South Australian Passenger Lists

Shipping arrivals and immigration 1803-53

Barry Leadbeater

This searchable collection of passenger lists for about 1,240 ship arrivals in South Australia includes those prior to colonisation. The database contains shipping and emigrants from Germany up to 1853, the UK and Ireland up to June 1850, and other ports up to 1847. Additionally, there are a couple of passenger lists from the UK and Germany 1912-13.

Immigrants on voyages with no surviving official or SA newspaper passenger lists are usually included, as are known crew disembarkations. Others arriving overland or by unknown ship have also been added. Sources of the information are given.

Search SA 1803-53 for

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Searching the shipping passenger list collection

From the drop-down list, select the type of search you require. Passenger arrivals allows you to search all of the passenger lists for a particular person or family. Passenger lists allows you to search for the full passenger list of a particular ship's voyage. Shipping arrivals gives the arrival date, port & date of departure, captain, tonnage, rig and date built for a particular ship, voyage, or all the ship arrivals for a particular day (yyyy-mm-dd), month (yyyy-mm), year (yyyy) or decade (yyy).

If the passenger list you require is not in this database, you may wish to search for other SA shipping & migration resources.

Shipping and passenger list sources

[1]  E A D Opie, South Australian Records prior to 1841, Adelaide, 1917
[2]  Register of Emigrant Labourers Applying for a Free Passage to South Australia 1836-1841, PRO CO 386/149-151
[3]  R Parsons, Migrant Ships for South Australia 1836-1866, Gould Books, SA, 1999
[4]  South Australian Births Registrations 1842 to 1906, SA Genealogy & Heraldry Soc, 1997
[5]  Cemetery and other memorial inscriptions, [5b] burial registers, including our South Australian Cemeteries database.
[6]  Newspapers - shipping intelligence, obituaries [obit], etc
[7]  Biographical Index of South Australians 1836-1885, SAGHS, 1986
[8]  South Australians 1836-1885, SAGHS, 1990
[9]  R T Sexton, Shipping Arrivals and Departures South Australia 1627-1850, Gould Books, SA, 1990
[10] South Australian Deaths Registrations 1842 to 1915, SAGHS, 2000
[11] H J Finnis, Before the 'Buffalo', Pioneers Association of SA, 1964
[12] Family and local histories, [12i] internet, [12b] family bible, [12d] diary & family papers, [12o] family oral
[13] Miscellaneous Passenger Lists, South Australian Archives, GRG56/68/52 (fmly A1174)
[14] SA Literary Association minutes (correspondence), SA Archives, A31
[15] Schedule of Labourers Wage Advances, SA Archives, GRG48 (fmly A680)
[16] Early German Origins, SA Archives, RN 11
[17] A Lodewyckx, Die Deutschen in Australien, Stuttgart, 1932
[18] Celebration of the Jubilee Year of South Australia (1886) & other composite photographs, Old Colonists Association, 1887
[19] Miscellaneous Passenger Lists, SA Archives, GRG35/202/2 (fmly A608)
[20] South Australian Marriages Registrations 1842 to 1916, SAGHS, 2001
[21] Manifests of Vessels Arriving from Overseas 1838-42, SA Archives, GRG41/8 (fmly A743)
[22] Adelaide Hospital Admission Register, SA Archives, GRG78/49
[23] 1841 South Australia Census Returns, SA Archives, GRG24/13
[24] South Australian Government Gazette (weekly publication)
[25] Australian Dictionary of Biography, Melbourne, 2006
[26] Barry Leadbeater, South Australia Marriages 1836 to 1855, Adelaide, 2005-2010
[27] Royal South Australian Almanack for 1839, Adelaide
[28] Royal South Australian Almanack for 1840, Adelaide
[29] Return of sick and destitute emigrants receiving relief 1840, SA Archives, GRG24/1
[30] Official passenger lists mainly of immigrants arriving in South Australia under UK assisted passage 1845-86, SA Archives, GRG35/48A (fmly A313)
[31] Official lists of passengers arriving in South Australia from overseas 1888-1940, SA Archives, GRG41/34 (fmly A764)
[32] L J Ewens, The Little Ships of the Pioneer Years 1836-1845, Pioneers Association of SA, 1952
[33] Register of cases of destitution, SA Archives, GRG28/4
[34] Wilhelm Iwan, Because of their beliefs, David Schubert (Ed), Adelaide, 1995
[35] David Schubert, Kavel's People, Lutheran Publishing, Adelaide, 1985
[36] Maureen M Leadbeater, Nauralizations in South Australia 1839 to 1903, Adelaide, 2008-2010
[37] Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, Australia, 2007
[38] Index to Departures 1817-67, Archives Office of Tasmania
[39] Eric Kopittke, Emigrants from Hamburg to Australia 1850-77, Queensland Family History Society, 1991
[40] Destitute Asylum Admission Register, SA Archives, GRG28
[41] Barry Leadbeater, South Australia Births 1836 to 1854, Adelaide, 2010
[42] Colonial Tasmanian Family Links, Archives Office of Tasmania

