Free Settler or Felon
Convict and Colonial History




Database Sources



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A Cargo of Women - Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal - Babette Smith

A Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall. edited by Joseph Poluse - St. Neots

A Description of Jail distemper as it appeared among Spanish prisoners - James Carmichael Smyth

A Geographical Dictionary or Gazeteer of the Australian Colonies - William Henry Wells

Aldine centennial history of New South Wales illustrated. W. Frederic Morrison Morrison, W. Frederic Sydney. The Aldine Publishing Company, 1888

A List of Officers in the Army British War Office 1821 - Google Books

A List of Officers in the Army British War Office 1824 - Google Books

A List of Officers in the Army British War Office 1837 - Google Books

Alphabetical list of burials Newcastle: Newcastle City Council, 1967.

A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies - James Backhouse (Backhouse)

A New Song made in New South Wales for the Rebellion - Mackanass (New Song)

Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons - Lower Hunter

An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its First Settlement, in January 1788, to August 1801: with Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, Etc of the Native Inhabitants of that Country, London, 1802, Vol. 1 - David Collins (Collins)

Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1825

Ancestry.com. New South Wales, NSW Courts Magistrates, Newcastle Police Court: 1823-1825, 1826-1827

Ancestry.com. Convict, Criminal, Land and Wills

Annotated printed indents State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia. (CI)

Assignment Register - Principal Superintendent of Convicts (AR)

Australian Almanac and Directory 1835 (O'Shaunessy) - Google Books

Australian Almanac 1863 - Google Books

Australian Autobiographical Narrative to 1850 - Google Books

Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record, Sydney 1992 - Society of Australian Genealogists (ABGR)

Australian Births and Baptisms - FamilySearch Historical Records

Australian Marriages 1810 - 1980 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Australian Deaths 1816 - 1980 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Times

Australian Reminiscences and Papers of L.E. Threlkeld, Missionary to the Aborigines, 1824 - 1859., vol 1 - Niel Gunson (Australian Reminiscences and Papers of Rev. Threlkeld)

Australian Reminiscences and Papers of L.E. Threlkeld, Missionary to the Aborigines, 1824 - 1859., vol 2, - Niel Gunson (Threlkeld)

Baillier's Post Office Directory 1867

Bandon Grove Cemetery

Baron Charles von Hugel, New Holland Journal November 1833-October 1834, Miegunyah Press, 1994 - Dymphna Clark (trans. and ed.), (NHJ)

Bedford Gaol Register


Bench of Magistrate Cases 1788 - 1820

Biographical Register of the New South Wales Parliament 1856-1901 C.N. Connolly Australian National University Press, Canberra, Australia, London, UK and New York, USA 1983

Bishops Bridge Anglican Cemetery

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine

Blue Gum Flat to Budgewoi, ( 1963) - Charles Swancott

Blue Mountains to Bridgetown, The Life and journeys of Barrallier 1773 - 1853 - Andy Macqueen (Barrallier)

Branxton Catholic Cemetery

Branxton General Cemetery at Australian Cemeteries Index

British and Foreign State Papers

Bound manuscript indents, 1788 - 1842. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia (CI)

Brabazon's New South Wales Directory 1843, Sydney 1843 - H.L. Brabazon (Brabazon)Burial Register, Newcastle (BR)

Burial Register, Glebe Cemetery, East Maitland (St. Peter's)

Butterworths Court Records See Superior Courts of NSW

Cemetery Inscriptions in Sydney Branch Genealogical Library 1800 - 1960 (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Census of New South Wales. 1828 (Census)

Census Index 1841

Centenary History of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales

Central Criminal Court - Minutes of Evidence - Church Missionary Society - Google Books

Clarencetown General Cemetery

Colonial Secretary's Out Letters re Convicts 1832 -1833. A.O. 10 46 6/6007 (CSOL)
Colonial Secretary Electoral Rolls (ER)
Colonial Secretary: Misc records re convicts, criminal and legal matters. List of assigned convicts who are not mechanics 1822 - 25 4/4570D pp1-88 - Archives Office NSW

Colonial Secretary: Special Bundle: Hunter River - Return of land cleared and other improvements made by emancipated and free settlers 1823 (4/77029E) (AO NSW Fiche 3264)

State Records of New South Wales. Colonial Secretary's Records. Special Bundles 1794 - 1825

Convict Death Register Fiche No. 749 - Archives Office of NSW (CDR)

Convict Families That Made Australia., Volume 1, 1999 ISBN 0 949 345 31 8 - Dr. C.J. Smee

Cornwall 1838 Online November Marriages - Cornwall 1838 - Online

Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Transcriptions Online


Dawn in the Valley, The Early History of the Hunter Valley Settlement - Allan W. Wood

Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales 1788 - 1899 (SC)

