Using the ARK - Convict records

The 'Convict Indents' provide a great deal of information about individual convicts-more as the transportation period continued. The details given always include name, date and place of trial, and sentence. Later volumes also record age, literacy, religion, marital status, number of male and female children, native place, trade or calling, offence, former convictions, and detailed physical description.

Indexes

The Genealogical Society of Victoria has published an index on microfiche to these records. Enquiries should be addressed to:

The Genealogical Society of Victoria
PO Box 4332 MELBOURNE VIC 3000

Convicts can also be traced through the following indexes which are included in the microfiche set of Convict arrivals:

Chronological Lists of Convicts on Transports

• Convict ships to NSW (PDF, 220kb)
• Convict ships to Van Diemens Land (PDF, 122kb)

An Index to convict indents, 1837-42, NRS 12191 [Fiche 803-806] is also available as part of the kit.

Item List

A modified version of Appendix A-1 of the Guide to Convict Records in the Archives Office of New South Wales Supplement has been reproduced below for convenience. However, the published Supplement, which is in the kit, should be consulted when using these microfiche as it provides much more detailed information on these records and their arrangement on the microfiche.

A ticket of leave allowed a convict to work for his own benefit and to acquire property on the conditions that he resided within a prescribed area, attended a muster every few months and attended church weekly (if within a reasonable distance).The register records number of ticket, name, ship and year of arrival, when and where convicted, sentence, native place, calling, year of birth, height, complexion, hair, eyes, date of ticket, district, and general remarks.

Index

A typescript index to this volume has been prepared by State Records and is filmed on Fiche 752. In order to locate an entry in the register, the index should be searched for the convict's name; having located the convict, particular note should be taken of the second number in the Ticket of Leave (TL) No. column, ie. the number after the oblique.

Item List

A conditional pardon remitted the remainder of a convict's sentence, on the condition that the person did not return to Great Britain. It was usually only given to convicts who had long sentences, such as fourteen years or life.Varying degrees of information on convicts pardoned are provided, such as number and date of pardon, name, ship and year of arrival, native place, trade and calling, offence, place and date of trial, sentence, year of birth, height, complexion, and colour of hair and eyes. The register is generally more detailed from June 1810 (page 50).

Index

There is an index in the front of the volume which is located at the beginning of Fiche 820.

Item List

An absolute pardon unconditionally remitted the remainder of a convict's sentence. As with conditional pardons, it was usually only given to convicts who had long sentences, such as fourteen years or life.

For the period 1791-1810, this register is only a list of persons receiving absolute pardons (showing number, date of pardon, and name until the commencement of Macquarie's administration, and then from 17 March 1810 to 24 August 1825 providing much fuller details). The first volume also contains manuscript copies of the pardons from 1 December 1830-26 February 1842 (on pages 68 to 194). The other volumes contain duplicates of the actual pardons.

This series and series below are located on the same microfilm.

Index

There is an index in the front of each volume.

Item List

In the early years of the Colony, most marriages followed the publication of banns in a church on three successive Sundays. Convicts were married by banns having first sought official permission.

These registers record the names of the parties applying for permission to marry, their ages, the date of permission or refusal, ship of arrival, sentence, whether free or bond, and the name of clergyman. Arrangement is either by date of permission or refusal, or alphabetical by the male applicant's surname.

The first permission to marry recorded in these registers was granted on 6 January 1826, and the first refusal on 9 June 1826.

Indexes

These registers are partially indexed. The indexes have been filmed with the registers and are located as follows:

Item List

• Go to the Item List

These papers usually came from England on the transport. The lists of convicts generally show only name, date and place of trial, and sentence. They are sometimes copies of the indentures with the owner of the ship contracting to transport convicts, or a muster taken before embarkation or just before or just after disembarkation. The other papers are miscellaneous - lists of deaths during the voyage, convicts to be employed in the iron'd gangs, warrants to transport military prisoners, lists of free settlers on board, etc. Occasionally there are letters about a convict after arrival.

Additional papers concern convicts from India, Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Canada, South Australia, Western Australia etc and occasionally convicts to Van Diemen's Land, Norfolk Island or Port Phillip, as well as New South Wales.

The documents, unless otherwise stated, are 'Musters' or 'Assignment Lists' of convicts showing name, date and place of trial, and sentence. They relate to ships arriving in New South Wales (NSW) between 1791 and 1849, Van Diemen's Land (VDL) between 1812 and 1824 with some ships to 1828, and Norfolk Island between 1826 and 1840.