Access the Female Convicts in Van Diemen's Land Database You need to be registered with the FCRC. |
The Female Convicts in Van Diemen's Land Database, an initiative of the Female Convicts Research Centre, began in 2004 as a volunteer community project connecting descendants with their female convict ancestors. Initially the database was available only at the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site. Over the years the database has grown into a far more ambitious undertaking. Now available through the internet to registered researchers of the FCRC, it continues to serve an important role for the community, and has become a unique resource for family historians. It has also become a significant resource for academic researchers who have used the data transcribed by FCRC volunteers, and through the Founders and Survivors project have enriched the database by contributing important data sets from their own research as well.
The database has evolved into a living archive, a project growing and changing over time as new sources of information become available.
In transcribing the convict records for each woman in the database, the guiding principle is NOT to recreate the record itself, but to transcribe the information from the record in a correct and understandable form.
To access the database you need to register as a Guest Researcher with the Female Convicts Research Centre. A Guest Researcher has a free 12-month renewable subscription.
Since some of the information in the database is submitted by individuals, we cannot always guarantee the integrity of the data, though attempts are made to verify the data. If you find an error in the database, please email us at