Records of tens of thousands of British convicts transported to Australian penal colonies in the 19th century are available online for the first time. More than 160,000 convicts were transported during an 80-year period, before the last shipment reached Western Australia in 1868.
George Barrington, nicknamed the 'prince of pick pockets'
More than 42,000 logs will be published on family history website Ancestry.com.
They will include personal information, trial and conviction details, and freedom certificates, which were also known as a "ticket of leave".
"The new records are a wonderful addition to our ever-growing collection of criminal records, which currently detail more than 2.3 million Australian convict stories.
A 'ticket of leave' was issued to convicts after they completed their sentences
The website estimates more than two million Britons have convict ancestors who were transported to Australia.
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