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How to Find Shipping and Immigration Records: A Beginners Sheet

Web Sites for Genealogists - An Australian gateway site for tracing your family history by Cora Num

Australian shipping and immigration records are state based until 1924 when the Commonwealth took over responsibility. Records after 1924 are held by the National Archives of Australia. The following list of indexes gives you some indication of the types of records available for research in Australia. It is useful for beginning your research but it is a small sample of what is available. For further details see my book How to Find Shipping and Immigration Records in Australia, 2003 and my latest book (2010) How Did They Get Here? Arrivals after 1924. Click here for details.

See also Online Indexes  and Passenger Lists

New South Wales
TRINDER Aileen & STEMP Pat, Index to Unassisted Arrivals to NSW 1842-1855, Pastkeys, Sydney, 1994. 12 microfiche. Over 136,100 entries compiled from State Records New South Wales (SRNSW) records plus the Shipping Intelligence columns of the Sydney Morning Herald. This index is available online at State Records New South Wales.

Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters by Mary-Anne Warner.  This site, hosted by SRNSW, offers access to an index of unassisted passengers and crew plus transcriptions and digital copies of the original passenger lists held by SRNSW. This ongoing project currently has lists for 1845-1849, 1851-1852, 1854-1859, 1860s, 1870s and 1880s complete with the 1890s to 1922 to follow. Almost complete years include 1890-1892, 1898, 1922, with 1909 complete. Updated

Index to Assisted (Bounty) Immigrants to New South Wales 1828-1842, Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City, nd. 8 (16 mm) microfilm reels. (SRNSW reels 30-37). An online version of the original handwritten card index is available at FamilySearch Pilot. For access click on Search or browse our record collections and choose Australia and New Zealand. An CD-ROM index to the Bounty Immigrants is also available and is the most up to date and comprehensive version. Updated  

In the 1980s State Records New South Wales, then the Archives Authority of New South Wales, published, in book form, a series of indexes titled Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales: Immigration. These indexes were arranged alphabetically by surname with given name, age, remarks, vessel and year of arrival and reel numbers to the Agents' Lists and the Board's Lists. These indexes have been reissued on microfiche. They are also available for online searching at State Records New South Wales site and include the following:

State Records New South Wales Index to Miscellaneous Immigrants 1828-1843 by Joan Reese, Ann Smith and Norma Tuck. This index lists both those who paid their own fare and assisted immigrants. There are 9000+ entries and details given include name, ship, date of arrival, age, events (eg shipwreck) and  SRNSW reference numbers. It does not cover all arrivals for this period.

State Records New South Wales has online access to a series of Archives in Brief (AIB) guides. The following list highlights those that relate to shipping and immigration: Updated 
AIB 1: Shipping and arrival records 
AIB 2: Convict records 
AIB 3: Naturalization records 1834-1903 
AIB 21: Records relating to crew 
AIB 24, Shipping and arrival records – additional sources 
AIB 33: Chinese migration and settlement in New South Wales 
AIB 34: Convict families 
AIB 45: Departing passengers from New South Wales 
AIB 50: German migration and settlement in New South Wales 
AIB 62: Lebanese migration and settlement in NSW 
AIB 73: Italian migration and settlement in NSW 
AIB 79: India and NSW: Migration and trade 
AIB 83: Greek migration and settlement in NSW 
AIB 91: 20th Century child and youth migrants 
AIB 95: Dutch migration and settlement in NSW 
AIB 101: How to find assisted immigrants (PDF) 
AIB 102: How to find unassisted passengers (PDF) 
AIB 103: How to find naturalization records (PDF) 
AIB 105: French migration and settlement in NSW 
AIB 107: Polish migration and settlement in NSW 
AIB 117: Maltese migration and settlement in NSW

Queensland
Morton Bay was part of New South Wales until 1859. Many of the records up to that date are held by State Records New South Wales (SRNSW). The following index is available for searching on State Records New South Wales Internet site. Index to Assisted Immigrants Arriving Moreton Bay (Brisbane) 1848-1859. 2 microfiche. (SR fiche 2479-2480). Previously published, 1985, in book form as Guide No 27.

