HM ships, hospitals, naval brigades, shore parties and on emigrant and convict ships 1793 to 1880. Digital copies of some of the journals are available online (free) and include these convict ships to New South Wales: Albion 1828, Eliza 1822, John Barry 1821 Ocean 1817/1818 and Juliana 1838/1839 (emigrant ship). New


Convicts Australia by Jenny Fawcett offers access to many useful online convict indexes. It is no longer being maintained as it was superseded by the Genseek Genealogy site which is currently not available.

Swing Riots & Rioters.com by Jill Chambers includes detailed information on the Swing Riots of 1830 and 1831. There are details on the machine breakers, rioters and protestors many of whom were transported to Australia. The site also includes the name, age, place & date of trial, and sentence of those on board the Eliza to Tasmania 1831, the Eleanor to New South Wales 1831 and the Proteus to Tasmania 1831.

John Owen Smith's site details some of the personalities associated with the Selborne & Headley (Hampshire) Workhouse Riots in 1830. Over 345 men were tried for disturbances in Hampshire before a Special Commission at Winchester 20th-30th December 1830. This site details the 22 who were committed for troubles in and around Selborne and Headley.

To the Outskirts of Habitable Creation - 1837 Rebellion American and Canadian Transportees are listed on this page plus links to other useful information and databases.

Trial, Gaol and Transportation Records
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey London 1674 to 1913. A free searchable digital collection of 197,745+ trials held at London's central criminal court. All names are indexed including victims, witnesses and jurors.

Ancestry.com. This commercial site offers access to the England and Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892. These registers list those charged with a crime and provide details of the charge, trial, and sentence (if convicted) and other outcomes such as transportation or execution. These records are fully indexed and the original images are available. There is a variety of subscription options available.

Use the National Archives (UK) Catalogue to search the Judges' Reports on Criminals (1783-1830) which include original letters and reports from judges on cases and criminals plus petitions for commutation of sentence or free pardon. Enter a surname, place or crime committed plus HO47 for access. Detailed information on a case is available from the catalogue file description.

Ireland-Australia Transportation Database (1791-1868) is an online index to a series of records held by the National Archives of Ireland. In 1988 the Archives presented Australia with a set of these records, on 105 reels of microfilm, as Ireland's Bicentennial gift to Australia. This set of records is held by the National Library of Australia, State Library New South Wales, Society of Australian Genealogists and the Kiama Family History Centre.

Bedfordshire Gaol Register 1801-1901. This ongoing project currently has 1801-1879 (with gaps) available. New updates are added on a weekly basis. Details given vary but can include name, age, hair colour, height, crime, dates of commital and trial, sentence and means of disposal e.g. release, death, transportation etc.

Access to Archives. Use this site for details of those who appeared before the Cornwall Court of Quarter Sessions 1736-1852. From the Homepage select the Search these Catalogues option and on the next page select Cornwall Record Office under the Location of Archives option and click on Search. The Cornwall Record Office records are listed including the Quarter Sessions Records [QS/1/1-QS/1/12]. Select the View button on the right hand side of the screen to go to the full transcript of the original volumes for the time period you require.

Index to The Last Farewell: Devon Convicts Transported to Australia 1782-1821 by Jack Walton. This list includes names of 574 Devon convicts.

Museum's online database of 400 plus prisoners held in Down gaol plus the details of 1300 plus convicts from County Down who were transported to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.

Inveraray Jail, Argyll, Scotland. The Prison Database provides extensive details on those who were transported.

Kent Genealogy by Maureen Rawson includes indexes to East Kent (1682-1701) and West Kent (1734-1746; 1758-1804) quarter sessions; Maidstone gaol records and prisoners transported from Kent (1851-1852), listed under Miscellaneous.

Lancaster Castle Convict Database lists those tried and sentenced at Lancaster Assizes including those transported to Australia. The database lists name, age, trial date, offence and sentence.

Lincolnshire Convicts to Australia, Gibraltar and Bermuda. This site has an online database which details all Lincolnshire convicts known to have been transported between 1788-1868.

Transportation of Convicts from Nottingham by Philip Westwood. This site has an alphabetical list of convicts tried at Nottingham Borough Quarter Sessions Court and transported to Australia.

Warwickshire County Council. Select the letter R, then Record Office, then Online Catalogue and Databases for access to the Calendars of Prisoners Database. It lists prisoners held at Warwick, Birmingham and Coventry awaiting trial at the Courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions courts held in Warwick 1800-1900. Search by surname, crime, year of crime, location of crime and residence.

City of York & District Family History Society - York Assizes 1785-1851. An index to records of over 8,000 names held in York Reference library of prisoners brought to trial at York Assizes.

