Ancestry uploads new Australia and NZ collections

Ancestry has uploaded some new collections that will be of interest to family historians exploring ancestors who emigrated to Australia and New Zealand.

First up is the New Zealand School Registers and Lists, 1850–1967 collection. This was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project volunteers, so it's free to search and browse. It includes records from:

• Christ College Grammar School, 1850-1921
  
• Nelson College School, 1856-1956
  
• Southland Boys High School, 1881-1930
  
• Wanganui Collegiate School, 1854-1939
  
• Wellington Diocesan School for Girls, Nga Tawa, Marton, 1911-1967

Records may include details such as name, birth year, attendance date, residence, death date and place, and father’s name. Others may indicate occupation, spouse’s name, work history, teams, teachers and administrators, photos, a chronology of the institution, or other details.

Moving to the new Australian collections, the Lunatic Estates and Register, Victoria, 1867-1906 contains an inventory book of estates belonging to mental health patients as well as a register of patients in mental health facilities. The records include names of patients, dates of admission, discharge and death, and the name of the asylum where they were treated. Some entries have probate details. The case notes for individuals are held at the Public Record Office Victoria, Melbourne.

Baptisms of Children of Convicted Women, Tasmania, 1833-1854, contains records of children born to female convicts in the so-called 'female factories' ie the Hobart Town House of Correction. Details on the record may vary from year to year but can include date of birth, date of baptism, child’s name, parents’ names, transportation ship, and by whom the child was baptized. The father's name is rarely in the record and Ancestry recommends that searches are made without including the father's name.

Another new collection is the Convict Court and Selected Records, Tasmania, 1800-1899, which includes a variety of records relating to transported convicts from 30 record series held at the Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office in Hobart. Among them are pardons, tickets of leave, convict registers, employment records of convicts, applications to marry, deaths, and asylum patients’ records.