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The War Office records cover a wide variety of material relating to both Colonial and Australian involvements in armed conflicts. Amongst the records filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project are documents and correspondence of the Commander- in-Chief, Secretary-at-War, Secretary of State and Judge-Advocate General.
Correspondence 1836-1883. Subjects include: discovery of fossils in Australia; observations of Tasmanian Aborigines; self-government in New South Wales; research on Australian and New Zealand fauna including platypus and moa; dispatch of Australian specimens and skulls of Maoris and Aborigines. Correspondents include W. Clift, G. Bennett, Sir Walter Buller, R. Etheridge, W.B. Clarke, Sir Julius von Haast, J.L.G. Krefft, Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, E.P. Ramsay, T.H.C. Hood and H. Woodward.
Letters received by Secretaries of the Aborigines Protection Society: Thomas Hodgkin (1837-1866), F.W. Chesson (1866-1888) and H.R. Fox-Bourne (1888-1909). They deal in particular with: the treatment of Aborigines in Queensland and Western Australia and of Maoris in New Zealand; charges made by Reverend J. Gribble in Western Australia; the visit of Maori chiefs to England in 1882 and 1884; the Pacific labour trade and the treatment of Pacific Islanders in Queensland; the 1875 Pacific Islanders Protection Bill; cases involving Jason, Carl and other labour vessels; the annexation of New Guinea in 1884; and land rights and race relations in Fiji and Tonga.
Colonial Office records constitute by far the largest group of records filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP). As most of the Colonial Office Series relate to specific colonies they have largely been filmed comprehensively (with some exceptions). In this respect the Colonial Office copying has differed from that of most of the other record groups.
Accounts, correspondence, memoranda and other papers relating to Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. They originated in various departments, including Accounts, Administration, Cashier's, Exchange Control, Economic Intelligence, Governor's and Secretary's, Overseas. Among the topics covered are: issues of stocks; UK trade with the Empire; Empire Marketing Board; Empire cotton; finances of the Dutch East Indies; Empire trade; migration within the British Empire; banking legislation; banking statistics; exchange control; money supply; gold reserves; wool shipment; gold production; mineral reports; affairs of Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Reserve Bank of Australia; Bank of New Zealand; and the 1930 Niemeyer Mission to Australia. There are also some letters and petitions from convicted forgers and transportees to the Bank of England requesting assistance to purchase stores and clothing for the voyage to New South Wales.
The Home Office was responsible for colonial affairs until 1801, but the bulk of records affecting the colonies has been transferred to the Colonial Office. Most of the remaining records of interest to the Australian Joint Copying Project concern the convicts.