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Subject: ARTICLE OF INTEREST: As the Records Show: "CONVICTS IN WESTERNAUSTRALIA," by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 13:31:02 -0700 (PDT)
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As the Records Show:
"CONVICTS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA," by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot
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During my visit to Western Australia last month, I picked up some new
words. No, I have not come home saying "G'day" to everyone I meet. I
have acquired some terms that feature in Australian genealogical
research.
NEW WORDS
The Western Australia Genealogical Society (WAGS), my hosts in Perth,
talked about "ticket of leave" men and "pensioner guards." A
few days
earlier I had visited the historic site of the convict depot at
Linton, about 300 miles north of Perth, and come across the language
of penal colonies there. Naturally, I had to find out more.
--- Ticket-of-leave: A document given to well-behaved convicts who
were granted a certain amount of independence before their sentences
were complete. Convicts had to carry the ticket-of-leave at all
times.
--- Certificate of Freedom: Given to those who had completed their
sentences. Convicts with this certificate were free to travel
anywhere in Australia and to return to Britain.
--- Expiree: Someone whose sentence had expired.
--- Conditional Pardon: Allowed a convict the freedom to move about
in Australia but not the permission to return to Britain. These were
generally given to convicts with long sentences and a record of good
behavior.
--- Absolute Pardon: Complete freedom granted before sentence
expired.
--- Pensioner Guard: A pensioned soldier engaged to guard the
convicts.
A LITTLE HISTORY
The history of convicts in Western Australia is somewhat different
from elsewhere in the country. The convicts came in a later time
period, 1850 to 1868, and were all male. In New South Wales and
Tasmania the convict period was 1794 to 1853. In total, slightly less
than 10,000 convicts were shipped directly to Western Australia, and
about 162,000 went to all parts of Australia during the combined time
periods.
Western Australia was different for another reason: it was never part
of the Colony of New South Wales, with the exception of a settlement
at King George's Sound before 1831 (a first class harbor near
Albany). Its boundary has always been the longitude line of 129
degrees East, making it by far the largest state in modern Australia.
In fact, it is so large that modern day Germany, Japan, and Great
Britain fit within it--with space left over.
The British created a small settlement at Swan River and formally
established the colony in 1829. It contained two communities, Perth
and Fremantle. Labor was in short supply, and, in 1848, leading
citizens sent a request to the Colonial Office of the British
government for convict labor.
The need for labor around Western Australia worked in favor of the
convicts. Tickets-of-leave enabled the convicts to move about, to
seek employment, choose their employer, even work for themselves and
hire other ticket-of-leave men. There were hiring depots in several
towns. Convicts had to carry their tickets with them, report in two
times per year (January and June), and obtain permission to relocate
to another district. In addition, with permission, they could marry.
So, there was considerable movement of convicts around the colony,
and this movement is recorded in volumes of convict registers, now
held by the state archives.
RECORDS OF CONVICTS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
For Western Australia, begin with the WAGS website
(http://www.wags.org.au ). This site includes a list of WAGS
publications. The newest is a CD-ROM, "The Convict Ticket-of-Leave
Register Toodyay" (ACC 721/30). It contains two registers for the
depot at Toodyay (east of Perth) from 1862 to 1870. There are images
of 370 documents and indexes to ticket-of-leave men and their
employers. Details on each ticket include name of convict, name of
employer, dates of employment, rates of pay, any run-ins with the
law, and a physical description. WAGS is regularly producing
resources on Western Australia (select bookshop from the drop down
list under the "About" tab on the home page).
A good deal of information has been written about convicts in
Australia, and there is much published material, both online and book
formats. If you want to find out more in general, you might as well
stay with the WAGS site because its links section is excellent,
guiding you with topics and links to archives and libraries. In
addition, you can check out the resources for sale by the bookshop of
the Genealogical Society of Victoria (http://www.gsv.org.au ) and
consult Nick Vine Hall's detailed 2-volume guide, "Tracing Your
Family History in Australia" (3rd edition, 2003,
http://www.vinehall.com.au ).
For a general overview see the leaflet at the UK National Archives
website, "Sources for Convicts and Prisoners, 1100-1986"
(http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ ) Select Research
Guides.
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Copyright 1998-2004, MyFamily.com, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
Reprinted by permission, "Ancestry Daily News"
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