Passenger Lists
The South Australian Company's swing
bridge at Port Adelaide [Illustrated London
News; 4 December 1858; page 519]
Key Resources
Official passenger lists, mainly of immigrants arriving in South Australia under United Kingdom assisted passage schemes, 1847-1886
This set of microfiche consists of an index (11 fiche) and passenger lists (132 fiche). Use the alphabetical index to search for the name of the passenger you are researching, then make a note of the reference number before looking at the passenger list. Reference numbers are in two parts; the first part is the year and the second part is the passenger list number for that year. For example, reference 53/2 is for the ship, Shackamaxon, which arrived in Adelaide in January 1853.
You can also use the Passenger List Search on the State Records of South Australia website. Please note that this is the same as using the fiche index mentioned above, and you will still need to visit the State Library to view the actual passenger list.
The Ships List
This website includes the following databases:
Immigrants to South Australia, (UK, assisted passage) 1847-1886
German emigrants to South Australia, 1837-1866
Both of these databases have a substantial amount of information but are not yet complete. Information given can include ship name, port and date of departure, port and date of arrival, passenger name, age, occupation, birthplace and additional comments. Please note that this site has transcriptions of the passenger lists, not copies of the original lists.
FamilyHistorySA
This site also has transcriptions of passenger lists mainly for arrivals in South Australia before 1854. The information given is not quite as detailed as the Ships List.
Bound for South Australia: passenger lists, 1836-1851
This CD-ROM contains virtually every passenger list for the 3,000 overseas and local ships that came to South Australia between 1836 and 1851.
A free passage to paradise? : passenger lists of United Kingdom emigrants who applied for free passage to South Australia 1836-1840
This book has details of early emigrants to South Australia, many of whom were labourers and farm workers. As explained in the book's introduction, details of their applications can be found in the Australian Joint Copying Project collection (CO 386/149-151. Colonial Office. Land and Emigration Commission. AJCP reels PRO 874-875).
Index to register of emigrant labourers applying for a free passage to South Australia, 1836-1841
This set of microfiche covers the same assisted passage scheme as the book above.
Passengers arriving at Port Adelaide from South Australian coastal and intercolonial ports between 1837-1845
South Australian Weekly Chronicle;
Supplement; 2 October 1858; page 2;
National Library of Australia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88820845]
Trove
The Digitised newspapers section of Trove covers the period up to 1954 and is a very useful source for passenger arrivals. We recommend using Advanced search and selecting South Australian newspapers.
Indexes to arrivals and departures published in newspapers
The Hodge index : index to passenger lists published in South Australian newspapers of arrivals in South Australian ports from interstate and New Zealand and departures from South Australian ports for interstate and New Zealand
Horner index: index to departures by passenger ship from South Australia directly for overseas (not interstate or intrastate) taken from the Register newspaper 1836-1887
You can also view the Horner index on the State Library of South Australia website.
Other Resources
Alphabetical index to in-coming passenger lists 1888-1908
This is an index only, giving passenger name, date and port of arrival and passenger list number. The ship name is not given. For arrivals from the UK after 1890, it is easier to search on Findmypast UK. Go to Search records - Travel & migration - Passenger lists leaving UK 1890-1960.
Related Pages
Don't forget to use Australia-wide resources for passenger lists which are detailed on the following page:
Passenger Lists
What other information can I find?
Use our catalogue to find other material relating to passenger lists for South Australia. Search using keywords such as emigration, immigration, immigrants, passenger lists. Examples of keyword searches include:
immigrants adelaide
south australia passenger lists
Don't forget to use our Family History Bookmarks under headings such as:
south.australia-passenger.lists
australia-passenger.lists
great.britain-emigration
Page last updated: Tuesday 30 October 2012
