It's also worth remembering that in the early days of the colonies of NSW and VDL record-keeping was scrappy and inconsistent. As others have noted, VDL was part of the colony of NSW, and responsible to Sydney, where some convicts records were sent. In VDL, it was Lieut. Gov Sorell who began to keep more systematic records, from the time of his arrival in 1817. By this time quite a few of the first convicts had completed their sentences, so many details of what happened after their arrival here were lost. If they re-offended, however, some of this history re-emerges. It was Lieut. Gov. Arthur who really systematised the convict records, from the time VDL became a separate colony in 1825. But even in he first years of Arthur's rule, there is much less detail than in later years. And, of course, quite a large amount of these records has been lost in one way or another. Judy