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Judy Webster's Genealogy Tips and Indexes for local, interstate & overseas folk with historical records in Queensland and other Australian States. © Copyright, Judy Webster.    Search this site Why I use and recommend Findmypast

Police Gazettes are a superb but neglected source for family history. They mention offenders, suspects, victims of crime, prisoners, and many other people. You will find information about wife/child deserters; deserters from ships/army; missing persons; friends and relatives sought; escaped mental patients; complainants; etc. The notices vary in content, but many give a detailed physical description, age, place of origin, occupation, ship of arrival, and (if applicable) place of arrest, offence, trial details, prison, sentence, and sometimes other details or a photograph.

At Queensland State Archives you can see all Queensland Police Gazettes published more than 65 years ago. From 1897 onwards, two six-monthly indexes are usually bound with each Gazette. Searchable digitised PDF versions of Queensland Police Gazettes 1864-1945 (sold by Gould Genealogy) are also at the Archives, BUT...  WARNING!

1. In the PDF version, some pages are missing, in which case you must insist on seeing the hardcopy or microfilm version at Queensland State Archives.
2. My index includes some of those entries that are not in the digitised Gazettes.
3. Although the PDFs are searchable, Optical Character Recognition software has misinterpreted many words, so you may need to scroll and read, page by page.
4. See also 'Other Suggestions' below (re some online Police Gazettes).

Explanation of names below:

• These are just a few selected names from various dates between 1875 and 1948.
• Included: victims of crime, complainants, alleged offenders, prisoners, wife/child deserters, deserters from ships/army, and many others.
• Scroll through the list. Names may have been spelled incorrectly in the records.
• Names beginning with 'Mc' precede other 'M' surnames.
• Apostrophes have been removed from names such as O'BYRNE.
• Abbreviations:  b.=born, ENG=England, IRL=Ireland, SA=South Australia, VIC=Victoria, etc.
• If there is more than one entry for a name, the same person may be mentioned more than once, or there may be several people with the same name. Check *all* such entries, because some may be more detailed than others.
• For names below, see how to get information, or copies of the original records.

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Genealogy is my business (not just a hobby), and I've spent over 35 years learning about (and indexing) original records, so I charge fees for my time (to consult my index, travel to a record office, find the bundle/volume and file/page, obtain copies and send them to you).

You don't pay for '(see...)' cross-references. For example, if the list said
    BLOGGS Joe
    BLOGGS Joe
    BLOGGS Joseph (see BLOGGS Joe)
then you'd request '2 x BLOGGS Joe' and pay for 2 entries (not 3, because the 3rd entry is just a cross-reference).

Option No.1:  Police Gazette INDEX: Record Series & Quote.

$4 for one entry, plus $2 for each additional entry (same name or different names). This option is especially useful for common names. If you get details from my index, you will sometimes see that the record must be for a different person with the same name, and you won't waste money ordering a copy that's irrelevant.

What I'll tell you (from my index):

• 'Qld Police Gazette [year] and [page number]'.
• Notes (if any) that I made during indexing (sometimes with identifying details).
• No-obligation quote (it will be a discount price) for a digital image of the original document.

To send a request, follow these steps:

1. Calculate the cost ($4 for one entry, plus $2 each for extras).
2. Send payment by bank deposit or PayPal as explained here (opens in a new window).
3. In an email, type 'Police Gazette INDEX: record series & quote', and...
4. List the entries you want. Don't send biographical details - just the names.
5. In your email, tell me the payment date, amount and method, and (if you have one) an alternative email address.
6. Send your email to the address shown on the payment page.

Option No.2:  Police Gazette: Digital COPY.

The cost will depend on the location and format of the original document (hardcopy, microfilm or CD-ROM). Use the Record Series/Quote service above.

Other Suggestions

Some (but not all) Police Gazettes are online. See Findmypast *and* Ancestry.

Crime and punishment records on Findmypast include 'New South Wales Gaol Photographic Description Books' and 'Victoria prison registers'.

Police watchhouse records.

Prison records.

Court records, criminal depositions, murder files, other police records, etc. Search this site or see my book Tips for Queensland Research.

Search this site  (do NOT use apostrophes; read search results page carefully)

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This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. I hold copyright in the contents of the site, which may be used for personal research only. If you reproduce any content in any way, you must acknowledge that it belongs to me. If you wish to use any part of this site for professional or commercial purposes, you must contact me in advance to obtain my permission.