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
Name unknown
One page from
Click to enlarge
* Tasmanian Convict + Prison. Photos
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tasmanianarchiveandheritageoffice/sets/72157633583623801/
* Thomas J. Nevin / Tasmanian Photographer
https://tasmanianphotographer.blogspot.com/
* Thomas J. Nevin / Tasmanian Photographer
https://tasmanianphotographer.blogspot.com/
This is interesting never knew about this.Unless i could not make it out ,the crimes are not listed .
ReplyDeleteIt's luck of the draw as to whether crimes are listed. ..that is, on the Convicts Records site. In the newspaper clippings of the Government Gazettes, you often get told what their crime was, as you do in the regular newspaper reports. I simply chose a few at random...and was concentrating on the absconders for this post. If you read some of my earlier posts on convicts, you will see quite a few lists have their crimes included.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.