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Criminal and Court Records

Web Sites for Genealogists - An Australian gateway site for tracing your family history by Cora Num

Need Help with your Convict Research? See Convict Records in Australia Click here for details. See also Convict Records 

New South Wales
Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales, 1788-1899.  This site also includes Moreton Bay cases (1850-1859)
and Port Phillip District cases (1841-1847). There are subject and case indexes plus information on how to use this site for family history research. There are also links to other similar sites.  

State Records New South Wales, Indexes Online, Court, Police & Prison include:  
Bench of Magistrates (1788-1820) includes criminal and civil cases, publicans' licenses, constables appointed, controlling the markets etc.
Court of Civil Jurisdiction (1799-1814) includes judgements on legal and equity matters, especially promissory notes and recovery of small debts.
Criminal Court Records (1788-1836) includes criminal cases from the Court of Criminal Jurisdiction and the Supreme Court of Criminal Jurisdiction. The index shows date, name(s) of perpetrators, offence (including names of victims), record details and remarks.  
Criminal Depositions Received (1849-1921). A search returns, names, alias, place and date of committal, alleged offence, committed for trial at and references.
Gaol Photographs (1870-1930) for Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Berrima, Biloela, Broken Hill, Darlinghurst, Deniliquin, Dubbo, Goulburn, Grafton, Maitland, Trial Bay and Young. More gaols will be added as they become available. SRNSW offer an online copy service for a fee. This series is available on the commercial site Ancestry.com Updated
Quarter Sessions Cases (1824-1837) includes case papers for criminal and civil cases registered by the Clerk of the Peace.

Ancestry.com.au. This commercial site offers access to the New South Wales, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930. The records are fully indexed with a free surname search. A variety of subscription options offer access to digitised copies of the original records. The description books contain photos and personal information. Currently there are records from: Albury (1876-1929), Armidale (1894-1915), Bathurst (1874-1930), Berrima (1883-1888), Biloela (1885-1906), Broken Hill (1904-1929), Darlinghurst (1869-1914), Deniliquin (1895-1929), Dubbo (1889-1920), Goulburn (1884-1930) and Trial Bay (1892-1901). New  

Braidwood Gaol Entrance Book (1856-1899) by Peter Mayberry. Over 2200 records online.

Queensland
Queensland State Archives. Index to Registers of Criminal Depositions (1861-1885). The index lists name and reference to the Registers which lists people charged with a criminal offence. Information given includes the nature of the offence, the court where the trial was held and gaol name if a sentence was imposed. The information from the Register is available from QSA for a small fee.

South Australia
State Records of South Australia offers online name searching of selected records using the collection search engine, ArchivesSearch. Records available include registers of prisoners Yatala Labour Prison 1866-1931; register of prisoners discharged from Yatala Labour Prison (Supreme Court cases); register of prisoners discharged from Yatala Labour (Police Court cases) and commitment warrants for military prisoners 1916-1945.

Tasmania

Decisions of the Nineteenth Century Tasmanian Superior Courts. Currently decisions 1824-1843 are available. Subject and case indexes are available plus an index to legal cases in Tasmanian newspapers. 

Victoria

Public Record Office Victoria. Database indexes relating to Legal, Justice and Consumer Affairs include Court of Insolvency Records, Geelong (1855-1857 part); Certificate of Discharge, Court of Insolvency, Melbourne (1848-1875); Companies and Miscellaneous Applications Files (1884-1922) and Court of Petty Sessions Register of Applications for the Victorian Old-age Pension, North Melbourne (1902-c1908). Digitised records include an Index to Divorce Cause Books, Supreme Court of Victoria (1861-1924); Alphabetical Indexes to Central Register of Male Prisoners, (1868-1947) and the Central Register of Female Prisoners (1857-1948).

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© Cora Num 1997-2012. Updated 1 January 2012