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Governor's House at Sydney, Port Jackson 1791
(State Library of NSW: a3461024)
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Abbreviations Used

Some abbreviations, words or terms you may come across when researching convicts or colonial times.

Abbreviation	Description
=	married
ABGR	Australian Biographical & Genealogical Record
AGCI	Australian Genealogical Computer Index
AJCP	Australian Joint Copying Project
AO or SAO	(Sate) Archives Office
AP	Absolute Pardon
ARK	Archives Research Kit (State Records of NSW)
AS	Assigned Servant
Assizes & Quarter Session Courts	The Court of Assize or Assizes, were periodic criminal courts held around England & Wales until 1972, when together with the Quarter Sessions, they were abolished and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The Assizes heard the more serious cases, which were committed to it by the Quarter Sessions (local county courts heard 4 times a year) while the more minor offences were dealt summarily with Justices of the Peace in petty sessions also known as Magistrates Courts
b	born
BC	Born in Colony
Bond	A convict serving their sentence
C of F	Certificate of Freedom
Census NSW 1828	A survey of those in the colony in 1828—it does not include the military
CF	came free
Circa. or c.	Approximately or about
Col. Sec.	Colonial Secretary
CP	Conditional Pardon
Currency lass or lad	free born children of convicts
Deal or Downs	Ships anchored in the Downs off the town of Deal and here they awaited for favourable winds. The Downs is the harbour of Deal and is enclosed by the North and South Forelands, as well as the deadly Goodwin Sands
E or EM or Eman	Emancipated
Exclusives	Free settlers—sometimes wealthy colonists
FS or FBS	Free by servitude
GD or Gaol Delivery	an authority conferred upon judges and others included in it for trying and delivering every prisoner in gaol when the Judges, upon their circuit, arrive at the place for holding court
GS	Government Servant—a convict
HPB	Hyde Park Barracks
HRA	Historical Records of Australia
IGI	International Genealogical Index
Indent	Convict passenger list or convict arrival musters
m	married
Moreton Bay	now Brisbane Queensland (Penal colony established 1824)
Muster	A listing/counting people in the colony, free and convict
NAI	National Records of Ireland
NLA	National Library of Australia - Canberra
OB	Old Bailey
PJ	Port Jackson, Sydney
PRO	Public Records Office—Kew, England
Pure Merinos or Sterling	Children of the Exclusives (non convicts)
SAG	Society of Australian Genealogists
SLV	State Library of Victoria
SRNSW	State Records of NSW
T of E	Ticket of Exemption
VDL	Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania)

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