The Colonial Record Records of Colonial Australia

The Lodgement Office

Lodge a document.
We'll do the rest.

Bring us a historical document — a scanned PDF or a photograph — and our transcription engine will produce a faithful transcript and a fully searchable facsimile, while you watch it work.

The bargain of the Office: the transcription is done at our expense. In return, your document — once examined — is entered into the public Record for every researcher who comes after you.
I.

Lodge

Sign in and present your document at the counter — PDF or image, up to 40 pages. Declare that you have the right to deposit it.

II.

Examination

The Examiner assesses the document — its age, nature and suitability for a public archive — before a penny of transcription is spent.

III.

Transcription & entry

Two independent engines read every page. You receive the transcript and the searchable facsimile; the document enters the Record.

Present your document

Deposit the document here

Drag a PDF or photograph onto the counter

— or —
Choose a file…

PDF or image · up to 40 pages · 60 MB

Accession note optional, but it helps the archive

The Examiner reads this as a claim to check against the document — it never influences the transcription itself.

Lodgement docket

①

Received

Document accepted at the counter.
②

Examination

The Examiner assesses age & suitability.
③

Transcription

Two engines read every page.
④

Collation

Pages assembled into the transcript.
⑤

Facsimile

Searchable text laid invisibly over the scan.
⑥

Entered

Recorded and delivered.
— The Examiner

The pages

Declined by the Examiner

Nothing has been charged and nothing retained. The Office accepts documents at least fifty years old that are suitable for a public archive. If you believe the Examiner has erred, write to the Examiner citing your docket number.

The transcript


    

    

      

        

          
          
The facsimile

          
Your original pages with an invisible, searchable text layer —
             select, search and copy directly in any PDF reader.

          Download searchable PDF
        

      

      

      

        
File under a research file

        

          
          
        

        
Build a file per ancestor — every record you lodge or
          find can be filed to a person. Open your
          research files →