The Colonial Record Records of Colonial Australia

For members

Go beyond search.

Searching and browsing the archive is free for everyone. Two features go further — turning your own documents into searchable records, and putting questions to the whole archive — and they come with a free account.

Both are member features · free to start · no card needed

Upload · The Lodgement Office

Turn old scans and handwriting into searchable PDFs.

Bring a PDF, a photograph or a hard-to-read handwritten page. We read it the same way we read the gazettes — multiple passes, reconciled — and hand back corrected text and a fully searchable PDF, with the people, places and dates pulled out.

  • Corrected text + a fully searchable PDF you can keep
  • People, places and dates extracted and indexed
  • Free pages every month on the opening plan
  • Your call whether it joins the public index — the source is always credited
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Uploading is available to account holders.

Drop in a PDF, scan or photo
printed pages · old handwriting · up to 40 pages
You receiveCorrected text + a fully searchable PDF
We extractThe people, places and dates inside
You chooseWhether it joins the public index
Sign in to open the upload desk

Ask the Record

Ask questions no ordinary archive can answer.

Search works when you know what you're looking for. When you don't, ask. The assistant reads across the indexed record and cites the exact page for every claim it makes — and won't assert what the record can't support.

  • Plain-language questions across the whole indexed archive
  • Every answer pinned to its issue, date and page
  • Fact-checked against the gathered evidence before you see it
  • Included with research plans
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Ask the Record is available to account holders.

A sample cited answer
“What was the average price of Crown land advertised in 1854?”
Across the indexed Crown land sale notices for 1854, upset prices most commonly ranged from £1 to £2 per acre for country lots, with town allotments listed substantially higher…
Sources: Government Gazette land sale notices, 1854 — issue, date and page cited per figure

Free to start. More when you need it.

Create a free account to upload your first pages and ask your first questions — search and browse stay free for everyone, always.

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