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Immigration into Australia: Online Indexes and Passenger Lists

Web Sites for Genealogists - An Australian gateway site for tracing your family history by Cora Num
 
New book available - Shipping and Migration Research on the Internet

Need Help with Shipping Research? See  Shipping and Migration Research on the Internet, 2012 and How Did They Get Here? Arrivals after 1924, 2nd edition, 2012.  Click here for details.  

See also Migration Schemes and Passenger Lists. 

National
National Archives of Australia, Index to Passenger Arrivals 1921-1950. For access click on Search the collection tab (yellow, top right) on the homepage. On the next screen select Search as a guest. You can then search using a Basic search, Advanced search, NameSearch, PhotoSearch or Passenger arrivals index. Choose the Passenger arrivals index (top right tab). This online database indexes inward passenger manifests for ships and aircraft arriving at Fremantle, Perth Airport and outports. Currently arrivals at Western Australian ports (1921-1949) and Perth airport (1944-1949) 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.

Irish Famine Memorial, Sydney. This site commemorates over 4,000 single young women, most of whom were orphans who arrived under a special emigration scheme (the Earl Grey Scheme) designed to resettle destitute girls from the workhouses of Ireland during the Great Famine. Online Resources include the Famine Orphan Girl database, a ships database which includes shipping lists for the 20 ships that brought orphan girls to Australia (Sydney, Adelaide and Port Phillip) 1848-1850. There is also a list of the 400+ names on the monument. 

The Ships List - Emigrants from Great Britain & Ireland to Australia: 1825-1832 extracted from the British Parliamentary Papers (1833, XXVI, 279). It is arranged by colony and lists name, trade, number of persons in each family and amount (£) given to each. The ship of arrival is not listed.

Ozships: Australian Shipping 1788-1968. This site by Peter Larson lists shipping arrivals and departures. It also includes 92,000+ passenger list entries which can be browsed alphabetically. These are linked to transcripts of the passenger lists. 

Online AUSNZ Passenger Lists. This gateway site is designed to help family historians locate passenger lists for migrant ships to Australia/New Zealand. It provides links to sites holding a significant amount of passenger information and offers a lookup service for a particular ship.   

A list of 14,000+ SS Great Britain passengers on voyages from Liverpool to Australia (1852-1875).

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG) has 12,000+ passenger list transcripts online including ships to Australia. Collections include World War II Refugees to Australia by Tom Stiglmayer which lists migrants from Germany, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. The index is arranged by year (1937-1966) with ships listed alphabetically. Each ships' list has names, nationality and reference.

New South Wales
State Records New South Wales, Indexes Online, Immigration include:  Updated
Assisted Immigrants to Port Phillip (Vic) 1839-1851, Sydney and Newcastle 1844-1859, Moreton Bay (Brisbane) 1848-1859, Sydney 1860-1879 and 1880-1896. This index lists names, age, ship’s name, arrival year, port of arrival, remarks and references (microfilm reel number) for access to the passenger lists. You can search these indexes separately or do a combined search.
Miscellaneous Immigrants 1828-1843 index lists 9000+ names of passengers who paid their own fare and some assisted immigrants. Details given include ship, names, age, date of arrival, references (microfilm reel, page and item numbers), remarks and records series (NRS) number. It does not cover all arrivals for this period.
Unassisted Immigrants 1842-1855 index lists 136,000+ passengers who paid their own way. It also includes ships' crew and interstate or colonial arrivals. A search returns names, age, ship, status (passenger, crew or master), arrival date, origin port, reference/reel and remarks. 
State Records offer a copying service of some indexes for a fee but check below to see if the film reel is available as a free online digitised microfilm. Alternatively many of the original records are available at $$ Ancestry.com.

State Records New South Wales pilot project to digitise microfilm shipping lists.
 Use the online indexes listed above to locate the reel number and then use the free online reel to scroll through the digital copies of the passenger lists, ship by ship, just as you would if using microfilm. Reels for these records series (NRS) are currently available: 
• List of Irish passengers arrived on the ship Sir Joseph Banks, Oct 1828, NRS 5309
• Persons on early migrant ships, 1828-1832, NRS 5310
• Persons on early migrant ships, May 1832-Jan 1833, NRS 5311
• Women on the ship Red Rover and other early migrant ships, 1832, NRS 5312
• Persons on government ships, Aug 1837-1840, NRS 5313
• Persons on bounty ships (Agent's Immigrant Lists), 1838-1896, NRS 5316, reels 2134-2145
• Persons on bounty ships arriving at Port Phillip, 1839-1851, NRS 5318
• Germans on bounty ships, 1849-1852, NRS 5320
• Members of the Family Colonization Loan Society, 1854-1857, NRS 5322
• Passenger lists of the Family Colonization Loan Society, 1854-1855, NRS 5323.
Note: More reels will be added as they become available.

