NSW State Archives eNewsletter - ISSUE 113 February 2022

School Files digitised

We are delighted to announce that almost 200 School Files dated between 1876-1939 from across NSW are now available online.

Through investment by the NSW Government in the State Archives Collection, School Files from 35 schools across NSW have been digitised to achieve greater preservation and access to this important material. This is a fantastic access opportunity for all of NSW, from both city and regional areas.

The digital files and images are available online in high resolution for the first time and free for the public to view in our catalogue Collection Search.

Check out the list now of available schools and click through to view the files.

VIEW FILES

Col Sec Special Bundles listed

We are thrilled to announce that the list of 2,129 Colonial Secretary Special Bundle titles, 1826-1982 (NRS 906), has just been uploaded to our catalogue, Collection Search, allowing for searching in one easy place.

You can now also pre-order these Special Bundles for use in the Reading Room easily and conveniently through the catalogue. You can still browse lists of Colonial Secretary Special Bundles – this is useful if you are wanting to browse them in date order.

Special Bundles are bundles of documents that relate to a particular issue or subject. Many Government agencies, including the Colonial Secretary, created Special Bundles – they extracted papers on important matters from general correspondence series and kept them as separate subject files. Special bundles are a great starting point if you are researching a particular topic.

Get searching now!

Upcoming webinar

This webinar will focus on the Colonial Secretary's Papers 1788-1825 Index which is one of the most valuable and comprehensive sources of information on the early settlement of NSW.

Colonial Secretary's Papers 1788-1825 Index webinar
Friday 18 March 2022
10:30pm-11:30am

Register for more of our 2022 webinars!

Archives on Tour - School Records

The theme for our 2022 Archives on Tour (virtual) program is “School Records”.

The next live webinars for this program focusing on schools and teachers records:

Archives on Tour - School Records: Coonabarabran live webinar
Wednesday 2 March 2022
2:00pm-3:30pm

Archives on Tour - School Records: West Wyalong live webinar
Tuesday 15 March 2022
10:30pm-12:00pm

Archives on Tour - School Records: Cooma live webinar
Wednesday 23 March 2022
10:30am-12:00pm

These events are free. Register now!

New Convict Pardons Guide

We have published a new short guide on convict pardons.

Convicts in NSW with a life sentence could receive a pardon for their crimes, and there were two types: conditional (free as long as they didn't return to Europe), and absolute (sentence entirely remitted).

Find out more about records relating to convict pardons.

FIND OUT MORE

Reading Room changes

In line with NSW Public Health Orders, we have updated our requirements for entering the Reading Room.

Face masks are no longer required to be worn in indoor spaces
Appointments are no longer compulsory, however, we recommend you do make an appointment before visiting until the 31 March 2022

FIND OUT MORE

Maria Lock's 1831 petition

In 1831, a young Aboriginal woman, Maria Lock, wrote to Lieutenant General Ralph Darling, Governor of NSW, petitioning him to grant her a portion of land that had been promised to her at the time of her marriage.

The petition, held in our Collection, is not only a significant record of the interaction between Aboriginal people and the state in colonial NSW, it also has a direct connection to our Senior Exhibitions Curator, Penny Stannard's family history.

You may not have seen this Flickr album we put together, grouping some of our most popular Flickr images together.

Check out the album now.

VIEW ALBUM

Our address:

Museums of History NSW

Western Sydney Records Centre

161 O'Connell Street

Kingswood, NSW 2747

Australia

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