Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons 1791-1867

There are 26,933 records of both conditional and absolute pardons. Pardons were generally handed out to convicts serving life sentences but in the earliest years of the colony, the Governor had the power to grant both free and conditional pardons as rewards for good behaviour, for special skills or for carrying out special duties or tasks. Governor Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, who was the final autocratic Governor of the colony, overseeing it from 1810 to 1821 and the man credited with being the one who oversaw the transition of New South Wales from a penal colony to a free settlement, introduced new regulations setting the minimum time that must be served on various sentences before a pardon could be issued. Conditional pardons meant that a convict was free as long as they stayed within the colony, known as “Government limits”. Most convicts received a conditional pardon. Absolute pardons meant that a convict’s sentence was completely remitted. They were free with no conditions and could move beyond the limits of the colony or even return to Britain.