#ANZAncestryTime

Tracing convicts

Miss W. Twitterchats , , , ,

This was a twitterchat where I knew lots of info for those starting to research a convict in their family.

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay

Do you have convict ancestors? Share their names, places of origin, when and where they arrived and what their crimes and sentences were.

Maternal: John England Yorkshire, Rebecca Jackson County Donegal, Francis Colgrave Bedfordshire, Isabella Watkins Yorkshire, John Holliday Boyd Cornwall/Devon, Martha Hearn/Virco London

Paternal: William Dawson and Catherine McKay – from Scotland mentioned in our Scottish chat, Matthew Sutton London and Mary McCrewney Newry Parish, Down Ireland, possibly Patrick Somers Wexford Co

James Kirk (1794-1877), Bucks. Convicted Feb 1832 – stole a sheep from Thomas Whitworth, Mursley, Bucks, value 45 shillings. Death, commuted to transportation (life). Arrived Sydney Cove, NSW, on ‘Camden’. Assigned as farm servant to James Arndell of Woodlands

I forgot – my g g g grandfather aged 14 years got death commuted to 14 years for stealing clothes. His brother earlier had received 7 years for stealing rope!

Somewhere between eight and ten: first was John Ryan, stole a hat in London, arrived 1788; last was Charles Millson, ‘Swing Rioter’ in Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, arrived 1831

The Swing Rioter Convicts and other Political Convicts like the Irish Rebels have very interesting stories

I’ve been reading a paper about the Swing Rioters & marriage in the colony. Interesting.

John Madden, sedition, County Galway 1820 arrived on the Dorothy, conditional pardon in mid 1830’s wife & 2 sons joined him in 1838, a daughter died on the way

Patrick Joyce, Yorkshire (but Irish), 7yrs stealing cheese,1835 Isaac Holmes, London, 7yrs for stealing pants, 1819 Robert Riches, Norfolk, stealing 6 geese 9 ducks, 1822 Joseph Collidge, Leicestershire, life 4 rape 1844 (convicts weren’t always petty crims)

now for my husband’s 10 Convicts Francis Byrne Mary Pardoe Thomas Crumpton Mary Johnson Terence O’Brian Mary Doyle Thomas Bates Francis Mills Henry Oliver Margaret Sheldon from Ireland and England

my husband has convicts in his family. His ggrandfather was sent to Tasmania. I’m not sure about his ggrandmother, but she may have too. He changed the surname, and they came to New Zealand. Another descendant is writing a book about them

Sometimes the most upstanding people in the community turned out to be convicts. My husband’s g g grandfather was the first mayor of Shoalharbour Council and no one knew he arrived as a convict

I’m afraid mine turned to drink as many did (said she sipping a wine). Samuel was famous for riding through the town roaring drunk looking for Margaret in the tavern. With no sewerage or running water in the home and 8 kids who can blame her?

there were a few name changes in the convicts of my family and my husband’s family

yes I have – they’re all in my various blogs plus the First Fleeters – Small Parker lines had a book issued in 1988 and there is lots of information available via Fellowship of First Fleeters website

Jonathan Harris (1800-1891) from East Sussex, England. Convicted in Sussex, 1825. Crime of burglary of a dwelling house. Received the death sentence, later commuted to transportation for life.

My 4X great grandparents George Lowe and Hanorah Ahern were both convicts. They were both convicted for stealing in Ireland but met in Hobart Tasmania

An aunt was transported in the ship George Hibbert in 1834 for 14 years for reset of theft. Husband received a same sentence. Originally from Ireland she was living in Glasgow. Had a child with her on the ship. (See post by Paula below)

13 convict ancestors for me and 10 for my husband – makes 23 for our daughter – I have to check the list of names to keep track of them all

John Small Mary Parker James Bradley Sarah Barnes Richard Hicks Margaret Howe Ann Daly Thomas Brain Thomas Callcott Samuel Weatherstone Charles Watson Waters Jean MacDonald Thomas Power – that’s my own 13 – the first 3 of whom were transported on First Fleet

Most of my 13 convicts were from Southern England, Ann Daly from Dublin Ireland Thomas Power from Waterford Ireland Jean MacDonald from Paisley Scotland

my parents did all our convict research years ago but when I did the UTAS course I had to do it again and am glad I did. More records/info available now and I’m more mature have more life experience and can imagine more what it was like.

No. My direct line brought themselves to either New Zealand or Australia. BUT I have a recently discovered convict that might be a missing family member. Family name, right age, but how to prove it.

Yes! I have at least two and possibly more. Samuel Taylor (convict) married Margaret Jones (convict) 3 April 1832. Samuel was from England and Margaret from Wales. Both were convicted for larceny for 7 years. Both died in Yass, NSW.

ArtTower / Pixabay

What do you enjoy about convict research? Which resources and records have you found helpful for convict research?

General records

A post Sue wrote when doing the convict courses at UTAS as part of the family history diploma. Includes links to pre transportation, surgeon reports as well as links found upon arrival in Australia

There are many places to find information on convicts including the British Newspaper Archive, Trove newspapers and the Digital Panopticon.