Directory: Dublin Apothecaries 1791 1829

Dodsley's Annual Register


East Maitland Anglican Cemetery

Early Days of Port Stephens - Extracts from Sir Edward Parry's Diary. Dungog Chronicle (Early Days of Port Stephens)

Every Day Book of History

Excursions in New South Wales, Western Australia, and Van Diemen's Land ...By William Henry BretonExtracts from the letters of James Backhouse: whilst engaged in a Religious Visit to Van Diemens Land, New South Wales and South Africa accompanied by George Washington Walker, London 1842, Volume 1 - James Backhouse


First Families 2001

Five Months at Anzac by John Lieversley Beeston

Fourth Fleet Families of Australia - Dr. C.J. Smee (Fourth Fleet)

Foxearth and District Local History Society


General Return of Convicts in New South Wales, 1837, Australian Biographical and Genealogical Record, Sydney, 1987, ISBN 0 949032 04 2 (GRC)

General muster list of New South Wales 1823, 1824, 1825/ edited by Carol J. Baxter. Sydney, 1999

Gentlemen's Magazine 1839 - Google Books (GM)

Gentleman's Magazine Volume 96 part 2 - Google Books

Glennridding Uniting Church Cemetery

Glory Be; Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Opening of the First Wesleyan Chapel in Newcastle, 1945 (Wesleyan Chapel)

Gosford and The Kendall Country Published 1953 Second Edition 1966 - Charles Swancott (Gosford and the Kendall Country)

Government Gazettes 1836 - 1839 - State Library of Victoria (GG)

Greville's Postal Directory 1872 - Newcastle


Historical Notices of several rebellions and disturbances

Historical Records of Australia (HRA)

Historical Records of Newcastle 1797 - 1897 - Windross and Ralston (HRN)

Historical Records of New South Wales

History of the British Colonies By Robert Montgomery Martin (Robert Martin)

Honeysuckle Cemetery

Hunter River Gazette (HRG)

Index to the Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788 - 1825 (CSI)

Index to Colonial Secretary Letters to Sheriff 5 July 1828 - 31 December 1850

Index to map of the country bordering upon the River Hunter... by Henry Dangar (London : Joseph Cross, 1828

In the Service of the Company: letters of Sir Edward Parry, Commissioner to the Australian Agricultural company: volume 1, December 1829 - June 1832

In the Service of the Company: letters of Sir Edward Parry, Commissioner to the Australian Agricultural company: volume 2, June 1832 - March 1834

Jerry's Plains Old Anglican Cemetery

John Knatchbull, From Quarterdeck to Gallows, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1963 - Colin Roderick (Knatchbull)

King Plates: A History of Aboriginal Gorgets By Jakelin Troy

Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive Online

Landholders of Greater Cessnock 1821 - 1856 W.S. Parkes (Cessnock Landholders)


Magistrates Bench Books, 13 May 1833 - 13 May 1835 (AONSW Reel 2721, Volume SZ80), 9 Jun 1835-11 Mar 1836, AONSW Reel 272213 December 1836 - December 1838 AONSW Reel 2722 (BB)

Maitland Burial Records - Maitland City Council

Maitland - A Town to be Laid Out, 1829 - 1979 - Maitland Sesquicentenary Committee

Maitland Baptism Marriage and Burial Register - Records from the archives of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, for baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish of East Maitland

Maitland Family History Circle's Pre 1900 Pioneer Register - Edited by Maitland Family History Circle 2001

Maitland Quarter Sessions February 1830 - August 1832

Manufacturing in Newcastle, 1801 - 1900. Newcastle History Monographs No 8. Newcastle Public Library 1980 - J.W. Turner (Manufacturing in Newcastle)

Memoirs of hydrography: including brief biographies of the principal officers who have served in H.M. Naval Surveying Service between the years 1750 and 1885 - Google Book

Memorial and Biography of Lieutenant Scheberras - Denis Darmanin

Memorials of the Rev. Edward Griffith by his daughter, Brisbane, 1892

Missionary Register - Church Missionary Society

Muswellbrook General Cemetery and Camberwell, St. Clements C. of E. transcribed by H. Ashford, S. Barwick and A.J. GrayMusellbrook Biographical Register - Muswellbrook and District, Vol 1 - Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter Historical Society 1988


Newcastle Anglican Cathedral Cemetery

National Archives of Ireland Transportation database (NAE)

National Archives, Kew, UK

National Gallery of Australia

National Library of Australia EResources

Newcastle Church of England Marriage Register Book 1818 - 1825 University of Newcastle

Newcastle - Church of England Burials Register Book 1821 - 1825 - University of Newcastle

Newcastle Register Book of Christ Church [Cathedral] Newcastle Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1826 to May 1837

