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Convicts: Life in the colony
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All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified.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.
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About the guide
Use this guide to research your convict's life after they arrived in the colony.
Find out more about a convict's working life, family life and freedom.
To uncover details about your convict’s life you will need to check many resources. You will find the government kept detailed records about convicts, most of which have survived, so you're likely to find more records about a convict's life than a free settler.
There is a little bit of luck involved with family history research but a lot of it is working methodically through the resources.
Remember:
- Note down the resources you’ve checked even when you don’t find anything.
- Check the original record as it might have additional information not listed in the index.
- More information was documented in later years than earlier years.
Not sure how to begin your research? Check out the links below.
- Convicts: Bound for Australia research guide
Use this guide if you want to explore your convict's early life, including their crime and sentence as well as the voyage to the colony
Temporary Reading Room
Please note during our refurbishment some material may need to be requested at the Family History Desk in the temporary Bashir Reading Room
- Convict Barrack Sydney N.S. Wales [ca. 1820]
From Collection of views predominantly of Sydney, Liverpool, and the Sunda Straits, and portraits, ca 1807, 1829-1847, 1887.
Digital order number: a1120005 (album ID: 823417)
Family history at the library
- Governor Marie Bashir Reading Room
Please note during the temporary closure of the Macquarie Street building some of our material may need to be requested at the Family history desk in the Temporary Bashir Reading Room. - Mitchell Library Reading RoomWe also have resources in the Special Collections area in the Mitchell Library Reading Room and in stack storage.