Ancestry.com offers access to indexes and digitised images for New South Wales Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists 1828-1896 and Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists 1826-1922 . There is a free name search with subscription, or pay to view, options available to access the digitised records. This database covers the following records held by State Records New South Wales:
• Returns of convicts applications for wives and families to be brought to New South Wales at Government expense. (NRS 1190, reel 699)
• Persons on bounty ships (Agent’s Immigrant Lists). (NRS 5316, reels 2134-2143)

Persons on early migrant ships. (NRS 5310, reel 1286)
Wage agreements and entitlement certificates of persons on bounty ships (Agent's Immigrant Lists). (NRS 5315, reels 2449-2456)
Persons on bounty ships to Sydney, Newcastle, and Moreton Bay (Board’s Immigrant Lists). (NRS 5317, reels 2458-2498)
Persons on bounty ships arriving at Port Phillip (Agent's Immigrant Lists). (NRS 5318, reels 2143A-2145)
• Passengers arriving at Sydney 1846 (Agent's Immigrant Lists). (NRS 5326, reel 2457)
Inward passenger lists. (NRS 13278, reels 399-560, 2001-2122, 2751)
Reports of vessels arrived. (NRS 1291, reels 1263-1285, 2851)

Ancestry.com offers access to indexes and digitised images for New South Wales Immigration Deposit Journals, 1853-1900. There is a free name search with subscription, or pay to view, options available to access the digitised records. This database covers the following records held by State Records New South Wales. New
• Immigration Deposit Journals (NRS 5264, 9 reels of microfilm).
• Immigration Deposits (refunded or declined). (NRS 5266, 4 reels of microfilm).
This collection records the money deposited to sponsor the immigration of a specific person and the reason for the deposit being declined or refunded. The records include name, number of deposit, date of deposit, age, estimated birth year, country and place of origin, ship, date of immigration, nationality, amount paid toward cost of passage, sponsor name, and reason for refund.

Ancestry.com offers access to an index to Wives and Children of Irish Convicts, 1825-1840. This index was originally published on CD-ROM by the Central Coast Family History Society Inc., East Gosford and was titled Wives & Children of Irish Convicts Petitioned by Husbands and Fathers. This index contains lists of wives and children of convicts transported to New South Wales who, at their husband's or father’s request, were brought to New South Wales at the government's expense to join their spouse or parent. The index also includes female convicts whose children were transported with them. This index was compiled from musters and other New South Wales records.  

Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters. This site, hosted by State Records of New South Wales, is indexing and transcribing unassisted passenger lists 1845-1922 held by SRNSW (NRS 13278). This ongoing project currently has lists for 1845-1883, 1886-1888 and 1909 complete with lists for 1884-1885, 1889-1902 and 1922 almost complete. Lists for 1903-1921 are ongoing and are being added as they become available. The transcripts of the passenger lists are linked to images of the original records (free). Ship crew members are also listed on these records. Updated

Society of Australian Genealogists - Online database Ships Muster Index: Passengers and Crew Departing NSW, 1816-1825 by Norma Tuck. This index can be searched by names, ship and year.

The book Pure Merinos and Others: The 'Shipping Lists' of the Australian Agricultural Company by P. A. Pemberton, originally published in 1986, is online in PDF format.  Between 1825 and 1862 the Australian Agricultural Company and its subsidiary, Peel River Land and Mineral Company brought over 700 men to New South Wales from England, Ireland, China, Germany and Chile to work on their extensive pastoral estates or at their colliery in Newcastle. Many were accompanied by wives and families. This book is a must if you have family associated with these companies. New

FamilySearch by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This site features free searchable Historical Record Collections. The record collections for Australia and New Zealand include:
• Index to Bounty Immigrants, 1828-1842 
The online images are of the original index cards. This index, compiled by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members is also available on SRNSW reels 30-37. It covers persons on early migrant ships, 1828-1832 (SRNSW series NRS 5310); persons on early migrant ships, May 1832-Jan 1833 (SRNSW series NRS5311) and entitlement certificates of persons on bounty ships, 1832-1842 (SRNSW series NRS 5314). The original records are held by SRNSW.

Peter Madden's Emigrant Databases  for Galway, IRL (1828-1864), Tipperary, IRL (1828-1865) and Inverness, SCT (1828-1854 ongoing). These databases record the details of assisted emigrants from these counties to New South Wales and Queensland. They list name, age, year and ship of arrival, native place, parents' names and residence plus the names of relations in the colony.