New South Wales and Australia in general

New South Wales Archives has a research guide and index to convict records they hold.

Lesley Uebel began the Claim a Convict website before her death in 2014. Does include Tasmanian convicts as well.

Peter Mayberry has links to many Irish convicts arriving in New South Wales.

Begun by Steve Thomas, this website called Convict Records includes 88% of convicts transported to Australia.

Parramatta female factory – Parragirls, searchable database of the female factory online

Jen Willetts website about Free Settler or Felon – lots of interesting information about the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and Central Coast

Tasmania or Van Diemens Land


When the convicts were out working on roads etc they had to build their own little sort of town or village – barracks bakery commandant house etc Ians book list them all with descriptions

Fantastic resources for searching in Tasmania particularly the Tasmanian Names Index with their conduct, indent, description and muster records. Just put convict name in the search bar.

As well as the Tasmanian Names Index there is a convict portal with other links available both online and offline

One of the best things I learned at UTAS Family History Diploma. So glad we were taught how to read the conduct records. And the indents! Family information. Invaluable

Hamish Maxwell-Stewart spoke at the NSWFHA Conference last month and the kind of data analysis they are doing now with the convict records is fascinating. Really exciting stuff. Correlating things like solitary and punishment with life expectancy.

The Female Convict Research Centre has lots of info on their website about female convicts, the institutions, the ships, magistrates etc so check everything out on their website

If children arrived with convicts they were often put in the orphan school in Hobart so check records there.

Moreton Bay

Our own dear Jennifer Harrison published this book recently. mobshop.com.au/products/0af7b…

Scottish convicts

Anyone looking for #Scottish convicts may find this helpful: ‘Using Scottish High Court Records for Scottish Genealogy’ youtu.be/pbLj6ooJylw

I have one other, my 2xg uncle. My Scottish cousin has researched him very thoroughly. He was meant to be transported, but wasn’t. wikitree.com/wiki/McLean-69…

Hi @MargLBailey, we have come across this a few times now. @findmypast has some great prison records for England & Wales, they often show Scottish convicts who were sentenced to transportation but never left Britain.

Irish convicts

Useful for Irish convicts: nationalarchives.ie/article/penal-… findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/index.php?cate…

Some of the convict records accessible from Ancestry

NSW, Convict Indent records, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930, Tickets of Leave – All State Archives NSW

Home Office: Convict Transportation Registers; Home Office: Convict Prison Hulks: Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849; Home Office: Settlers and Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania – All National Archives, Kew

Mr Cassmob’s Tasmanian convict moved to Melbourne after he’d served his sentence. We found the story of his crime in Irish Newspapers before they were online.

As I’m in Scotland I was able to see the original court documents from 1833 which are held in Edinburgh. Fascinating reading and the story was not what I’d expected. Some great info in Australian newspapers too.

I’ve actually lost count of the number of direct ancestors I have who were convicts. Most in VDL where the records are extremely rich and detailed or at least for most. Some were boring but the black sheep are absolutely fascinating

@scottishindexes did great research on my Scottish convict Jean MacDonald of Paisley – absolutely no way I could have unearthed all that information from down here in Australia

I enjoy constructing a life. Early days & family-BDMs, census, etc Crime-newspapers, court recs Transport-ship journals, indents Convict life-musters, colonial sec recs After-Aussie BDM, parish recs

I enjoy knowing the truth. I’m mainly using Ancestry.com, different Australian archives, as well as other websites (e.g. blogs). I’m fortunate to have been in touch with some distant cousins who had already done a lot of research on that line.

I haven’t researched my convict ancestors yet. The information I have was given to me by another family researcher, but I need to confirm it before accepting it as fact. This is on the ‘to do’ list.

Convict lives were so well recorded. Descriptions of them and so many records. That is what makes it interesting for me. And that one of mine left a diary

I have really enjoyed convict research since I studied it at UTAS. I was able to drill down much deeper into their lives with newspapers accounts of their crimes and lives. I would love to have found some prison or hulk records though.

I love reading the conduct records here in Tasmania but also if I can find the newspaper report back in UK, they can be very interesting too.

Darkmoon_Art / Pixabay

What challenges have you found when researching convict lives? (including after they became free) Is it different researching female and male convict lives?

My 2 x ggrandmother’s Scottish trial notes a child, her indent says 1 girl but thats it … I have seen mention, when freed and married to a freed Irish convict they wrote to the Colonial Sec NSW to bring “his” child from Scotland but no record of success.

Still trying to work out what happened to my ggf’s brother Christopher Rooney. Arrived Sydney 1833. In Parramatta gaol sentenced to iron gang for 12 months the following year then COMPLETELY DISAPPEARS FROM THE RECORD! Unfortunately I’ve found no mentions in newspapers runaway lists gaol records or bdms. No T/L or pardon (he was a lifer so no Cert freedom either) can’t find a Certain Freedom for his sister either although there’s plenty of other evidence for her later life

I can’t find any info on the child ancestor had with her on the ship. Don’t know what happened after she was freed and would like to know if she and husband convicted of same offence ever saw each other again.

