Australia, Victoria, Assisted Immigrant Arrivals at Victorian Ports - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection includes records from 1839-1871. Included is a card file index documenting arrivals of assisted immigrants into Victorian ports. Approximately 65,000 cards are located in the Geelong Heritage Centre, Geelong, Australia. Assisted immigrants and other immigrants are identified below:

Prior to 1900 there were four classes of immigrants to Australia:

Convicts: Sent to Australia after they were tried and convicted for crimes committed in the British Isles. Tasmania and New South wales were the states that received most of the convicts before 1830.

Bounty Immigrants: Chosen by Australian colonists to come from the British Isles to Australia.

Assisted Immigrants: Came to Australia through financial assistance from the government, organizations, or wealthy individuals.

Paying Passengers: Came to Australia through their own means.

Record Content
Records may contain the following information:


 * Birth Records
 * Death Records
 * Marriage Records
 * County of Origin
 * Subjects Index of passenger lists

Search the Collection
To search by index: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

To search by image: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the name range to see the images

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

When searching: As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

Related Websites

 * Index to Assisted British Immigration 1839-1871 Assisted Immigration to Victoria 1836-1879
 * Ship’s Passenger Lists

Related Wiki Articles

 * Australia Emigration and Immigration
 * Australia

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
Citations for individual image records are available for this collection. Browse through images in this collection and click on the “Show Citation” box:

When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.