I have spent over twenty years researching my family history.  I have taken long holidays to visit record offices in many counties of England and I have found information on most of my convicts and some of my free settlers. The Tasmanian convicts are easier to research as the British government of the time kept very good records about who they were sending overseas.  The major document to find is their conduct record which usually has the following information: place of trial in UK, Ireland, Scotland and date of trial information about convict's transgression a word or phrase from the gaol, hulk and or surgeon on the boat religion and whether convict can read and write date arrived in Van Diemens Land a description of convict down to scars, freckles, limps, tattoos, speech problems name of place where convict spent first part of sentence in Tasmania offences that occurred once convict was here in Australia It also includes dates about ticket of leave, other pardons and remarks from masters regarding hospital visits or when sent back to service or the prisoner's barracks.  This document though is often hard to understand as many abbreviations are used - such as names of places, names or initials of masters under which convict is serving as well as other words relating to the sentences.   A couple of papers regarding abbreviations as well as a conduct record are also on this site. The next record to look for is the convict indent.  This has similar information about the particulars of the convict's trial but it often includes in the last column data about the convict's parents, siblings or family.  It is important to look at this record to help you get back to the correct family in the United Kingdom. Description lists are just that.  They describe in minute detail the look of your convict including tattoos and other scars as well as freckles, lisps and other impediments. The other records that are mentioned are muster lists, which usually occurred with the earlier convicts.  A member of the then New South Wales government went on board the ship and wrote lists of who was present and who had died during the voyage.  The last type of record is the appropriation list and this tells you where the convict was sent to work off his sentence.  It often mentions the name of a probation station or a settler who took on the convict as a servant of some sort. If your convict is in Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) then the references to look up for these records are found on the Tasmanian Convict CDROM which can be purchased from the archives office of Tasmania, Murray St, Hobart. My free settlers are proving harder to find back in the 'old country' as often all I know is the name of the ship they came out in, the year they left and perhaps the county they were born in .  I am relying on census records and email lists for locating information on my free settlers.