Notes

1. The sources of passenger lists for this early period are extremely inconsistent - the variations which could not be resolved are included (separated by slashes), those in brackets considered less likely. A name in brackets with a question mark is a suggested possibility only, which needs further investigation by the user prior to acceptance or rejection. Please advise us of any errors or omissions, giving the sources of your information.
2. Only a few of the original passenger lists survive, so it has been necessary to use other sources. Even these original lists are only as accurate as the literacy of the recorder and passengers supplying their details allowed. The ships' manifests are even less accurate because they are transcriptions of the original lists onto the cargo manifests. Similarly, the newspaper listings are transcriptions, firstly by the reporter, finally by the compositor. The applications for a free passage suffer from the same problems as the original passenger lists. Then there is the difficulty of reading the old handwriting, which sometimes introduces further errors. Sources [1], [6] and [7] are quite unreliable, but have not been excluded because at times they are the only sources of the information. In addition, [7] and [8] often provide given names and maiden names not found elsewhere. For more information, see the article on the accuracy of family history sources.
3. Where feasible, all accompanying offspring including adults are given in each family, unless married. These are listed separately with their own families.
4. If the ship or passenger list you require is not in this database you may wish to search the SA shipping and immigration directory for another source.

Acknowledgments

Grateful thanks to those who entered and checked the early local shipping data. Thank you to the generous volunteer who has provided numerous additions and amendments over the years from various sources, especially arrival information from obituaries & biographies, and Tasmanian departures for SA. And thanks to all other contributors of new and revised data.

