Western Australia Convict Records

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Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia Convict Records

Online Resources

Western Australia

• Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868 at Ancestry, Index ($)
• Australia Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons 1791-1867 at FindMyPast, Index ($)
• Fremantle, Western Australia Prison Convict Database Index
• Australian Convict Transportation Registers – First Fleet, 1787-1788 at Ancestry, Index ($)
• Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Second Fleet, 1789-1790 at Ancestry, Index ($)
• Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Third Fleet, 1791 at Ancestry, Index ($)
• Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930 at Ancestry, Index ($)
• Australia, Convict Index, 1788-1868 at Ancestry, Index ($)

Australia Records

• 1786-1849 Australia Convict Ships 1786-1849 at FindMyPast - index & images ($)
• 1787-1867 Web: Australia, Convict Records Index, 1787-1867 at Ancestry - index ($)
• 1788-1842 Australia List of Convicts with Particulars, 1788-1842 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1791-1867 Australia Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons 1791-1867 at FindMyPast - index & images ($)
• 1791-1868 - Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868 at Ancestry, Index ($)
• 1824-1874 Australia Convict Tickets Of Leave 1824-1874(*) at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at: FindMyPast($)
• 1829-1879 - New South Wales, Australia, Sheriff's Papers, 1829-1879 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1838-1912 Australia, South Australia, Prison Records, 1838-1912 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
• Australia's First Fleet
• First Fleet Online
• Australia's Second Fleet
• Australia's Third Fleet
• Ireland-Australia transportation database, National Archives of Ireland
• Convict Records of Australia
• Library of Wales, Crime and Punishment database
• Proceedings of the Old Bailey 1674-1834 The punishment of transportation for a crime tried in London by the Old Bailey Court resulted in exile to Australia. The site can be search by several categories, including by name for the punishment resulting in transportation.

Finding Records

Archives

State Records Office of Western Australia
25 Francis Street
PERTH WA 6000
Australia

Telephone: 61 8 9427 3600
Email: sro@sro.wa.gov.au

• Research using State Archives

• Convicts The State Records Office holds comprehensive sets of records relating to convicts transported to Western Australia between 1850 and 1868.

Types of Convict Records

Tickets of Leave Butts

• Tickets of leave were issued to convicts having served about half of their sentences with good behavior.
• These tickets allowed convicts to seek employment as they wished but limited their movement to a certain district for the remainder of their sentences.
• Prior to 1828, bench magistrates granted tickets of leave and approved applications for convicts to marry.
• The actual ticket of leave was issued to the convict; the government retained the ticket of leave butts.
• Ticket of leave butts listed the convict’s name, ship, and date of arrival, native place, trade or calling, date and place of trial and sentence, a physical description, and the district to which he or she was confined.

Certificates of Freedom

• A certificate of freedom was a document stating that a convict's sentence had been served and was usually given to convicts with a 7, 10 or 14 year sentence or when they received a pardon.
• Convicts with a life sentence could receive a Pardon, but not a Certificate of Freedom.
• The Certificate of Freedom number was sometimes annotated on the indent or noted on a Ticket of Leave Butt.
• The government retained certificates of freedom butts, which were similar to ticket of leave butts.

Pardons

• Both conditional and absolute pardons were generally granted to convicts with life sentences.
• Conditional pardons required that the ex-convict never return to the British Isles or his or her pardon would be void.
• Absolute pardons allowed an ex-convict to return to the British Isles if he or she wished.
• Pardon records contain information similar to tickets of leave: the convict’s name, ship, and date of arrival, native place, trade or calling, date and place of trial and sentence, a physical description, and the district to which he or she was confined.

Convict indents

• Convict indents were lists that were made when convicts arrived on transport ships.
• Information given in indents is similar to that in tickets of leave but also includes a convict’s marital status and number of children and whether the convict was literate.

For Further Reading

FamilySearch Library

Additional sources are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog:

• Australia, Western Australia - Convict records
• Australia, Western Australia - Convict records - Indexes

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