Newcastle Baptisms, Marriages and Burials Register Book of Christ Church [Cathedral], 1837 - 1838

Newcastle - 1839 - 1861 Baptisms, Marriages and Burials Register Book of Christ ChurchNewcastle - [Cathedral]

Newcastle Baptisms, 1839 - 1861 Marriages, 1839 - Feb 1855 and Burials 1839 - 1854

Newcastle - Marriages Register Book of Christchurch Cathedral, Newcastle 1856 - 1868

Newcastle - Marriages Register Book of Christchurch Cathedral, Newcastle 1869 - 1885

Newcastle - 1820 to 1890 Family Register Book of Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

Newcastle - 1871 Parish of St. John's Newcastle Census - Cultural Collections of University of Newcastle

Newcastle as a Convict Settlement: The Evidence before J. T. Bigge in 1819 - 1821 - J.W. Turner (Convict Settlement)

Newcastle Female Factory - Female prisoners received and discharged from the Female Factory at Newcastle. State Archives NSW; Kingswood, New South Wales; Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930; Series: 2329; Item: 4/3898; Roll: 139 (Ancestry)

Newcastle Gaol Description Books - 1832 - 1848 (AONSW Reels 758-9) GDB)

Newcastle Gaol Entrance Books - Archive Office of NSW, Reel 2722 1836- 1838. (NGE)

New South Wales Post Office Directory

Of Infamous Character, Barbara Hall, Sydney, 2004 - Barbara Hall (Boddinghton)

Norfolk Island - State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia; Title: Norfolk Island: Returns of Convicts to NSW, 1844-1845; Volume: 4/2698

Old New England: A History of the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales 1818 - 1900, Sydney University Press, 1966 - R.B. Walker - University of New England

Old Christ Church Cemetery - King Street, Newcastle. Grave Inscriptions

Online microfilm of shipping Lists. State Library of NSW

Ourimbah, History of a New South Wales Timber Town to 1930 - B C Jones and A C Eyers


Parliamentary Papers Great Britain. Extracts of a despatch from Major-General Burke addressed to Mr. Secretary Stanley 15 January 1834(Secondary Punishment)

Parliamentary Papers Great Britain. Volume 26 (Parliamentary Papers by British Parliament)

Parish Registers, Newcastle Diocese (PR)

Pastfinders

Paterson (Houghton) marriage register, 1839 - 1856
Paterson (Houghton) burial register, 1839 - 1871

Picture Australia

Persons on bounty ships (Agent's Immigrant Lists), 1838-96 ; Persons on bounty ships arriving at Port Phillip, 1839-51 and Germans on bounty ships, 1849-52. - State Records of NSW

Pioneers of a Great Valley, 1972 - I M Simpson

Pioneer Register. Volume 1. 1788 1820 Association Containing Genealogical Details of 500 Pioneers. Compiled by Dr. C.J. Smee, Mrs. J. Selkirk Provis

Pioneer Register (Bicentenary), Second Edition, Volume 111, 1988 Compiled by Dr. C.J. Smee and Mrs. J. Selkirk Provis

Port Macquarie The Windingsheet - Gwendoline Griffin and Ronald Howell Port MacQuarie Historical Society Inc. 1996 Uptin Print 16-20 Milton Circuit Port MacQuarie N.S.W 2444

Protest and Punishment: The Story of the Social and Political Protesters Transported to Australia, 1788-1868 - George Rude

Pure merinos and others: the 'shipping lists' of the Australian Agricultural Company, Canberra: Australian National University, Archives of Business and Labour, 1986 - Pemberton, P.A (Pure Merinos)

Principal Superintendent of Convicts Assignment Register


Raymond Terrace 150th anniversary celebrations September 1951 (RT 150th Anniversary)

Raymond Terrace Pioneer Cemetery

Raymond Terrace Historical Society 1992 (RTC)

Raymond Terrace and District Historical Society Bulletin, Volume 5, No. 1, October 1981.

Registers of convicts applications to marry, 20 Dec 1825-26 Feb 1851. Microfiche copy SR Fiche 780-802 (Application to Marry)

Registry of Flash Men - State Records of NSW

Reid's mistake; the story of Lake Macquarie from its discovery until 1890. Boolaroo NSW; Lake Macquarie Shire Council, 1967 - Clouten, Keith H., (RM)

Responsible Government in NSW 1856 - 2006

Returns of the Colony - Colonial Secretary

Return of Corporal Punishment, Parramatta 1833

Report (29th) of British and Foreign Bible Society 1833

Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry into the colony of New South Wales - Morisset

Royal Military Chronicle - Google Books

Singleton District Pioneer Register - Contains Genealogical Details of Pioneer Families in the Singleton District pre 1900 - Family History Society, Singleton 1989