Ships arriving with passengers at Port Adelaide or elsewhere in SA

Click on any highlighted ship below to display its passenger list. Note that many of these ships returned to South Australia multiple times with passengers. Also note that in several cases there was more than one ship with the same name.
  1. Abberton; Abeona; Abercrombie; Aboukir; Adelaide; Africaine; Agenoria; Agincourt; Agnes & Elizabeth; Alcmena; Alexandrina; Alfred; Alice Brooks; HMS Alligator; Alma; Alpha; Amelia; Amity Hall; Angelina; Anna; Anna Maria; Anna Robertson; Ann Smith; Antares; Antilla; Apolline; Appleton; Arab; Arabian; Ariadne; Ariel; Ascendant; Asia; Asiatic; Athenian; Augusta; Auguste & Meline; Augustus; Australia;
  2. Baboo; Bandicoot; Bardaster; HMS Beagle; Benares; Bencoolen; Bengalee; Benjamin Elkin; Berenice; Bintang (Bing Tang Ting); Birman; Black Joke; Blanche; Bleng; Bolivar; Bolton; Bountiful; Branken Moor; Brazil Packet; Brechin Castle; Bride; Brightman; Britannia; British Sovereign; Britomart; Broadaxe; Brothers; Buckinghamshire; HMS Buffalo; Bussorah Merchant;
  3. Cacique; Calcutta; Caleb Angas; Caledonia; Calphurnia; Camoena; Candahar; Canton; Cape Horn; Captain Cook; Caroline; Catharina; Catherine Jamieson; Cecilia; Ceres; Challenger; Champion; Charles; Charles Kerr; Charlotte; Cheapside; Cheerful; Childe Harold; China; Christiana; Christina; City of Adelaide; City of London; City of Sydney; Cleveland; Clydeside; Comet; Commodore; Competitor; Condor; Constance; Coquette; Coromandel; Corsair; Countess of Durham; Countess of Yarborough; Courier; Cressy; Cromwell; Culdee; Cygnet;
  4. D'Auvergne; Daniel Wheeler; Daphne; Dart; Dauntless; David; David Malcolm; Davidsons; David Witton; Dawsons; Deborah; Defiance; Delhi; Derwent; Devon; Diadem; Dockenhuden; Domain; Dorothy; Dorset; Duchess of Clarence; Duchess of Northumberland; Duke of Bedford; Duke of Bronte; Duke of Richmond; Duke of Roxburghe; Duke of Sussex; Duke of Wellington; Duke of York; Dumfries; Duncan; Dusty Miller;
  5. Eagle; Eamont; Eden; Edina; Elgin; Eliza; Elizabeth; Elizabeth Buckham; Elizabeth Jane; Elizabeth Lloyd; Elizabeth Thompson; Eliza Frances; Elphinstone; Emerald Isle; Emily; Emma; Emma Eugenia; Emma Sherratt; Emmy; Empress; Emu; Enmore; Enterprise; Essex; Ettrick; Eudora; Exporter;
  6. Fairfield; Fairlie; Falco; Fama; Fanny; Fatima; Flibberty; Florentia; Forfarshire; Fortfield; Fortitude; Foster Fyans; Fox; Frances; Francis Spaight; Freak; Frederick Huth;
  7. Ganges; Garland Grove; Gazelle; Gellert; Gem; George Washington; Georgiana; Ghika; G H Wappus; Gipsy; Glenalvon; Glenarm; Glen Huntley; Glenswilly; Godeffroy; Goshawk; Governor Gawler; Grasbrook (Graasbroek); Gratitude; Grecian; Guiana; Guillarden; Gunga;
  8. Haidee; Halcyon; Hamilton; Harpley; Harry Lorrequer; Hartley; Harvest Home; Hawk; Heerjeebhoy Rustomjee Patel; Helena; Helen Thompson; Heloise; Henry; Henry Freeling; Henry Fulcher; Henry Hoyle; Henry Porcher; Herder; Hermann (Herrmann); Hermann von Beckerath; Hero; Hetty; Himalaya; Hind; Hindoo; Hooghly; Hope; Hydaspes;
  9. Imaum of Muscat; Inconstant; Indarra; India; Indian; Indus; Industry; Iona; Isabella; Isabella Hercus; Isabella Watson; Ituna;
  10. James Holmes; James Turcan; Jane; Jane & Emma; Jane Frances; Jane Geary; Java; Jean Henri; Jenny Jones; Jenny Lind; Johannah Catharina (Jeanna Catherina); John; John Bartlett; John Cooper; John Dunscombe; John Heyes; John Mitchell; John Munn; John Panter; John Pirie; John Renwick; John Woodhall; Joseph Albino; Joseph Cripps; Julia; Julia Percy; Julindur; Juno; Justina/Justitia; Justine;