National Library of Wales - Crime and Punishment Database with data about crimes, criminals and punishments included in the gaol files of the Court of Great Sessions in Wales (1730-1830).

A List of Known Hulks for Ireland, Australia and England by Jenny Fawcett. It details hulk name, year, situated at and period of time. Jenny's main site Genseek Genealogy is no longer available.

The Intolerable Hulks: British Shipboard Confinement, 1776-1857. This site offers detailed information and illustrations of the York, Discovery, Warrior, Success, Defense and Bellerophon hulks.


Society of Australian Genealogists online Research Guides includes Convict Hulks.

Australian Capital Territory
The Canberra History Web - List of Convicts Canberra and District . This list includes those known to have been assigned to the Canbera district while either serving their sentence, or after gaining their ticket-of-leave. This developing site has individual convict profiles online where available and contributions are welcome.

New South Wales
State Records New South Wales - Indexes Online - Convicts includes a combined convict database search (120,000+ entries) which currently includes:
? Certificates of Freedom, 1823-1869
? Convict bank Accounts, 1837-1870
? Tickets of Exemption from Government Labor, 1827-1832
? Tickets of Leave, Certificates of Emancipation and Pardons, 1810-1819
? Tickets of Leave, 1810-1875
? Ticket of Leave Passports, 1835-1869
Other indexes available include Convict exiles (1846-1850) and Pardons (1791-1825, 1837-1841). Other indexes that may relate to convicts include Bench of Magistrates (1788-1820) and the Colonial Secretary Index (1788-1825).


Society of Australian Genealogist's online databases include an Index to NSW Convict Tickets of Leave, 1810-1875. This index can be searched on last name, first name, ship, year, trade or calling, or district.

The Mayberry Homepage by Peter Mayberry. This site features an Irish Convicts to NSW (1791-1849) Database which provides full details from the convict indents held by SRNSW. There is also information on Irish rebel convicts.

Claim-a-Convict by Lesley Uebel details over 21,000 convicts arriving at Port Jackson from 1788. This site enables descendants of convicts to make contact and share information. The FAQs page has a lot of useful information for researching a convict.

Free Settler or Felon is a searchable database of 140,000+ references to convicts, settlers, townsfolk, bushrangers, innkeepers, soldiers and land owners. Areas covered include Newcastle, Maitland, Paterson, Muswellbrook, Singleton, Raymond Terrace, Dungog, Morpeth, Wollombi, Central Coast, Murrurundi and Scone and more.

Tocal?s Convicts 1822-1840. This extensive site provides detailed information on 142 convicts who were assigned to the Tocal estate in the Hunter Valley of NSW at some stage during their sentence. It also details Tocal's Irish rebels and English rioters plus much more. New

State Library of New South Wales - From Terra Australis to Australia. This online collection of the library's First Fleet archive includes access to over 450 original documents and illustrations.

First Fleet Online has a searchable database of 780 First Fleet convicts plus many other resources.

Patricia Downes' Australian Pioneers site lists Arrivals in Sydney on the First, Second and Third Fleets. - over 170,000 views


Royal Admiral 1792 by Cathy Dunn includes background information and a complete list of all those aboard this ship.


Convict Trail Caring for the Great North Road includes a detailed history of the road built (1826-1836) to connect Sydney with Newcastle and the Upper Hunter Valley. There is a database of convicts who worked on the road plus a location list of the road gangs and details of the overseers.

South Australia
Graham Jaunay's South Australian Transported Convicts, (1837-1851). Lists convict's name, crime, date and sentence.

Family History South Australia's Persons Lost and Found by M Leadbeater. This database (1838-1880), compiled from South Australian Police Gazettes and early SA Government Gazettes, lists (amongst others) Persons Lost & Found 1 1838 to 1910 This database of 25,400 deserters from wives, families, ships, military and other service (eg apprenticeships and work contracts), the deserted, those failing to support their families, missing persons, escaped prisoners, absconders from asylums and industrial schools, convict expirees arriving from other colonies, and bigamists has been compiled from South Australian Police Gazettes, early SA Government Gazettes, and registers of ship deserters at the National Archives of Australia.

Tasmania
Archives Office of Tasmania - Index to Tasmanian Convicts lists all convicts (76,000+) transported to Tasmania and those convicted locally through the convict system. There is also an Index to Convict Applications for Permission to Marry (1829-1857).

Archives Office of Tasmania Convict Records Online. Most of the convict records for Tasmania have now been digitised and are available online (free). This ongoing project will place any remaining records online as they become available. Further information about these records and how to view them online is available at this site.

