- Spelling of names was not as consistent as it is today, so be sure to check alternatives—e.g. Thompson and Thomson.
- Names may have been incorrectly indexed as the handwriting is sometimes difficult to read or the ink has faded.
- The capital letters L, T, F and S are often confused as lower-case letters n, m, u and w. This means that Taylor may indexed as Laylor or Brum may be indexed as Bruin.
- The use of double ‘s’ (ss) often looks like fs, so Ross will be indexed as Ross but may appear in the record as Rofs.
- Names may have been written in the record phonetically as the clerks wrote the names as they heard them. Think about how it could be spelt as it was heard.
- Some given names are abbreviated as they appear in the original record
- Some records are restricted for several years.
- Some records have not survived.
- A blank cell indicates that there is no information recorded in the original.
Immigration
We hold records of immigrant ships and their passengers travelling directly to Queensland from Europe from 1848.
In earlier records, some information can be limited and only the name of the immigrant, the date of arrival and the name of the ship may be available. In later records, particularly those created in the 20th century, there is more information available.
Finding immigration records
Search the indexes
The indexes are collections of information from our most popular records (usually peoples’ names) that link to ArchivesSearch catalogue. If you know the name and approximate arrival date of the person you are looking for, you can search the indexes below.
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Immigration
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Assisted Immigration 1848-1912
Passenger lists of immigrant ships with departure and arrival dates and ports, surgeons and masters on board and types of passage; includes links to scans of the registers
Full index
Download the full index below
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - A
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - B
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - C
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - D
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - E
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - F
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - G
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - H
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - I
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - J
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - K
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - L
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - M
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - N
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - O
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - P
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - Q
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - R
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - S
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - T
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - UV
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - W
- Assisted Immigration 1848-1912 - XYZ
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Brisbane Passenger Arrivals 1913-1915
Files of passengers (divided into nominated, assisted, domestics and full payers) containing name of passenger, name of ship, ages, marital status, where embarked and whether English, Scotch, Irish or other and amount paid for passage. Compiled from S13048
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Farm Lads 1911-1940
Names of boys involved in the Farm Lads migration scheme
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Immigrant Remittances, IMA Maryborough 1864-1905
Immigrant Remittances, IMA Maryborough 1864-1905. (S13055, S13060 & S13061)
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Immigrant Remittances, Nanango 1863-1901
Index of Immigration Deposits for Remittance Passengers [Nanango] 1863-1901. The register, S10562, was kept by the Court of Petty Sessions, Nanango to record deposits paid to the Court toward the cost of passage for immigrants travelling under a remittance fare.
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Immigrants (Mackay Immigration Agent), 1884-1911
Register of immigrants arriving by ship kept by the Assistant Immigration Mackay. Compiled from S13051
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Immigrants 1909-1932
Passenger lists and other papers relating to immigrants arriving by ship in Queensland; and lists of crews and passengers on various immigrant ships arriving in Brisbane. Details vary. May include Immigration Department reports about passengers, giving name, age, occupation, and port of departure, whether assisted or nominated and the type of migrant such as domestic servant. Compiled from S13104 and S13105
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Immigrants Nominated for Passage, Maryborough 1884-1907
Register entitled Immigration Book, kept by the Assistant Immigration Agent, Maryborough, of prospective immigrants nominated for passage
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Immigrants and Crew 1860-1864
Details of immigrants and crew extracted from Colonial Secretary's correspondence
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Immigrants and Missing Immigrants cards 1920-1945
This series is a card register of immigrants and missing immigrants from various correspondence. The cards mainly register the administrative file movements of the Immigration Department's correspondence. Details may include name of ship, date of arrival, movements of files, name of correspondent and action. Some cards are annotated, eg. "file returned to" or details concerning an immigrant, for example, age at date of departure etc. There are stamp marks on many of the cards, for example, "Domestic". Compiled from S5631
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Immigrants landed Bowen 1888-1896
Passenger lists and returns of immigrants landed and whether employed
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Immigrants, Bowen Immigration Depot 1885-1892
Register of immigrants arriving at the Immigration Depot, Bowen 1885-1892.
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Immigrants, Maryborough 1871-1915
Registers of arrivals kept by the Immigration Agent, Maryborough. Details include name of passenger, name of ship and arrival date
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Immigrants, Rockhampton 1882-1915
Immigrants arriving at and departing from the Immigration Depot at Rockhampton including name of ship and dates of arrival and departure. Details may vary.
