Criminal Characters

Criminal Characters is a research project investigating the criminal careers and life histories of Australian offenders from the end of the convict period through to the Second World War, specifically from the 1850s through to 1940.

This site offers a number of resources for learning about the history of crime in Australia. You can also get hands-on experience of Australia’s criminal past by transcribing historical crime records, thereby helping to create a permanent and invaluable resource for future generations.

The project aims to bridge gaps between historical knowledge of crime and contemporary criminological research by providing insights into the contexts and patterns of offending across a period that saw significant legal and social developments, including mass migrations, changing technologies, war, economic depressions, the emergence of the narcotics traffic, and the evolution of new forms of punishment. 

If you are interested in the criminal history of Australia, in who committed crimes and why, and you have some time available to assist in transcribing records then this is a project that may interest you.

This project has been supported by a grant from the University of Technology Sydney through its Chancellors Postdoctoral Research Fellowship scheme and is being hosted by the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS.  The images for transcription have kindly been supplied by the Public Records Office Victoria.