New South Wales Emigration and Immigration

Online Resources

 * Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters, index
 * 1787-1976 New South Wales, Australia, Miscellaneous Records, 1787-1976, images only, topic index, ($)


 * 1800-1849 In-letters, 1800-1849, New South Wales Colonial Secretary Includes letters from Norfolk Island, 1833-1835. Requests for removal, transfer, having families brought over. Shipping lists and orders.
 * 1816-1825 Shipping records, 1816-1825, New South Wales, images.
 * 1816-1825, 1898-1911 New South Wales, Australia, Departing Crew and Passenger Lists, 1816-1825, 1898-1911 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1826-1922 New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922, index, browse, and images, ($).
 * 1826-1900 New South Wales Passenger Lists, 1826-1900, index, ($)
 * 1826-1856 New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary's Letters, 1826-1856 at Ancestry - index and images ($)
 * 1826-1859 Reports of vessels arrived, 1826-1859, images.
 * 1828-1842 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1828-1842 New South Wales, Australia 1828 - 1842: Bounty Immigrants List, at Ancestry, index, ($).
 * 1828-1842 Miscellaneous Immigrants Index 1828-1843, index
 * 1828-1890 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1828-1890 Assisted immigrants inwards to Sydney, 1828-1890 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
 * 1828-1896 New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896, index, and images, ($).
 * 1828-1841 Crew and Passengers Index 1828-1841 at NSW Archives, index.
 * 1837-1925 Inward shipping lists, 1837-1925, images. A list of crews and passengers on ships arriving at ports in New South Wales.
 * 1838-1857 Immigration Board Letters, 1838-1857 at NSW Archives, index.
 * 1839-1896 Index to Assisted Immigrants 1839-96, Moreton Bay, 1848-1859, Port Phillip 1839-1851; Also at MyHeritage ($).
 * 1842-1855 Index to unassisted Immigrants 1842-1851 at NSW Archives, index.
 * 1846 New South Wales, Australia, Passengers Arriving at Port Phillip, 1846 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1848-1873 Register of applications for passages to the colonies for convicts' families, 1848-1873, images.
 * 1850-80s Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters - primarily New South Wales, unassisted records from the 1850-80s, incomplete
 * 1853-1900 New South Wales, Australia, Immigration Deposit Journals, 1853-1900 at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1877-1882 Immigration papers, 1877-1882, New South Wales, images.
 * 1881 1881 British Census, Crew and Passengers On Ships Arriving In New South Wales, index, ($)

Australia

 * 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

 * 1787-1859: New South Wales and Tasmania: Settlers and Convicts 1787-1859, at FindMyPast, index ($)
 * 1787-1834: New South Wales, Australia, Settler and Convict Lists at Ancestry; images only ($)
 * 1787-1859: New South Wales and Tasmania: Settlers and Convicts at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1787-1976: New South Wales, Australia, Miscellaneous Records at Ancestry; images only ($)
 * 1788-1842: New South Wales, Australia, Convict Indents at Ancestry; index & images ($); Also at FindMyPast ($)
 * 1788-1856: New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary's Papers at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1788-1870: New South Wales, Australia, Convict Registers of Conditional and Absolute Pardons at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1790-1849: New South Wales, Australia Convict Ship Muster Rolls and Related Records, 1790-1849, index, browse, and images, ($).
 * 1791-1816: List of convict ships and prisoner's names from Ireland to Sydney, 1791-1816 at FamilySearch Catalog; images only
 * 1806-1849: New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1810-1867: New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Freedom at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1810-1869: New South Wales, Australia, Tickets of Leave at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1810-1891: New South Wales, Australia, Convict Records at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1824-1886: New South Wales, Australia, Convict Savings Bank Books at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1825-1840: New South Wales, Australia, Wives & Children of Irish Convicts at Ancestry; index only ($)
 * 1825-1851: New South Wales Registers Of Convicts Applications To Marry at FindMyPast; index & images ($); Also at Ancestry ($)
 * 1826-1856: New South Wales, Australia, Colonial Secretary's Letters at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1826-1879: New South Wales, Australia, Convict Death Register at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1827-1867: New South Wales, Butts Of Convicts' Certificates Of Freedom at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
 * 1828-1839: New South Wales, Australia, Convict Applications for the Publication of Banns at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1829-1879: New South Wales, Australia, Sheriff's Papers at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1834-1859: New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia, Convict Pardons and Tickets of Leave at Ancestry; index & images ($)
 * 1871-1969: at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images

Australia Convict Records

 * 1788-1842 Australia List of Convicts with Particulars, 1788-1842 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
 * 1791-1867 Australia Convict Conditional and Absolute Pardons 1791-1867 at FindMyPast - index & images ($)
 * 1786-1849 Australia Convict Ships 1786-1849 at FindMyPast - index & images ($)
 * 1824-1874 Australia Convict Tickets Of Leave 1824-1874 at FindMyPast - index & images ($)
 * Australia's First Fleet
 * Australia's Second Fleet
 * Australia's Third Fleet
 * Convict transportation registers database
 * Ireland-Australia transportation database, National Archives of Ireland
 * Convicts to Australia

Archive Resources Kit

 * Community Access Points A list of libraries and archives which hold the microform copies of the Archive Resource Kit records.
 * The Archive Resources Kit includes the following immigration and convict records:

