Where will I find the passenger list for someone who emigrated to Australia?
The basic rule of thumb is that, for the period prior to 1890, expect the passenger list to have gone with the passenger and end up in the port of arrival. This means that you should not expect to find a passenger list for an outgoing ship in Scotland and you should instead check sources in the Australia first.
Emigrants to Australia were categorized according to the method by which their passages were paid and the arrangement of surviving records reflects this categorization:
- Free (passage paid by government)
- Assisted (fare partly paid by authorities)
- Unassisted (passage paid by passenger)
- Bounty (fee paid by agent, who received a bounty from the government)
- Nominated/remitted (friends/relatives in Australia paid for passage)
Passenger lists for ships arriving in Australia are held by the various state record offices [all links accessed 26 April 2024]:
State Records of New South Wales
Public Record Office of Victoria
State Records of Western Australia https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/state-records-office-of-western-australia
State Records of South Australia
Passenger lists after 1924 are held by the National Archives of Australia https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/immigration-and-citizenship/passenger-arrival-records
The National Archives in London holds passenger lists for vessels leaving the UK between 1890 and 1960 (among the records of the Board of Trade). For further details consult the Discovery website. <https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/>
If your ancestor emigrated from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to Australia as an assisted passenger between 1852 and 1857, there is a chance that there may be details of the emigrant’s origins in the records of the Highland and Island Emigration Society. These are held by the National Records of Scotland among the records of the Highland Destitution Boards (HD4/5) and can be viewed on the ScotlandsPeople website <www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk>
Where will I find the passenger list of someone who emigrated to New Zealand?
Answer: The basic rule of thumb is that, for the period prior to 1890, expect the passenger list to have gone with the passenger and end up in the port of arrival. This means that you should not expect to find a passenger list for an outgoing ship in Scotland and you ought to check sources in the New Zealand first.
Surviving passenger lists of ships arriving in New Zealand are held by the National Archives of New Zealand.
The UK National Archives in London holds passenger lists for vessels leaving the UK between 1890 and 1960 (among the records of the Board of Trade For further details consult the Discovery website. <https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/> [all links accessed 26 April 2026].