Early Australia, Free Settlers and Convicts

A Chronology of Early Migration to Australia (1788 – 1850 and beyond)

For research purposes, it’s helpful to have an awareness of key dates and geography with regard to different types of migration, as well as remembering that Aboriginal people were already here and also that new Australians were being born from 1788!

Also, remember that our library holds many books covering various aspects of Australian History, most of which is not available on-line. 

Please refer to the individual states’ tabs for further information

Convicts

1788 to 1868 – 162,000 convicts were transported from Britain and Ireland to Australia, in an effort to relieve overcrowding in prisons and hulks. This followed the discontinuation of transportation to the United States, at the commencement of the American Revolution in 1775.

Transportation by territory:

NSW (Botany Bay/Port Jackson): 1788 – 1850; includes secondary settlements at Newcastle (from 1804) and Port Macquarie (from 1821 – 1830)

Norfolk Island (Convicts were transported from Sydney): First Penal Settlement: 1788 – 1805 Second Penal Settlement: 1825-1855

Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land): 1803 – 1853

Victoria (Port Philip District, part of NSW until 1851): 1803 – 1849

Queensland (Moreton Bay, part of NSW until 1859): 1824 – 1839

Western Australia – Convicts sent from NSW to Albany 1826 - 1831 Direct transportation from Britain to Fremantle:1850-1868

Researching Convict History

The Digital Panopticon is an extensive project undertaken by a number of universities in the UK and Tasmania, to bring together records from many databases, relating to 90,000 convicts processed through the Old Bailey in London from 1780 to 1925. You can find records (including photos, where available) related to:

• Trial & Sentencing

• English Imprisonment

• Transportation

• Individual Colonies (NSW, Van Diemens Land, WA)

• Convict Tattoos (58,000 convicts had them!)

There is also an array of information about the historical background of the system, policing and the lives of specific convicts.

The Digital Panopticon 

Founders and Survivors was an Australian Research Council (ARC) project which contains records relating to convicts who were brought to Van Diemens Land. The home page emphasizes that it's a research database and not very user friendly, but you still may find helpful information there.

Founders and Survivors | Australian life courses in historical context 1803-1920 

Military

From the First Fleet in 1788 onwards, there was a military presence (Imperial Forces) at various locations in the colonies, sometimes including wives and children. Amongst these units were Royal Navy Marines, New South Wales Corps, Royal Marines and British Infantry Regiments (including the Royal Irish Regiment). Some personnel remained in Australia as free settlers after completing their service.

The State Library of Victoria has a comprehensive overview and research guide, covering the period from 1788 to 1870.   https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/colonialforces/imperialforces

Free Settlers – Assisted and Unassisted

The population of free settlers and merchants steadily grew following the first arrivals in 1793.

Assisted Immigration

From 1832 to 1850, over 150,000 assisted immigrants arrived from Britain and Ireland under various schemes, where their passages were subsidised or paid for by Governments or colonists. A further 230,000 arrived in the 1850s.

Assisted arrivals to NSW 1828-42 can be found on the Familysearch website:

Australia, New South Wales, Index to Bounty Immigrants, 1828-1842 (familysearch.org)

Museums of History NSW holds the following searchable indexes (by Surname, First Name and Place of Arrival):

Port Philip 1839-1851

Moreton Bay 1848-1859

Sydney & Newcastle 1844-1896

The above index will show the name of the ship, which you can then use to search for and see original passenger lists:

Digitised shipping lists 1828-1896 (mhnsw.au)

In 1847 the scheme was widened to include European immigrants

Unassisted Immigrants

Unassisted immigrants paid their own way to Australia and arrived from the very early days. They tend not to be as well documented as assisted immigrants, especially if they travelled in steerage. Saloon (1st and possibly 2nd class) passengers were often mentioned in news items regarding the voyage and arrival of ships. Searching Trove - Newspapers & Gazettes Home - Trove  by ship's name, covering up to 3-4 weeks following arrival, can sometimes reveal interesting stories. It was not unusual for a "spokesperson" for the passengers to post an advertisement thanking the captain, surgeon and crew for their safe passage, accompanied by a account of the voyage.  

There are records available, but they vary from state to state in terms of the years covered and whether they are available as indexes only and whether or not they are online. The FamilySearch emigration Wiki contains a number of helpful links.

Australia Emigration and Immigration • FamilySearch 

Tip: if you are confident that your forebear arrived on a particular ship but can't find a record of their name, see if there is a departure list amongst UK records.