The convicts were were well recorded but not their children always  Often the shipping record just says ‘child with her’

I’ve found birth records for 3 children in Glasgow and don’t know what happened to any of them. Only one was on the ship.

Biggest convict challenge for me has been Charles Watson Waters husband of convict Jean MacDonald – my theory is he changed his name from Watson to Waters – also not so many records for convicts in later years

I thought my g g g grandfather was an Irish LAWYER. I was quite proud as he arrived in 1836. The years later I realised the record said SAWYER and it dawned on me…. he was a convict. The wrong side of the LAW

The first challenge was that none of us realised my great grandmother used her middle name as her first name. Once we were convinced of that we could verify the line back to the male convict. I don’t think I have any female convicts in my direct line.

I think the biggest challenge is first proving that the person you suspect is a convict is the right person (as in my Mary Kelly) and then the although they are well recorded as convicts they often disappear when freed

my female convict ancestor is less likely to be in a newspaper although she died after her husband so actually got to leave a will. It was very boring reading. I am disappointed that I am not able to pinpoint her place of origin more accurately.

Still trying to find if my Rebecca Jackson’s father and brother actually got transported to Australia as they stopped shipping for a few years from Ireland just after they were convicted in 1847

stevepb / Pixabay

Share any interesting stories you have uncovered about your convict ancestors.

When James Kirk was transported, his wife, Elizabeth, and 5 children (aged between 1 1/2 and 12 years old) were left behind. Elizabeth and the youngest child died within 2 years of James leaving England, in effect rendering the remaining 4 children orphans.

Sad story. The young wife of my convict ancestor finally got to Australia to be with her husband then was killed in a horse and cart accident. Their baby was thrown but survived.

In 2019 my husband and I visited the Boxley Inn in Kent where his ancestor had been drinking before he was arrested and sent to Australia. They gave us a tour of the pub when we told them and a meal

If you stand on the corner of Gresham and Basinghall Streets, London, where my earliest ancestor was arrested, and look west, you can see where the second (his future wife) and fifth were arrested

contacted by a guy on Facebook- asking if I was descended from convict Samuel Weatherstone. I said yes – thinking – another cousin. No – he was descended from the person who Samuel robbed. He then adopted Samuel as his and now we call ourselves outlaw cousins

I found the story of my female ancestor’s crime quite disturbing. Pickpocketing sounds quite petty but in fact she was part of a gang and worked together with another woman to lure the gentleman towards other members of the gang. He was robbed extensively.

I have a female ancestors she was transported for “man robbing”. Also appeared to be working in tandem with another girl

I found about 40 ancestry trees referencing my convict ancestor & not one had any sources but finally I stumbled on Ray’s website which had an impeccably sourced story & finally I knew it was true – an Irish convict ancestor – yay!

Discovering my female convicts and my husband’s in the Parramatta Female Factory plus two freeborn daughters of 2 sets of my convicts were sent there – sparked more interest in the Female Factory for me

My convict ancestor became a wealthy business man and acquired many properties in and around Hobart

My g g g grand uncle Lawrence Frayne wrote a diary while on Norfolk Island. His work outlines what he thought of the harsh punishment there and he praised Maconochie. I have transcribed the diary and it is fascinating

My g g g grandfather who arrived aged 14 was doing well until he married the madam of a brother (who had arrived free). From then on each time SHE committed a crime he was sent to jail for her crime

I know my aunt escaped at one time as it was recorded in the newspapers but I’m not sure that would have been especially unusual

I had a convict ancestor who ended up on a hulk and never got transported other relatives were not as fortunate but I have not fully investigated

I’ve found the Convicts on Hulks records on Ancestry really helpful

Mortality on the hulks was shocking.

I recently was researching my ancestors’ involvement in the Red Barn Murder Trial in 1828 in England and discovered their son came to Tasmania as a convict. His daughter born in Tas. became a prostitute and ended up in gaol sad

Convict blog posts

KerrieAnne: Charles Watson Waters, Weatherstone siblings,  Margaret Howe, Oliver/Shildon,

Brooke: Voyage of the Maitland in 1844, Patrick Joyce,

Pauleen: Gavin families, James Boland,

Sharn: Convict ancestors, Kitty Keeffe,

Alex: Convict posts,

Recommended by Carmel: Moreton Bay convicts,

Jennifer: Norah Ahern,

Sue: Rebecca Jackson and gang, William Tedman, My other convicts, Is she a convict?, Tasmanian convict records available,

Paula: Margaret Brawley,

Interesting discussion:

I love talking about & researching transported convicts, but I just can’t bring myself to use the term ‘Aussie Royalty’. If the origin is actually Jack Thompson on WDYTYA, he was referring to the step change, in family attitudes, from stain to royalty.

I don’t begrudge anyone else using the term if it gives them a giggle, of course, but I’m just not comfortable with it. I’m too matter-of-fact. Convicts were criminals, even if the punishment seems harsh to modern eyes. I wish I could articulate it better

I can see what you mean Brooke. There’s a tendency to think they were all badly done by, but not necessarily. Economic circumstances were often dire, but even so, you’d have to look at them case by case. I don’t have a single convict (from the convict era).

