see Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), but you'll need a pre-1972 copy. The specific law dates back to 1850s, and yes there were plenty of convicts in the Port Phillip District of NSW (which is not "early Victoria"). If you go to the PROVic, you'll find a fyche, being an Index of Criminals from other colonies being arrested for entering Victoria before their sentences expired. The law was drafted so as to keep out Ticket-of-Leave people and those with Conditional Pardons: only fully time-expired convicts could enter Victoria, and there were never many of them. Yes, there may have been runaways etc, and there still are today. But such people rarely leave a trace that we'll find 150 years later. Peter THOMAS Darwin, Australia <[email protected]> -----Original Message----- From: iain&anngrant [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, 12 April 2002 14:20 To: [email protected] Subject: [TAS-CONVICTS] convicts Regardless of any law against convicts in Victoria (can you quote source) these are many precedents of Ticket of leave men and convict servants as well as runaways (absconders) in early Victoria. The first five servants of Edward Henty at Portland Bay were convicts. Regards Anne. ______________________________