Convicts research to Australia

Post Reply
User avatar
Tony Oz
Posts: 4283
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 11:00 pm
Location: Victoria Oz

Convicts research to Australia

Post by Tony Oz »

A PENAL COLONY.

N.S.W ( New South Wales )
In 1788, the eleven ships of the First Fleet landed their 'cargo' of around 780 British convicts at Botany Bay in New South Wales. Two more convict fleets arrived in 1790 and 1791, and the first free settlers arrived in 1793.
From 1788 to 1823, the Colony of New South Wales was officially a penal colony comprised mainly of convicts, marines and the wives of the marines.

The early convicts were all sent to Botany Bay, but by the early 1800s they were also being sent directly to destinations such as Norfolk Island, Van Diemen's Land,(Tasmania ) Port Macquarie and Moreton Bay.

Twenty per cent of these first convicts were women. The majority of women convicts, and many free women seeking employment, were sent to the 'female factories' as unassigned women. The female factories were originally profit-making textile factories. The Parramatta Factory grew as an enclave for pregnant women and also served as an orphanage from the 1830s.

While the vast majority of the convicts to Australia were English (70%), Irish (24%) or Scottish (5%), the convict population had a multicultural flavour. Some convicts had been sent from various British outposts such as India and Canada. There were also Maoris from New Zealand, Chinese from Hong Kong and slaves from the Caribbean.

TASMANIA:
The colony of Van Diemen's Land was established in its own right in 1825 and officially became known as Tasmania in 1856. In the 50 years from 1803-1853 around 75,000 convicts were transported to Tasmania. By 1835 there were over 800 convicts working in chain-gangs at the infamous Port Arthur penal station, which operated between 1830 and 1877.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA:
Western Australia was established in 1827 and proclaimed a British penal settlement in 1849 with the first convicts arrived in 1850. Rottnest Island, off the coast of Perth, became the colony's convict settlement in 1838 and was used for local colonial offenders.

VICTORIA:
In 1851 Victoria (Port Phillip District) separated from New South Wales. Apart from the early attempts at settlement, the only convicts sent directly to Victoria from Britain were about 1,750 convicts known as the 'Exiles'. They arrived between 1844 and 1849. They were also referred to as the 'Pentonvillians' because most of them came from Pentonville Probationary Prison in England.

QUEENSLAND:
In 1859 Queensland separated from New South Wales. In 1824, the penal colony at Redcliffe was established by Lieutenant John Oxley. Known as the Moreton Bay Settlement, it later moved to the site now called Brisbane. The main inhabitants of 'Brisbane Town', as it was known, were the convicts of the Moreton Bay Penal Station until it was closed in 1839. Around 2,280 convicts were sent to the settlement in those fifteen years.

South Australia, and the Northern Territory of South Australia, never accepted convicts directly from England, but still had many ex-convicts from the other States. After they had been given limited freedom, many convicts were allowed to travel as far as New Zealand to make a fresh start, even if they were not allowed to return home to England.

The last shipment of convicts disembarked in Western Australia in 1868, ...'Hougoumont' On January 9, 1868, Australia's last convict ship.

SOME CONVICT TATTOOS & POSSIBLE MEANINGS
Anchor = Hope and constancy
Man carrying anchor = I carry my hopes with me
Man beside upside down anchor = I have lost all hope
Woman holding scales and an anchor = I have hope in justice
Anchor and crucifix = I have hope in salvation

******************************************************
If you have a Convict link to Australia in N.S.W...Before 1828 they may be on my 1828 Census cd of N.S.W.( New South Wales ).
Sentenced to Life Convicts were allowed to re-marry, even if they had a spouse back in the U.K.

Many female convicts sent out for short terms eg: ( 7 years )
did not always complete there sentence, especially if they were taken as wifes of ex-convict males. Male convicts after freedom could take a convict wife to shorten her term. These women would become servants/housecleaners/cooks, and eventually in some cases Ex- male convict wifes.....( as did my own wifes G,G,Great grandparents in Tasmania)



Many short term and/or long term convicts changed or altered there surnames and or forenames after they were freed, as to save face. Many also used a second given name as a first name. So if you are researching a possible surname link to a convict in Australia and cannot find him/her, it is best to try variation's of the surname you are researching as well.

