HEADLINES OF OLD: November 2019

Tuesday 26 November 2019

CONVICTS - TASMANIA - Trials, Deaths, 1821,1824 ..TROVE TUESDAY 26 Nov. 2019

Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser (Tas. : 1821 - 1825), Saturday 16 June 1821 National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1089464
NOTE.. in some words, 'f' is used in lieu of 's'

SOME NAMES INCLUDED..
* Faro, Cole, Harvey, Keaton..
* Wilkes, Eastwood, Creswell, Woodward, Appleby, Kempster, Obrey, Randall, Emery, Woodbury, Drummond, Lord, Ellis,
* Brammer, Connolly, Guest, Cobb, Randell, Howe

'Hobart Town chain gang'. Charles Bruce c.1831 TAHO

SOME NAMES INCLUDED..

* Pillinger, Pearce, Cox, Cuthbertson, Knopwood

* Smith, Logan, Pearce

* Evans, Brown, Major, Ross

* Clarke, Pearson

* Maycock, Talbot, Kermode, Hood, Brown, Major, Green, Miller

* Clarke, Stanfield, Clark, Cautley, Lowe, Margetts, Frazier, Curr,

Popkins, Lowe

* Thompson, Walker, Tierney, Connolly, Lacy, Saxton, Brodie,

Osborne, Gunn, Mason,

* Osborne, Brodie, Mason, Laughton, Underwood, Pitt, Bethune

Alfred Winter, 'Port Arthur', 1888 (ALMFA, SLT)

Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser (Tas. : 1821 - 1825), Friday 25 June 1824, page 2 National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1090236
Please click to enlarge..

Horrific crimes and punishments..

Courtesy of Pixabay

A convict ploughing team breaking up new ground - Port Arthur. Public Domain

Spiky Bridge in Swansea is one of Tasmania's less-known convict sites. (Supplied: Danielle Bartlett)

Thanks to ABC news.

Tasmanian Convict + prison photos

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tasmanianarchiveandheritageoffice/sets/72157633583623801/

Alexander Smith 8784111201_1e60c8b8c4_c

Samuel Symes 8794685986_3f23ac8561_c

Further Reading:

Convict History Matters in Australia. But what else? New York Times

Maritime Museum Tasmania

http://www.maritimetas.org/collection-displays/displays/over-seas-stories-tasmanian-migrants/convict-colony

Convict Life Tasmania

https://libraries.tas.gov.au/family-history/Pages/Convict-life.aspx

Tasmanian Convicts and their records Sue Wyatt

https://suewyatt.edublogs.org/2014/12/09/tasmanian-convicts-and-their-records/

VDL Founders and Survivors Convicts 1802-1853

https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/VDL_Founders_and_Survivors_Convicts_1802-1853

Tuesday 19 November 2019

IRISH CONVICTS TRANSPORTATION RECORDS TO AUSTRALIA Trove Tuesday 19th Nov 2019

https://crimeanwar-veteranswa.com/ships/nile/

Irish Convicts Transportation Records To Australia

Just a few pages to show what the list contains...

Just on these few pages, you will see some things that stand out..including the youngest shown in the above pages... In this selection there are two 14 year olds.. one transported for 7 years, the other 10 years.. Were they related... possibly siblings, twins or maybe cousins?

Hard to imagine what was going through their thoughts... and that of their families.

Surname: ADAMS; First name: HENRY;

Sex: M; Age: 14; Place of trial: Antrim; Date of trial: 06/01/1842; Description of crime: Burglary and robbery; Sentence: Transportation 7 yrs;
Record reference code: TR 4, p 193

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/adams/henry/9614

Conviction & Transportation

Crime:	-
Convicted at:	Central Criminal Court
Sentence term:	7 years
Ship:	Mount Stuart Elphinstone
Departure date:	1st June, 1849
Arrival date:	1st November, 1849
Place of arrival	Moreton Bay
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 229 other convicts

https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qf=NI_INDEX%09Record+type%09Convicts%09Convicts&qu=Henry&qu=Adams#

Surname: ADAMS; First name: NANCY;

Sex: F; Age: 14; Place of trial: Antrim; Date of trial: 06/01/1842; Description of crime: Burglary and robbery; Sentence: Transportation 10 yrs;
Record reference code: TR 4, P 193

We can follow her trail and see some of what happened to Nancy...

