South Australia Emigration and Immigration

South Australia Online Records

 * Passenger Lists Immigration South Australia, index. Immigrant passenger arrivals in South Australia (usually at Port Adelaide) from Australian ports up to 1847, UK & Ireland up to 1850 and Germany up to 1858, totaling more than 2,000 voyages.
 * Croatian and Slav pioneers of South Australia and Victoria
 * 1835-1841 Embarkation register and land purchases for South Australia, 1835-1841, images.
 * 1836-1841 Registers of correspondence etc., 1836-1841 : register of emigrant labourers' applications for a free passage to South Australia, certificate nos. 1-9422, images
 * 1836-1841 Emigrants Seeking Free Passage To South Australia 1836-1841 at FindMyPast - index ($)
 * 1836-1849 Chronological list of passenger lists for ships arriving at South Australian ports from overseas 1836-1849 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
 * 1837-1866 German Emigrants to South Australia, 1837-1866, index
 * 1838-1842 Manifests and lists of crews and passengers of ships arriving at Port Adelaide, South Australia, 1838-1842, images
 * 1845-1886 Inwards assisted immigrants lists 1845-1886, State Archives, Adelaide, South Australia, index and images.
 * 1848 Calais Lacemaker Immigrants to South Australia 1848 at FindMyPast - index ($)
 * 1849-1885 Australia, South Australia, Crown lands and immigrant ship's papers (deaths and births on board), 1849-1885, images.
 * 1849-1886 Australia, South Australia, Official assisted passage passenger lists, 1849-1886, index and images.
 * 1849-1940 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1849-1903 South Australia Naturalisations 1849-1903, at FindMyPast, ($) index
 * 1850-1918 Shipping register at Port Adelaide 1850-1918, South Australia
 * 1852-1923 Passenger list, arrivals in Victoria from foreign ports, 1852-1923, index and images.
 * 1853 - South Australia, Australia, Passenger Lists, 1853 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1887 Register of pioneers and old colonists of South Australia Contains a handwritten list which includes name, "relations", age, date of arrival in South Australia, name of ship and captain, and residence and occupation in South Australia. Probably compiled in 1887.
 * 1888-1893, 1896-1940 Australia, South Australia, Lists of outgoing passengers departing from Port Adelaide for overseas ports, 1888-1893, 1896-1940 at FamilySearch Catalog; index & images
 * 1888-1910 Inwards passenger lists to South Australia 1888-1910, index and images.
 * 1888-1910 Outward passenger lists from South Australia 1888-1910, images
 * 1913-1914 South Australia, Immigrant Agricultural Workers 1913-14 at FindMyPast - index ($)

Australia Online Records

 * Ireland-Australia transportation database National Library of Australia
 * Genealogical Index To Australians and Other Expatriates In Papua New Guinea at FindMyPast - index & images ($)
 * Australian Contingents To South Africa at FindMyPast - index & image ($)
 * Australia Passenger Indexes archived on the Wayback Machine
 * 19-Century Emigration of 'Old Lutherans' from Eastern Germany to Australia, Canada, and the United States, index and images, ($).
 * 1788-1968 Ozships: Australian shipping 1788-1968
 * 1788-1890 Admission, discharge and other records, 1788-1890, images. These are the records of the Royal Philanthropic Society, organized in 1788 "for the admission of the offspring of convicts and the reformation of criminal poor children." Records exist of those who went to Australia.
 * 1811-1856 Australia, Assisted Emigration at FindMyPast - index & images ($)
 * 1826-1972 Australia, Inward, Outward, & Coastal Passenger Lists 1826-1972 at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1850-1879 Emigrants from Hamburg to Australasia, 1850 - 1879 The collection records the name, former place of residence, age, occupation, ship, destination and departure year for more than 40,000 emigrants between 1850 and 1879. Passengers on all ships to Australia and New Zealand are listed; they include emigrants destined for all states in Australia (except Western Australia) and ports in both the north and south islands of New Zealand. It includes passenger lists for which no Australasian records exist. It is an important resource for family historians and those with a more general interest in migration from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Italy and other European countries.
 * 1873-1924 Alphabetical register of all inward passengers to Albany, 1873-1924 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at FindMyPast; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Australia
 * 1904-1914 Germany, Bremen Passenger Departure Lists, 1904-1914 at MyHeritage; index & images ($); includes those with Destination of Australia
 * 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.
 * Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild Choose a volume and then choose Australia under "Listed by Port of Departure" or "Listed by Port of Arrival".
 * Immigrant Ancestors Project

