Victorian immigration and emigration

The following resources are available in Library's Newspapers & Family History Reading Rooms. Please note: In some cases, crew members (particularly captains) are recorded on early ships' passenger lists. Search the indexes listed in the assisted and unassisted migrants tabs to see if the name of the crew member is included.

• Coastal passengers to Port Phillip, 1839
   
• Register of inward shipping (overseas & inter colonial ports, 1846-1852) VPRS 8794
  Arrivals at the Port of Melbourne. Includes passengers & captains from British, foreign & intercolonial ports (Index at VPRS 8795)
   
• Shipping arrivals and departures, Victorian ports: Volumes 1, 2 & 3 (1798 -1860)
  Includes captain's name indexes
   
• Ships engineers (colonial trade) Victoria
  Registers of certificates of competency 1870-1920
   
• Ships masters & mates (colonial trade) Victoria 
  Registers of certificates of competency 1870-1921
   
• An index to marine certificates of competency; issued by the Victorian Steam Navigation & Marine Board
   
• Deserters - Victorian deserters from ships index 
  This index was compiled from the weekly Victorian Police gazette. The information was listed under the headings of ‘Deserters from merchant vessels’ and ‘Deserters from H.M. Service’.
   
• Registers of deserters and discharged ships' crew (1852-1925)
  Available onsite via Ancestry Library Edition
   
• CLIP - the Crew List Index Project (UK) 
   

The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) holds many records that can be used for researching crew members. Please see the PROV guide to Ships' crew for more information.

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