Registres de prison, Australie-Méridionale, Australie, 1838 à 1912

South Australia, Australia, Prison Registers, 1838-1912

Information sur la source

Ancestry.com. Registres de prison, Australie-Méridionale, Australie, 1838 à 1912 [base de données en ligne]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2021.
Données originales : Registers of Prisoners from Various Gaols. Adelaide, South Australia, Australia: State Records of South Australia.

 Registres de prison, Australie-Méridionale, Australie, 1838 à 1912

Records are available from the following prisons:

  • Adelaide Gaol
  • Redruth Gaol
  • Gladstone Gaol
  • Port Lincoln Gaol
  • Yatala Labour Prison (also known as Dry Creek Labour Prison of the Stockade)

    • Using the collection

    Records in the collection may include the following information:

  • Name, including known aliases
  • Residence
  • Age
  • Marital status
  • Religion
  • Occupation
  • Birthplace
  • Birthdate
  • Date of arrival in Australia
  • Admission date
  • Discharge date
  • Physical description
  • Photographs
  • Details of crime
  • Sentence
  • Name of court
  • Name of prison

    • This collection provides a wealth of information for researching imprisoned family members. Records in this collection provide more information than most court records; immigration information and physical descriptions are often provided.

    The colony of South Australia was founded by free emigrants. If your family member was a British citizen sentenced to transportation to the Australian colonies, you may first want to check records from other Australian states. But your family member may still appear in this collection, even if they were sentenced elsewhere. Many prisoners from other colonies settled in South Australia, often after escaping.

    South Australia did sentence prisoners to transportation. If your family member was convicted of a crime while living in South Australia, they were most likely transported to New South Wales or Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania).

    Collection in context

    When British colonists first arrived in South Australia in 1788, it was home to many Indigenous Australians. Unlike other Australian states, South Australia was founded by free settlers and initially the city of Adelaide didn't include plans for a prison. Prisoners with serious offenses were transported to other colonies, while lesser offenders were kept on board the convict ship HMS Buffalo. A stockade (known as the Stone Jug) was built to replace the HMS Buffalo in 1838. South Australia's first prison, the Adelaide Gaol, was built in 1841. In 1852, transportation of prisoners was banned as a form of punishment.

    Parliament passed the Gaols Act in 1842 to regulate prisons. The Gaols Act would later be revised by the Prisons Act in 1870. There was much contention over the Prisons Act, as it amended and consolidated many other acts related to criminal corrections. The Prisons Act also gave the Sheriff authority over all prisons in the state. The acts governed by the Prisons Act would go on to regulate the South Australian Prison system for the next 50 years.

    Bibliography

    Jaunay, Graham. "Convicts Transported from South Australia." Jaunay.com. Last modified September 2019. http://www.jaunay.com/convicts.html.

    Government of South Australia. "Gaols and Prisons." Last modified December 21, 2019. https://archives.sa.gov.au/finding-information/discover-our-collection/police-courts-and-gaols/gaols-and-prisons.

    South Australia Department for Correctional Services. "Our History." Last modified July 16, 2021. https://www.corrections.sa.gov.au/about/what-we-do/our-history.

  • Mount Gambier Gaol
  • Port Augusta Gaol
  • Kyeema Prison Camp