Queensland State Archives, Card Index to Immigrants, 2412 microfiche. This microfiche index is arranged alphabetically and lists a reference number such as IMM/116 p111. Refer to the list of records indexed on pages 17-20 of the Handbook to the Queensland Public Records Historical Resource Kit, Part 1 to locate the reel numbers of the passenger lists.

Queensland State Archives Indexes to Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 lists passengers from the United Kingdom and Europe only. Those who paid their own fare are not listed, though a few of the later lists may record fare paying passengers. Records for the 1860s are incomplete. The index lists names, age, ship, date and QSA references. This index is also available through the paid site Ancestry.com.au.
Other free immigration indexes available online at QSA include: Updated
• Passport Register Indexes 1926-1939
• Passage Certificates Index 1887-1906
• Register of Immigrants 1864-1878
• Assistant Immigration Agent Maryborough 1884-1907
• Assistant Immigration Agent Maryborough 1875-1884
• Card Index to Nominated Immigrants 1908-1922

South Australia
Official Passenger Lists, Mainly of Immigrants Arriving in South Australia under United Kingdom Assisted Passage Schemes, 1847-1886, State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana, Adelaide, 1987. 144 microfiche including Index to Official Passenger Lists, 1847-1886.

State Records of South Australia offers online searching of Official Passenger Lists of Emigrants Selected by the Colonization Commissioners 1845-1886 using the collection search engine, ArchivesSearch.

PIKE Douglas, Index to the Register of Emigrant Labourers Applying for Free Passage to South Australia 1836-1841, Mortlock Library of South Australiana, Adelaide, 1988. 52 microfiche.
This index is arranged alphabetically and lists name, occupation, UK address of applicant, sex and age. Please note that not all who applied for a free passage emigrated. Use this index in conjunction with Pat BUTTON's book A Free Passage to Paradise?: Passenger Lists of United Kingdom Emigrants who Applied for Free Passage to South Australia 1836-1840, South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society, Adelaide, 1992. 126p.

STATTON Jill, South Australian Record Series, No 14, Arrivals Index, Part I, Branch-Out Research and Services, Parkholme SA, 1999. 2 microfiche.
This collection of arrivals to South Australia is compiled from records such as obituaries, biographies, newspaper reports, prison, hospital, institutional records, Government and Police Gazettes. It lists name, birth date and place, arrival, ship or other means of arrival and source.

The South Australian Maritime Museum has a searchable database which includes migrant passengers and ships arriving in South Australia 1836-1897 and passengers arriving 1919-1956. Searches are available by surname or name of ship. If you cannot visit in person a search fee applies ($5) plus the cost of the printout. For further details contact: The South Australian Maritime Museum, 126 Lipson Street, Port Adelaide SA 5015. Phone (08) 8207 6255.

Family History South Australia. This site provides resources for family history research on South Australians and includes a searchable database of SA Passenger Lists up to 1850 for more than 1200 voyages.

The Ships List. The Ships List. Immigrants to South Australia, (UK, assisted passage) 1847-1886. This ongoing project by Robert Janmaat currently has selected lists for the years 1847-1856 available. A surname search of all Australian lists hosted by The Ships List is available by clicking on Passenger Lists.

Bound for South Australia: Passenger Lists for Emigrants by Diane Cummings. This site lists ships alphabetically by year and date of arrival (1836-1851). Images of transcripts of the passenger lists are available online with data for 1852+ being added as it becomes available. Currently no global surname searching is available. Includes intercolonial and overseas arrivals.

The Ships List, German Emigrants to South Australia 1837-1851by Robert Janmaat. This developing site currently has 30+ passenger lists online (1837-1849).

