Australia Convict Records

Australia Convict Records

Convicts first arrived in Australia in 1788, when the British government established a penal colony at Port Jackson, Sydney Bay. Records about convicts transported to Australia are numerous and play a major role in Australian family history research.

History of Transportation to Australia
New South Wales holds more convict records than any other state. Of the approximately 150,000 convicts transported to Australia from Great Britain between 1788 and 1850, nearly 90,000 of them went to the region of New South Wales, which then covered a substantial portion of Australia. To learn more, see the following resources.
 * Convict Records at State Records NSW
 * Irish Convicts to NSW 1788-1849
 * Australia's First Fleet - 1788
 * First Fleet This registry contains the names of over 123,000 convicts
 * Female Prisoners
 * Male Prisoners By 1829, convicts or ex-convicts made up approximately 65 percent of the population of New South Wales. The ex-convicts had received either a ticket of leave, a certificate of freedom, or a pardon. * Tasmania Convicts
 * National Archives
 * Victoria Scroll down to 'Digitised Records Online' and select either Male or Female. Some counties in England have records of convicts transported:
 * Lincolnshire Enter what you know about the person, when the name(s) are shown, click on the name for more information.
 * York Assizes Scroll down to the alphabetical list and click on the range for the surname.

First Fleet
The first fleet of ships carrying convicts to Australia arrived first in Tasmania. First Fleet Online contains a searchable database of those in this fleet.

Handbooks and Guides
Indexes and records of convicts are available in a variety of formats including microfiche, microfilm, book and CD. Some indexes and guides are available on the internet and generally provide information for further research in material in State Archives and libraries. See Convicts to Australia - A Guide to Researching your Convict Ancestors.

Following the American Revolutionary War, the government could not longer ship convicts to the Americas. The punishment of transportation for a crime tried in London by the Old Bailey Court resulted in exile to Australia. Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1834 contains records related to convicts. The site can be search by several categories, including by name for the punishment resulting in transportation.

A partial index of convicts arriving in Australia is available at Claim a Convict.

Tickets of leave
Issued to convicts having served about half of their sentences with good behavior. These tickets allowed convicts to seek employment as they wished, limited their movement to a certain district for the remainder of their sentences. Prior to 1828, bench magistrates granted tickets of leave and approved applications for convicts to marry. The actual ticket of leave was issued to the convict; the government retained the ticket of leave butts. Ticket of leave butts listed the convict’s name, ship, and date of arrival, native place, trade or calling, date and place of trial and sentence, a physical description, and the district to which he or she was confined.

Certificates of Freedom
A document stating that a convict's sentence had been served and was usually given to convicts with a 7, 10 or 14 year sentence or when they received a pardon. Convicts with a life sentence could receive a Pardon, but not a Certificate of Freedom. The Certificate of Freedom number was sometimes annotated on the indent or noted on a Ticket of Leave Butt. Colonial Certificates of Freedom relate to sentences received for offenses committed after arrival in the colony. The government retained certificates of freedom butts, which were similar to ticket of leave butts.

Pardons
Both conditional and absolute, were generally granted to convicts with life sentences. Conditional pardons required that the ex-convict never return to the British Isles or his or her pardon would be void. Absolute pardons allowed an ex-convict to return to the British Isles if he or she wished. Pardons contain information similar to tickets of leave.

Ellis, Eilish. Free Settlers in New South Wales in 1828. The article lists those convicts whose good conduct had entitled them to apply to have their wives and children sent out to join them in N.S.W. at the expense of the Crown, and the names of those returned as having actually embarked for Australia. The article gives Name, Ship, wife's maiden name, number of children, residence to who known, covers most counties of Ireland. years 1828-1855. Article in The Irish Ancestor, vol. XI,no.2.1979, pages 95-107, Family History Library Ref. 941.5 B2i vol.10-11.

Convict indents
Lists that were made when convicts arrived on transport ships. Information given in indents is similar to that in tickets of leave but also includes a convict’s marital status and number of children and whether the convict was literate.


 * New South Wales index to convict indents for 1788–1842 is held by the Archives Office of New South Wales.
 * Tasmania received more than 60,000 convicts from Great Britain in addition to convicts from other colonies. The ticket of leave butts and certificate of freedom butts for the over 67,000 convicts sent to Tasmania have not survived. The main records for Tasmanian convicts are the convict conduct registers. Information contained in these registers are similar to the tickets of leave and certificates of freedom. Description lists are also available for Tasmanian convicts and give detailed descriptions of the convicts. See Index to convict applications for permission to marry 1829-1857.
 * Western Australia Swan River Convicts 1850-1868.
 * South Australia never received convicts. See South Australian transported convicts 1837-1851 and Adelaide Gaol executions.
 * Victoria and Queensland did not become separate, self-governing colonies until after convict transportation to eastern Australia ceased. Thus, these areas do not have convict records. Technically, during the transportation era, no convicts were transported to the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, however convicts did find their way to the District. Please observe the copyright requirements for the following site: PRO Victoria - Convict Records. Another site worth checking is  State Library of Queensland scroll down to 'Find a Convict' and enter the given name followed by the surname.

Family History Library
The Family History Library has copies of the following:


 * Guide to the convict records in the Archives Office of New South Wales. Sydney, Australia: The Archives Authority, 1970. ( or Item 5.)

Records about convicts are found under several topics in the FamilySearch Catalog. Use the Place Search under:


 * AUSTRALIA - CONVICT RECORDS
 * AUSTRALIA, [STATE - CONVICT RECORDS]
 * AUSTRALIA - CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS

The Family History Library has a large collection of records generated by correctional institutions. Correctional institutions, including jails and penal colonies, created many valuable genealogical records. Such records include jail entrance and charge books, musters of convicts and prisoners, registers of sentences and punishments, registers of prisoner conduct, petitions for mitigation of sentences, and registers of sentences remitted or commuted. Additional Correctional Institutions records are available by adding a State or Town to the Place Search:

Go to and enter the words CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS as the residence. Go to and enter the name of the STATE and then CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS as the residence. Go to and enter the name of the STATE and then the TOWN as the residence.

Related topics include:


 * AUSTRALIA - COURT RECORDS
 * AUSTRALIA - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION
 * AUSTRALIA - PUBLIC RECORDS
 * AUSTRALIA - PUBLIC RECORDS

For Further Reading
The following books are good sources for further information about convicts and the English penal and transportation systems:


 * Bateson, Charles. The Convict Ships. 2nd ed. Glasgow, Scotland: Brown, Son &amp; Ferguson, 1969. (FHL book 994 H2b.)


 * Cobley, John F. C. C. The Crimes of the First Fleet Convicts. Sydney, Australia: Angus &amp; Robertson, 1970. (FHL book 994 P2c.)


 * Hughes, Robert. The Fatal Shore. New York, NY, USA: Alfred A. Knoft, 1987. (FHL book 994 H2hr.)