Courts
We hold a variety of court records, including:
- wills
- inquests
- murders
- criminal depositions
- insolvency and liquidation files.
Many of these court records have a restricted access period of 65 or 100 years.
We also hold deed poll records that were registered with the Queensland Supreme Court up until 2004.
Finding court records
Research guides
Research guides give information about the types of records you might find on different topics, and relevant series of records that may help get you started.
- Research guide to court records—overview of the structure of Queensland courts.
- Research guide to insolvency and liquidation records from 1859. Liquidation records date from 1874.
- Research guide to murder records—including police investigations, newspaper reports and general correspondence. Many of the files are subject to a restricted access period.
- Research guide to inquest records—listing the main series of inquest files, and preliminary enquiry records we hold. Inquests are magisterial inquiries held before a Coroner to establish the cause of death, identity of the deceased, details about the death and whether any person is to be charged with a criminal offence. Sometimes inquests into fires or missing persons may be held.
- Research guide to police gazettes—details of matters reported to police throughout Queensland from 1864.
- Research guide to will and intestacy—records created by the Supreme Court of Queensland, and the Public Trustee (formerly the Public Curator).
Search the indexes
The indexes are collections of information from our most popular records (usually peoples’ names) that link to ArchivesSearch catalogue. Search indexes about courts.
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Courts
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Criminal depositions 1861-1900
Criminal depositions including the name of accused, the offence and date and place of trial.
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Equity files 1857-1899
Equity files containing names of all people connected with a case including deceased, interstate and overseas residents.
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Inquests 1859-1905 (digital)
Inquests held before a coroner to establish the fact of death, the identity of the deceased, the circumstances surrounding the death and whether any charges should be laid relating to the death. This index connects to digital copie of the files. Also see, Inquests 1859 to 1905 (non-digital) index.
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Inquests 1859-1905 (non-digital)
Inquests held before a coroner to establish the fact of death, the identity of the deceased, the circumstances surrounding the death and whether any charges should be laid relating to the death. To request copies of files, use the add to cart button. Also see, Inquests 1859 to 1905 (digital) index.
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Instruments of renunciation 1915-1983
Where the executor no longer wishes to administer a will
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Justices of the Peace 1857-1957
Oaths to serve as a Justice of the Peace, created by the Supreme Court, Moreton Bay later known as the Supreme Court of Queensland and now known as the Supreme Court, Southern District, Brisbane
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Naturalisations 1851-1908
Generated from records created by the Supreme Court, Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville districts as well as the Colonial Secretary's Office and the Government Residents Office
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Register of court fees 1885-1908
Court fees created by the Court of Petty Sessions, Marburg that includes the date, name of case and nature of offence
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Trustee files 1889-1929
Trustee files set up under the provision of a will including information about land ownership, rental properties, relatives, disbursement of funds, details of children, school fees and employees and wages lists
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Wills 1857-1940 (non-digital)
Wills from all districts from1857 to 1900 and for the Southern District, Brisbane from 1901 except the Public Curator files (intestacies) in which many other wills can be found
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Wills 1857-1940 (digital)
Wills from all districts from1857 to 1900 and for the Southern District, Brisbane from 1901 except the Public Curator files (intestacies) in which many other wills can be found
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Criminal depositions 1861-1900
4 Tips to search the Index to Inquests 1859 - 1902
Hello and welcome to Queensland State Archives.
Our indexes contain information gathered from original records. They’ve been created so people can search for names in some of our most popular records.
Inquests are magisterial inquiries held before a Coroner to establish the cause of death, the identity of the deceased, when, where and how death occurred and whether any person is to be charged with a criminal offence. To search the index follow these 4 steps
Gather as much information as you can about names, dates and places before you try to search our indexes. It is often a good idea to check the death certificate as recent death certificates state details of inquests. Occasionally the time between the death and the inquest is considerable so a death certificate can help researchers pinpoint if an inquest occurred and the date.
Go to our Search the Records page
Click on Courts
Click Inquests 1859 - 1902
Enter the name of the person you’re searching for in the search boxes. If you don’t get a result when you enter both names, try taking the given name/s out.
Have a look at the displayed results to see if you have a match. Clicking on the green plus sign will give you more information about you’re results. The information listed will be different for different indexes but will hopefully help you narrow things down.
If you think you have found the person you’re looking for, you can order a copy of the item by clicking on the ‘Add to cart’ link. This will add the item you are looking at to the shopping cart. You can now continue searching for more items or proceed to checkout.
After paying for your items, a scanned copy of the record will be emailed to you within 20 working days.
This is one of a series of videos to help you find information at QSA. For other videos visit our Youtube channel and subscribe to keep up to date with any new additions.
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If you have any questions or would like to give us some feedback contact us via any of the options on our ‘Contact the State Archives’ page
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Search the catalogue
ArchivesSearch provides access to QSA’s collection of records, including documents, letters, land orders, maps, plans and images. For help searching, read the ArchivesSearch help guide.
- Spelling of names was not as consistent as it is today, so be sure to check alternatives—e.g. Thompson and Thomson.
- Names may have been incorrectly indexed as the handwriting is sometimes difficult to read or the ink has faded.
- The capital letters L, T, F and S are often confused as lower-case letters n, m, u and w. This means that Taylor may indexed as Laylor or Brum may be indexed as Bruin.
- The use of double ‘s’ (ss) often looks like fs, so Ross will be indexed as Ross but may appear in the record as Rofs.
- Names may have been written in the record phonetically as the clerks wrote the names as they heard them. Think about how it could be spelt as it was heard.
- Some given names are abbreviated as they appear in the original record
- Some records are restricted for several years.
- Some records have not survived.
- A blank cell indicates that there is no information recorded in the original.
- If you’re searching for wills, intestacies or inquests you need the individual’s name and approximate date of death.
- If you’re searching through the Justice of the Peace records, then you need to know the person’s name and the approximate date the oath was sworn.
- If you’re searching through insolvency records, then you need to know the person’s name, as well as the year and jurisdiction of their insolvency.
There are a number of reasons why you may not find a court record.
- Some records are restricted or closed to public access and may not be immediately available to view.
- The name may not be listed in the indexes under the exact year of death. You may need to continue checking the indexes for a few years after the date of death.
Contact us
Contact us if you need further help.