The first official general musters were taken in the earliest years of the New South Wales settlement as a mean of counting the population, controlling the convicts and determining the colony's ability to support itself without recourse to the public stores. From 1795 onwards general musters appear to have been held. Between 1814 and 1819, the Governor personally supervised the recording of the musters and returns, which were then written up in his office. However, the resulting documents were generally considered to be very inaccurate so the procedure changed in 1820.
In 1822 the Governor ordered that the magistrates again supervise the collection of the General Muster, while the district constables were ordered to take note of 'all' the inhabitants in their district to provide a check for he actual Muster.
The editor has discovered that the '1825 Muster' is the combination of three Musters taken in 1823, 1824 and 1825. Several Appendices which contain interesting and unusual details such as Employers, Occupations, Deaths and Departures are included. The main text of the Muster List records:
- Full Name
- Age for children (who are grouped by family)
- Ship and Year of arrival or Born in Colony
- Length of Sentence and current status (eg. Free by Servitude or Came Free)
- Employer, often trade or other particulars given (eg. Widow, lives with, child of, Blind)
- Place of abode
- Remarks which can give such details as 'Run on 24 Oct 1824' or 'executed' or 'Gone to England'
Contents:
Statistics
The Publisher and the ABGR Project
Acknowledgements
Introduction
- Historical Background
- Method of Collection
- Table 1. Muster Dates
- Table 2. Muster Statistics
- Method of Documentation
- Inconsistencies and Difficulties
Explanatory Notes
- Editing Parameters
- Method of Checking
- Notes on the General Muster List
- Bibliography
- Abbreviations
Muster List 1824-1825
Appendix 1. Editor's Remarks
Appendix 2. Page References
Appendix 3. Occupations
Appendix 4. Employers
Appendix 5. Deaths
Appendix 6. Departures
Index
