Deciphering terminology of QLD Criminal History Sheet from Brisbane’s Her Majest

Question:I’m trying to decipher my grandfather’s mug sheet from 1940 – mainly trying to figure out how much time he actually did serve. Any ideas would be appreciated. If I haven’t been clear enough, please let me know as it is difficult to type in what the actual info shows and what info I need.
In the Where convicted column it has “Brisbane P/C.” (What’s that?), then under it “Brisbane S.C.” (is this supreme court?), and under that and in the date column it has “do” (is this ditto?) In the Sentence column it has “3 years and 9 months h.l.” (is this hard labor?) and then “12 months h.l. conct.” (is this concurrent?) Does this mean he would have served 4 years 9 months total because if he did, he got out of jail only one month before his daughter was born? Did they serve reduced sentences or have private visits? Any help would be great.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I’m trying to decipher my grandfather’s mug sheet from 1940 – mainly trying to figure out how much time he actually did serve. Any ideas would be appreciated. If I haven’t been clear enough, please let me know as it is difficult to type in what the actual info shows and what info I need.
In the Where convicted column it has “Brisbane P/C.” (What’s that?), then under it “Brisbane S.C.” (is this supreme court?), and under that and in the date column it has “do” (is this ditto?) In the Sentence column it has “3 years and 9 months h.l.” (is this hard labor?) and then “12 months h.l. conct.” (is this concurrent?) Does this mean he would have served 4 years 9 months total because if he did, he got out of jail only one month before his daughter was born? Did they serve reduced sentences or have private visits? Any help would be great.

Brisbane was not a penal colony in 1940. P/C could mean Police Court but that implies that he was convicted in 2 courts, which does not make sense. It could be a reference to a committal hearing which is a sort of preliminary trial. SC may well be Supreme Court. I have a feeling that Queensland did not have an intermediate court between the police court and Supreme Court in 1940. Modern Local Courts are restricted to imposing a maximum sentence. In NSW it is 2 years, so anything loner would be imposed by a higher court.

HL would be hard labour.

Do would be ditto

Conct would be concurrent - this means that the two sentences ere served at the same time, so the maximum would be 3y 9m,but there would have been remissions for good behaviour, possibly as much as a third of the sentence if he was a first offender.

i believe the p/c means penal colony,
Brisbane was a Penal Colony

yes 3 yrs, 9 months hard labor
with 12 months hard labor concurrent.

so his term of incarceration and hard labor was under 4 years, and he may have been able to get time off for good behavior.

Okay - I'm going to guess. I'm obviously not Australian but there are some similarities to our sentencing orders.
I know Brisbane is a City - could it be Provincial Court?
Brisbane S.C. could be Superior or Supreme Court. I'm guessing this due to the amount of time he served.
I THINK it means he served 3 years, 9 months CONCURRENT. The "h.1" could be referring to a subsequent year under house arrest or probation.
I don't know if they allowed private overnights at the time. Most felons are released prior to the length of their sentence. Here it's an automatic 1/3 off simply for "good behavior." "Good Behavior" is not killing the guy ahead of you in the chow line.
So - he probably served LESS than 3 years, 9 months.
Again - I'm guessing!

Concurrent means served at the same time as the other sentence so the standing total would have been 3 years and 9 months. There would have been a minimum parol period which, by the information you have given, he got.