Immigration Records

 * Indexes to ships arrived, 1837-1925
 * Assisted immigrants, 1828-42
 * Assisted immigrants (Port Phillip), 1839-51
 * Assisted immigrants Sydney, 1838-96, and Moreton Bay, 1848-59
 * Persons on bounty ships to Sydney, Newcastle and Moreton Bay, 1848-91
 * Unassisted Passengers arriving in Sydney, 1826-53, 1854-1900
 * Wage agreements & entitlement certificates (Sydney), 1844-45
 * Germans on bounty ships (Sydney), 1849-52
 * Wives and families of convicts on bounty ships (Sydney), 1849-55
 * Immigration deposit journals, 1853-1900
 * Members of the Family Colonization Loan Society, 1854-57
 * Passenger lists of the Family Colonization Loan Society, 1854-55
 * Ships musters: passengers departing, 1816-25

Convict Records

 * Index to Convict Indents, 1837-42
 * Convict Indents, 1788-1842
 * Musters and other papers relating to convict ships, 1790-1849	NRS 1155
 * Registers of convicts' applications to marry, 1825-51
 * Assignment Registers, 1821-24
 * Register of Tickets of Leave, 1824-27
 * Ticket of Leave butts, 1827-67
 * Registers of Conditional Pardons, 1791-1825
 * Registers of convicts recommended for Conditional Pardons, 1826-56
 * Registers of Absolute Pardons, 1791-1843 and Registers of recommendations for Absolute Pardons, 1826-46

"The ARK is held by 40 community access points across NSW. The majority of access points are libraries. The ARK consists of microfilm copies of our most popular and heavily used colonial records. Included are records relating to convict arrivals, assisted immigrants, births, deaths and marriages, publicans' licences, electoral rolls, naturalisation, returns of the colony ('Blue Books'), land grants, and the wide range of functions of the Colonial Secretary (1788-1825). You may find that the ARK (or parts of it) are held at a library near you."


 * Convict Deaths, 1828-79

National Archives of Australia
"The National Archives holds detailed passenger records for arrivals and departures at all Australian ports from 1924. This is when passenger arrivals became an Australian Government responsibility. "We hold a few passenger records from before 1924, but only for ports in Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland. Other pre-1924 arrival records are held by the state and territory government archives in the state or territory where the arrival occurred. "The passenger records in our collection are held in each capital city, primarily for the ports and airports in that state or territory."
 * Passenger arrivals index, 1898 - 1972

NSW Government State Records and Archives
161 O'Connell Street Kingswood NSW 2747 Australia
 * Telephone: (02) 9673 1788
 * Plan Your Visit
 * Collection Search Engine
 * Family history guides and links

New South Wales Archives Guides

 * Chinese Migration
 * Dutch Migration
 * French Migration
 * German Migration
 * Greek Migation
 * Indian Migration
 * Italian Migration
 * Lebanese Migration
 * Maltese Migration
 * Polish Migration
 * Russian Migration

Penal Transportation

 * European migration to Australia began with British convict settlement.
 * The First Fleet comprised 11 ships carrying 775 convicts and 645 officials, members of the crew, marines, and their families and children. The settlers consisted of petty criminals, second-rate soldiers and a crew of sailors.
 * There were few with skills needed to start a self-sufficient settlement, such as farmers and builders, and the colony experienced hunger and hardships. Male settlers far outnumbered female settlers.
 * The Second Fleet arrived in 1790 bringing more convicts. The conditions of the transportation was described as horrific and worse than slave transports. Of the 1,026 convicts who embarked, 267 (256 men and 11 women) died during the voyage (26%); a further 486 were sick when they arrived of which 124 died soon after.
 * The fleet was more of a drain on the struggling settlement than of any benefit.
 * Conditions on the Third Fleet, which followed on the heels of the Second Fleet in 1791, were a bit better. The fleet comprised 11 ships. Of the more than 2000 convicts brought onto the ships, 173 male convicts and 9 female convicts died during the voyage.
 * Other transport fleets bringing further convicts as well as freemen to the colony would follow. By the end of the penal transportation in 1868, approximately 165,000 people had entered Australia as convicts.

Bounty Immigration

 * The Bounty Immigration Scheme (1835-1841) boosted emigration from the United Kingdom to New South Wales.[11] The South Australia Company was established to encourage settlement in South Australia by laborers and skilled migrants.

Gold Rush and Population Growth

 * The Gold rush era, beginning in 1851, led to an enormous expansion in population, including large numbers of British and Irish settlers, followed by smaller numbers of Germans and other Europeans, and Chinese. This latter group were subject to increasing restrictions and discrimination, making it impossible for many to remain in the country.
 * One of the first acts of the new Commonwealth Government was the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, otherwise known as the White Australia policy, designed to restrict non-White settlement.
 * With the onset of the Great Depression, the Governor-General proclaimed the cessation of immigration until further notice, and the next group to arrive were 5000 Jewish refugee families from Germany in 1938.

Post-war Immigration to Australia

 * After World War II Australia launched a massive immigration program, believing that having narrowly avoided a Japanese invasion, Australia must "populate or perish". Hundreds of thousands of displaced Europeans migrated to Australia and over 1,000,000 British subjects immigrated under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme.
 * In the 1970s, multiculturalism largely displaced cultural selectivity in immigration policy.

Ancestry in Census Records
At the 2016 census, there were 2,581,138 people living in New South Wales that were born overseas, accounting for 34.5% of the population. Only 45.4% of the population had both parents born in Australia. The most commonly nominated ancestries are listed here. Click on the blue link for a Wikipedia article giving historical details for that nationality.

Country of Birth (2016 Census)

FamilySearch Library
Additional sources are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog: