Queensland, Australia, Prison and Reformatory Indexes, 1824-1936

About the Queensland, Australia, Prison and Reformatory Indexes, 1824-1936

General collection information

This collection is an index of information derived from prison and reformatory records in Queensland, Australia, dated between 1824 and 1936. The index includes information taken from court proceedings, prisoner lists, and documents regarding the arrival of prisoners. The collection doesn't include images of the original documents.

A portion of the data in this database was obtained from the source's website. Ancestry does not support or make corrections or changes to the original database. To learn more about these records, please refer to the source's website.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

The information in this collection may help you learn more about an ancestor who was incarcerated in Queensland. Court proceeding records may tell you when and where your ancestor went to court for their crimes. Arrival records include the date your ancestor arrived in Queensland and the name of the ship they travelled on. Prisoner lists can help you discover how old your ancestor was when they were imprisoned and where they lived before they were incarcerated in Queensland.

Collection in context

The original documents that provided the information for the indexes were created by officials working at prisons and reformatories in Queensland. These documents are primary historical sources that may provide the only information available about your ancestors' prison record. The indexes are secondary historical sources. The original documents are housed at the Queensland State Archives in Runcorn.

The first settlers in Queensland were 30 convicts and their guards who established the Moreton Bay penal settlement in 1824. The first prison in Queensland was built in 1829 in Brisbane for female convicts who were put to work in a factory. The first prison to hold male convicts was built in 1847.

From the 1860s through the 1880s, the Queensland penal system was focused on administering uniform methods of punishment to its prisoners. As the population of the state grew during the 1880s, new prisons were built to keep pace with the corresponding increase in crime. From the 1890s through the 1930s, Queensland penal administrators followed the lead of their peers in other jurisdictions and shifted their methods to address the individual characteristics of each prisoner.

By the end of the 1920s, the penal system used the labour of convicts to create profitable trade and farming operations. By this time, prisoners were allowed to visit with clergymen, and they had libraries and occasional musical performances for entertainment.

Bibliography

McGuire, John. "Punishment and Colonial Society: A History of Penal Change in Queensland, 1859-1930s." University of Queensland. Accessed March 10, 2023. https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_205543/THE16500.pdf?Expires=1678550645&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=F0ZVg1zYwnCgGmPoWGJmY7HORRkYUNCCc-k~egHD-3G1KpqiGff8a3QEx~2KNdmM9i9mPi0fbrUqm9oDALcI5mZqn0R3WsHUD5HuIaSS77wAXnEKuEdADFTzvW19R4ndgTElTl~CzsZ2~uXndir-6wZXz6WOFEBcpwT3Skl25iJDVzfWhrKO8L7dSuavfPyJvWPb1eqsWEGx0rbAq9NYLAZwnDsydpmHl2BtgBmUH-369bIZg-yE-FTClKc5lrkBjP9XC8X9wluZPfuPBi2PKOFyHA6TS-1nOQRz7f4Jmo4dWDNdS-pNJNlqqpGXOM1ufyo0LcmHoVBzvSckUR2peg__.

Smith, Babette. "Chronology of the Prisoner Movement in Australia." JusticeAction.org. Accessed March 10, 2023. https://justiceaction.org.au/chronology-of-the-prisoner-movement-in-australia/.

Queensland Corrective Services. "History of Corrective Services in Queensland." Last modified August 19, 2015. Accessed March 10, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20170505023757/http://www.correctiveservices.qld.gov.au/About_Us/History/history.shtml.

Queensland State Archives. "Convicts and early settlers." Accessed March 10, 2023. https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/arts/heritage/archives/collection/convicts.