Abbreviations used on convict records:

AP: Absolute Pardon

CCF: Colonial Certificate of Freedom

CF: Certificate of Freedom

CP: Conditional Pardon

fbs: free by servitude

TEGL: Ticket of Exemption from Government Labour

TL: Ticket of Leave

VDL: Van Diemen's Land ( Tasmania )

Cheers. Tony



CONVICT SITES AND LINKS AUSTRALIA:

CLAIM A CONVICT:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/convicts/

CONVICTS:
http://www.brandis.com.au/links/convicts.html

CONVICTS, PLUS MANY LINKS:
http://library.trinity.wa.edu.au/subjec ... ealogy.htm

INDEX TO GAOL PHOTOGRAPHS N.S.W
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/g ... uction.htm

N.S.W CONVICTS RECORDS:
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/c ... ecords.htm

FREEMANTLE and W.A LINKS:
http://www.fremantleprison.com.au/

FEMALE CONVICTS ABOARD 'LADY JULIANA' 1790
http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/c ... nfem4.html

PROCEEDINGS OF THE OLD BAILEY
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/

TRANSPORTATION OF IRISH CONVICT TO AUSTRALIA ( Name SEARCH )
TRANSPORTATION RECORD DATA BASE:
http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/t ... rch01.html

IRISH REBELS TO AUSTRALIA
http://members.pcug.org.au/~ppmay/

N.S.W STATE ARCHIVES
1.Click on 'State Archives'
2.Click on 'Index's on-line'
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/

N.S.W GENEALOGY CONVICT LINKS
http://www.genealogylinks.net/australia ... nvicts.htm

FREMANTLE CONVICT DATA BASE ( W.A )
http://www.fremantleprison.com.au/history/history6.cfm

CRIMINAL AND COURT RECORDS ( N.S.W/TASMANIA/VICTORIA )
http://www.coraweb.com.au/criminal.htm
http://www.coraweb.com.au/convict.htm

CONVICTS AND THE BRITISH COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/ ... /convicts/

CONVICT SHIPS TO AUSTRALIA AND CONVICTS
http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/

http://members.optusnet.com.au/lenorefr ... pslog.html

'Click on Databases'
http://web.ecorner.com.au/epages/sag.st ... /Shops/sag

CONVICT RESEARCH
http://www.ulladulla.info/fhc/convict.html

SOUTH AUSTRALIA TRANSPORTED CONVICTS 1837 -1851
http://www.jaunay.com/convicts.html

TASMANIA: ( Scroll down to Tasmanian Convicts )
http://portal.archives.tas.gov.au/menu.aspx?search=2

INDEX OF TASMANIAN CONVICTS ( Permission to marry )
http://www.rootsweb.com/~austas/convictsdw.htm

PORT ARTHUR HISTORIC SITE
http://www.portarthur.org.au/

TASMANIA: ROSS FEMALE FACTORY
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/historic/vi ... intro.html

FEMALE FACTORY RESEARCH GROUP ( Tasmania )
http://www.femalefactory.com.au/FFRG/timeline.htm

FREEMANTLE and W.A LINKS:
http://www.fremantleprison.com.au/

CONVICTS SENT TO NEW ZEALAND!
'The Boys from Parkhurst Prison'
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/park ... icts4.html

JAMACIAN CONVICTS TO AUSTRALIA
http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Sam ... nvicts.htm

ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA
DEVON ( U.K ) CONVICT TO AUSTRALIA
http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonInd ... ewell.html

LINCOLNSHIRE Convicts transported to Australia, Gibraltar and Bermuda
http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/section.asp?catId=6722

NOTTINGHAM TRANSPORTATIONS
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com ... tions.html

YORK ASSIZES 1785 - 1851
http://www.yorkfamilyhistory.org.uk/assizes.htm

INTOLERABLE HULKS
http://intolerablehulks.com/index.html

INVERAY JAIL
http://www.inverarayjail.co.uk/

COUNTY DOWNS
http://www.downcountymuseum.com/templat ... aName=Home

FAMOUS CONVICTS SENT TO AUSTRALIA ( scroll to bottom of page )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convictism_in_Australia

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR CONVICT STUDIES.
http://iccs.arts.utas.edu.au/
Image
Do not go where the path may lead,go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests