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Search Trials

Search 150 years of Australian criminal trial records




Scope of collections

The Prosecution Project databases include material from courts, police and prison records. The focus of the project was originally on Supreme Court records, relating to trials conducted for the more serious offences. Later collections include indexes to prisoners tried and discharged as published in police gazettes, as well as prison registers and records of penal settlements.

Searches are conducted within a ‘register’. The current list of registers, date range and sources is here.

Register abbreviation Collection Data collected Date range Main source
NSWCCJ
NSW Court of Criminal Jurisdiction
Persons tried
1788-1833
NSW State Archives
NSWSC
NSW Supreme Court
Persons tried
1831, 1838-1943
NSW State Archives, NSW Supreme Court
VICSC
Victorian Supreme Court
Persons tried
1841-1943
Public Record Office Victoria
SASC
South Australia Supreme Court
Persons tried
1845-1943
State Records South Australia, SA Police Gazette
QLDSC
Queensland Supreme Court
Persons tried
1850-1943
Queensland State Archives
WASC
Western Australia Supreme Court
Persons tried
1830-1943
State Record Office Western Australia
TASSC
Tasmanian Supreme Court
Persons tried
1824-1943
Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office
NTSC
Northern Territory Supreme Court
Persons tried
1872-1941
NLA Trove Digitised Newspapers
QLDMBC
Queensland Moreton Bay Penal Settlement
Persons confined in penal settlement
1825-1839
Queensland State Archives
QPG
Queensland Police Gazette
Persons discharged from prison
1872-1900
Queensland Police Gazette
VICPG
Victoria Police Gazette
Persons discharged from prison
1857-1906
Victoria Police Gazette
NSWPG
NSW Police Gazette
Persons discharged from prison and persons tried
1864-1931
NSW Police Gazette
TASPG
Tasmania Police Gazette
Persons discharged from prison
1854-1924
Tasmania Police Gazette
VICFP
Victoria Female Prisoners
Persons in prison
1855-1934
PROV

Users should be aware that all data has been transcribed from original manuscript or printed records. Errors in transcription as well as in the original source may be found in any of these collections. Duplicate records may also be found within the same register. At this time it is not possible to search across the entire database.


Searching the database

Searches can be conducted for any case in which a trial was listed before 1943. Owing to archive restrictions on some records we cannot provide a search facility beyond this year for now.

The search returns data including name of accused, date of trial, the first offence listed, the verdict, sentence, location of trial and links to newspaper records (accessing the Trove digitised newspapers).

A trial date of 1970 (or 0000) indicates that data may be missing an exact date, or that the case was dismissed before it went to trial.

Sources of data - these vary from state to state and include original court registers (the majority of records), court calendars, trial briefs and police gazettes.

Researchers wishing to access the database for research purposes are invited to contact the Prosecution Project to discuss their project needs.


 

The Prosecution Project publishes data transcribed from historical records held in Australian cultural institutions. Some data is provided as a resource to support private research and study. Researchers wishing to access the database for research purposes are invited to contact the Prosecution Project to discuss their project needs.