Hi! I probably can't help you with your research, as I've only traced my Cooleys back to the 1500s in America, but I taught school in Australia years ago - always wondered if there were any Cooleys Down Under. (Of course, wouldn't you know, I wasn't into genealogy 'way back then, so I didn't do any research!) I remember visiting Tasmania - or at least a portion of it. Port Arthur, of course, although the prison or jail (gaol?) facility in Richmond actually gave me more of a feel of the horrors of prison life at the time. The structures at Port Arthur were just so far gone; little more than footprints of so many of the buldings. I traveled with another teacher, and one of the highlights of the trip was the cylinder-shaped casino in Hobart (which, at the time was the only place you could gamble in Australia). We couldn't get in because he wasn't wearing a tie. Went back to the little motel; the old woman who owned the place loaned us one of her husband's. It was one of those wide 1960s tie-died things - but it got us in! We didn't venture into northwest Tassie. At the time it wasn't considered safe. Wish I had gone now, of course. So were your Cooleys prisoners or guards or settlers? Sheryl Cooley