Tasmania
LANGSTON Joan, Index of Assisted Immigrants (into Tasmania) 1841-1889, Kiama Municipal Council, Kiama NSW. 3 microfiche.
This index, compiled from records held by the Archives Office of Tasmania (AOTAS), lists surname, given name, age, vessel, year and AOTAS reference number.

TOWERS Sue and KNIGHT Marge, Unassisted Immigrants & Coastal Passengers to Hobart, Tasmania, 1829-1865, Macbeth Genealogical Books, Melbourne, 1993. 11 microfiche. This index, compiled from the Tasmanian Marine Board Records held by the Archives Office of Tasmania, lists about 60,000 names and consists of three separate indexes.

Archives Office of Tasmania Index to Departures (1817-1867).

Archives Office of Tasmania Index to Passengers & Ships Arrivals in the 19th Century.This index includes passengers, crew, ship's masters and ships arrivals mostly to Hobart. This ongoing project currently covers surnames beginning with ‘A’ to ‘I’ from about the 1820s to about the 1860s. Free email copies of the actual records can be obtained by completing the online copy request form

Victoria    
Port Phillip was part of New South Wales until 1851. Some records to 1851 are held by State Records New South Wales. The following index is available for searching on State Records New South Wales Internet site.
Index to Assisted Immigrants Arriving Port Phillip 1839-1851. 3 microfiche. (SR fiche 2476-2478). Previously published, 1976, in book form as Guide No 16.

Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) holds passenger lists for voyages to and from Victoria up to 1923. Copies of the lists are available on microfiche and microfilm in PROV’s reading rooms at the Victorian Archives Centre and the Ballarat Archives Centre. Microfiche copies of unassisted (1852-1923) and assisted (1839-1871) inward passenger lists are also available at libraries and genealogical centres around Australia. There are online indexes to these records that provide access to microform copies of passenger lists. For more information about these passenger lists see PROVGuide 50 - Transport: Locating and Copying Ships' Passenger Lists.

British Immigration to Victoria: Resource Kit Stage 1, Index to Assisted Immigrants from U.K., 1839-1871 , Public Record Office of Victoria, Laverton, Vic, 1988. Microfiche.  An online index to this series is listed below.

Online Passenger Indexes
Index to Unassisted Inward Passenger Lists to Victoria 1852-1923
Index to Assisted British Immigration 1839-1871
Index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK, NZ and Foreign Ports, 1852-1896

A consolidated index to the Immigration to Victoria series of records is available on CD-ROM. Immigration to Victoria 1852-1879: Index to Inward Passenger Lists, British & Foreign Ports, Public Record Office Victoria and Macbeth Genealogical Services, Hampton Vic, 1999. 1 CD-ROM.  Over 490,000 unassisted arrivals to Victoria are listed. Passengers arriving on ships from New Zealand and assisted passengers from Britain are not included in this series.

Western Australia
For detailed information on Western Australian records visit the State Records Office of Western Australia's Internet site and check out the Collection Guide titled Passenger Lists and Immigration Records.

Western Australian Genealogical Society, Passenger Arrivals in Western Australia 1898-1925, the Society, Perth, 2001. CD-ROM.
This database is an index to passenger manifests held by National Archives, Perth and contains the names of over 434,000 passengers arriving in Western Australia from the UK, Europe, Asia and other ports of Australia. These records include over 244,000 passengers going to, or departing from, Adelaide, Sydney, or Melbourne.

20th Century Arrivals
Ancestorsonboard.com by Findmypast.com and The National Archives (UK). This database features Outward Passenger Lists (BT 27) for voyages departing the British Isles 1890-1960.  Destinations include Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and USA. Images of the passenger lists are available on this pay-per-view site. There is a free name search which lists names, age, sex, departure year and port, destination port and county plus details of transcripts and images.

Ozships: Australian Shipping 1788-1968.  This site lists shipping arrivals and departures. It also includes 92,000+ passenger list entries which can be browsed alphabetically.

