The Queens Empire 1897 Map

Australian Records

From the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Sydney to establish the penal colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia has been home to many of our ancestors and the records on TheGenealogist give you the opportunity to explore further with the Australian records in our International Collection.

Adelaide
Adelaide
Settlers Hut Bulli Pass New South Wales
Settlers Hut Bulli Pass New South Wales

Transportation, Census & Muster Records 1787-1898

Following the loss of the American Colonies after the American Revolutionary War 1775–1783, there became a need for Great Britain to find other land for a new British colony. Australia was chosen for settlement, and colonisation began in 1788. Rather than resorting to the use of slavery to build the infrastructure for the new colony, convict labour was used as a cheap and economically viable alternative.

It was not just overcrowding in British prisons that drove the transportation of prisoners to the new colonies. Many of the prisoners transported were chosen as they were skilled tradesmen or farmers who had been convicted of very petty crimes and their skills (and the term of their punishment set at 7 years) made them ideal for working to set up an infrastructure in the new colony. Convicts were often given pardons prior to or on completion of their sentences and were then allocated parcels of land to farm.

The Transportation Records cover the years from 1787 through to 1898. Taken from the Home Office HO10 set of records they cover Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania. It includes lists of the male and female convicts in the colonies with details on their sentences, employment, settlement in the country, ledger returns, pardons granted and more.

Records from Home Office series HO11 are also available on TheGenealogist. This is the Home Office Convict Transportation Registers from 1787 to 1870. This gives details of over 123,000 convicts transported to Australia during the 18th and 19th centuries. The records include name, place of trial, length of sentence, name of ship, date of departure and more.

Queensland Electoral Roll

TheGenealogist has the records of the electoral roll of 1900 for Queensland, Australia. Here we find the record of Alexander Adie, pioneer of the sugar industry in Childers, Queensland where he was born. He became the third chairman of the Isis Central Sugar Mill Company in a thriving part of Queensland.

Here is the transcribed copy of his electoral roll from 1900
Here is the transcribed copy of his electoral roll from 1900

Australian Books available on TheGenealogist

We have a number of book and directory collections available to view that cover early business directories, telephone directories, storekeepers and traders, Cyclopedia of Victoria, landholder records, biographies and other publications.

TheGenealogist has an extensive selection of early Australian records showing the life and times of those ancestors who were part of the early settlement. Among the records available to view and search online as transcripts, as well as transportation records is the Queensland Electoral Roll.



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