State Library and Archives of Tasmania Blog

We have added a new category to the Tasmanian Names Index! Go to Record Type and select Bankruptcy to find the records of over 1600 people who declared either bankruptcy or insolvency between 1821 and 1928. These include the files of two notable Tasmanians whose fortunes fell on hard times – Thomas Wells and Sylvanus …

What was a time-ball and how did it contribute to the feminist movement?

The bushranger Michael Howe and his gang terrorised Van Diemen’s Land from 1815 until Howe’s death. Next year will see the two hundredth anniversary of Michael Howe’s final showdown, so we created a timeline of the events that led to Private William Pugh of the 48th Regiment shooting and killing Howe on 21 October 1818 …

Re boxing a series of old legal documents is not my idea of a fun few months. It usually involves simply pulling out the paper clips and pins that damage the old paper and re housing them into crisp white archival folders. However, whilst re boxing our intestate wills (documents related to people who have …

Hospital records are like the holy grail of archives. Because medical histories are so personal, they are carefully controlled. In the busy world of a hospital, not every slip of paper could be kept, particularly before computers. By the time 19th and early 20th century records reached the archives, many volumes had gone missing or …

John Turner was a sprightly 21 year old baker when he was transported for stealing a watch, although he was missing a leg. It was the right, from below the knee. Sometimes we lose track of a convict after they leave the convict system – even if they stay there, committing misdeeds, affronts and offences …

You can now find out more personal details about immigrants to Tasmania in the early 20th century, and the Tasmanian residents who nominated them. What follows is a tale of disappointment, confusion indignation and despair.

In November of 1878, two women from Waratah in the North West of Tasmania began a quest to marry one man. They were happy to share him between them, as long as they could do it with the blessing of a church.

‘Daisy Picken’. It sounded to me like a circus stage name, and conjured up images of an energetic teenage girl with pigtails, like a long-lost cousin of Pippi Longstocking. We have recently added volumes of prisoner files to the Tasmanian Names Index, and many of them have photographs. Some of them are quite comical – …

It operated for just five years, but the Tasmanian Film Corporation created many of Tasmania’s most iconic films.40 years on, we remember this agency and their work.