Bounty Women – 1832 to 1837; 3,000 women and girls were brought from England and Ireland to Sydney, Hobart and Launceston. Historian Liz Rushen, has undertaken detailed research in this area, compiling the database below:

Historian | Liz Rushen | Melbourne, Australia

Irish Famine Orphans (Earl Grey Scheme) – between 1848 and 1850, over 4,000 single women and girls from Irish workhouses were brought to Sydney, Adelaide and Port Philip (Melbourne). The Irish Famine Memorial in Sydney has a searchable database:

Home - Irish Famine Memorial

Child Emigration

Various schemes to Australia, South Africa, Mauritius and Canada operated from 1832, when The Children's Friend Society sent its first group of children to the Swan River colony (Western Australia), in an effort to suppress juvenile vagrancy. Founded by Captain Edward Pelham Brenton in 1830, his 1837 book "The Bible and Spade" expands on the work of the scheme. In 1849 the Ragged School Movement sent 150 children to NSW. Child emigration continued under various guises until well into the 20th century.

Liverpool Archives Sheet 10 describes various schemes: Child Emigration | National Museums Liverpool 

Afghan Cameleers

Cameleers, or camel handlers, were first brought to South Australia in 1838, as camels were better suited than horses for exploration, settlement and transportation in the arid inland.  “Afghan” or “Ghan” was a collective name, as the cameleers, the majority of whom were Muslim (with some Sikhs), came from various ethnic groups in Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Turkey.

From 1838 onwards, small numbers of cameleers (and camels) were brought to Australia, with around 3,000 cameleers coming in the 1860s.

Most cameleers came on three year contracts, leaving wives and families behind. Some men remained in Australia and married local Aboriginal and white women. Cameleers built Australia’s first mosque at Marree, South Australia in 1861.

For more background Wikipedia is a good start. Afghan Cameleers in Australia - Wikipedia

Gold Rushes

When the California gold rush started in 1848, many fortune hunters left Australia, only for many to return when discoveries were made in NSW and Victoria in 1851 and beyond. The colonies’ populations grew rapidly, with immigrants still mainly from Britain and Ireland, but also from China (mostly from Guangdong Province), New Zealand, North America, Germany, Italy and Poland.

During this period there was also a lot of movement from other colonies to Victoria and NSW and then within those states, as sites were exhausted and new sites opened up.

The Victorian gold rush ran from 1851 until the late 1860s. In the 10 years from 1851, the state’s population increased from 76,000 to 540,000. The population of NSW increased to a lesser extent, from 200,000 to 357,000 over the same 10 year period. There were also gold discoveries in Queensland and Western Australia during later years.

Notwithstanding the large amounts of gold extracted, gold mining in itself was not necessarily lucrative for most and miners endured dangerous workplaces and crude, unsanitary living conditions. Some were wise enough to recognise that they would be better off servicing and exploiting miners, rather than being one themselves.

The eGold Encyclopedia, produced by the University of Melbourne Cultural Heritage Unit expands on numerous aspects of the Gold Rush period. 

Electronic Encyclopedia of Gold in Australia

Indentured Labourers

There are known to have been 18 Chinese settlers in Australia before 1848, the earliest being in 1818, a free settler named Mak Sai Yang, who bought land in Parramatta (Source: National Museum Australia). 

The first group of indentured Chinese labourers (100 men and 20 boys) arrived from Amoy (Xiamen) on the Nimrod in October 1848, to augment the diminishing supply of convict labour.

Jewish Immigration

Jewish people have come to Australia since the First Fleet in 1788, where there were 8 Jewish convicts, with ultimately over 1,000 Jewish convicts being transported. Jewish free settlers arrived from 1820 onwards, with the Jewish population estimated to be 15,000 in 1901. Prior to 1901, migrants were predominantly from Great Britain, whereas during the early 20th century, more Jewish people came from Russia, Poland and Germany, as antisemitism increased.

Malcolm J Turnbull’s research guide, held at the National Archives, provides a great deal of background and reference information relating the history of Jews in Australia. It covers topics such as: Immigration settlement, enemy aliens, aspects of Jewish life in Australia and armed services. Safe Haven: Records of the Jewish Experience in Australia | naa.gov.au

Sites offering research resources include:

The Australian Jewish Historical Society offers links to various search resources, including some of the usual ones (Ancestry, Family Search etc.), but also has additional country specific information and help. Genealogy@AJHS – The Australian Jewish Historical Society

To research your forebears’ Jewish roots outside Australia, JewishGen provides the most comprehensive information.

JewishGen - The Home of Jewish Genealogy

Subscription is required – this is free, unless you want access to “premium” content.

It’s worthwhile checking back on the site periodically, as more records are regularly being added (many of those in Eastern Europe need to be translated from Cyrillic script, before being translated to English).

You can add your name and research details to JG Family Finder, to potentially connect with others having similar research interests.

It’s also possible to have headstones, letters etc. translated from Hebrew to English by enthusiastic volunteers via Facebook or ViewMate on the JewishGen site.