There are few records of trials surviving for Ireland. Some records are included in the Irish Gift which is a set of microfilm records given to Australia as a Bicentennial gift. Microfilm copies of these records are available at the Western Sydney reading room, the State Library of NSW and the Society of Australian Genealogists. The starting point for any convict research is the Convict Indent which is the list of convicts transported to New South Wales on a particular ship. The early Indents only provide name, date and place of trial and sentence.
Later Indents contain more information such as a physical description, native place, age and crime.
The Indents will also often contain numbers of Tickets of Leave , Pardons or Certificates of Freedom as well as details of any further crimes committed in the colony. Researchers should always make a note of these annotations. In addition, there are 18 th and 19 th century indexes to convicts arriving which may also be checked if the convict being researched does not appear in any of the above. These indexes are listed on page 69 of the Convict Guide. The Surgeon's Journal for a particular convict ship usually contains details of any illnesses or deaths during the voyage.