Queensland
State Records New South Wales, Indexes Online, Shipping and Immigration index to Assisted Immigrants includes those arriving at Moreton Bay (Brisbane) 1848-1859. Note: Passenger list images are available on Ancestry.com.au. A fee ($) applies. They are also available through SRNSW free online reels.

Queensland State Archives Indexes (QSA) to Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 list passengers from the United Kingdom and Europe. Those who paid their own fare are not listed. The index lists names, age, ship, date and QSA references. Records for the 1860s are incomplete. This index is also on $$ Ancestry.com. Other free immigration indexes online at QSA include:
Assistant Immigration Agent Maryborough Index to correspondence and papers re nominated immigrants, Europe 1904-1907 and the register of prospective immigrants nominated for passage 1884-1896
Assistant Immigration Agent Maryborough 1875-1884 Index to registers of rations issued to immigrants at Maryborough. It includes ship’s name, when arrived, immigrants' names, rations issued and remarks. There are some entries for South Sea Islanders
Card Index to Nominated Immigrants to Queensland 1908-1922 details those nominated or sponsored to immigrate, those who made inquiries plus rejected applicants and applicants who returned to country of origin. This index lists immigrant’s name, age, year, ship, source card name and QSA references.
Immigration Index 1922-1940. This index lists name, age, ship, ship no, date arrived and QSA references. The passenger lists are arranged by migrant type, then by name, age, male or female, married or single, juveniles 12-17 or infants, occupation, nationality and religion. The remarks column can have a Queensland contact name or nominator as well as passage loan amounts 
Passage Certificates Index 1887-1906. This index to the register, kept by the Sub-Immigration Agent, Warwick, records applications by the sponsors of immigrants. The index lists name, notes (applicant or nominee), date, receipt number and QSA references
Passport Register Indexes details the names of immigrants arriving in Queensland. They include the Passport Clearance Register Index 1926-1935 and the Index to Passport Receipts 1930-1939
Register of Immigrants 1864-1878 Index lists immigrant’s name, depositor/applicant’s name, age, date of arrival and QSA references. The register, kept by the Assistant Immigration Agent, Toowoomba, includes date, name, age, trade, where living (country of origin), amount paid, name of depositor and remarks as to where living in the district. The majority of immigrants listed originate from Ireland
Registers Immigrants, Brisbane 1885-1917. The index lists names, ship and date of arrival, page number and QSA references. The register can include age, married or single, occupation, read, write, religion, county or country of origin, date of departure from depot, whether under engagement, name and address of person by whom engaged, or their own residence if they have one. This index includes Russian migrants who fled the political troubles in both Russia and China via Japan.
Once you have an index reference copies of the original documents can be ordered from QSA for a small fee. 

Ancestry.com Queensland Immigration Indexes. This commercial site offers:
• Index to Registers of Passengers on Immigrant Ships arriving in Queensland 1848-1912 from ports in the UK and Europe. These registers do not include passengers from New Zealand, the Americas or other non-European ports. Details given vary but may include name, age, date and place of arrival in Queensland, ship name, date and port of departure. This database covers records held by Queensland State Archives, Series ID 13086, Registers of Immigrant Ships' Arrivals, Reels M471, M473, M1075, M1696–1710.
• Maryborough Queensland Australia Immigrants from the British Isles & Germany 1861-1891 . This index, by Janet Reakes, is from original data held by the Queensland State Archives. The index lists name, age, ship and year of arrival.

South Australia
State Records of South Australia offers online searching of Official Assisted Passage Passenger Lists 1845-1886. Click on Access Collection Catalogue then choose Searching from the left menu. A search of this index returns surname or ship name, year, first name/list number, notes and volume. Use the following sites to access transcripts of the passenger lists. Updated

Family History South Australia - South Australian Passenger Lists - Shipping arrivals and immigration 1803 to 1854+ This on ongoing project currently has passenger lists for 1,320+ ships available. This database is fully searchable. Updated

The Ships List - Immigrants to South Australia, (UK, assisted passage) 1847-1886.  This ongoing project by Robert Janmaat currently has over 200 selected lists for 1847-1864 available. A surname search of all Australian lists hosted by The Ships List is available by clicking on Passenger Lists.

The Ships List, German Emigrants to South Australia 1837-1860 by Robert Janmaat. This site has transcripts of the passenger lists online.

