1 optical discnon-fictionConvict ticket-of-leave register, Toodyay Acc. 721/30 The Swan River Colony, founded in 1829, as a free settlement needed an injection of capital and an increase in population if it was to thrive. In late 1849 a petition signed by prominent settlers, requesting that male convicts be sent to the Swan River, was submitted to the colonial office. This request was welcomed and transportation officially began to Western Australia in 1850. The first convict ship, the Scindian, arrived at Fremantle on June 1 carrying 75 convicts and a small group of Enrolled Pensioner Guards and their families. Eighteen years later the last convict transport, the Hougoumont, arrived with 280 convicts, mostly Irish political prisoners, making a total of nearly 10,000 convicts arriving in the colony. This availability of cheap labour resulted in many convicts being granted their 'ticket-of-leave' before their sentences had expired, which allowed private settlers to employ them. To facilitate the distribution of working men throughout the settlement, hiring depots were established in key town and country areas. Ticket-of-leave men could not leave their assigned district without permission; had to carry their 'ticket' with them at all times and produce it to any official on demand; as well as lodge an official form with the local magistrate on January 1 and July 1 every year which detailed residence, employer and rate of pay. On the positive side, ticket of leave men were able to choose their own employer and even work for themselves. They could also marry with permission of the authorities and even own land. At the end of their sentences, ex-convicts or 'expirees' were given their freedom, although those with life or long-term sentences were often granted Conditional Pardons, which conferred most of the benefits of freedom but did not allow them to return to England. The movement of convicts around the colony is preserved in the many surviving convict registers which are now kept in the State Records Office of WA . These registers list the names of employers and the dates convicts were employed, and detail the rates of pay and any brushes the convict had with authorities. Many of the employers were themselves 'ticket-of-leave' men, expirees or conditional pardon men. One of the convict hiring depots was at Toodyay and two registers from this institution for the period 1862 to 1870 have been archived in the State Records Office at Accession Number 721, volumes 30 and 31. The impact these men had on the infant colony can best be guessed from the statistical data available from official records. In 1850 there were only 5,000 residents in the colony, but at the end of the convict period the number had risen to 25,000. While some convicts emigrated to other parts of Australia after receiving their conditional pardons, the majority stayed in Western Australia. Some had their families join them from the United Kingdom, while others married the young women who came out on the 'Bride Ships'. Over the years family historians' research into their forebears' convict origins have shown the profound influence these men have had on the development of the State of Western Australia and the districts in which they worked, settled and raised their families.western australia, convicts western australia, toodyay registers