Research Guides: Convicts: Life in the colony: Getting started

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Getting started

We've put together some tips, strategies and resources to help you start researching your convict ancestry.

You can access most eresources from anywhere, anytime if you’re a New South Wales resident. You need to have a Library card or a registered NSW public library card.

Visit the Library to use eresources only available at the Library, such as Ancestry, or if you’re not a New South Wales resident.

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Find out if your ancestor was a convict

Do you want to find out if the family story about having convict ancestry is true or just wondered if you have convict ancestry? But not sure where to start?

Convict Indents, 1788–1842 — Ancestry Library Edition [eresource]
The best place to start is with the Convict Indents (1788–1842) on Ancestry. These official records have information on 80,000 convicts who were transported to New South Wales. You can find essential information about your ancestor in the indents, including:

age
date
place of trial
crime
sentence
the ship’s name
departure date
physical description (later records only)

You might also find out who they were assigned to and if they received a ticket of leave, certificate of freedom or a pardon.

Can't find your ancestor in the convict indents?

Maybe your ancestor was sent to a different state. Try the following resources:

Convict transportation registers 1787–1867 database
Search across more than 123,000 of the estimated 160,000 convicts transported to Australia. The database includes convicts sent to:
Australian Convict Index, 1788–1868 on Ancestry
This index has information on over 48,000 convicts sent to Australia, including:

The information available varies so you may not find all the above details for your convict.

Still can't find your ancestor?

Try finding your ancestor's marriage and death certificates to verify if they were a convict:

Marriage certificates will include 'married with the permission of the Governor' if one or both parties were convicts and still serving their sentence.
Death certificates may have ‘prisoner of the Crown’ if they were a convict.
Remember that convicts frequently used an alias - this is usually indicated in the records.

Birth, death and marriages research guide
Use this research guide to find resources to search for marriage and death certificates

More than a third of convicts sent to Australia were from Ireland

National Archives of Ireland’s Ireland-Australia transportation database 1788–1868
Search this archive to find details such as:

Not all transportation registers survived – for example a fire destroyed registers from before 1836. You might still be able to find a record about your convict and their family in a petition or free settler's papers.

Irish newspapers reported convicts’ crimes, trials, sentences and transportation — particularly if it was a serious crime.

Irish Newspaper Archive
Irish newspapers reported convicts’ crimes, trials, sentences and transportation — particularly if it was a serious crime. Search the Irish Newspaper Archive for your ancestor. The archive is the largest online archive of Irish newspapers. Sign up for a National Library of Australia library card to access the archive.

Find out if your ancestor was a First Fleeter

Search the following resources to find your First Fleeter's biography. Biographies for people born on the First Fleet are also available.

Where to next?

Now that you've verified that your ancestor was a convict, you can begin exploring their journey to Australia and life in the colony.

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
Convicts: Life in the colony
Use this guide to find out more about your convict ancestor's life in the colony, such as where they may have worked, where they were held, whether they received a pardon or re-offended.

The Convict Years

Britain transported approximately 163,000 convicts to Australia on 825 ships between 1788 and 1868.

Not all convicts survived the journey to Australia with 518 drowning in shipwrecks.

Finding aids

Use finding aids like Bound for Australia by David Hawkins to learn about essential records for tracing a convict’s life from beginning to end.

Charles Bateson’s The Convict ships 1787–1868 is the definitive guide to convict transportation to Australia. It lists all the convict ships along with departure and arrivals dates. Most voyages have a synopsis - use these as a starting point for further research.

Did you know?

South Australia and the Northern Territory did not have any penal colonies.

Convict jacket.
Long sleeved jacket of the convict colours yellow and black. Government arrow and the letters 'WDA' stencilled on inside of lower back of jacket. (ca. 1840)
Digital order number: a1157001

Ancestry Library Edition

Ancestry Library Edition
Don't forget to view the image when looking at a record in Ancestry. Sometimes the image has additional information such as the convict's sentence.

Searching Ancestry

Find out how to search a specific collection in Ancestry Library Edition
- This link opens in a new window

"Convicts" Letter writing at Cockatoo Island N.S.W. "Canary Birds" (1849)
Digital order number: a928881

Did you know?

Convicts were still sent to colonies in Australia after the official end of transportation.

In New South Wales transportation ceased in 1842 but continued between 1849 and 1850. These convicts had generally served part of their sentence in Britain and were given a conditional pardon or ticket of leave on arrival.