Immigration records

Research Guide to Immigration records at Queensland State Archives.

This guide explains the main series of records about assisted immigration and nominated immigrants held at Queensland State Archives. There are also links to the QSA online databases.

In the early years, the information is fairly limited and may be confined to the name of the immigrant, the date of arrival and the name of the ship. When immigrants disembarked in another Colony and travelled overland or by coastal ship to Queensland there is generally no record of their arrival. In this case a record may survive in the archival agency of the relevant State.

Further, archival records of immigrant arrivals in Queensland may be incomplete for two reasons: not all passenger manifests and Immigration depot remittance records survived to the present day; and usually only those people classified as migrants under the terms of the Immigration Acts 1864–1887 were officially recorded. Persons coming under the provisions of the Immigration Acts included those receiving land orders, assisted passengers and free passengers.

In later years, particularly in the twentieth century, more comprehensive information is given about sponsored and nominated immigrants. This may include the full name of the immigrant, country of origin, marital status, occupation, whether the immigrant could read or write, religion and nationality, as well as the name of the ship, the date and port of embarkation, and the date and place of arrival in Queensland.