After 1770’s Revolutionary War in USA was over England demobbed lotsa soldiers onto streets. Females found themselves dislodged from jobs by returning soldiers. Other males like my 1st Fleeter John Small turned his Marines experience unsuccessfully as highwayman

Readers: Do you have a convict in your family? What records helped you tell their story?

Looking at Inquests

Miss W. Twitterchats , , , , , ,

I nearly kept up with the tweets last night, so this post has been published quicker than previous weeks.

markusspiske / Pixabay

Have you ever used Inquest records in your research? Have you found mention of an inquest in newspapers or a death record?

I have used inquest records in my research several times. In fact, my first inquest really stimulated my love of archives. I have never been so moved at reading the words of my husband’s ancestors.

Yes, of family members and also of others to develop an understanding of context, e.g. where/why did people commonly drown in the 1860s

have found a few inquests in my family where a death was an accident or where a family member was a witness at an inquest reported in a paper

Inquests are one of my favourite sources when researching my family history. Most of the inquests that were held in my family were reported in newspapers

I seem to have ancestors who died very ordinary deaths although my g g grandfather died in 1910 after being hit by a bicycle as he stepped off a tram in Queen Auckland and he had an inquest. That is the only one I have researched

I got disheartened with inquests when I discovered NSW destroyed inquest records when trying to find out about my grandfathers brother, Richard John Kitto. Since then I have not found any ancestors that appear to have needed an inquest.

In my professional research with my husband into fatal road accidents I read hundreds, maybe a couple of thousand, inquest files. That meant going to the Coroners’ Section to read the paper files, taking notes as we did in a systematic way.

I found an inquest record for my husband’s g g grandmother who took her life in Cornwall days after giving birth. The baby was baptised at the funeral. I would not have known she took her life but for the inquest.

Yes, I’ve discovered inquest reports for drowning deaths, and sadly burns. There is such unfiltered truth in the reports, can be difficult to read

What a real lack of foresight about records from NSW (picture grumpy face). What we have in Victoria is priceless #ANZAncestryTime – around 125K digitised freely available online up to 1920s or 30s (not sure), later can be consulted in person @PRO_Vic VPRS24

I have used a few inquest records which have helped to provide more context for some sad cause of deaths. Thrown from a horse drawn cart was the last one.

For UTAS writing family history I wrote one based on newspaper report of a murder inquest relating to my 3x great grandmother

I’m very grateful sometimes for Trove reporting inquests – easier to read than some of the contemporary handwriting, sometimes verbatim from the records

Two family members were the subject of inquests – a suicide and a drowning. Both were reported in the newspapers, so I could follow up with coroner’s reports. Some amazing details found.

I’m doing a sort of two suburb one time inquest study at the moment Margaret, into an Access database, but my notes field is already out of control, need to think of more fields!

Ooh, do they list the witness names in the archive catalogue or in Trove Sharn? One reason I’m trawling inquests at the moment is to see if I can surface family as witnesses

My great grandfather should have had an inquest as his death was very questionable. Four different accounts in the newspaper not to mention witnesses but it was decided not to conduct one unfortunately

I have found quite a few inquests about accidental deaths and farm and local business fires in newspapers. Rural newspapers often published these in great detail.

In the 70s I went to Massey. They were doing accident research related to drunk driving?? There must be so many records around that have be analysed, conclusions drawn and still in paper documents. Depending on copyright perhaps could be digitised.

I have picked up the current scrapbook and opened at a random page. “Speed blamed for fatal crash”, article on 23 Aug 2003 on the Coroner’s findings in Wellington. This was the Coroner we did research for.

BUT I haven’t looked to see if there are any inquests for any of my New Zealand family. I know of one Scottish one, my gggfather fell down a coal pit in 1881.

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay

Have you found any anomalies when looking at different sources regarding a death ie inquest, newspapers, death certificate?

I’m not sure about anomalies….but certainly questions. I need to chase up no less than three inquests. One for Walter Richard (Dick) HINDE in Queensland, one for Emily FORFAR in the East Sussex Record Office and one for Ernest Eddie FORFAR in Canada.

no anomalies because I can’t find original inquest reports either destroyed or not available to view Sometimes the death certificate can be the first clue

Researching 1850s Melbourne at the moment & finding inquest records mostly more fulsome than newspaper reports but newspapers also do report verbatim. (If only BDM certs were free here like the Irish ones at this time!)

I’ve also looked at inquests held in the areas where my ancestors lived in the hope of finding witness statements given by my family members. I have surprised at how many of my family, though ordinary people, were witnesses

Recently I’ve started looking at inquests of residents of my One Place Study. They give great context to the lives of the people living there at the time.

brilliant idea Jennifer. I don’t think I’ve seen that suggested anywhere else (Alex speaking) – mind you – I have very little experience of One Place Studies.

I found that the death cert for my g g grandfather listed hemorrhage as cause of death while newspapers stated he was hit by a bicycle as he stepped off a tram and his inquest found he was crossing a street and was hit by a bicycle.

All the time. Spelling of names was a problem. Locations, descriptions of what happened. Reports were extremely variable. It has all improved with the passing of the Coroners’ Act 2006 – after my husband died.

