Sydney Benevolent Asylum

Once you have found an entry

 

Our index contains 78,000 records relating to the period 1857-1900.  The online index provides the date of admission and/or discharge, the full name of the inmate and age, if recorded.

 

If you find a POSITIVE match on this index click on the Submit Request link and enter your contact details.  We will then provide you with the "notes" field from our database,  where available. This is a one-line entry per admission/discharge but may provide further identifying information about the inmate.

 

This service is only provided for private researchers and we reserve the right to limit the number of requests we will handle for each enquirer.

 

There is no charge for this initial search on your behalf.

 

If you obtain a positive match from our database, you can then do one of the following:

 

1. Obtain a reader's ticket from the Mitchell Library and a letter of permission from The Benevolent Society to inspect the records at the Mitchell Library.  From 1 January 2010 this  costs $27.50 and provides you with access for ten years.  For an additional $27.50 (total $55) you can also obtain a copy of the excellent published Guide to the records of the Benevolent Society of New South Wales in the Mitchell Library State Library of NSW. 

You will need the date of admission or discharge from our database result listing to locate the relevant entries on microfilm yourself at the Mitchell LIbrary. 

See http://www.benevolent.org.au/about/our--story/early--history to contact the Benevolent Society for access permission. 

 

or

2. We are able to undertake a search of the records on your behalf at the Mitchell Library and will provide you with electronic copies of these by email.  A proportion of the fees earned from this service will be donated on an annual basis to The Benevolent Society to assist its charitable works. Please Contact Us for further details of costs.

 

Please do not ask us to conduct searches for the period 1857-1900 if you have not found the person you are seeking in the online database, unless you have compelling evidence that they were in the Asylum during this period. 

 

We restrict our retrieval service to records which we have indexed on this website.  If you need other record series checked at the Mitchell Library we can put you into contact with professional researchers who will provide that service for you. 

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