Volunteer projects
We have a variety of volunteer projects at present:
Conservation
Volunteers working in the conservation section perform a range of tasks which include cleaning, flattening and reboxing records. This is a very popular program and volunteers are rotated regularly.
Convict records
Index to Convict Pardons
Pardons reduced a portion of the sentence a convict was required to serve. This index records the convict's name, ship and year of arrival, type of pardon, date of pardon if recorded, item number, page and microfilm reel number and remarks.
Volunteers have now indexed over 8000 names!
Index to Ticket of Leave Passports
Ticket of leave passports allowed convicts holding tickets of leave to travel between certain points, visit a certain place or to attend the city markets for a specified period of time.
This index has been completed and contains over 11,000 names!
Maps and Plans
The aim of this project is to list all of the maps and plans in the State archives collection on Archives Investigator. Understandably it is a very lengthy project! At present the hotel plans are being listed.
Other plans that have been listed include the building plans from the Colonial Architect and the plans from the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board.
Orphan Schools
This index lists a number of series of records relating to the Orphan Schools which were run by the colonial government of New South Wales.
The index records the date of petition or entry into the school, child's name, age, parents' names (where given), name of petitioner and reason for petition (such as admission/return of child or employment of child) item, page and reel/COD number.
Photographs from the Aborigines Welfare Board
This project has been completed. There are over 1000 photographs in this record series dating from c.1924–61. There is a mixture of official and personal photographs.
The photographs of an official nature show reserves, stations, homes and schools with interior and exterior views of accommodation and housing projects. Also included are photographs of pupils and teachers, station managers and matrons.
The photographs of people range from formal studio portraits (mainly female wards in the 1920’s) to snapshots in the 1950’s and 1960’s. They show Aboriginal people participating in many activities, such as football, basketball, cricket, swimming, gardening and attending school.
Photographs of Doctors
This project has been completed. Volunteers listed the photographs from the NSW Medical Board to be made available on Archives Investigator.
Probate Packets
This volunteer task involved data entry from the original records. The names on the Probate Packets are listed in order to be searchble via Archives Investigator. Over 12 000 packets have been completed!
Soldier Settlement
This is quite an involved project as the Soldier Settlement files have not been previously indexed. Volunteers working on this project have produced a guide to the records (available at the WSRC reading room) and are now indexing the records.