NZ newspapers reported that my g g grandfather “sank and died” after being hit by a bicycle. The Inquest report was not so flowery!

Death of a man was reported in newspaper. My gGF was blamed. I read the coroner’s report @nswarchives. Witness statements were contradictory. But gGF was committed to asylum. Asylum records (access approved by NSW Health) revealed charges dropped

A lot of research & multiple trips to the State Archives. When dealing with inquest records you often have to give yourself time to digest what you’ve discovered. Family historians must be kind to themselves

yes that was something I learned I think in my UTAS course that these kinds of stories take their toll. Those that work in the AWM would need to take regular breaks from it all.

sometimes inquests reveal additional info about the family eg children whose births haven’t been registered, deaths that were never registered (not uncommon with early inquests). They can be very helpful.

one of the strangest deaths and inquests was that of one of “my” Dorfprozelten Germans who cut his throat from ear to ear. Seems like a hard thing to do. Coming from small villages they didn’t cope with an isolated life in the bush in 1860s Qld.

LittleGreen / Pixabay

Tell us the story behind an ancestor’s inquest. Have you found something that shocked or surprised you in an inquest record?

oh yes…some very sad stories indeed. Two suicides which is always deeply distressing. The death of littlies is always upsetting. The account of Walter Richard HINDE being pinned by a fallen limb was also pretty gruesome.

I explained background of a few ancestor’s inquests in my article ‘Witnessing the Familial’ but I left out some key things I felt were too private to share, despite their happening 150+ years ago – see Helen’s posts for PROV

my husband’s grandfather died after falling at a quarry he fractured his skull and died in hospital my FIL found the report in the newspaper when we visited the local archive not sure how much he knew already

An ancestor died as a result of burns. The story goes that she was doing the laundry in an old copper and her clothes caught flame. The family always thought she died straight away, my research shows that sadly she lingered several days in hospital.

Ooh, I have one of those too, her apron that caught fire was a hessian sack. Very sad story.

So very sad Carmel, and this ancestor was a single mother, and such was the stigma, her child was not listed on her death certificate

Yep, I’ve winced at some of the nineteenth century treatments of burns, such as oil, or the always fruitless attempts at reviving the drowned

for many ancestors who were pioneers, medical assistance was not always readily available and horses were not as fast as modern ambulances.

my 2xG Grandfather’s inquest covered 2x broadsheet pages and included six (!) sermons from his churches on the following Sunday (he was Vicar of Sheffield). Also my father’s death was a carbon copy of his stroke a century later.

4xgGF Patrick Joyce’s inquest was reported in the newspapers. I was shocked to find out he fell & knocked himself out while trying to catch & hit his 12yo son for not bringing him breakfast The simple coroner’s register death reason didn’t capture this nuance

my g grandmother committed suicide and was found by her son she had refused to go to the hospital as didn’t want children to go to the workhouse consequently Grandmother went to Orphan home and her brother to another orphanage

I recently had to look up an inquest for a man killed by a horse. Witness statements disagreed according to newspapers but the coroner found that he was drunk and had hit the horse causing it to kick him

The damn demon drink 🙁 family history research has actually done quite a bit to turn me off alcohol. Even where intemperance isn’t the cause of deaths in inquests, many I’ve read make a point of stating the deceased was sober

I always think that disasters on or near Christmas are sad as future holidays remind the families of their lost relatives and friends. Tangiwai is definitely one of these.

Oh I know. I think about gggUncle Richard often. Inquest records are good for FAN research

A little girl is buried in our local cemetery. She was playing with her brothers around a campfire, and even though the mother came running and jumped into the creek with her daughter to put out the flames, she sadly died the next day.

So many sad stories like this from the past Annie. Open fires and old fashioned heaters were so dangerous

It’s good to have access to the inquests and newspaper reports, in order to have a better idea of the story than only what’s listed on the death record

Do you ever wonder if the coronial enquiries overlooked the possibility of murder or manslaughter? In our hot climate the pressure could be on to complete the process quickly.

Pexels / Pixabay

Share where you have found inquest records both offline and online.

Tassie’s inquests naturally are digitized and found on the Tasmanian Names Index at Libraries Tasmania Family history portal

Very grateful for the work of volunteers in indexing records for our state repositories, and for what @TroveAustralia enables too

Inquests and reports to the coroner South Australia archives.sa.gov.au/finding-inform…

Forgot to mention many of the SA ones have been digitised by Family Search but one needs to visit an affiliate library as they are otherwise locked records. Check if your local library has affiliate status with Family Search.

NSW inquest records are not all gone but it is pretty patchy. Here’s a reference for you https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/collections-and-research/guides-and-indexes/inquests

I just found my fathers half uncle has a Coroners inquest report on Archway. Wondering, do I wait until I go to NZ and Archives has opened up or spend $25 getting a copy? Or should I cite the mass of other notes I have first?

Coroner’s Court of Victoria does provide support now coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/families

if you haven’t already I highly recommend listening to The Last Outlaws podcast. The 3rd episode What Remains of Joe Governor talks about his inquest & reveals why inquests were often held in pubs thelastoutlaws.com.au

I often find references to inquests in newspapers and then follow up at the archives. Sad, sobering stories.