Convict Records

 * 1786-1849 Australia Convict Ships 1786-1849, ($), index.
 * Australia's First Fleet
 * 1787-1788 Australian Convict Transportation Registers – First Fleet, 1787-1788, index and images, ($).
 * 1787-1867Web: Australia, Convict Records Index, 1787-1867, index and images, ($)
 * 1788-1842 Australia List of Convicts with Particulars, 1788-1842, ($), index.
 * 1788-1868 Australia, Convict Index, 1788-1868, index, ($).
 * Australia's Second Fleet
 * 1788–1868 Ireland-Australia transportation database National Archives of Ireland
 * Guide to penal transportation records: Ireland to Australia, 1788–1868


 * 1789-1790 Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Second Fleet, 1789-1790, index and images, ($)
 * Australia's Third Fleet
 * 1791 Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Third Fleet, 1791, index and images, ($).
 * 1791-1867 Australia Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons 1791-1867, ($), index.
 * 1791-1850 Index of prisoners and accused persons, 1791-1850 (Sussex Quarter Session Rolls), images. Contains an alphabetical listing of all prisoners and accused persons named in the Sussex Quarter Session Rolls, 1791-1850. Gives name, offense and date thereof, date and place of court appearance, and sentence. Sometimes also includes age, occupation and residence. Prisoners sentenced for transportation during this period were sent to Australia.
 * 1824-1874 Australia Convict Tickets Of Leave 1824-1874, ($), index.
 * 1829-1879 New South Wales, Australia, Sheriff's Papers, 1829-1879 - index and images ($)
 * 1842-1854 Victoria, Convict Register 1842-1854 at FindMyPast, ($), index.


 * 1858-1867 UK Surgeon Superintendents' Journals of Convict Ships, 1858-1867, index and images, ($)
 * Convict transportation registers database
 * Ireland-Australia transportation database, National Archives of Ireland
 * Convicts to Australia
 * Crime and Punishment, Wales Court of Great Sessions, 1730-1830

The Irish Ancestor Periodical
There are many Indexes in The Irish Ancestor, of convicts requesting wife and children to be sent out to Australia, at the government's expense.
 * Indexed in PERiodical Source Index at FindMyPast ($)
 * FIGRS Index to the The Irish Ancestor ($)
 * WorldCat listing of libraries holding The Irish Ancesor collection
 * The Irish Ancestor 1969-1986 Digital Download ($)

Immigration Trends
In 1834 the South Australian Colonization Act was passed, leading to the colonization of land that is now the state of South Australia. The Act strove to establish a colony that was the ideal embodiment of the best qualities of British society. This meant no religious discrimination, unemployment or convicts. South Australia was to be a utopia for free settlers only.

To finance this lofty ideal, large areas of land were offered at a fixed, but reasonable price, to the wealthy as an investment or to companies wishing to establish themselves in the new colony. The money paid for the transport of labourers who would work the land. These immigrants from England, Wales and Ireland were chosen for their skills and trades, as well as being "honest, sober, industrious and of general good character".

Immigrants who worked hard could eventually earn enough money to own land or establish their own businesses. This promise of better opportunities, particularly for the working classes, was very attractive and led to a rush of applications for free passage to the new colony.

By 1835, enough land had been sold to finance immigration to the colony. Between January 1836 and December 1840, over 9,000 applications had been received and, by December 1840, almost 5,000 immigrant labourers had arrived in South Australia.

Not all of South Australia's early immigrants were British or Irish or arrived under the free immigration schemes. Many either paid for or worked their passage to start a new life in South Australia. They came by various ships. A large group of early settlers came from the Kingdom of Prussia fleeing religious persecution.

Since the early days of the colony, thousands of immigrants from a variety of different locations have arrived on our shores seeking fresh opportunities for themselves and their families. These brave men and women who sought new lives across the sea helped to determine the character of South Australia today.