Port Macquarie convict records
As free settlers began to move into the Newcastle area, convicts were transferred from there to the newly established penal settlement of Port Macquarie in 1821. It had been established as a place for colonial offenders. A Female Factory was also established there. In 1825, Governor Brisbane decided to close Port Macquarie as a penal settlement and open the area to free settlers and over the next 8 years most of the convicts were transferred to Moreton Bay (Brisbane) and Norfolk Island (Mclachlan, 1988, p129).
Port Macquarie Convict records at the Library
| Resource | Location |
|---|---|
| Convict transportation to Port Macquarie: men transported to Port Macquarie under colonial sentence April 1821-April 1822 by C Perry, P Yates & J Shelley, 2006 See full catalogue details for this item |
State Reference Library, Family History Service, LG 2 REF 10/NQ994.4202/ 1 SET |
| Port Macquarie: the windingsheet by G Griffin & R Howell, 1996 See full catalogue details for this item |
Mitchell Library Q929.20994/231 |
| Female skeletons in the cupboard : stories of convict women at Port Macquarie by G Griffin, 2001 See full catalogue details for this item |
Mitchell Library Q364.374/1 SET |
| How to trace your convict ancestors: their lives, times and records by Janet Reakes, 1999 See full catalogue details for this item |
State Reference Library, Family History Service, LG 2 REF 10/N929.394/29 |
Convicts in Port Macquarie do appear in some of the general New South Wales Musters. See the Musters and Census records for more details.
The Mitchell Library holds a large collection of original and published material which documents the administration of Port Macquarie as well as the lives of individual convicts who lived there. Search our collections.
Other organisations holding Port Macquarie convict records
State Records New South Wales
Find a guide to records of gaol inmates on the State Records NSW website.
The Guide to the New South Wales State Archives relating to convicts and convict administration (see full catalogue details for this item) also describes the Port Macquarie holdings of State Records NSW, including letters, shipping lists, musters and punishment records.
Reference
McLachlan, I 1988, Place of banishment: Port Macquarie 1818 to 1832, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney.
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