I haven’t looked much. I come across reports in Papers Past for those covered in newspapers. I think I have had had only a handful of people I know personally in my research. One was someone I went to school with

Inquests can be found via Archway National Archives (New Zealand) – archway.archives.govt.nz

Most of the inquests in my family were in Victoria so I have obtained inquest files from @PRO_Vic They are now avail digitally online. Many were transcribed, often in full, in newspapers

My uncle obtained information from the Orphan Home about his mother which provided more background but most information I obtained from the newspaper reports inquests not available

I have been able to go into Qld State Archives to view inquest records which is really touching history. I will have to order my overseas inquest files and no doubt they will arrive as PDFs…not quite as exciting.

Inquests were also held for those who died in institutions even when death was natural causes. We have a couple of those

Blog posts about inquests

Helen writing for PROV: Inquest depositions, untimely ends,

Alex: Ernest Grieve, Walter Hinde, Eddie Forfar,

Sue: Murder at lodging house,

Jennifer: Inquests in family,

Pauleen: Well sinking, Lizzie Brophy,

Carmel: Was the horse guilty?,

Readers: Have you found out something interesting when reading an inquest?

Family history photos

Miss W. Twitterchats , , , , , , , ,

Many comments on this topic were similar to those mentioned in our post on organizing your research and documents.

DariuszSankowski / Pixabay

How do you currently store your family photos (traditional and digital)? Have you started sorting, organising and digitising them?

Save your photos as TIF files, not JPG. JPG is lossy, which means we do not get back the same quality we put in. There are more losses every time it is saved as JPG. TIF files are not lossy and much higher quality images.

I tried to do some TIFF scanning but it was so awkward with our scanner/software combo. JPG is more useful.

Check with your local library if you don’t have your own scanner. Many have good photocopier/scanners that you can use to scan photos and save to a memory stick or email to yourself.

Been sorting/ digitizing #photos for years! Identifying them is the challenge! Originals (not scanned) are in archival boxes, while scanned ones go to interested family. Scans, IF known, are in digital folders & cited in research notes! Liam

older family ones I’ve scanned & identified where possible. My own photos I’ve gone back & written names, dates and places on the back.

Someone contacted me on FB recently as she had a photo with my name on it – taken waaaay back in my late teens, with a group of mutual friends. Was fab to see,

I went thru my own photos from school/college & was ruthless. If I didn’t remember the people in it, I threw it out, unless it was a good pic of me! I’m very unphotogenic, so anything half-decent must be kept!

It was mad, I barely recognised myself! It was the top I was wearing that I remembered

I found some old pics in mum’s stuff recently, scanned and sent to the children I grew up with. They were thrilled as they didn’t have a family camera. Fun!

We’ve scanned my grandmother’s photo album – she has captioned them all, and include wedding photos of friends. Would be lovely to share them with their family.

Our Buchanan family was from Airdrie, but I think they left from Glasgow #ANZAncestryTime The album is so beautiful and I guess the family kept it safe to remember the relatives that they never saw again #Keepsakes

I have had such problems with the new(er) Photos – so irritating to use. The earlier version iPhoto was better. I found a whole heap of “lost” photos that hadn’t migrated from one to the other – was distraught thinking they had disappeared somehow.

I’m thinking of taking my photos from the Apple photos software. They hide them away so I find it easiest to copy any I want to use in blog posts or other applications. Then I have a mess of duplicates. For work I just file in Finder as it is easier.

Maggie, know what you mean. I preferred iPhoto as well. I had some trouble migrating that I add my back up to photos. Then some reappeared. Now I have to open each one and check for the most metadata and delete one. If you find an alternative, pass it on. Thanks.

I bought a FlipPal years ago but very rarely use it.

What can I say about my photos – NO! Physical photos stuck in albums and digital ones lumped in my computer. I do back up. I have scanned my Father in Law’s photo album and selected many for a photo book for his children. They loved it.

I love using photobooks both for family and events but also family history. Who knows what will survive.

We do Christmas photoletters (like a comic strip format) and these are wonderful to look back on. I think the photobooks would be the same – and more likely to survive, hopefully.

Try to use a common naming pattern when saving digitally but otherwise they are in a box labelled Family Photos

I am trying to label every photo and document consistently. For example, Surname_firstname_event/place_year. Any other examples?

I use surname first name year then event as it keeps photos in timeline order for that person

My method too or almost :)) Surname_first nameYear_event_place if known. For group photos add the names descriptions in metadata or use a simple program like Paint to add white canvas to picture and put all the information there

Have some in Flickr albums flickr.com/gp/crg_flickr/… some in shared Google photo albums depending on where families lurk.

I’m saving some in offline programs like Google Photos…in case. I have a Flickr account but don’t use it anymore.

