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ASSISTED IMMIGRATION
Assisted arrivals to Victoria commenced in 1839 whilst Victoria was still a part of the colony of New South Wales. The immigrant’s fare was paid, in part or completely, by the colonial government, funded by land sales in Victoria.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE OF VICTORIA
The Public Record Office of Victoria provide a guide on Ships and Shipping on its website.
USING THE PROV MICROFICHE IN THE LIBRARY
To use this material you should first locate the relevant passenger on either the Index to Assisted British Immigration 1839-1871 on the Public Record Office of Victoria website or on Ancestry.com.
Each entry for a passenger in the Index will give a book and page number. With this information just look for label on the microfiche with the correct Book and Page numbers, eg: 'Bk 4 Pg 46-93', as this will contain a copy of the relevant page on the original ship's passenger list.
These passenger lists may include each persons' name, age, occupation and place of birth.
NB: Some individuals may have multiple entries on the Index for the same ship. This generally indicates that there is more than one list of passengers for the ship.
![[Port Phillip Heads, Victoria]](https://www.nla.gov.au/sites/default/files/blogs/port_phillip_heads_victoria2.jpg)
This page lists Victorian-related online, networked and microform resources as well as print publications available for use within the National Library of Australia.
The Port Phillip District officially separated from New South Wales to become the colony of Victoria on 1 July 1851.
In 1852 the new Legislative Council of Victoria passed into law the following Acts relating to passengers and immigration into Victoria:
Laws relating to the carriage of passengers by sea (15 & 16 Vic., No. XLIV [1852] ss. XIII and XIV),
The Act to Regulate the Conveyance of Passengers to the Colony of Victoria 1852 (16 Vic., No. XVII)
These laws include a description of the official schedules (forms) upon which the masters of ships were to record the names of passengers and which were to be delivered to the Office of Customs. It is these generally these forms which have been transcribed, indexed, microfilmed and/or digitized and made accessible.
To access Ancestry (Library Edition), visit the eResources portal, click the Browse eResources tab and search for 'Ancestry'. Ancestry currently provides the following Victoria-related immigration and travel resources via its online database:
To access Findmypast, visit the eResources portal, click the Browse eResources tab and search for 'Findmypast'. Currently, Findmypast has the following Victoria-related travel and migration records available:
Currently, the Public Record Office of Victoria has the following freely accessible indexes available online:
In addition to the Library's subscription databases, the following shipping and passenger-related CD-ROM resources are available for access within the Library:
For more information about these resources, visit the eResources portal, click the Browse eResources tab and search for the name of the resource.
The following microfilmed products and published works are available on open access in the Newspapers and Family History zone:
In addition to those indexes and digitised records available online via Ancestry or the PROV website, the Library has the following PROV "Immigration to Victoria" series of records on microfiche:
| Title | Call number |
|---|---|
| Registers of Assisted Immigrants 1839-1871 134 microfiche |
mc N 761 |
Immigration to Victoria
NB: If the letter “F” appears in the 'Port' column of the relevant online indexes, then the above passenger lists should be consulted. |
mc N 1135 |
Immigration to Victoria : index to inward passenger lists British ports 1852-1923
If the letter “B” appears in the 'Port' column of the relevant online indexes, then the above passenger lists should be consulted. |
mc N 1655 |
|
Immigration to Victoria : inward passenger lists, New Zealand ports 1852-1923 If the letter “N” appears in the 'Port' column of the relevant online indexes, then the above passenger lists should be consulted. |
mc N 2256 |
| Title | Call number |
|---|---|
| Coastal Passengers to Port Phillip 1839-1845 7 microfiche |
mc N 1351 |
| Victorian Deserters from Ships Index 1853-1880 This index was compiled from the weekly Victorian Police Gazettes; the information was listed under the headings of “Deserters from Merchant Vessels” and “Deserters from H.M. Service” 1 microfiche |
mc N 1560 |
| Victorian Sponsored Immigration Index 1856-1858 2 microfiche |
mc N 1408 |
| Title | Call number |
|---|---|
| Port Phillip Herald Passenger Index 1840-1846 2 microfiche |
mc N 1390 |
| Argus Passenger Index 1846-1851 3 microfiche |
mc N 1391 |
| Argus Passenger Index 1852-1855 6 microfiche |
mc N 1126 |
| Argus Passenger Index 1856-1860 5 microfiche |
mc N 1139 |
| Argus Passenger Index 1861-1865 6 microfiche |
mc N 1392 |
| Title | Call number |
|---|---|
| Port Phillip Herald Shipping Movements Index 1840-1846 2 microfiche |
mc N 1390 |
| Argus Shipping Movements Index 1846-1851 (supplement to Argus passenger index) 2 microfiche |
mc N 1392 |
|
Argus Shipping Movements 1852-1855 |
mc N 1127 |
| Argus Shipping Movements Index 1856-1860 (supplement to Argus passenger index) 2 microfiche |
mc N 1140 |
| Argus Shipping Movements Index 1861-1865 (supplement to Argus passenger index) 6 microfiche |
mc N 1392 |
The White Star Journal : published weekly on board the clipper ship, White Star, during a passage from Liverpool, England, to Melbourne, Australia, with 600 emigrants, in the year 1855 Marine Historical Association Mystic, Conn 1951
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
The State Library of Victoria provides the following relevant research guides on it's website:
