Australian Joint Copying Project research guide

About the AJCP

cover of book Australian Joint Copying Project, Part 1

Mary McCallum & National Library of Australia & Australian Joint Copying Project, (2000), Australian Joint Copying Project handbook, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-396880406

The Australian Joint Copying Project is a collection of historical material relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific dating from 1560 to 1984.

The material has been drawn from records held in the United Kingdom and microfilmed. The collection comprises 10,095 reels of 35mm microfilm.

The microfilms in the collection are divided into two series:

  • Public Records Office (PRO) - copied from records held in the UK Public Record Office (now The National Archives)
  • Miscellaneous (M) - archives and manuscripts copied from a variety of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh institutions and organisations.

To find descriptions of material and the related microfilm reel/s, use this guide and the printed AJCP handbooks held in the Newspapers and Family History zone. You may then order the relevant films via the Library's catalogue.

For detailed descriptions of PRO records, use the Research Guides on The National Archives website.

The Australian Joint Copying Project was established in 1945 by an agreement between the National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales to jointly microfilm material in the Public Record Office, London and elsewhere relating to Australia and the Pacific.

In 1988 the SLNSW withdrew from the project, which continued until June 1993 under the direction of the NLA and with the participation of the State Library of Victoria, the National Library of New Zealand, the National Archives of New Zealand and other Australian state and academic libraries. From 1960 filming included private records of Australasian interest throughout the British Isles.

The Project ceased in 1993.

How the AJCP microfilms are arranged

For purposes of arrangement and description the AJCP film is divided into two series: the Public Record Office Series and the Miscellaneous Series.

Within the Public Record Office Series, the records of the Colonial Office and Dominion Office are predominant. Almost half of the AJCP film is taken up by the despatches, correspondence, letterbooks and registers, dating from 1788 to 1951, of these two departments.

How to find AJCP material on the Library's catalogue

Besides the one overall catalogue record to the entire AJCP collection,records are also provided for each class of records.

Links to a number of these class records are provided below. Catalogue entries are also provided for many individual records.

You can locate AJCP records in general through a search of the catalogue using relevant keywords such as the following:

You can also search AJCP in Trove.

Citing the AJCP microfilmed records

Acknowledgement of use of the microfilm should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Citations should include reference to the original material and to the microfilm reel number. For example:

  • PRO Series: Papers of Sir Otto Niemeyer, 1921-27,T. 176 (AJCP reel PRO 6777-6778)
  • M Series: Journal of Captain J. Cook, 18 Feb.-23 Sept. 1770, British Library Add. MS. 27885 (AJCP reel M 1580)

Other libraries that hold copies of AJCP microfilms

At the time of publication of the third edition of the Introductory Handbook in 2000, the following institutions held all or part of the AJCP microfilms.

Australian Capital Territory

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics
  • Australian Customs Service
  • Australian National University - Noel Butlin Archives
  • Australian War Memorial
  • National Library of Australia (COMPLETE)

New South Wales

  • Archives Authority of New South Wales
  • Australian National Maritime Museum
  • Bathurst City Library
  • Central Coast Family History Society
  • Charles Sturt University - Regional Archives, Wagga Wagga
  • Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
  • Genealogy Research Service Centre
  • Macquarie Family History Foundation
  • Macquarie University Library
  • Nepean Family History Society
  • Newcastle Public Library
  • Richmond Tweed Regional Library
  • Ryde Municipal Council Library
  • Society of Australian Genealogists
  • State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library (COMPLETE)
  • Taralaga Historical Society
  • Tumut Family History Group
  • University of New England Library
  • University of New South Wales Library
  • University of Newcastle - Auchmuty Library
  • Wollongong City Reference Library

Northern Territory

  • Northern Territory Archives Service
  • Northern Territory University Library
  • Port Keats Community Archive

Queensland

  • Genealogical Society of Queensland
  • James Cook University Library
  • Queensland State Archives
  • State Library of Queensland - John Oxley Library
  • University of Central Queensland Library
  • University of Queensland Library

South Australia

  • Flinders University of South Australia
  • South Australia Heraldry and Genealogy Society
  • State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Library
  • State Records of South Australia
  • University of Adelaide: Department of History

Tasmania

  • Archives Office of Tasmania
  • Port of Launceston Authority
  • Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
  • University of Tasmania: Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies
  • University of Tasmania Library

Victoria

  • Deakin University Library
  • Monash University: Humanities and Social Sciences Library
  • State Library of Victoria: Latrobe Library (COMPLETE)
  • University of Melbourne: Department of History

Western Australia

  • Library and Information Service of Western Australia (now State Library of Western Australia)
  • Murdoch University Library

  • Auckland Institute and Museum
  • Auckland Public Library
  • Fencibles Historical Society
  • Heath & Associates Ltd Library
  • National Archives of New Zealand
  • National Library of New Zealand: Alexander Turnbull Library
  • Nelson Provincial Museum
  • New Zealand Society of Genealogists
  • University of Auckland Library
  • University of Canterbury Library
  • University of Otago: Hocken Library
  • University of Waikato Library

  • Central Archives of Fiji

  • University of Papua New Guinea Library

  • National Archives of Canada

  • University of Buffalo Library
  • University of Chicago Library
  • University of Hawaii Library
  • University of Houston Library
  • University of Ohio: Center for Research Libraries
  • Genealogical Society of Utah

  • University of South Africa Library

AJCP handbook

This part of the Handbook contains a listing of all microfilms reels in the AJCP collection in numerical order. It also includes a listing of institutions which held part or all of the AJCP at the time of publication.

A digitised copy of Part 1 of the Handbook is available online.

The Colonial Office was the British Government department chiefly responsible for the administration of the Crown colonies, communications between Britain and self-governing colonies and for the formulation of imperial policy. Its records contain an enormous amount of information on the six Australian colonies, New Zealand, New Guinea and Fiji.

A digitised copy of Part 2 of the Handbook is available online.

sepia photo of an office building

Kerry & Co., Colonial Secretary's Office, Sydney, ca. 1895, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148351858

Content

Colonial Office classes relating specifically to the colonies has been comprehensively microfilmed. The following list provides, at Class-level, the content of Colonial Office records contained within the AJCP. Piece Lists and Dates may be found in Part 2 of the Handbook.

Auckland Islands
Australia (general)
Australia (Commonwealth)
Bermuda
Fiji
Gibraltar
Newfoundland
New Guinea (Papua)
New South Wales
New Zealand
New Zealand Company
North Australia
Queensland
South Australia
Tasmania
Victoria
Western Australia
Australian and New Zealand
Western Pacific
Supplementary
Accounts branch
Chief Clerk
Colonies, general
Correspondence
Dominions
Dominions (War of 1914-1918)
Emigration
Governors' pensions
Honours
Maps and plans
Overseas settlement
Registers

painting of a man leading two other men tied with rope with jeering onlookers

Robert Dighton, (1781), A fleet of transports under convoy, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135886548

In 1782 the division of foreign business between the Northern and Southern Departments in Great Britain was abolished. Out of this administrative change was born the Home Office, assuming jurisdiction over domestic affairs of the realm.

The functions of the Home Office were then largely the transmission and answering of petitions to the Sovereign from his subjects, advice on the exercise of royal prerogatives, especially the 'prerogative of mercy', and the issuing of instructions on behalf of the Sovereign to Officers of the Crown, Lords Lieutenant, Magistrates, Governors of Colonies and others, in connection with the maintenance of law and order and the defence of the realm. The new Department also immediately became responsible for colonial affairs and remained so until 1801 despite the appointment of a Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in 1794. A number of duties of the Office have since been superseded and other added, control of the penal system being amongst them (1823).

Although the duties of the Home Office have been altered from time to time, the most important as regards Australian historical interest remains that of maintenance of the Sovereign's Peace. Under the sway of this power fall those disturbers of the peace, the convicts. As noted above, the Home Office was responsible for colonial affairs and remained so until 1801, but the bulk of records affecting the colonies has been transferred to the Colonial Office. Most of the remaining records of interest to the Australian Joint Copying Project concern the convicts.

Among the main classes copied can be found the two earliest censuses held in Australia, the 1828 and 1837 censuses.

A digitised copy of Part 3 of the Handbook is available online.

Content

The following list provides, at Class-level, the content of Home Office records contained within the AJCP. Piece Lists and Dates may be found in Part 3 of the Handbook.

Criminal
Various
Criminal

portrait of a man in military uniform

Richard Read, (1830), [Portrait of Colonel James Allan, 57th Regiment], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135176976

The War Office records copied under the auspices of the Australian Joint Copying Project relate mainly to Australia and New Zealand. Troops in the Colonies were under the control of each Governor, although administratively they were controlled from London. Thus a great deal of material concerning troops and defence, especially before 1840, is to be found in the Governors' despatches in the Colonial Office records. In 1870 the Colonies became responsible for their own defences.

A digitised copy of Part 4 of the Handbook is available online.

Content

The following list provides, at Class-level, the content of War Office records contained within the AJCP. Piece Lists and Dates may be found in Part 4 of the Handbook.

Correspondence
Returns
Miscellanea
Correspondence
Ordnance Office
Commissariat Department
Private collections
Judge Advocate General's Office
War of 1939-45

sepia photo of a man dressed in black

Samuel Cousins & Thomas Lawrence, The Earl of Aberdeen Kt., His Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1830, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135976912

Until 1909, no distinction was made between those Foreign Office records created before 1782 and those created after that date. The earlier records were then designated State Papers Foreign, the remainder being classified as the Foreign Office Group. The Foreign Office records filmed under the Australian Joint Copying Project are all records created after 1782. The consist of material dealing with the Pacific area, and correspondence concerning British and other colonial policies and dependencies in the area.

A digitised copy of Part 5 of the Handbook is available online.

Content

The following list provides, at Class-level, the content of Foreign Office records contained within the AJCP. Piece Lists and Dates may be found in the Handbook.

General correspondence
Correspondence before 1906
Correspondence after 1906
Other Classes
Embassy and Consular archives

photo of a carved wooden plaque of a man's head, set on a wooden background

Bernhard Smith, (1845), [Plaque of James Clark Ross RN], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135734098

In this group of records copied for the Australian Joint Copying Project are those created by the following:

  • Air Ministry
  • Exchequer and Audit Department
  • Meteorological Office
  • Board of Trade
  • Chancery
  • Cabinet Office
  • Board of Customs
  • Ministry of Labour
  • Ministry of Transport
  • Privy Council
  • Prison Commission
  • Paymaster General's Office
  • Prime Minister's Office
  • British Transport Commission
  • Treasury, and
  • Board of Longitude

Maps and Plans are also included in this group of records.

A digitised copy of Part 6 of the Handbook is available online.

Content

The following list provides, at Class-level, the content of the various Public Record Office records above that are contained within the AJCP. Piece Lists and Dates may be found in Part 6 of the Handbook.

Air Ministry
Exchequer and Audit Department
Meteorological Office
Board of Trade
Chancery
Cabinet Office
Customs
Ministry of Labour
Ministry of Transport
Privy Council
Prison Commission
Paymaster General's Office
Prime Minister
  • PREM 3 Operations papers, 1942-43
British Transport Commission
Treasury
Board of Longitude, 1714-1838
Maps and plans, 1788-1858

small painting of a man with white hair and a blue jacket set in an oval frame

(1743). Portrait of Sir George Jackson, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-149663436

The bulk of the Admiralty records filmed for the Australian Joint Copying Project were grouped by the Public Record Office under the heading 'Admiralty and Secretariat'. The classes included in this section contain records of the Admiralty Office up to 1832 and of the Secretary's Department of the reorganised Board of Admiralty after that date. The types of records microfilmed include correspondence, lists of ships, and log books.

A digitised copy of Part 7 of the Handbook is available online.

Content

The following list provides, at Class-level, the content of Admiralty records contained within the AJCP. Piece Lists and Dates may be found in Part 7 of the Handbook.

Admiralty and Secretariat
Accounting departments
Admiralty and Secretariat
Royal Marines
Medical departments
Navy Board
Transport departments
Admiralty and Secretariat
Station records

cover of book Australian Joint Copying Project, Part 8, M-Series

Ekarestini O'Brien & National Library of Australia & Australian Joint Copying Project, (1998), Australian Joint Copying Project handbook, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-397322928

For purposes of arrangement and description the AJCP film is divided into two series: the Public Record Office Series and the Miscellaneous Series.

Archives and manuscripts filmed as part of the Miscellaneous Series range from those held in the British Library and the National Libraries of Wales, Scotland and Ireland to material in university libraries, county record offices, museums, religious archives, learned societies, business archives and private homes. Although private records predominate, the Miscellaneous Series encompasses some official records, including selections from the archives of the Hydrographic Office, the Post Office and the Ministry of Defence. There is also, anomalously, a small amount of film acquired from the Public Record Office. In addition, local government records, mostly relating to convict transportation, were filmed in several county and city record offices.

The great strength of the Miscellaneous Series is in material dating from the nineteenth century. This applies in particular to emigrant diaries and letters, convict records, the archives of missionary societies, scientific records and the papers of politicians and officials. Eighteenth-century material consists mainly of maritime records, including logs and journals of most of the early British explorers in the Pacific. Despite weakening links between Britain and its Pacific colonies, twentieth-century material is far from negligible and includes important sources on imperial relations, migration, trade, public finance, business, wars and defence, and scientific research.

The AJCP staff searched for Australian and Pacific records throughout England and Scotland. The wide coverage is apparent from the list of repositories on pages xii-xix in the handbook. In Wales and Northern Ireland filming was largely confined to the National Library of Wales and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. In Ireland the collections searched and filmed were mostly held in repositories in Dublin. No searching was undertaken outside Britain and Ireland. The Miscellaneous Series, however, incorporates a few European collections, especially German official records, which were acquired from various sources.

Most of the records filmed are held in repositories which, whether public or private, are in varying degrees open to the public. The remainder are personal papers which are in the possession of individuals or families. They range from the papers of well-known explorers and governors to letters and diaries sent back to Britain by ordinary emigrants and travellers.

Brief descriptive entries for each of the records filmed as part of the Miscellaneous Series can be viewed in Part 8 of the Handbook.

A digitised copy of Part 8 of the Handbook is available online.

Content

Brief descriptive entries for each of the records filmed as part of the Miscellaneous Series can be viewed in Part 8 of the Handbook. In addition to the Handbook the Library holds descriptive lists of the content of each entry. These lists are contained in 35 bound volumes which are available for consultation in the Newspapers and Family History zone.

Other libraries that hold copies of the AJCP Miscellaneous Series microfilms

At the time of publication of the third edition of the M Series Handbook in 1998, the following institutions held all or part of the M Series microfilms.

Australia
Australian Capital Territory
  • Australian Academy of Science: Basser Library
  • Australian War Memorial
  • High Court of Australia Library
  • National Gallery of Australia
  • National Library of Australia (COMPLETE)
New South Wales
  • Archives Authority of New South Wales
  • Australian Genealogical Education Centre, Kiama
  • Australian National Maritime Museum
  • Catholic Institute of Sydney
  • Charles Sturt University Regional Archives
  • Charles Sturt University: Wagga Campus Library
  • Macquarie University Library
  • Philatelic Association of New South Wales Library
  • Randwick City Council Library Services
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
  • Society of Australian Genealogists
  • State Library of New South Wales - Mitchell Library (COMPLETE)
  • University of New England Library
  • University of New South Wales Library
  • University of Newcastle - Auchmuty Library
  • Wollongong City Library
Northern Territory
  • Northern Territory Library Service
  • Wadeye Community Library, Port Keats
Queensland
  • Department of Geographic Information
  • James Cook University of North Queensland Library
  • State Library of Queensland: John Oxley Library
  • University of Central Queensland Library
  • University of Queensland Library
  • University of Queensland: Department of History
  • University of South Queensland Library
South Australia
  • Flinders University of South Australia Library
  • State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Library
  • State Records of South Australia
  • University of Adelaide: Barr Smith Library
Tasmania
  • Archives Office of Tasmania
  • Port of Launceston Authority
  • State Library of Tasmania
  • University of Tasmania Library
Victoria
  • Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum
  • Deakin University Library
  • Genealogical Society of Victoria
  • Public Record Office
  • State Library of Victoria: La Trobe Library (COMPLETE)
  • University of Melbourne: Department of History
Western Australia
  • Library and Information Services of Western Australia: Battye Library (now State Library of Western Australia)
  • Murdoch University Library
  • University of Western Australia Library
New Zealand
  • Auckland Institute and Museum
  • Auckland Public Library
  • College of St John the Evangelist
  • National Archives of New Zealand
  • National Library of New Zealand: Alexander Turnbull Library
  • University of Auckland Library
  • University of Canterbury Library
  • University of Otago: Hocken Library
Papua New Guinea
  • University of Papua New Guinea Library
Fiji
  • Fiji Museum
  • Pacific Theological College
United States of America
  • East-West Center, Hawaii
  • University of Hawaii Library

10 volumes of red bound books

Descriptive lists of M Series records

Descriptive lists of M Series records are contained in 35 bound volumes and are available for consultation in the Newspapers and Family History zone. In a number of cases the online versions of lists contain more detail than those in the printed volumes.

The following are a selection of descriptive lists now available for viewing online, arranged in M Series reel number order.

cover of book Australian Joint Copying Project, Part 9

National Library of Australia, (1991), Australian Joint Copying Project handbook, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-397324021

Records acquired by the Public Record Office by means of gift, deposit or purchase from individuals, families or organisations have been placed in a special class, PRO 30. Most of the collections in the class comprise papers of individuals who had some involvement in public life.

The Australian Joint Copying Project has filmed papers in the following nine collections in PRO 30:

Two of the above collections, the Hatton and Northcote Papers, being small collections, have been filmed in their entirety.

Each of these collections has distinctive features. The Hatton Papers are an artificial collection, in that the records were Home Office official papers which for some reason passed out of custody of the Home Office and were ultimately acquired by Joseph Hatton. The Northcote Papers are distinctive in that they were assembled in Australia rather than Britain, the letters all relating to Lord Northcote's term as Governor-General. Although only three correspondents are represented in the collection, no other personal papers of Lord Northcote are known to have survived.

The other seven collections have all been filmed selectively and in some cases the selections form a very small proportion of the total collection. Of the seven individuals who assemble the papers, six were British politicians, including two Prime Ministers (William Pitt and Lord John Russell) and four Secretaries of State for the Colonies (Russell, Edward Cardwell, Lord Granville, Lord Carnarvon). The subject matters of these political collections vary considerably. The Pitt Papers, the only eighteenth century collection, contains documents on the first British settlement in Australia, the establishment of the Pacific whale fishery, and British economic and strategic interests in South East Asia. The papers filmed in the other collections include material on convicts and transportation (Abbot, Russell), appointments of governors, self-government for the colonies (Russell, Carnarvon), the withdrawal of imperial troops from the colonies (Cardwell, Granville), and British interests and annexations in New Guinea and the Pacific (Russell, Carnarvon, Granville).

The remaining collection is somewhat different in that it dates from the twentieth century, was assembled by an official and businessman, Sir Alan Anderson, and deals with a single subject, the shipment of Australian wheat to Britain during World War I.

Detailed Piece Lists and Dates for the above collections may be found in Part 9 of the Handbook.

A digitised copy of Part 9 of the Handbook is available online.

cover of book Australian Joint Copying Project, Part 10

National Library of Australia, (1991), Australian Joint Copying Project handbook, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-397330275

The records filmed by the AJCP. and listed in this Handbook span the period 1924-51. They include virtually all the surviving Dominions Office records relating to Australia and New Zealand and the bulk of the records concerning the other Dominions for the years 1925-46. The records document the complexity of imperial relationships during a volatile period of world history and cover and extraordinary range of subjects: politics, constitutional crisis, public administration, defence, World War II, trade, economic affairs, communications, migration, foreign relations, race relations and many others.

A digitised copy of Part 10 of the Handbook is available online.

Content

The following list provides, at Class-level, the content of Dominion Office records contained within the AJCP. Piece Lists and Dates may be found in Part 10 of the Handbook.

cover of book Australian Joint Copying Project, Part 11

Ekarestini O'Brien & National Library of Australia & Australian Joint Copying Project, (2005), Australian Joint Copying Project handbook, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-397331344

Between 1984 and 1993 Handbooks were published listing records of the Admiralty (Part 7), Colonial Office (Part 2), Dominions Office (Part 10), Foreign Office (Part 5), Home Office (Part 3) and War Office (Part 4). In addition, Part 9 described the personal collections held at the Public Record Office that have been filmed by the AJCP.

In the final few years of the Project, further records of these departments were filmed. Unfortunately, it was not feasible to issue new editions of seven parts of the Handbook to incorporate these additions. Instead, they have been grouped together in Part 11, which completes the publication of the Handbook.

In should be noted that in 2003 the name of the Public Record Office was changed to the National Archives (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/).

A digitised copy of Part 11 of the Handbook is available online.

Content

The following list provides, at Class-level, the additional Public Record Office content contained within the AJCP. Piece Lists and Dates may be found in Part 11 of the Handbook.

Admiralty
Colonial Office
Dominions Office
Foreign Office
Home Office
War Office
Public Record Office
Page published: 29 Nov 2021

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