Don, The phrase "on (or upon) one's own hands" meant that a convict could work for his own benefit or interest, rather than working in public or private service. [You could perhaps translate the term to - their destiny/life was "in their own hands".] The term is first officially recorded in 1801 when it was actually forbidden for prisoners assigned to settlers to work "on their own hands". Settlers who hired out prisoners assigned to them, or allowed them to work for themselves (and thereby pay for their upkeep} were required to return said prisoners to barracks forthwith. [ref. Government and General Orders] In Tasmania, all female prisoners who were not assigned and were allowed to work "on their own hands" had to have a regular Ticket-of-leave. A notice was published detailing the conditions and the method of obtaining the Ticket. Women who failed to gain the necessary Ticket would be ordered into Government employ. The system was tightened up later and became more regulated. [ref. Hobart Town Gazette, 3 Jan 1818] -- Regards Mike Hurburgh --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com

Hi Joy, not sure what you mean about indexing of Electoral Rolls, Ancestry states that some are, but anyway you access them at "Ancestry.com Library Edition" at the LINC (State Library of Tasmania), so you search the rolls as you would normally on Ancestry. You can browse, search a particular State - whatever, it is exactly the same as using a paid version, as far as I can see. As an unpaid member of Ancestry.com I can search the database and get a lot of hits, if I find what looks like the correct one, or likely, (at least you get the year, state & district), I can then go to the local library & access a copy of it. Cheers Sally -------------------------------------------------- From: "Joy L via" <aus-tasmania@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 11:18 AM To: <aus-tasmania@rootsweb.com> Subject: Re: [AUS-Tas] Charging for free online databases? > Sally > > Don't know about the Who's Who in Australia database, but with Ancestry > electoral rolls, you can access them for free at a Library, but they are > not indexed, so unless you know where people are living they can be hard > to trace, especially if they are not where you thought they may be. I > found a few of mine that were having children say in Victoria, then > moved interstate and died there, some of their children moving with > them or nearby so would not have found them easily. > > But Yes I do agree with your sentiments. I also disagree with Family > Trees on there site and then charging others an arm and a leg to view > them. > > Cheers > Joy > ------------------------------- >