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/adams/nancy/130631

Name, Aliases & Gender

Name:	Nancy Adams
Aliases:	Ann
Gender:	f

Birth, Occupation & Death

Date of Birth:	1826
Occupation:	House servant
Date of Death:	1917
Age:	91 years

Crime:	Burglary
Convicted at:	Ireland, Antrim
Sentence term:	10 years
Ship:	Hope
Departure date:	10th April, 1842
Arrival date:	17th August, 1842
Place of arrival	Van Diemen's Land
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 16 other convicts

Follow further via Libraries Tasmania

https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=Nancy&qu=Adams

https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON40-1-2$init=CON40-1-2p24

https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON19-1-3$init=CON19-1-3p135

Description...

Trade: House servant

Height : 5'/2 3/4"

Age: 16

Complexion : Fresh

Head: Oval

Hair: Sandy Brown

Visage: Oval rather small (face)

Forehead: Retreating

Eyebrows: Dk brown thin

Eyes: Brown

Nose: Straight

Mouth: Small

Chin:

Remarks: ?? 2 hearts above elbow on left arm

https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/names/search/results?qu=NI_INDEX%3D%22Marriage+Permissions%22&rw=60&isd=true

CON52/1/2 Page 133

Community Contributions

D Wong on 18th October, 2013 wrote:

Nancy, was mostly known as Ann and she was 16 years old when transported for Burglary and Robbery, stealing silver from a dwelling from Mrs Moor.

Nancy had been convicted 3 times before.
She was 5’2 3/4” tall, fresh complexion, tattoos on her arms, brown eyes, sandy brown hair, single and could not read or write. Her native place was Belfast.

11/11/1845: TOL
30/7/1850: CP
23/4/1855: COF

1844: Married William Neighbour (John Barry 1834) he was free. They had 9 children.
On the permission to marry, Nancy was listed as Ann.

1917: Nancy died and is buried as Ann Neighbour, together with William at the Old Anglican Cemetery at Campbell Town.

Convict Changes History

D Wong on 18th October, 2013 made the following changes:

convicted at, term 10 years, voyage, source, firstname, surname, alias1, alias2, alias3, alias4, date of birth 1826, date of death 1917, gender, occupation, crime

Nancy
Adams
-
1828
24 Aug 1828
Lenagh
Drumaul
Connor, Drumall, Drumaul, Antrim, Connor, Etc., Drummaul, Randalstown Down and Connor
Antrim Ireland Jno Adams -
Meay
National Library of Irelandhttp://registersnli.ie//registers/vtls000633165#page/1/mode/1upBaptism

CONVICT SHIPS TO VAN DIEMEN'S LAND
..NOW TASMANIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict_ships_to_Tasmania

"Indefatigable arrived at Hobart Town in 1812 and was the first vessel to transport convicts to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). There was a break until 1818 when Minerva arrived. Thereafter one or more vessels arrived each year until 26 May 1853 when St Vincent became the last to arrived. In some cases the vessels concerned simply transferred convicts from Port Jackson."

"Borneo was a merchant ship built in Borneo in 1817. She undertook one convict voyage to Van Diemen's Land in 1828. She was wrecked in 1832 on her first whaling voyage."

