How do you find somone emigrating to Australia

[KA]

I have an ancestor who took himself off to Australia between 1819 and 1923.

All I have is his name, date of birth, rough dates of travel (as above) and the fact that he landed in NSW.

I also have his marriage registration transcription for 4 April 1923 in NSW giving residence as Balmain, Sydney, NSW.

Does anybody have any idea how I could begin to trace exactly when he went out there, on what ship, and where he landed?

Regards

KA

[trish251]

Hi KA

If you post on the immigrants to Oz board you would probably get more replies - meanwhile if you have his marriage details from NSW, then He probably died in that state as well.  If you know his date of birth, you must be able to limit the date of travel somewhat (or is that a typo & the travel was 1919-1923?)

If you can get a copy of his death certificate, this should give you the length of time he spent in Australia and in which states, thus giving a closer date of travel and the port of arrival. There are a number of online and offline search places for immigrants / both assisted and unassisted and for BDM data.

This one is the most comprehensive for shipping
http://proarchives.imagineering.com.au/index_search.asp?searchid=23
and covers arrivals to all the eastern states - although most information is for Victoria.
From about 1923, the national archives have immigrant details (prior to this time each state kept separate details)
www.naa.gov.au

You may like to look at the immigrants to Australia board - there are many links there.

Trish

[KA]

Hi Trish,

Thanks for trying to help.  I did post a notice on the Aus Board.  Took me a bit of time to find it was there. But since finding it I have worked my way through all options available.

The problem I have is due to Aus's confidentiality of BMD's I can't find any information on his death on-line.  He only died in the early 1960's - so I can't get at him that way.

I've checked the unassisted passage web site, and he's not on that.  He married (1st time) in early 1923, so he must have been in Aus by then.  And I know he didn't leave UK until the end of WW1. So I have got this approx five year span for his travel - and the only info I can find is the unassisted passage details - of which he apparently wasn't one.

I am wondering if he could have worked his passage.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks

KA

[trish251]

Hi KA

Sorry, I must have missed the posting on the immigrants board. Did you try a search on the Oz archives - if you would like to post a name I will look for you.

Indexes / online indexes are rather sparse for some areas. The NSW archives are at
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/  but they only have online immigrant records to 1896.

Sorry you have come across the joys of Aust privacy rules re BDM records. I just love this comment
Restricted records are normally only available to the person named on the certificate and identification is always required.
Tricky when it is a death certificate. You would be able to access the death certificate as it is more than 30 years old. If you can pinpoint the year, however, this would probably make it somewhat cheaper. The details are  at
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/familyHistory.htm

If you wish to purchase a Family History Certificate for a death that occurred between 1946 and 1974, or a marriage that occurred between 1946 and 1954, you must complete a Family History Application Form and mail or fax this to the Registry. You cannot apply for certificates from these years online.

A couple of options for finding the death information would be
newspapers (Sydney Morning Herald) the most likely but online index only starts from 1974 - although they are going backwards, I notice 1973 has started & 1 date from 1946 is online. Microfilm of the newspapers is available in most Australia capital city libraries - it could be worth checking if your LDS Family centre has access to these films - although knowing the year would be a big help.
Cemetery/Crematorium records may be a possiblity as well. I don't know much about Sydney details online - could be worth a google. This is a good site
http://www.ozgenonline.com/aust_cemeteries/
The Australian white pages are online - perhaps you could find a descendant - although if the name is very common - you could find thousands.

A site that was mentioned recently is http://www.raogk.org/listing.htm
I think it contains lookups related to the NSW Archives. Could be worth an email. I recently contacted a person via this site who is taking some Cemetery pictures for me today.

The simplist option may be to get the NSW death certificate via snail mail. At the minute I think the oz $ is worth about 40p, so you could work out what it would cost for the search/certificate. If the informant was a close relative you should get lots of information including age, wife, children, marriage date, time in australia (and which states) and of course cause of death - I think funeral details may be on there as well.

Trish

[FindingAncestors]

I have an ancestor who took himself off to Australia between 1819 and 1923.

All I have is his name, date of birth, rough dates of travel (as above) and the fact that he landed in NSW.

I also have his marriage registration transcription for 4 April 1923 in NSW giving residence as Balmain, Sydney, NSW.

Does anybody have any idea how I could begin to trace exactly when he went out there, on what ship, and where he landed?

Regards

KA

               Hi, I have a similar problem, grandfather, married 1906, left England sometime between 1906 & 1912, had 4 children with my grandmother, married her in Sydney 1927(must have been waiting for first wife to die or divorce him, still don't know which it was), then died in Ashfield Sydney 1961. Don't know how or when he got here, some family rumour has it he was in Merchant Marines, but can't find anything that way. Still haven't sent for his death cert as mentioned by another poster; for deaths during the 1960's we have to send all kinds of proof of ID, so much bother to have to photocopy all that stuff, and then the cost. I have paid less to send to England for certs! Anyway, just noticed the similarities . Good Luck with your search, hope you find what you are looking for. Cheers! FindingAncestors

[Reggie]

I have an ancestor who took himself off to Australia between 1819 and 1923.

All I have is his name, date of birth, rough dates of travel (as above) and the fact that he landed in NSW.

I also have his marriage registration transcription for 4 April 1923 in NSW giving residence as Balmain, Sydney, NSW.

Does anybody have any idea how I could begin to trace exactly when he went out there, on what ship, and where he landed?

Regards

KA

This site offers transcripts of Certificates at a lower price and, you can order through the internet.

http://www.marbract.com.au/

Make sure you order a FULL transcript.

Reg

[trish251]

Hi Reggie

The transcription agents are really good, but they can only provide transcriptions for the records included on the online indexes - i.e. marriages and deaths up to 1945. Sadly the only way to get a later death certificate is through the registry.

Trish

[KA]

Thanks for that everyone.  I appreciate your trouble.

Trish, you said you could do a quick search on Oz archives if you had a name.

Francis Alfred Carlyon. b. London 1884.

In the meanwhile I'm going to have a go at all the web sites suggested.  I refuse to be defeated.  But I think that red tape may just tie me up in knots this time.

Kind regards

Kim

[trish251]

Hi Kim

I searched the oz archives and didn't find your Francis, but did find
CARLYON FRANCIS NORMAN : Service Number - VX145813 : Date of birth - 25 Feb 1925 : Place of birth - RESERVOIR VIC : Place of enlistment - BATHURST NSW : Next of Kin - CARLYON W
(WWII service record - nothing for immigrants with that name pre 1960.)
If you wanted to check the details of this entry - you can apply via email to have it reviewed and the digital image put online (no charge). If you find the record (via record search) and follow it through you should find the details. (takes 4-8weeks for it all to happen). www.naa.gov.au

I thought this may be a child of your couple - but the next of Kin Carlyon W doesn't seem to fit with the name of his wife.

The timing of the arrival seems to be right on the changeover from state to federal records which doesn't help your search.

To purchase your death certificate (c. 1960) you do not need to provide ID etc (It is unrestricted) - so the red tape may not be too bad. This is where you can get the form
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/HTML%20forms/dth_app.html

Trish