I have finally transferred almost all of my iphone photos to my computer. I have started using the Forever storage that I paid for at Rootstech a while ago but it takes time! That’s the plan

Well I do wonder why I’m bothering as there is nobody coming after me to take them on. Might just be better off to put them up on Flickr. Haven’t decided what to do yet

FastStone Image Viewer. Before that Picasa, which was very good and easy to caption

I started archiving our digital photos years ago. Have left a set of DVD data discs at my parents house as a backup. Whenever I visit family I’ll scan whatever I can get my hands on. Physical photo archiving still to do. File/folder naming important.

Did anyone else fall into the trap of buying tow of each copy when you had photos developed? Meaning to send them to relatives and then never doing it? I have way too many photos. It seems a daunting task

Purchased some archival folders and sleeves from @GouldGenealogy and as I digitised wrote on back in pencil, and added the photos – 2 albums for my side of family, 1 for husband’s side, photos with metadata in surname folders

My father has all our family photos and every now and then he scans some and sends to me. Especially if they relate to a blog post. He is super organized with hundreds of photo files on his computer

One thing I do as I’m scanning is write the names on each photo but anything I scan I write an S on it so I know it’s been scanned

everywhere – albums, my computer, my phone, Google photos – no organisation whatsoever

My family photos need some sorting. So many in old albums and dare I say shoe boxes!

I have mine backed up on an external hard drive, on Forever (well they are getting there) and on USB’s

Organised, moi? I think not. No, I save them in folders by event (travel), or family name and within that by generation. I do have way too many photos of my own. like Sharn I’m a shutterbug.

Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay

I have my mother’s photos – years ago I got her to get all negatives printed & photos into photo albums with labels – I’ve started scanning some of them & use them on my family history blogs – but still long way to finish scanning – I keep getting sidetracked

I haven’t had a play with Adobe Bridge yet (I’m on a Windows laptop). I’m curious about what else is out there. I was thinking of re-importing pic files from 1 drive to another because the photo import apps have some bulk naming capabilities.

I have many albums of my own family photos and boxes of loose ones. I think I overdid it when photographing my children, holidays etc. I probably need to get rid of some

I find digital images are the hardest to control. They proliferate and it’s too easy to ignore managing them. When I do them I categorise the same ways I do with traditional pics.

They are saved in surname files eg maiden name till married then under married name for women

I have them saved on flickr as well as on home computer and many in Google photos but they are harder to add to blog posts.

I have scanned the old albums and they are on my computer. The originals are in my safe. I will give them to my nephew. I have suggested he should install a larger safe (as he has inherited from several people) in his renovations. Then he will get mine.

I’m afraid the trad photos are in boxes & old albums. Digital photos are roughly grouped into family lines. I give myself a C, definite room for improvement.

Digitally – I save them in specific family folders on my hard drive and backed up on my portable hard drive.

Traditional photos have been in albums but as I scan them I’m storing them separately and dividing into people and places. My favourite slides have been digitised, stored and backed up.

My family photos are a project to do still. I have digitised Many of my old ones but not my own family photos. Some are uploaded to Forever but I have boxes and boxes of photos that need attending to.

While on Covid leave for 12 months I digitised all photos. But that’s all I’ve done.

It’s one of the next jobs on my list, but so far I haven’t started 🙂

fotshot / Pixabay

Do you have a plan or any tips for organising and preserving family photos into the future?

Hoping that many unknown #photographs can be identified, then grouped within the family units.  @Photomyne has proven very helpful copying pictures trapped in (too many!) glue-striped, cling film albums that were popular in the 70s-80s

I recently got sent some photos from mum’s oldest friend’s family. Even included a photo of my parents’ house when first built. Best of all, they all have info on the back incl my baby photos.

Excellent, one of my sisters friends had a photo of her mother as a nurse holding me at a few days old outside the hospital where I was born.

The main thing I do to ensure my photos survive is put them into blog posts. My blog is archived so I’m hoping somebody comes across them in future years.

Photos from our trips (remember those 😒) go into photo books from Snapfish. Otherwise they just get forgotten about on a hard drive somewhere. #ANZAncestryTime Could do something similar for the family history photos.

I also organise all my digital photos (travel – family) in folders by date & event – I transfer photos from my Android phone to these folders. I also keep camera sd cards. I accidentally deleted some pics from my hard drive but found them on sd card

i inherited a bundle of photos of Perth, taken by my grandfather in the 1950s. I got in touch with the WA State Library & they said they’d be interested in taking them. As you say Pauleen, they do reveal many changes.

I use as many old family photos as I can to illustrate blog posts. And I make photo books. That way they are hopefully preserved for some time to come

My files on my computer of digital photos are organised. It is the boxes of photos that need sorting and scanning that is my problem

I do plan to sort first & actually discard some old photos. Scan. Then put them in archival albums. I have so many of my grandmothers’ photos.

A great tip I got at a writing seminar (for research docs, but works just as well for photos) is to put words in the file name that you would search for & let the computer’s search engine do the rest. So if its a group photo put many names in, etc.

I want to recaption my family photos – these date back to the 19th century. My own digital photos from 2005 have yet to be gone through to see which should be kept. Then I have the many boxes of slides from the 1960s to 1990s to scan plus the colour negatives

My parents and I had lots of old family photos scanned professionally, which has been fantastic, so they’re preserved in case anything happens to the originals. Plus easier to share with wider family. Haven’t got to the organising part, though.

