Victoria, Convict Register 1842-1854

Each record includes an image of the original and a transcript. The amount of information listed varies, but the Victoria Registers of Convicts 1842-1854 may include the following information:

• The convict’s name

• The ship upon which the convict had been transported

• The year of transportation

• Details of their sentence

• Details of their assignment, where relevant

• Details of their Ticket of Leave, where relevant

• Other details may vary

The Victoria Registers of Convicts 1842-1854 are invaluable for anyone researching their convict ancestors from what is now the state of Victoria.

These records are made up of several lists relating to the administration of convicts in the Port Phillip District. This region was administered by the colony of New South Wales until, on 1 July 1851, it separated to become the Colony of Victoria.

Although no convicts were transported directly to this region, many ended up in Port Phillip, typically as assigned servants or workers on government projects. Others entered from New South Wales or Tasmania as ticket-of-leave holders seeking work.

Some of the lists included in this dataset include:

• Assigned servants (in Melbourne and the counties of Bourke and Western Port)

• Nominal list of ticket-of-leave holders in Port Phillip district, from 1843 to 1848

• Applications for ticket of leave, from 1 January 1843

• Applications for pardons, dating between February 1845 and May 1854

• Certificates of freedom delivered between July 1848 and December 1851

• Fees received

The type and detail of information provided in the Victoria Registers of Convicts 1842-1854 on an individual convict or former convict depends on the list or lists on which they were recorded.

In the Assigned Servants list, you may find:

• The name of the assigned servant

• The ship upon which the convict had been transported (to either New South Wales or Tasmania)

• The year

• The sentence

• The authority

• The name of the assignee, their employer

• How the convict was employed

• Punishment awarded by the Bench (presumably the Melbourne Bench of Magistrates)

In the Nominal List of Ticket-of-Leave Holders, you may find:

• The convict’s name

• The ship upon which they had been transported

• The date and number of the ticket of leave

• The occupation of the convict

• The date of the muster

• The residence of the convict

In the list of Tickets of Leave in Office for Delivery, you may find:

• The convict’s name

• The ship upon which they had been transported

• The number of the ticket

• Space for remarks

In the Application for Pardons list, you may find:

• The convict’s name

• The ship upon which they had been transported

• When the application was forwarded to a higher authority for a decision

• The authority’s answer

• Remarks – this was often the date that a notice about the pardon had been inserted in the relevant government gazette

In the Certificates of Freedom Delivered list, you may find:

• The convict’s name

• The ship upon which they had been transported

• The year in which they had been transported

• The number of the certificate

• The date

Finally, the list of Fees Received recorded fees which had to be lodged alongside an application for a ticket of leave or for a pardon (either conditional or absolute). Details you may find on this list include:

• The convict’s name

• The ship upon which they had been transported

• The reason for the fee (be it ticket of leave or pardon)

• The amount paid

Note that there was also a list of ‘Runaways’, however this was missing from the volume at the time of digitisation due to unknown circumstances.

Data provided by Public Record Office Victoria