  11. Kallibokka; Kate; Katherine Stewart Forbes; King Henry; Kingston;
  12. L'Heroine; La Belle Alliance; Lady Bruce; Lady Bute; Lady Clarke; Lady Emma; Lady Fitzherbert; Lady Leigh; Lady Lilford; Lady Mary Pelham; Lady MacNaghten (Lady McNaughton); Lady of the Lake; Lady Wellington; Lalla Rookh; Lapwing; Leontine; Lightning; Lively; Livonia; Lloyds; London; Lord Ashburton; Lord Glenelg; Lord Goderich; Lord Hobart; Lord Sidmouth; Lord Stanley; Louisa; Louisa Baillie; Louise; Lowestoft; Lulworth (Lullworth); Lydford; Lynher; Lysander;
  13. Madawaska; Macedon; Madras; Malcolm; Margaret; Marine Plant; Maria; Mariner; Marion; Martha; Martin Luther; Mary; Mary Ann; Mary Clarke; Mary Dugdale; Mary Mallaby; Mary Ridgway; Mary White; Marys; Mazeppa; Medway; Melrose; Mercury; Mercy; Merope; Midge; Midlothian; Minerva; Mississippi; Moffatt; Morley; Munford;
  14. Naiad; Navarino; Nelson; Nereus; Nestor; New Holland;
  15. Oak; Ocean (Wolga); Ocean Queen; Onyx; Opossum; Orator; Orbona; Orissa; Orleana;
  16. Pakenham; Palmyra; Parkfield; Parland; Parsee; Pauline; Paul Jones; Pedlar; Peri; Pero; Perseverance; Pestonjee Bomanjee; Peter Proctor; Phantom; Phoebe; Piscator; Planter; Platina; Poictiers; Porter; Posthumous; Premier; President Smidt; Pribislaw (Pribislav); Prince Albert; Prince George; Prince of Denmark; Prince Regent; Princess Louise; Princess Royal; Providence; Psyche; Punch;
  17. Queenstown;
  18. Rachel; Rajah; Rajasthan; Rambler; Ramillies; Rapid; Raven; Rebecca Jane; Recovery; Red Rover; Regia; Resolution; Resource; Richard & William; Richardsons; River Chief; Robert Henderson; Roman Emperor; Roon (diary of mid 1912 voyage); Rosanna (Rose Anna); Rosetta; Royal Admiral; Royal Archer; Royal George; Royal Mail; Royal Sovereign; Royal William;
  19. St Helena; Sally Ann; Samuel Baker; Samuel Boddington; San Francisco; Sans Pareille; Sanspareil; Santipore; Sarah; Sarah & Elizabeth; Sarah Bell; Sarepta; Schah; Scotia; Scout; Sea Queen; Senator; Seppings; Shamrock; Siam; Sibella; Simlah (Simlar); Singapore; Sir Charles Forbes; Sir Charles McCarthy; Sir Edward Parry; Sir John Byng; Siren; Sister; Sisters; Skerne; Skjold (Skiold); Socrates; Solway; Somersetshire; Sophia; Sophie; South Australian; Souvenir; Sovereign; Spartan; Spray; Stag; Statesman; Stebonheath; Steinwaerder (Steinwarder); Stratheden; Strathisla; Success; Sultana; Superb; Surry (Surrey); Susannah; Susanne; Swan; Symmetry;
  20. Taglioni; Tamar; Tam O'Shanter; Teazer (Teaser); Telegraph; Templar; Tenasserim; Terror; Theresa; Thirteen; Thistle; Thomas Chodwick (Chadwick); Thomas Fielden; Thomas Harrison; Thomas Lowry; Thomson; Tigress; Timbo; Titania; Tomatin; Trafalgar; Troubadour; Truelove; Truganini; Trusty; Tyrone;
  21. Undaunted; Union;
  22. Vanguard; Velocity; Venus; HMS Victor; Victoria; Ville de Bordeaux; Vixen; Vulcan;
  23. Wanderer; Warlock; Warratah (Waratah); Warrior; Waterwitch (Water Witch); Waterloo; Wave; Welcome; Westminster; Wilhelmina Maria; William; William Barrass; William Fulcher; William Hutt; William Hyde; William Mitchell; William Money; William Nichol; William Parker; William Watson; William Wilson; William Wise; Will Watch; Winchester; Woden; Woodbridge; Wuzeer;
  24. [none]
  25. Yare;
  26. Zealous; Zebra.

Early South Australian Births [searchable database including some births at sea]
Colonial South Australian Pioneers [combined database of passenger arrivals, births, marriages & burials]
Persons lost & found [searchable database including ships' deserters]
Whaling in South Australia's early days [article including list of names of whalers]