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Courts and Criminal Justice – Convict Records
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Convicts as referred to in this guide are those people
convicted of an offence in Britain, or in some cases another British colony,
whose sentence was to be transported to New South Wales, Tasmania or Western
Australia. Transportation officially ceased in New South Wales and Tasmania
in 1853 and in Western Australia in 1868. 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.
This generally happened in one of three ways. A convict from Sydney could
be assigned to a work gang in Port Phillip. A ticket of leave holder might
enter Port Phillip from either New South Wales or Tasmania to work and was required
to register, or the convict may have been an ‘Exile’ (see below).
Details recorded are:
·
assigned servants
·
nominal list of ticket of leave holders in Port Phillip District
1843-1848
·
applications for ticket of leave commencing 1 Jan 1843
·
applications for pardons 8 Feb 1845 – 26 May 1854
·
certificates of freedom delivered 29 Jul 1848 – 27 Dec 1851
·
fee received
Letter
Book- Letters Outward (Melbourne Court of Petty Sessions) 1843 – 1852
(VPRS 2148)
[Microfilm copy of VPRS
50]
There is an alphabetical index to the hearings and cases
referred to by the person’s surname.
Inward
Registered Correspondence (Police Magistrate, Port Phillip District) 1836
– 1839 (VPRS 4729) [Microfilm copy of VPRS
4]
Correspondence in this series deals with convict matters
during the earlier years of the Colony. To access information researchers should
use VPRS
6920 Inward Correspondence Register 1836 – 1839 [Microfilm copy of VPRS
3].
Inward
Registered Correspondence (Superintendent, Port Phillip District) 1839 –
1851 (VPRS 19)
Correspondence in this series deals with convict matters in
the colony during the period 1839-1851. For example see unit 96-file no.47/1796
“Return of convicts” with details of their arrival in various
districts of Port Phillip. To access information in this series researchers
should use VPRS
2138 Index to Inward Correspondence 1839 - 1843 [Microfilm copy of VPRS
17] and VPRS
2139 Registers of Inward Correspondence 1839 - 1851 [Microfilm copy of VPRS
18].
Inward
Registered and Unregistered Correspondence 1839 - 1896 (VPRS 44)
Box 504 contains Robert Hoddle’s return of Convicts
employed by the Survey Branch c1844.
Original
Papers Tabled in the Legislative Council c1851 – ct (VPRS 2599)
Boxes 500 and 502 contain documents relating to Influx of
Criminals Prevention Bill and Select Committee Reports. These records have been
transferred to the Public Record Office on the condition that requests for
access will be referred to the Clerk of the Legislative Council/Assembly for
determination in each case. Applications should be made to the above officers
and written approval must be presented at the Victorian Archives Centre Reading
Room before the records will be made available for public inspection.
VPRS 108/P0 Register, Police Magistrate, Portland,
1840-1853 Available online.
A volume containing Police Salaries, Sheriffs Salaries,
Register of Arms, Lists of Ticket of Leave Holders.
Records relating to ‘Exiles’
Exiles or as they were also known Pentonvillians were people
who had been convicted of an offence in Britain and were serving their sentence
in an English prison, usually Pentonville, Parkhurst or Millbank. Those
prisoners, depending on their crime, who were seen as being well behaved whilst
serving the early part of their sentence were given an option of being sent to
the Australian colonies, in this case Victoria, and on arrival being given a
conditional pardon. The condition of the pardon being that the person
remained in the colony for the duration of the unexpired part of their
sentence. In effect they were exiled to Australia.
Notification
of Pardon of Exiles (Superintendent, Port Phillip District) 1844 – 1849
(VPRS 89)
Lists prisoners under sentence of transportation giving name
and date and place of conviction. Relates to "convicts" exiled to Victoria.
Registers
of Assisted Immigrants from UK 1839 – 1871 (VPRS 7310) Microfiche
copy of VPRS
14 .
This series records the arrival of ships carrying
Exiles. The ships concerned are:
|
Vessel
|
Arrived
|
Port
|
No of Exiles
|
|
Royal George
|
16 Nov 1844
|
Melbourne
|
21
|
|
Sir George Seymour
|
Mar 1845
|
Geelong
|
176
|
|
Stratheden
|
27 Jan 1846
|
Melbourne
|
51
|
|
Maitland
|
10 Jan 1847
|
Melbourne
|
291
|
|
Thomas Arbuthnot
|
4 May
1847
|
Melbourne
|
289
|
|
Joseph Somes
|
24 Sep 1847
|
Geelong
|
248
|
|
Marion
|
27 Jan
1848
|
Melbourne
|
292
|
|
Anna Maria
|
23 Jun
1848
|
Geelong
|
156
|
|
Eden
|
21 Feb
1849
|
Geelong
|
199
|
Index
to Registers of Assisted Immigrants from UK 1839 – 1871 is available
online.
Hulk Records
Hulk
Sacramento Inward Correspondence to Superintendent Port Phillip District 1857
– 1871 (VPRS 681)
Hulk
President Outward Correspondence Register 1852 – 1858 (VPRS 1416)
Hulk
Success Outward Letter Book 1853 – 1854 (VPRS 5899)
Records relating to convicts in New South Wales
Convict
Indents 1788 – 1842 (VPRS 4323)
Microfilm copy of records held in the State Records, New South
Wales. Available on open access in the Victorian Archives Centre Reading
Room. To access these records researchers can consult the microfiche Index to
New South Wales Convict Indents 1788 – 1842, published by the Genealogical
Society of Victoria. Sets of the fiche are available in the PROV Reading Rooms.
They may also be found in some municipal libraries and genealogical and
historical society libraries.
Published Sources
The following published sources provide useful background
information the operation of the convict system and to the political climate in
which that system operated. These books are not held at PROV.
AGL Shaw, 1966, Convicts and the Colonies: a study of
penal transportation from Great Britain and Ireland
to Australia and other parts of the British Empire, London,
Faber.
Lloyd L Robson, 1965, The Convict Settlers of Australia:
an enquiry into the origin and character of the convicts transported to New
South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, 1787-1852. Melbourne
University Press.
Marjorie Tipping, 1975, The "Calcutta"
Convicts, Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Hobart. This
publication documents aspects of the convict establishment at Sorrento
1803-1804.
Ian Wynd, 1986, The Exile: Introduction and Shipping
Lists, edited & compiled by T.R. Hill and V.M. Lyons, Genealogical
Society of Victoria, Melbourne.