A key preservation strategy is to share photos with others, especially heritage photos, present them in an appealing way, and keep backup copies off site where possible.

My fear is that in the coming decades we will lose a lot of history from our digital photos. I used photobooks for particular activities but that’s ironic -preserving digital in traditional ways.

Hoping that this #tweetchat will inspire me to get organised. Just realised the images on my computer are in an even bigger mess as I started filing them a while back so need to figure out where I am presently, create measurable goals, etc.

congerdesign / Pixabay

Share where you have found the best advice about organising, storing and preserving family photos ie books, conferences, courses, websites


The photography studio will at least you give you a place to start from and date range when they were in business. Perhaps then post on local area history site/society?

Perhaps back in Scotland where they originated – family history groups or facebook groups, or maybe they were families who came out together to Australia, so check where they settled here

Do you have access to the records of people leaving from Glasgow? If you can search for Buchanan and see if any families come close to the ages or age differences of the people in the photos…. Good luck!!


Contact Sunshine Coast Libraries they probably would digitise them, Noosa has done that for folks up here, borrowed old photos from locals and added them heritage.noosa.qld.gov.au anyone can login and add

Yes they have a promotional collection online that they gave us access to for the Waves in Time conference so they will probably be happy to add to the collection. Also I have heard they are working on an archive/

My best advice has always come from attending RootsTech. Though I have been tempted to employ The Filing Fairy who I met after speaking at the Botany bay FHS

About 10-15 years ago I came across a book Keeping Found Things Found – booktopia.com.au/keeping-found-… – it really helped my organise my files professionally and then my family history

somewhat off-topic. So you preserve your images in archival quality storage as recommended by the experts? I confess I don’t though I do have some stored safely apart from that

The best advice for scanning and saving photos is invest in a good scanner. The scanner in your printer is likely to be not as clear as a dedicated scanner. I like Epson scanners. Save photos across multiple devices and mediums..

I am a bower bird when it comes to collecting ideas about this….no one site. Sometimes tips from other genies can be as helpful as other experts’.

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay

Suggest tips for maintaining family photos, ensuring image types remain current and preparing for disasters both digital and natural.

I started to write a blog post about my plans to preserve & digitise, but so many others have done that already. Q. What do you do with photos of friend’s weddings? A. Friends, keep an eye on your mailbox.

A great way to slim down your photo collection and give photos to those who would cherish them and pass them down in their own family!

For photos that are not my immediate family, I have sent them to cousins and friends of the family who I feel would treasure them more.

Regular backups: thumb drives, external drive, share originals (after scanning) to ensure an off-site copy. Upload to your website/blog: “Gramma took these vacation pictures; do you recognize any bunny?” Liam

I wonder how many of us have a disaster plan for our photographic archives? Bushfires, cyclones, storms, floods are real risks. When I lived in Darwin I was much more attentive to this.

It’s a good question. Grabbing the NAS hard drive is in our Bush Fire Survival Plan. It has everything backed up to it. Our most precious albums go into plastic crates during bush fire season.

Good strategies Greg. At least with cyclones there’s usually more notice and we kept plastic tubs for that purpose too.

I will give FOREVER another plug. For a one off payment I have a personal and business account. It’s just time I am short of!

I must tell you my family photos disaster: Egged on by my uber-organised-scrapbooker-sister I made an album of my first-born’s baby photos. Was quite proud of myself. I left it on the floor & the cat peed on it 😳

Scanning will save the information. I back up and store one PHD in the safe. I put photos on my WikiTree profiles. I had to add new photo corners to the oldest album and rethread the pages to hold them in place

Another of the great challenges for the future which is another reason I like including images in photobooks or blog posts. With thousands of images how do you ensure you keep the standards current let alone your inheritors.

Not really as I don’t have a huge lot of photos. House fire! Also digitised all paperwork. Was a relief to get it done

I don’t have many from my life growing up Jennifer. I lost them in the 1974 Brisbane floods, My mother lost hers in a house fire.  For years I have had a selection of photos packed and ready to evacuate which we had to do several times for bushfires. I still have those boxes ready.

We have an emergency ‘run’ box too. Haven’t had to use it yet. But we are surrounded by heavy bush so it will happen one day. There was no warning for our house fire so even if we’d had it then it wouldn’t have been taken

My dad has been really good at getting copies of photos from cousins, or borrowing them and scanning. I’ve been lucky!

I wonder how many of us have a disaster plan for our photographic archives? Bushfires, cyclones, storms, floods are real risks. When I lived in Darwin I was much more attentive to this.

Our oldest photos

My great grandparents in Melbourne. Before June 1868 as that is when she died. The first in my grandmother’s album which went from Victoria to New Zealand. Most not named or dated, such a shame. #ANZAncestryTime

Brooke gave lots of posts to help with looking after photos

Tame your photo collection

Digitizing your family collection

Organize family photos

Blog posts relating to photos

Marian: Those duplicates,

Carmel: Adding Flickr photos to Trove,

Brooke: Who is in the wedding photo?

Sue: Photo essay, using images,

Readers: How do you look after your family history photos?