Legal document
Certificate
Maker & role
NSW Government, Printer
Production date
1843
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Object detail
Production place
Collection
Measurements
certificate, L: 16.8cm (L: 168mm); glass mount, H: 25.5 x W: 20.5cm (H: 255 x W: 205mm)
Production notes
State Archives have the stub of the certificate which dates it to 1843
Credit line
Gift, 2003
Hyde Park Barracks Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Hyde Park Barracks Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
Certificate of Freedom issued to convict Thomas Harvey, 1843
Description
Certificate of Freedom fragment, 43/2060 belonging to Thomas Harvey. Appears to have been dated 1843. Issued to convict after completion of 14 years of colonial sentence. Originally kept in the tin HPB2003/19-1:2. A Certificate of Freedom was issued to convicts upon completion of their sentences. It restored to them all the rights and privileges of free subjects. These were carried by former convicts and shown on demand. Tins protected these important documents from the elements.
Certificates of Freedom had to be carried at all times and shown to the appropriate authorities on demand. Thomas Harvey, who received this certificate in 1843, after completing his 14-year sentence, kept his certificate in a tin container to protect it from wear and tear. In nearly all cases the certificate restored all their legal rights and privileges as free citizens. Norfolk labourer Thomas Harvey had arrived in Sydney on Katherine Stewart Forbes in 1830. His sentence was 14 years, for stealing fowls. When he received his freedom, Harvey was paid the money he had in his bank account - a sum of 3 pounds, which he had probably arrived with in 1830, and the government had banked for him until he served out his sentence. Emancipated convicts were given free grants of land, animals, tools and seed to establish themselves as viable settlers. Many in NSW became large landholders. By the 1820s, ex-convicts had become masters of most of the newly assigned convicts, owned over half the colony’s wealth and three-quarters of its land.
Certificates of Freedom had to be carried at all times and shown to the appropriate authorities on demand. Thomas Harvey, who received this certificate in 1843, after completing his 14-year sentence, kept his certificate in a tin container to protect it from wear and tear. In nearly all cases the certificate restored all their legal rights and privileges as free citizens. Norfolk labourer Thomas Harvey had arrived in Sydney on Katherine Stewart Forbes in 1830. His sentence was 14 years, for stealing fowls. When he received his freedom, Harvey was paid the money he had in his bank account - a sum of 3 pounds, which he had probably arrived with in 1830, and the government had banked for him until he served out his sentence. Emancipated convicts were given free grants of land, animals, tools and seed to establish themselves as viable settlers. Many in NSW became large landholders. By the 1820s, ex-convicts had become masters of most of the newly assigned convicts, owned over half the colony’s wealth and three-quarters of its land.
Accession number
HPB2003/18
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