Pre-separation records (Queensland's early history, prior to 1859)

This research guide is a bibliography of records held at Queensland State Archives for the years prior to the official separation from the colony of New South Wales on 10th December 1859.

Up until 1842 the Colony is referred to as the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement of the Colony of New South Wales; from 1842 until separation it is referred to as the Free Settlement of Moreton Bay. The Moreton Bay Penal Settlement operated from 1824 to 1842 as a place of secondary punishment.

Queensland became a colony of Great Britain on 6 June 1859 when the Letters Patent to establish a separate colony from New South Wales were signed by Queen Victoria.