VPRS 5699 Work Record of Prisoners (Refer to microfiche copy VPRS 8229)

This volume contains a list of the daily employment of each prisoner in the Darwin Gaol and Labour Prison. Prisoners either worked inside or outside the gaol and the names of the prisoners are listed in these two divisions and under the category of their sentence. The sentence category was, long sentence, short sentence, remand or local court debtors. Typical employment for prisoners inside the gaol included cooking, washing clothes, attending to horses, or working for gaoler. Outside the gaol the prisoners were employed in groups on larger projects, such as clearing the recreation ground, cutting firewood, fencing the police paddock and other tasks. Prisoners were also recorded as unemployed in their cells or sick. The total number of sick and their location was recorded at the bottom of the page. Any admissions or discharges were recorded next to the prisoners name. The total number of prisoners and the signature of the gaoler appear at the bottom of the page and the date is recorded at the top.It is unclear how these records come into the custody of the Public Record Office/Archives Division of the State Library.It is possible that they were "officially" transferred with prisoners in about 1942 as a result of the bombing of Darwin and were subsequently transferred to the Archives Division. Alternatively they may have been lost from official custody at this time and at some stage hand over to the Archives Division as a accession.