Australia Court Records

Online Records

 * The Old Bailey Sessions.org Has England records of convictions leading to transportation to Australia
 * Austlii Advanced Search

Background
Court records contain information about individuals who were involved in a number of matters, including those mentioned below. Details about Australian convicts are often found in court records. Most court records provide names of individuals who served as defendants, plaintiffs, jurors, or witnesses. They may also provide such information as the individual’s residence, occupation, physical description, and family.

District magistrates’ court
Handled cases of petty crimes, such as theft, breaches of peace, and drunkenness.

Quarter Session courts
Quarter Sessions were also known as Petty Sessions and handled both civil and criminal cases.

State Library of New South Wales has a good guide to finding and using Quarter Sessions Court Records at State Library of New South Wales, CONVICTS: BOUND FOR AUSTRALIA, Quarter Sessions Court records, 1723-1878

England's quarter sessions (court) records can prove valuable in the search to discover just where in the country a convict ancestor came from. Numerous convicts to the Australian colonies were processed and tried, convicted and sentenced to be "transported" at The Old Bailey Sessions, one of two major quarter session courts, in Middlesex. See their online database for searching for ancestors' names: The Old Bailey Sessions.org Last place of residence and occasional place of birth may be cited in these session records. This is a great place to start your search of a convict's origins in especially England.

Supreme courts
Handled divorces, bankruptcies, insolvencies, and naturalizations. Some of the functions of the supreme courts were later transferred to the federal courts. The federal courts were established in 1911 and tried the most serious and indictable offenses, such as murder and manslaughter.

Austlii Advanced Search

Coroner’s courts
These investigated unusual deaths. Records dealing with these matters included the deceased’s name, age, and place of death. Newspapers often reported the dealings of the coroner’s courts, which may provide additional information such as the names of the descendant’s spouse and children and reports of witnesses.

Police Gazette
Each state published a government or police gazette. These gazettes included information about individuals who appeared before the courts and individuals who were employed by the government or who held public offices (school teachers, constables, or postmasters). The gazettes also gave details about land grants and transfers, leases, mining claims, runaway convicts, and individuals who were granted various licenses.

Locating Court Records
Court records can be found in national archives, state archives, and other local repositories and libraries. For further information about these archives, see the Archives and Libraries article and the Wiki Court Records article for each state. State archives have published guides to their court record holdings.