The State Library of Queensland is pleased to announce its new database - Convict Transportation Registers (http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/info/fh/convicts) compiled from British Home Office (HO) records available on microfilm as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP). The HO 11 Criminal - Convict Transportation Registers series has been indexed by the State Library and contains the following information:

• name of convict, including any known aliases.
• place of trial.
• term of sentence.
• name of ship and date of departure.
• place of arrival.
• miscellaneous notes, for instance died at sea, ticket of leave issued and similar information. 

Approximately 123,000 out of the estimated 160,000 convicts transported to Australia are recorded in this database. These include prisoners sent to New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), Moreton Bay (Brisbane), Western Australia and Norfolk Island. Also recorded are some ships which were bound for Gibraltar. The records cover the period of 1787 to 1867.

These records mainly include those convicted in England and Scotland with only a small number of Irish convicts appearing in this series of the Home Office records. The database also includes soldiers who had been court-martialled and sentenced to transportation. These “soldier convicts” may have been convicted in various British colonies including the West Indies, India, Pakistan and Canada.

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