In Australia passenger arrival records post Federation (from 1924) are held by the National Archives of Australia. Many of these records are  unindexed and are usually arranged chronologically by port of arrival. For further details on using these records see CHAMBERS Margaret, Finding Families: The Guide to the National Archives of Australia for Genealogists , National Archives of Australia in association with Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1998. See also my latest book (2010) How Did They Get Here? Arrivals after 1924. Click here for details.

National Archives of Australia, Index to Passenger Arrivals. An online database to Inward passenger manifests for ships and aircraft arriving at Fremantle, Perth Airport and outports. Currently arrivals at WA ports (1921-1950) and Perth airport (1944-1950) are available for searching. These records include all passengers disembarking but also those travelling onto other Australian ports such as Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. For further details see Fact Sheet 220: Index to passenger arrivals.

The National Archives of Australia has online access to a series of Fact Sheets. The following list highlights those that relate to shipping and immigration:  Updated
Fact sheet 37: Maritime records held in Hobart 
Fact sheet 38: Passenger records held in Canberra 
Fact sheet 56: Passenger records held in Perth 
Fact sheet 58: WW I internee, alien and POW records held in Canberra
Fact sheet 59: WW II internee, alien and POW records held in Canberra
Fact sheet 64: Passenger records held in Sydney 
Fact sheet 65: Customs shipping records held in Sydney 
Fact sheet 66: Migrant selection documents held in Canberra  
Fact sheet 68: Naturalisation records held in Canberra 
Fact sheet 100: Records relating to Italian migration held in Sydney 
Fact sheet 101: WW II internee, alien and POW records held in Sydney
Fact sheet 106: WW I internee, alien and POW records held in Adelaide
Fact sheet 107: WW II internee, alien and POW records held in Adelaide
Fact sheet 123: Records of British migrants held in Canberra 
Fact sheet 124: Child migration to Australia
Fact sheet 147: Child migrant records held in Sydney 
Fact sheet 156: Records of Dutch migration held in Sydney
Fact sheet 170: Migrant hostels in New South Wales, 1946–78
Fact sheet 171: WW I internee, alien and POW records held in Sydney 
Fact sheet 172: Passenger records held in Melbourne 
Fact sheet 180: Wartime internee, alien and POW records held in Perth
Fact sheet 184: Passenger records held in Hobart 
Fact sheet 185: Migrant selection documents held in Perth 
Fact sheet 186: Alien registration documents held in Perth 
Fact sheet 187: Citizenship in Australia
Fact sheet 190: Passenger records held in Brisbane 
Fact sheet 207: Records relating to Italian migration held in Perth 
Fact sheet 217: The Jewish experience in Australia 
Fact sheet 220: Index to passenger arrivals 
Fact sheet 223: Migrant selection documents held in Adelaide 
Fact sheet 227: Immigration records 
Fact sheet 234: United States forces in Queensland, 1941–45
Fact sheet 236: Records relating to Italian migration held in Brisbane 
Fact sheet 254: The Immigration Photographic Archive  
Fact sheet 256: Passenger records held in Adelaide
Fact sheet 260: South Australian maritime records

Following World War II refugees and displaced persons were encouraged to migrate to Australia. The records are held by the National Archives of Australia. These include the migrant selection documents for those who arrived as displaced persons and these are listed on NAA's RecordSearch Database and includes the full name, date of birth and references for each person who arrived. Further details can be obtained from the following NAA Fact Sheets, Migrant Selection Documents Held in Canberra (no 66), Migrant Selection Documents Held in Perth (no 185) and Migrant Selection Documents Held in Adelaide (no 223).

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild World War II Refugees to Australia. These passenger lists, contributed by Tom Stiglmayer, list mostly World War II refugees or displaced persons who migrated to Australia after World War II from European countries including Germany, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. The index is arranged by year (1948-1965) with ships listed alphabetically within each year. Each ships' list contains names, nationality, and look-up reference number.

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© Cora Num 1997-2010. Last updated 17 May 2010