Ironclad Sisterhood – Telling the Stories of Convict Women Date: Monday 24th July 2023 Time: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Location: Zoom (Virtual) Limited Spaces (register now) From 1788 to 1868, approximately 25,000 women were transported from Britain and Ireland to the Australian colonies. These females, often young and impoverished, were found guilty of crimes Read More
When Governor Macquarie laid the foundation stone for the Parramatta Female Factory in July 1818, little did he know how important its role would be to understanding the lives of female convicts 200 years later. It’s estimated that one in every five to seven Australians is related to a female convict who was incarcerated at Read More
The density of the convict collections now available on Ancestry.com.au allow those researching their convict forbears to paint a vivid picture, not just of the convicts themselves, but also of their journey and their experiences in the fledgling colony of New South Wales. James Walsh was a 26 year old shoemaker when he arrived in Read More
Over 1.8 million NSW crime and law records now available on Ancestry.com.au We recently added the New South Wales Police Gazettes 1854-1930 collection and 120,000 new records to the New South Wales, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930 collection. These collections offer a window into the lives of people on both sides of the law, from lists of police officers, Read More
The founding of Australia as a penal colony for the transportation of convicts from Britain is of course well known. The First Fleet arrived in New South Wales on 26th January 1788 and over the following 80 years approximately 160,000 convicts were transported to various locations in the country to serve their sentence. In the Read More
Originally authored by Kelly Godfrey, Ancestry.co.uk Piracy was rife off England’s south coast right up into the 18th century. Dorset’s coves, caves and sandy beaches were the perfect hiding place for buccaneers and brigands and their ill-gotten loot. That means you stand a good chance of spotting these seadogs in our three new criminal collections. Read More
We have just added two key collections to the world’s largest online collection of Australian convict records. For Australians exploring convict history, the NSW Convict Indents, 1788-1842 provides the ideal starting point, as all convicts on ships transported to Australia were listed in an indent. Details such as name, trial date/location, and sentence are available, with Read More
We have just launched two new historical record collections which offer a peek into daily life aboard Australia-bound English convict ships. These collections are journals that were penned by ships’ medical officers, who were required to keep a record of all patients, treatments and outcomes during a sea voyage. UK Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1815-17 Read More
Ever wondered where your hairy legs come from? Or perhaps it’s your ruddy complexion, flaxen hair or so-called frugal nature… We often boast about the crimes of our convict ancestors, but with the List of Convicts with Particulars 1788-1842, Australians can now also get a picture of what they looked like. This collection contains information Read More
The New South Wales Registers of Convicts’ Applications to Marry 1826-1851 contains more than 40,000 convict applications to wed, including numerous multiple applications made by those whose initial applications were refused. In the early years of the Australian Colony, most marriages followed the publication of banns in a church on three successive Sundays. Convicts did Read More