Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP)

The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) is a collection of historical material relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific dating from 1560 to 1984.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are kindly advised that this website includes images, sounds and names of people who have passed.

All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified. Certain words, terms or descriptions may reflect the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written, but are now considered inappropriate in today's context.

Key to library resources

Access anywhere with a library card In the Library (or anywhere with a Library card for NSW residents)
Available to access in the library Only in the Library
Publicly available online Publicly available

Eresources

Findmypast - England & Wales, crime, prisons & punishment

Search a wide range of Home Office classes and records relating to the administration of convicts.

This database includes 22 classes of records that can be searched to find information related to convicts. (ADM 6, CRIM 9*, HO 7, HO 8, HO 13, HO 17*, HO 18*, HO 19*, HO 23*, HO 24*, HO 26, HO 27, HO 47*, HO 77*, HO 130, HO 140*, PCOM2, PCOM 3*, PCOM 4*, PCOM 5*, MEPO 6*, T 38*) The classes marked with an asterisk are not part of the AJCP. Not all classes of British Government records of interest to Australians were copied.

The records relating to the administration of convicts include other departments:

  • ADM 6 – Registers of convicts on prison hulks
  • CRIM 9 – Central Criminal Court – calendars of prisoners
  • MEPO 6 – Metropolitan Police – criminal record office registers
  • PCOM 2 – Prison Commission – prison records
  • T 38 – Treasury - convict hulks accounts

Ancestry Library Edition

Search a range of Home Office classes relating to a convict’s trial in the UK (HO 26, HO 27), transportation to Australia 1787-1868 (HO 11) and life in the Colony (HO 10).

Records include lists of convicts and settlers in NSW and Tasmania, pardons and tickets of leave, musters and the first complete census – NSW 1828.

For Australian records, search under the categories:

  • “Immigration & Travel” (Australia)
  • “Census & Voter Lists” (Australia)
  • “Wills, Probates, Land, Tax & Criminal” (Australia).

For UK records, search under the category “England Convict, Criminal, Land & Wills” (England Records)

British Convict Transportation Registers, 1787-1879

Compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office (HO) records.

Search Convict Transportation Registers 1787-1879 (HO 11) to find over 123 000 of the estimated 160 000 convicts transported to the Australian colonies in the 18th and 19th centuries. Information includes name (including alias), place and date of trial, sentence, ship, date of departure and port of arrival. Database includes convicts sent to

  • New South Wales
  • Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania)
  • Moreton Bay (Brisbane)
  • Port Phillip (Melbourne)
  • Western Australia
  • Norfolk Island

First Australian Census

The earliest census held in Australia is among the key documents to be found in the Home Office Series (HO 10).

NSW 1828 was the first full census containing a detailed list of all in the colony whether convict or free.

Information includes name, age, religion, name of ship and date of arrival, residence and occupation, including to whom a convict was assigned to work, their sentence and how they won their freedom.