Western Australia Convict Records

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Western Australia

Western Australia Convict Records

Online Resources

Western Australia

• Fremantle, Western Australia Prison Convict Database Index
• Western Australia, Australia, Convict Records, 1846-1930 at Ancestry, Index ($)
• General register of convicts, 1848-1900 at FamilySeach, images.
• [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/237829?availability=Family%20History%20Library Character book register, 1850-1862

Printed list of convicts, 1852-1868 Probationer register, 1861-1863 Register of reconvicted prisoners, 1856-1859 Ticket of leave register, 1856-1861

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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