Land Musters, Stock Returns and Lists Van Diemen’s Land 1803-1822
Australian History Reference Non-Fiction Colonial History Genealogy & Family History Archival Studies Tasmanian History
Land Musters, Stock Returns and Lists Van Diemen’s Land 1803-1822 is the essential names-list that Australian genealogy researchers dream of finding. Compiled by historian Irene Schaffer from the original colonial manuscripts now lodged in the Tasmanian Archives, this 1991 hardcover reproduces every surviving head-of-household name, stock tally and landholding for the first two decades of European settlement—years before formal census-taking began. If your ancestors arrived anywhere on the island between 1803 and 1822, they are almost certainly named in these pages, alongside the number of cattle, sheep or acres they owned, making the book a primary-source goldmine for convict, military and free-settler research.
What separates this volume from later indexes is the depth of detail: each entry gives the exact date and district of muster, the ship of arrival, status (bond or free), family members present, and livestock numbers. Researchers can watch a settler’s flock grow from 20 to 200 sheep between 1810 and 1815, or trace the consolidation of original grant land into larger holdings—evidence that can break brick walls when parish registers fail. The book is fully illustrated with contemporary maps, port sketches and government forms, so you see the very lists your ancestor stood in line to sign.
Collectors value the sturdy hardcover edition with its protected dust jacket and acid-free paper; copies in the clean, smoke-free condition offered here are increasingly scarce because libraries hold most print-runs. For family historians, it is the single shortcut to locating a Tasmanian founder without scrolling through un-indexed reels of microfilm; for heritage buffs, it is a tangible piece of Van Diemen’s Land before it became Tasmania. Secure this 254-page reference now and you hold the key that unlocks thousands of personal stories from Australia’s earliest frontier.
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