Tracking Illegal Movement in Convict in 1830s New South Wales

In 2021, staff and students at UNE, working under the direction of Dr Melissa Gibbs and Nina Roberts, undertook a collaborative transcription project to investigate the prevalence and nature of convict absconding in New South Wales. The study focused on the 1830s, when the limited capacity of the state to curtail unauthorised movement threatened the very stability and prosperity of the young colony.

The project team asked: How serious was convict absconding? Who was absconding, where from, and when? How long were absconders away from their employer, and did they runaway repeatedly? Is it possible to identify absconding patterns?

The project was based on data collected from the Government Gazettes during the 1830s, when regular notices were published to advertise the absconding and recapture of convicts throughout NSW. These advertisements provide crucial information about the absconders, including the place and employee they were running from, but also details of age and appearance (height, eye colour, scars and tattoos etc.)

Collectively, the team converted the absconding notices into spreadsheet templates (using MS Excel) which were collated by the project team leaders. The merged data was then analysed by UNE historians in a series of free workshops and tutorials, demonstrating how such data can be ‘cleaned’ and used and how to apply basic data-analysis methods and visualisation techniques.

The project was the first in a series of ongoing efforts to demonstrate the benefits of researching convict history collectively, using the latest digital history techniques.