Library Forum

Can anyone help with information on travel routes for emigrants from Clare to Australia in 1800's and any source of ship passenger lists please?

Mary

Hi Mary - those who were transported between 1830s and 1853 (most to NSW then Tasmania) can be found via the state records offices - eg http://linctas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/cl ... _AU/names/ AND
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-arc ... xes-online

Those who were "free" settlers mainly came as "assisted passengers". For NSW check the above link (go to Immigration), for Victoria go to http://prov.vic.gov.au/ (a very sluggish site - just be patient); for South Aus http://guides.slsa.sa.gov.au/archivessearch.

Following the worst of the famine and the "land enclosures", many from Clare went to the gold fields of Victoria (Ballarat and Bendigo) and also to Clare in South Aus, where one of the ex-Clare land agents (Bagot, I think) had set up a mine and was employing people from Clare.

From my own searches I have found that 1 or 2 members of a family (usually aged late teens and early 20s) found assisted passage, worked off their "contract" established themselves in other jobs, then sponsored other family members. Searching ship records by ship (rather than family name) often shows other related family members on the same ship.

There are huge variations in spelling of names (as you would know many of the immigrants spoke Irish and were illiterate, so officials recording their details often made the best guess for spelling names). This is so for subsequent marriages and births to those families.

Good luck

Hi Mary

This recent donation to the Clare Library Website gives a lot of information about assisted immigration as well as convicts

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... grants.pdf

Lucille

Thanks for that.

I should have posted that I am looking for more detailed passenger lists similar to those kept for the U.S. Ports at that time which very often recorded the name of the next of kin etc

I have searched the websites you suggested but without extra information I cannot pinpoint the correct record.

I found a Funeral Notice in trove.nla.gov.au from which I estimated the date of arrival. It stated that John Garvey lived in Victoria from 1886 - 1893, Queensland from 1893-1896 and settled in Perth in 1896.

The closest match I can find is John Garvey from Co Clare arriving in Brisbane in 1886.

My ancestor John Garvey was from Ballyduff, Co Clare. His brother Patrick also emigrated around the same time.

Were all passenger lists kept at the Port of Arrival?

There's a John Garvey age 30 arriving in Victoria in 1885 at http://prov.vic.gov.au/index_search?searchid=23. The same record is on Ancestry which also shows the original record, which unfortunately has no information except his name and age. That is my experience of both Australian and US records - very little information is given until you're into the 20th century.

Lucille

Thanks for looking up that record Lucille.

The John Garvey I was looking for was born in 1863 and his brother Patrick was born in 1865. So they would have been 22 and 23 respectively in 1885.

I don't think I will ever be certain of the correct record with so little information recorded on the lists at that time.

Thanks for the suggestions
Mary

Correction!
They would have been 22 and 20 respectively

Hi Mary
It would appear on the face of it that Lucille's suggestion of John Garvey age 30 arriving in Victoria in 1885 may be your best lead. I would not place too much emphasis on the apparent age discrepancy - there are any number of reasons to explain such differences. The PROV index record referred to has a Fiche and page number of the microfiched images of the original shipping manifest. This may (or again may not) have additional information. In my experience most of these manifests at least have a "native place and calling" column.
A copy of the microfiche record may be ordered from PROV. Check the FAQ section on their website to find out how to do this.
Good luck
Murf

Hi Murf,

I had a look at that microfiche record for John Garvey. His occupation is recorded as clerk which I think is unlikely but you never know. He was a railway worker in Australia.

Thanks for all the advice and also for the link to Trove in another post. Using Trove I found at least ten more ancestors in Australia that I was unaware of until a few weeks ago!!!! I am still searching this fantastic resource.

Regards,
Mary