Basics on Colonial Secretary's Correspondence (NSW)

A wide range of correspondence to and from the NSW Government has survived from the early days of settlement. Most of this correspondence is very routine in its nature, but all is useful in "fleshing out" the family history of the people mentioned in it.

The largest series of correspondence is that of the Colonial Secretary whose department was responsible for much of the administration of the colony, including convicts.

Indexes

State Records has an online index to surviving Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1825. This index is also available on fiche at the SAG.

Contemporary indexes from 1826 onwards are held at State Records on microfilm.

Mrs Joan Reese, a dedicated researcher, has published several indexes to the correspondence as follows:

• Index to convicts and others, 1826-72. Available on fiche at SAG.
• Index to letters sent regarding convicts 1826-May 1855. Available on fiche at SAG.

State Records also has an online index to correspondence regarding land, received by the Colonial Secretary from individuals, 1826-56.

Correspondence

Quite an amount of the actual correspondence has survived and has been copied on microform, available in both of State Records' Reading Rooms. SAG holds a complete set of the copied material for 1788-1825.

Any correspondence still in original form is held at State Records' Western Sydney Records Centre at Kingswood.