Founders & Survivors is a partnership between historians, genealogists, demographers and population health researchers. It seeks to record and study the founding population of 73,000 men women and children who were transported to Tasmania. The site is searchable by name with links to digital images if available. New

Female Factory Research Group Female Family Founders Database aims to record all female convicts who spent time in Van Diemen's Land. This site also offers access to an extensive collection of lists relating to female convicts.

Tasmanian Convict Record Abbreviations by Maree Ring includes names, occupations and place names plus other useful information.

Convict Ships List by M Yost. An alphabetical list (incomplete) of ships to Tasmania with departure and arrival details convict numbers, remarks and sources. Convicts listed by researchers on the Tasmanian Convict Index are also listed with their ship's voyage in this index, plus contact details.

Sue Wyatt's site details the Convicts who Settled in the Sorell Area of Van Diemen's Land.

Indexes of Tasmanian Convicts includes a Tasmanian Convict Index, permission to marry; conditional pardons; free males who became prisoners and assignment lists.

Port Arthur Historic Site details the convict research project to identify the Port Arthur convicts.

The Cascades Female Factory Historic Site. The Cascades Female Factory was officially opened in 1828. It was the female equivalent of Port Arthur housing female convicts and children.

Parks & Wildlife Service Tasmania - Guide to Tasmania's Historic Places - Ross Female Factory.

Victoria
Public Record Office Victoria Online Digitised Records include the Register of Convicts, 1838-1852, with details of convicts in the Port Phillip District. The Register, Police Magistrate, Portland, 1840-1853 includes, amongst other things, particulars of Ticket of Leave holders and a list of convicts who had obtained their freedom.

The Westernport Settlement 1826-1828 (Corinella VIC). John Graham's list of military personnel, convicts and civilians involved in this experimental settlement. Includes biographical information.

Western Australia
Convicts to Australia by Perth DPS for detailed information on transportation to Western Australia. Full Convict Lists for all the convict transports to WA are available online. These include physical descriptions and trial details for the convicts.

Fremantle Prison. This site has an online convict database which is searchable by surname or ship. A search returns detailed information on the convict including ship and arrival date, alias, birth date, marital status, occupation, literacy, religion, sentence details, crime and ticket of leave date.

State Records Office of Western Australia online Collection Guides include Convict Records which details the downloadable indexes, by Anne and Bruce Buchanan, to a series of convict related letters in the correspondence of the Governor of Western Australia 1851-1868.


SEE ALSO
... Criminal and Court Records
- that link has links to:
NSW Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales, 1788-1899.
State Records New South Wales, Indexes Online, Court
Braidwood Gaol Entrance Book (1856-1899)
QUEENSLAND
Queensland State Archives. Index to Registers of Criminal Depositions (1861-1885).
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
State Records of South Australia
TASMANIA
Decisions of the Nineteenth Century Tasmanian Superior Courts.
VCTORIA
Public Record Office Victoria

... Convict era of Western Australia - the period during which Western Australia was a penal colony of the British Empire. Although it received small numbers of juvenile offenders from 1842, it was not formally constituted as a penal colony until 1849. Between 1850 and 1868, 9,721 convicts were transported to Western Australia on 43 convict ship voyages. Transportation ceased in 1868, but it would be many years until the colony ceased to have any convicts in its care
Contents:
1 - Convicts at King George Sound
2 - Free settlement to penal colony
2.1 - Introduction of Parkhurst apprentices
2.2 - Agitation for convicts
3 - Convict era
3.1 - Convict life
4 - End to transportation
5 - Later years
6 - see aso, List of convict ship voyages to Western Australia
Category:Convicts transported to Western Australia
Catalpa rescue
7 - References
8 - Further reading
9 - External links, Catalpa Rescue
Catalpa: Escape of the Fenians from Western Australia
Western Australian convict records

... Australian Convict Sites - a World Heritage property consisting of 11 remnant penal sites originally built within the British Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries on fertile Australian coastal strips at Sydney, Tasmania, Norfolk Island, and Fremantle; now representing
The 11 penal sites constituting the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage listed property:

* Cockatoo Island Convict Site (New South Wales)
* Great North Road (New South Wales)
* Hyde Park Barracks (New South Wales)
* Old Government House (New South Wales)
* Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area (Norfolk Island)
* Brickendon and Woolmers Estates (Tasmania)
* Cascades Female Factory (Tasmania)
* Coal Mines Historic Site (Tasmania)
* Darlington Probation Station (Tasmania)
* Port Arthur (Tasmania)
* Fremantle Prison (Western Australia)
- ... FREMANTLE PRISON - The 60,000 m? (15 acres) site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art. The prison was one of 11 former convict sites in Australia inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2010 as the Australian Convict Sites