"Borneo"

By John Christian Schetky - http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/150860, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63100692

The Australian 8 Aug 1839 x TROVE

Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), Wednesday 10 June 1846, page 8

WOMEN CONVICTS FOR VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. The Fairy steam-packet, belonging to the Woolwich Company, brought down 72 female convicts yesterday from Millbank Penitentiary and put them on board the Emma Eugenia hired convict ship, moored off the Royal Arsenal. 100 additional are expected at Woolwich tomorrow for embarkation for conveyance to Van Diemen's Land. We hope that these unfortunate women will have a better fate than those who preceded them some time back, whose condition is thus described by a contemporary:-" The circumstances under which Van Diemen's Land is now placed have attracted the attention of the press, but scarcely any one is aware of the intensity of the evil. The numbers of convicts which are poured forth upon that unhappy land are rapidly destroying all sound public opinion, and substituting a code of convict morals in its place. A few years ago Lord Stanley felt the mischief thus produced, and strongly expressed in a despatch his sense ofit, more especially of the wretched state of female transports when they arrive in that island. Their first home, and their place of return when out of service, was and is a barrack called the Brickfield Factory, an abode of horrors not to be described, as much more dreadful than the Black Hole at Calcutta as moral depravity is worse than physical suffering. It was determined to make a change, and 600 female convicts were sent out in the ship Anson, under the conduct of Mrs. Bowden, the intelligent matron of the lunatic asylum at Hanwell. Another vessel was to be despatched before the Anson, with male convicts, who, according to the intention of Lord Stanley, would have arrived in Van Diemen's Land and been cleared from the vessel by the time the Anson had made the island. This second vessel was not, however, despatched until long after the Anson had sailed, and matters were so thoroughly mismanaged, that when the last accounts came away, viz., three years after the convicts had been put on board the Auson, Mrs. Bowden and such of the women as had not been placed out to service, were still remaining in that vessel. With regard to those who had obtained a service, if for any reason they could not remain with the employers with whom they had been placed, they were sent, not to the Anson, but to this pandemnomium, the Brickfield Factory, to mingle with the most abandoned of their sex. On a visit made by Mrs. Bowden to this wretched place, the poor ereaturcs who had been under her care implored her, with tears and intreaties, to take them again to the Anson; but this was beyond her power. She made application to the shopkeepers in the island who sell ready-made linen to employ her prisoners in making shirts, which they were willing to do, but could only afford to pay 7d. per shirt. This price she gladly accepted, but the regulations of the Government presented an obstacle. Local wisdom had determined that the true price for making a shirt was half-a-crown, and that Mrs. Bowden was responsible for as many halfcrowns as the Anson produced shirts, and she was actually surcharged for the difference between sevenpence and half-a-crown as to every shirt made under her superintendence. In this perplexity it occurred to her that the island furnished plenty of straw of an appropriate species for the manufacture of hats and bonnets. It is true neither Mrs. Bowden nor her prisoners had ever learned to plait straw, but the difficulty of acquiring this art was little, so they set about their work, and soon accomplished a hat, which was presented to the Governor. Since that time they have made hats and bonnets in considerable quantitIes; nevertheless, as this task is not suited to all, Mrs. Bowden is still suffering under want of employment for many of her prisoners."Times, Jan. 20.

South Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1844 - 1851), Thursday 31 October 1850, page 4

National Library of Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71627498

Please click to enlarge

Tuesday 12 November 2019

CONVICTS IN TASMANIA c1831.. Absconders, Certificates of Freedom, Tickets of Leave... TROVE TUESDAY 12 Nov 2019

The convict establishment at Premaydena (WL Crowther Library, SLT) Convict

These excerpts from Tasmanian papers will cover
Certificates of Freedom (blue line)..
Tickets of Leave (green line)
Absconded convicts (red arrow)

There is so much available, not only in TROVE, but the Tasmanian goverment sites have very comprehensive records.. a researcher's dream. Not all records are online, but you can contact the State Library and State Archives for help. Many of the records that are online can take a lot of patience to download page by page. I tend to work out approx. how many entries are on page, then try to estimate how many pages will take me to the initial letter of the name I am looking for. Definitely not ideal, as you have no way of knowing how many of each initial letter will be on a page, but at least it's a start.

