When publication of the Historical Records of Australia began in 1914 there
were plans to print them in 7 series as follows:
- Series 1 contains Governor's Despatches to and From England
- Series 2 Papers Belonging to the General Administration in Sub-Sections
[not-published]
- Series 3 contains Despatches and papers Relating to the Settlement of
the States [resumed publishing 1997]
- Series 4 contains Legal Papers
- Series 5 Exploration Papers [not published]
- Series 6 Scientific Papers [not published]
- Series 7 Ecclesiastical, Naval and Military Papers [not published]
33 volumes were published up until 1925, but the project was then
discontinued. In 1997 the project recommenced. As of January 2004, there were 35
books in four series.
Here is an index of CD-ROM to the early documents published (to January 2004,
in the 35 volumes of the Series I, III and IV of the Historical Records of
Australia). It combines the individual indexes of the 35 volumes, allowing for a
'one stop' search, for name or other words of interest.
Information has been entered in an Excel spreadsheet (viewer is provided if
you don't already have it), which allows for greater search flexibility than the
printed indexes.
From a brief look the the records you will find arrivals of ships, convict
records, correspondence, promotions, petitions, rations, embarkation,
appointments and so much more ... Divided into three columns, and sorted
alphabetically, the first is Name or Subject, the second in Entry (the context
of the original), and the third the Series, volume and date.
While this is an index only, it is a valuable reference tool for those
researching early Australia records.
