The ''Historical Records of Australia'' (''HRA'') were collected and published by the Library Committee of the

Commonwealth Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-g ...

, to create a series of accurate publications on the history of Australia. The records begin shortly before 1788, the year that the first British settlement was established in Australia (at

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman S ...

). The ''HRA'' currently comprises 37 volumes. The first 33 volumes are available freely online (see "

External links An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain. Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination ...

", below).

Structure of the ''HRA''

The ''Historical Records of Australia'' comprise three series of volumes. Within a series, each separate volume is roughly 900 pages in length. Series I comprises 26 volumes. It was published during 1914-1925. It contains despatches of the Governors, who were in charge of the

Crown colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...

in Australia, to and from the authorities in England. Those despatches include detailed reports on many subjects, of both major and minor importance. Some of the things to be found in this series are arrivals of ships, convict records, correspondence, promotions, petitions, rations, embarkation, and appointments. Series III currently comprises 10 volumes. The first six volumes were published during 1914-1925; Volume VII was published in 1999, Volume VIII in 2003, Volume IX in 2006, and Volume X in 2013. Series III contains documents related to the settlement of the states (especially Tasmania). Series IV comprises only one volume, published in 1922. It contains documents relating to the legal system. Originally, it was envisaged that there would be seven separate series; so far, three have appeared: I, III, IV. :I Despatches of Governors to and from England :II Papers belonging to the general administration :III Settlements in the different states :IV Legal papers :V Explorations :VI Scientific :VIII Ecclesiastical, naval, and military papers

Editors of the ''HRA''

The ''Historical Records of Australia'' was effectively founded by J. Frederick Watson.Watson, James Frederick (Fred) (1878–1945)
, ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 12,

Melbourne University Press Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. History MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...

, 1990. Watson was appointed editor of the volumes by the Library Committee of the

, in 1912.Dr Frederick Watson
,

National Archives of Australia The National Archives of Australia (NAA), formerly known as the Commonwealth Archives Office and Australian Archives, is an Australian Government agency that serves as the national archives of the nation. It collects, preserves and encourages ...

. Between 1912 and 1925, Watson almost single-handedly collated, edited, and supervised the publication of 33 volumes of documents; the volumes were for the period from 1786 to 1848. Watson resigned in 1925, after which no further volumes were published until 1999, when publication was resumed under the editorship of Peter Chapman.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Links to online copies of volumes

Links to online copies of most volumes
—

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...

Links to online copies of most volumes
—

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locall ...

(free to view online; whole-volume download requires login)
Links to online copies of the first 33 volumes
—

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "maint ...

(searchable online; downloaded copies are nonsearchable) * Series I: Volumes
IIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIIIIXXXIXIIXIIIXIVXVXVIXVIIXVIIIXIX
—at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Structure of the ''HRA''

Editors of the ''HRA''

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Links to online copies of volumes

Other links for the ''HRA''