Don't dismiss an initial search, first looking via Google or.. with surname, christian name and either ship if you know it or approximate year.

One of the most helpful sites if you know the name only is

https://convictrecords.com.au

You can also search by year of transportation and name of ship.

For now, I have selected the year 1831... and thereabouts...more posts will follow.

Certificates Of Freedom were entered into ledgers such as this...

You can see the whole ledger, albeit page by page, here

Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 3 August 1831,

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8646004

Please click to enlarge..

Impression Bay convict station building

Later known as Premaydena

Most know of the convict settlement at Port Arthur, but less known is Impression Bay, which is approx. 19km NE of Port Arthur.

"It opened in 1841, initially growing vegetables, and by 1846, there were 445 convicts based at the station and four doctors were employed. A long tramway ran through the middle of the settlement to a jetty on Premaydena Bay." You can read more about it here and here.

Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 31 August 1831, page 4

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8646051

Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 28 September 1831

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8646095

You have to love this Government Notice...I wonder if it worked..

Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 5 October 1831, page 4 (3)

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8646101

Note that a reward was offered regards to the return of the absconded convicts. I hadn't seen that previously.

Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 7 December 1831, page 4

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8646203

Some of the convicts were photographed, which makes it even more interesting if we find an ancestor among them, however with many we are lucky to find out just a little as in the ones just mentioned below.

Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office: From the GD128 series

William Ford

with thanks to Thomas J. Nevin Tasmanian Photographer

Snippets from Convict Records

Selected at random...

William Winpenny Buckley, one of 180 convicts transported on the Medina, 19 April 1825

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/buckley/william-winpenny/75465

(Referred to above in Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 3 August 1831, page 4)

Crime:	-
Convicted at:	York Assizes
Sentence term:	7 years
Ship:	Medina
Departure date:	19th April, 1825
Arrival date:	14th September, 1825
Place of arrival	Van Diemen's Land
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 179 other convicts

Elizabeth Johnson, one of 103 convicts transported on the Providence, 06 June 1821

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/johnson/elizabeth/81464

(mentioned above in Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 3 August 1831, page 4 (2) )

Crime:	-
Convicted at:	Middlesex Gaol Delivery
Sentence term:	Life
Ship:	Providence
Departure date:	6th June, 1821
Arrival date:	7th January, 1822
Place of arrival	New South Wales
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 102 other convicts

Convict Ship to VDL No. Age. Trial Date & Place

Johnson, Elizabeth Providence II 36 31 26 February 1825 at Northampton, England

https://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/docs/lists/ConvictsInDatabase.pdf

Martin McGregor, one of 200 convicts transported on the Prince Regent, 17 August 1829

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/mcgregor/martin/47807

(mentioned above in Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 7 December 1831, page 4 (5))

Crime:	-
Convicted at:	Glasgow Court of Justiciary
Sentence term:	14 years
Ship:	Prince Regent
Departure date:	17th August, 1829
Arrival date:	10th January, 1830
Place of arrival	Van Diemen's Land
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 199 other convicts

Ellen Roberts, one of 100 convicts transported on the Harmony, 09 September 1828

https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/roberts/ellen/89641

(mentioned above in Colonial Times (Hobart, Tas. : 1828 - 1857), Wednesday 31 August 1831, page 4 )

Crime:	-
Convicted at:	Denbigh Great Session
Sentence term:	14 years
Ship:	Harmony
Departure date:	9th September, 1828
Arrival date:	14th January, 1829
Place of arrival	Van Diemen's Land
Passenger manifest	Travelled with 100 other convicts

Random selection of convict photos

Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office: From the GD128 series

Name unknown

Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office

One page from

Tasmanian Archives - Surnames A - Fhttps://stors.tas.gov.au › CON23 › 1 › 1

Alphabetical Registers of Male Convicts. (CON23)

Click to enlarge

HEADLINES OF OLD