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Immigration 1922-1940
Passenger lists of immigrant ships carrying passengers bound for Queensland, including ship's name, number, as well as departure and arrival dates
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Land orders 1861-1878
This index was compiled from several series of records relating to land orders as created by the Immigration Department between 1861 and 1878 held at Queensland State Archives. It has been combined from 2 previous Indexes - Land orders 1861-1874 and Land orders 1862-1878.
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Nominated immigrants 1905-1928
Information regarding people who enquired about immigration, or who were nominated or sponsored to immigrate to Queensland between 1905 and 1928
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Oronsay immigration 1914-1972
Records of migrants created by the Immigration Department and the State Migration Office relating to voyages of the Oronsay
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Passage certificates 1887-1906
Applications by sponsors of immigrants kept by the Sub-Immigration Agent in Warwick
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Passport clearances 1923-1940
Register of passport clearances showing file number, name, schedule number, vessel name and date of arrival, state disembarked, vessel and date of departure, reason for leaving, whether returning, government contribution, number and date of clearance
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Rations issued to immigrants, Maryborough 1875-1884
Registers of immigrant names, ship names and arrival dates, and rations issued
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Redeemed land orders 1860-1906
Land orders issued to immigrants on the completion of their obligations under the law at the time; as well as land orders issued to employers of immigrants.
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Register of Immigrants 1864-1878
Compiled from the Register of immigrants recording applicant details for immigration passage certificates as registered by the Assistant Immigration Agent, Toowoomba between 1864.
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Register of immigrants, Toowoomba, 1880-1888
Immigrant names, date of admittance at Toowoomba, name of ship, destination from Toowoomba and date of leaving; most immigrants in this register originate from Ireland
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Register of the Engagement of Immigrants at the Immigration Depot - Bowen 1873-1912
Record of engagement of immigrants who arrived at the Immigration Depot, Bowen. Details include ship, immigrant's name, name of the employer, names of places, and terms.
Full index
Download the full index below
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Registers of immigrants 1882-1938
Arrival records per ship of immigrants who landed at the Immigration Depot at Townsville, Cairns, Cooktown, Thursday Island, Mackay and Bowen, as well as immigrants who landed in Brisbane and some ports outside Queensland
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Registers of immigrants, Brisbane 1885-1917
Records of immigrants arriving per ship at the Immigration Depot at Brisbane
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Assisted Immigration 1848-1912
4 Tips to Search the Index to Assisted Immigration 1848-1912
Hello and welcome to Queensland State Archives.
Our indexes contain information gathered from original records. They’ve been created so people can search for names in some of our most popular records.
Our biggest index is the Index to Assisted Immigration 1848 – 1912. Created from Series 13086 – Registers of Immigrant Ships’ Arrivals, the index provides direct links to digital copies of passenger lists of immigrant ships arriving in Queensland and contains over 250,000 names. To search the index follow these 4 steps
Gather as much information as you can about names, dates and places before you try to search our indexes.
Go to our Search the Records page,
Click on Immigration
Click Assisted Immigration
Enter the name of the person you’re searching for in the search boxes. If you don’t get a result when you enter both names, try taking the given name/s out.
Have a look at the displayed results to see if you have a match. Clicking on the green plus sign will give you more information about you’re results. The information listed will be different for different indexes but will hopefully help you narrow things down.
If you think you have found the person you’re looking for, click on the ‘See image’ link. This will open the digitised copy of the passenger list. Search the page for the name you are interested in. You can now download, print, and/or save the image to your computer for your records.
This is one of a series of videos to help you find information at QSA. For other videos visit our YouTube channel and subscribe to keep up to date with any new additions.
You can also subscribe to our other social media for information about some of the great things held at QSA
If you have any questions or would like to give us some feedback contact us via any of the options on our ‘Contact the State Archives’ page
Thanks for watching
Search the catalogue
ArchivesSearch provides access to QSA’s collection of records, including documents, letters, land orders, maps, plans and images. For help searching, read the ArchivesSearch help guide.
There are several reasons why you may have trouble finding an immigration record.
- Not all passenger lists have survived, especially lists created before the 1860s. Many pre-1893 immigration records were damaged or destroyed by the 1893 floods.
- Some records damaged by the 1893 floods were late re-written by the Immigration department and may contain transcription errors including incorrect dates for voyages.
- Our records usually only include people classified as migrants—those receiving land orders or assisted or free passages from the government. If your ancestor paid their own way, there may be no record. Try searching the National Archives of Australia.
- We don’t hold records of immigrants who disembarked at another colony and then travelled to Queensland. You can try visiting other archives’ websites.
- Our lists are mainly for immigrants from Europe. If the person you’re looking for travelled from the United States, New Zealand, India, South Africa, or anywhere in Asia or Africa, they may not be recorded.
Contact us
Contact us if you need further help.