AUSTRALIA: COLONIAL LIFE AND SETTLEMENT
The Colonial Secretary's Papers, 1788-1825,
from the State Records Authority of New South Wales

Part 2: Special bundles (topic collections), proclamations, orders and related records, 1789-1825

This second part covers ‘special bundles’ of documents held by the Colonial Secretary, each relating to a particular subject or topic, in many cases reflecting the administrative importance of the matter at the time. Sample topics include:

• The massacre in New Zealand of the crew of the Boyd;
• Correspondence with Charles Throsby regarding the discovery of new country and the building of roads;
• Medical Comforts shipped in London for the use of convicts;
• Returns of cattle and settlers due to receive government stocks;
• Minutes regarding orphan institutions

The papers also benefit from the existence of a massive web-based index. Every letter and bundle has been analysed, resulting in more than 200,000 searchable entries, including c40,000 names of individuals and c2,600 subjects. Sample subjects include Aborigines, Banks and Banking, Convicts, Distilleries, the East India Company, Employment, Fines and Punishments, Hospitals, Inquests, Kangaroos, Land, Livestock, Manufacturers, Medical Supplies, Merchants, Minerals, Pilots, Potatoes, Religion, Russians, Ships and Shipping, Tolls, Victualling, Whales and Wheat.