South Maitland Burial Registers 1858 - 1904



Singleton Burial Register - Living Histories

Squatter's Castle. The Story of A Pastoral Dynasty. Life and times of Edward David Stewart Ogilvie 1814 - 96, Lansdowne Press Pty Ltd., 1973 - George Farwell

Surgeons at Sea - The National Archives

St. Lukes Church Scone. A Walk Round the Church Yard, Published by Scone and Upper Hunter Historical Society, Scone, 1985 - Nancy Gray (A Walk Around the Church Yard)


The Annual Register Volume 63 by Edmund Burke

The Annual Register 1830

The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Advertiser - Google Books

The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register - Google Books

The Battle of Vinegar Hill 1804 : Australia's Irish rebellion. Sydney, Doubleday, 1989 - Lynette Silva (BVH)

The Bicentenary Pioneer Register, Second Edition, Volume 111 - Compiled by Dr. C.J. Smee and Mrs. Selkirk Provis

The Brisbane Water Story, Part 3, Enchanted Waters 1961 - Charles Swancott (Enchanted Waters)

The Civilised Surveyor, Thomas Mitchell and the Australian Aborigines - D.W.A. Baker (The Civilized Surveyor)

The Contribution of the Hunter Valley to the Development of New England, Armidale and District Historical Society., Journal and Proceedings No. 18 January 1975 - Allan W. Wood (Development of New England)

The Convicts of the Eleanor; Protest in Rural England, New Lives in Australia, 2002 ISBN 1-86403-172-7 - David Kent; Norma Townsend (Convicts of the Eleanor)

The Convict Settlers of Australia. Melbourne University Press, Carlton vic., 1970 - L.L. Robson (Convict Settlers)

The Diary of Charles George Gray - Cultural Collections of University of Newcastle

The History of Missions - William Brown, Adam Clarke

The History of New South Wales - G. Paterson

The History of Muswellbrook - Muswellbrook Shire Council

The Law Journal for the year 1832 - 1949

The life and labours of George Washington Walker, of Hobart Town, Tasmania - James Backhouse

The Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux (Vaux)

The Minerva Journal of John Washington Price. A Voyage from Cork, Ireland to Sydney NSW 1798 - 1800 - Pamela Jeanne Fulton, Ed., (The Minerva Journal)

The Monthly Magazine - Google Books

The Morpeth Story - Morpeth Progress Association 1971

The Naval Chronicle. Portsmouth Report - Google Books

The Newcastle Directory 1880/ 1881. - W.H. Shaw

The Nile Register - Google Books

The Peerage.com

The Present state of Australia: A Description of the Country, Its Advantages and Prospects with reference to Emigration; and a particular account of the manners, customs and condition of its aboriginal inhabitants - Robert Dawson (The Present State of Australia)

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London

The proceedings of the court-martial of Captain Watkins

The Scottish Jurist - Google Books

The Second Fleet: Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790. Sydney, Library of Australian History, 1993 - Michael Flynn; (The Second Fleet)

The Wolston Story, National Trust of Queensland 1998 p22 - Ian Sharp (Wolston)

This errant lady: Jane Franklin's overland journey to Port Philip and Sydney - Lady Jane Griffith Franklin - by Penny Russell

Travels in NSW - Alexander Marjoribanks - Google Books

Trove Digistised Newspapers - National Library of Australia

Brisbane Courier
Colonial Observer (CO)
Commercial Journal and Advertiser (CJ)
Free Press and Commercial Journal (FP)
Hunter River Gazette (HRG)
Maitland Mercury (MM)
Moreton Bay Courier
Sydney Gazette (SG)
Sydney Monitor (1828 - 1838) (SM)
Sydney Monitor (1838 - 1841) (SM)
Sydney Herald (1831 - 1842) (SH)
Sydney Morning Herald (1842 - 1954) (SMH)
The Atlas Sydney Journal of Politics, Commercial andLiterature
The Australian
The Courier (Hobart)
The Dispatch T
The Examiner
The Weekly Register
True Sun and New South Wales Independent Press

United Service Journal Part 3

Waterloo Creek : the Australia Day massacre of 1838, McPhee Gribble, Melbourne. - Roger Milliss (WC)

West Maitland Burial Register, 1851 - 1855. Living Histories
West Mailtand Marriage Registers 1844 - 1855 - Living Histories
West Maitland Burial Register, 1855 - 1879 - Living Histories
West Maitland Baptism Register 1845 - 1873 - Living Histories
West Maitland Burial Register, 1838 - 1842. Living Histories
West Maitland Marriage Register, 1838 - 1843
South Maitland (St Paul's) Burial Register, 1856 - 1904 - Living Histories

William Dangar of Turanville, Sconeand Upper Hunter Historical Society 1968 - Elisabeth Mary Dangar

World Corporation Punishment Research