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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

Need Help with Shipping Research? See 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 Migration Schemes and Passenger Lists. 

National
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 such as Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. For further details see Fact Sheet 220: Index to Passenger Arrivals.

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. Updated

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

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG) has 11,000+ 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. Updated

New South Wales
State Records New South Wales, Indexes Online, Immigration and Shipping include:

State Records New South Wales pilot project to digitise microfilm shipping lists. Currently lists on reels 2134-2145 are available for free online viewing. Use the online indexes listed above to locate the reel number/s and then consult the online reel if available. The following series have online reels available: New

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: New

Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters . 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 

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.

FamilySearchLabs. Click on RecordSearch, then Browse our record collections then choose Australia for free access to the Index to Bounty Immigrants Arrivals in NSW 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. New

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. Updated

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:
• Passport Register Indexes 1926-1939. These two indexes record the names of immigrants arriving in Queensland. They are the Passport Clearance Register Index 1926-1935 and the Index to Passport Receipts 1930-1939.
 Passage Certificates Index 1887-1906. This index to the register, kept by the Sub-Immigration Agent, Warwick, records applications by sponsors of immigrants. The index lists name, notes (applicant or nominee), date, receipt number and QSA references.
• Register of Immigrants 1864-1878. This Register, kept by the Assistant Immigration Agent, Toowoomba, contains details of applications for passage certificates for immigration, registered in Toowoomba. The date, name and age of immigrant, trade, where living (country of origin), amount paid, name of depositor and relevant remarks as to where living in the district are included in the register details. The majority of immigrants listed originate from Ireland. The index to this register contains 888 entries and lists immigrant’s name, depositor/applicant’s name, age, date of arrival and QSA references.
• Assistant Immigration Agent Maryborough 1884-1907. An index to two series of records, Series ID 13053 (IMA3/12), Correspondence and papers re Nominated Immigrants, Europe 1904-1907 and Series ID 13054 (IMA3/11), Register of Prospective Immigrants Nominated for Passage 1884-1896.
• Assistant Immigration Agent Maryborough 1875-1884. An index to Series ID 13062 (IMA3/18-19), Registers of Rations Issued to Immigrants, Maryborough. These registers record rations issued with details entered for single girls, single men and married people. They also include the name of the ship, when arrived, immigrants' names, rations issued and remarks. There are also some entries for South Sea Islanders.
• Card Index to Nominated Immigrants 1908-1922 (Series ID 5611). These cards record in-formation about those nominated or sponsored to immigrate to Queensland. It also includes those who made inquiries about immigration to Queensland, rejected applicants and applicants who returned to their country of origin. The index lists immigrant’s name, age, year, ship, source card name and QSA references.
Once you have an index reference copies of the original documents can be ordered from QSA for a small fee. Updated

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 Arc-hives. The index lists name, age, ship and year of arrival.

South Australia
Family History South Australia - Passenger Lists 1803-1853 for 1,240+ ships. Surname searching is available.

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.

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

We're Bound for South Australia by Diane Cummings with passenger lists for ships to SA 1836-1851 arranged by year and alphabetically by ship. Images of transcripts of the passenger lists are available online. Surname searching is not available. Includes intercolonial and overseas arrivals.

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

Tasmania - (See also Migration Schemes and Passenger Lists)

Archives Office of Tasmania Index to Departures (1817-1867). This ongoing index lists names; rank; ship, date and port of departure; where bound; ship to colony; status and remarks.

Archives Office of Tasmania Index to Passengers & Ships Arrivals - 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 are available by completing the online copy request form. Updated  

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).

Public Record Office Victoria - Database index to Assisted British Immigrants to Victoria (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. Note: Passenger list images are available on Ancestry.com.au. A fee ($) applies.

Public Record Office Victoria - Database Index to Inward Passenger Lists for British, Foreign and New Zealand Ports (1852-1923). This database lists unassisted passengers to Victoria and a search returns name, title, age, arrival date, ship name and fiche reference to the relevant passenger list. Note: Passenger list images are available on Ancestry.com.au. A fee ($) applies.

Public Record Office Victoria - Database Index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK, NZ and Foreign Ports (1852-1896). This database of passengers on ships leaving Victoria returns names, ship name, departure month and year, destination, film references, age and page number. Note: Passenger list images are available on Ancestry.com.au. A fee ($) applies.

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: New

  • 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.

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.  Updated

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