State Library of South Australia - Horner Index to overseas departures by passenger ship from South Australia 1836-1887. This card index, compiled by Sally Horner from the Register newspaper, is available online as PDF files. It does not list interstate or intrastate departures. New

Tasmania - (See also Migration Schemes and Passenger Lists)
LINC Tasmania  brings together the State Library of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office (TAHO) and others. Online name indexes include:
• Arrivals - index of passengers and ships arriving 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 ‘K’ from about the 1820s to about the 1860s. Free email copies of the actual records are available by completing the online copy request form.
• Departures - index of people leaving Tasmanian ports (1817-1867). This ongoing index lists names; rank; ship, date and port of departure; where bound; ship to colony; status and remarks. Records of departures from series POL220 have been digitised and are now available online.

Ancestry.com offers access to indexes and digitised images for Tasmania Passenger Arrivals, 1829-1957. There is a free name search with subscription, or pay to view, options available to access the digitised records. This database contains records held by the Archives Office of Tasmania. It includes ship passenger lists and other descriptive lists of immigrants arriving in Tasmania. Most of the records are for arrivals at the port of Hobart, though some records contain registers for arrivals at Launceston. New

The State Library of Tasmania’s, Our Digital Island Indentured Servants of the Van Diemen’s Land Company site was archived here in 2000. There are transcripts of the passenger lists for the twelve ships that brought the indentured servants and their families to Van Diemen’s Land 1825-1837. Details include name, place of origin, occupation and spouse. Not all details are available for all ships. New

Victoria
State Records New South Wales, Indexes Online, Shipping and Immigration index to Assisted Immigrants includes those arriving at Port Phillip 1839-1851. Note: Passenger list images are available on Ancestry.com.au. A fee ($) applies. They are also available through SRNSW free online reels (See New South Wales).

The Public Record Office of Victoria online databases include the following: Please note that the inward passenger list images are available on Ancestry.com.au. A fee ($) applies.
Index to Assisted British Immigration 1839-1871. A search returns names, age, month, year and ship of arrival plus book and page number which refer to the passenger lists held on microfiche. 
Index to Unassisted Inward Passenger Lists to Victoria 1852-1923. This database lists unassisted passengers to Victoria from British, Foreign and New Zealand Ports. A search returns name, title, age, arrival date, ship name and fiche reference to the relevant passenger list.
Index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK, NZ and Foreign Ports 1852-1915. A search of this index to passengers on ships leaving Victoria returns names, age, ship name, departure month and year, destination, film references (month and year) and page number. This ongoing project will eventually cover to 1923. The passenger lists are held on microfilm by PROV (VPRS 3506) and can be viewed in PROV reading rooms. 

Ancestry.com offers access to indexes and digitised images for Victoria - Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists 1839-1923. There is a free name search with subscription, or pay to view, options available to access the digitised records. This database covers the following records held by the Public Record Office Victoria:
• Inward Overseas Passenger Lists (British Ports). (Microfiche VPRS 7666, copy of VRPS 947)
• Inward Overseas Passenger Lists (Foreign Ports). (Microfiche VPRS 7667, copy of VRPS 947)
• Inward Overseas Passenger Lists (New Zealand Ports). (Microfiche VPRS 13439, copy of VRPS 947)
• Register of Assisted Immigrants from the United Kingdom. (Microfiche VPRS 14)

Western Australia
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. For access log onto RecordSearch, then select Passenger Index. These records include all passengers disembarking but also those travelling onto other Australian ports.

Ancestry.com offers access to Western Australia, Australia, Crew and Passenger Lists, 1852-1930. There is a free name search with subscription, or pay to view, options available to access the digitised records. This database covers the following records held by State Records Office of Western Australia.
•  Registers of Inward and Outward Passengers, 1893-1896. Accession Number 113, AN 371.  
• Lists of Emigrants by Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners’ Ships, 1851-1867. Accession Number 115, AN 371. 
• Survey Office, Passenger Lists – Inwards from Overseas, 1829-1930. Accession Number 297. 
• Arrivals and Departures for Fremantle and Outports, 1898-1915. Accession Number 457. 
• Colonial Secretary’s Office, Passenger and Crew Lists, Manifests Inwards for Fremantle, 1880-1898 (incomplete). 
• Colonial Secretary’s Office, Passenger Lists of Immigrants for Certain Ships, 1876-1877. Series 1243, Consignment 633. 
• Register – Expirees and Conditional Pardons, 1863-1894. Series 1135, Consignment 318, Item 1.

Western Australian Genealogical Society. Click on Genealogy WA Data for access to 1829 Shipping Arrivals to the Swan River Colony. This information has been transcribed from early newspapers and includes passenger lists. 

Home  © Cora Num 1997-2012. Last updated 30 January 2012