As the Records Show
Convicts in Western Australia
by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot
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 (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 (www.gsv.org.au) and consult Nick Vine Hall's detailed 2-volume guide, "Tracing Your Family History in Australia" (3rd edition, 2003, www.vinehall.com.au).
For a general overview see the leaflet at the UK National Archives website, "Sources for Convicts and Prisoners, 1100-1986" (www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/) Select Research Guides.
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) is an author, teacher, and lecturer specializing in English and Scottish family history. She is the author of "Your English Ancestry" (2nd ed, 1998) and "Your Scottish Ancestry" (1997), and she is a regular contributor to several journals including "Genealogical Computing." Since 1996, she has been a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. She teaches online for the family history program of Vermont College and has lectured at conferences in Canada, the United States, and Australia. She is past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
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Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree
It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to ADNeditor@ancestry.com.
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Have a great day!
Juliana
Locating a Family Member on a Military Base in 1920
I had been trying to find my great-Uncle John in the 1920 census. I had been told that he had enlisted in WWI as an ambulance driver under an assumed name to escape his second marriage. So what to do! Then my second cousin found a postcard written by him sent from Germany in 1920 and some photos taken around the same time. Two of the photos had the last names of some buddies with a note that one was from New York. I looked up the names in the armed forces in Germany in the 1920 census and found them at the army hospital in Coblenz, Germany. I began looking at pages before and after their listings and found my Uncle John! He used the surname of Hamilton but used his mother's address in Kansas!
Melinda McKinney
Using Digital Cameras
"My First Digital Research Trip" by Juliana Smith brings to light just how valuable a digital camera can be for genealogy. I'd like to add yet another use for digital cameras as a genealogy tool.
Getting together with elders in the family has taken me into their homes where they keep treasured heirlooms and vintage photographs. Often times these visits are out of state. It's not always feasible to borrow the items--most often the owner doesn't want the item to leave their home. That's where a digital camera can be your best friend.
I always ask if it's okay if I photograph the item, document, or picture. The ability to take pictures of pictures is an excellent reason to have a digital camera. I've found that the photographing works best if you're able to put the item near a window with natural light and use no flash. View the image right away to know if you need to take another.
Recently I spent hours with a distant aunt who allowed me to photograph several family letters from the mid to late 1800s, a brooch from the civil war, city directory pages, delicate antique garments, and many, many vintage photographs and tin types. I would have never been able to remember all these items had I not been able to digitally record them. (Oh, a little tip--take a picture of the back of photographs as well, if they're written on. This way you don't have to try and remember the names of the pictured individuals.)
Now, no matter what happens to those items or whom they're passed on to, I have a visual digital record of them for future generations to enjoy.
Sherri Camperchioli
Ohio
Editor's Note: Thanks to everyone who wrote in following that column! I heard from a lot of people asking about settings and got some great tips that we'll talk about in Monday's newsletter.
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