We can help you locate resources and information on your ancestors arrival at Fremantle. These resources may assist you to confirm arrival dates, ship name or to look at and/or print copies of passenger lists.

Steps:

• Ascertain the year your ancestor/s arrived or the name of the ship they arrived on.
  
  
• Browse the resource list below to ascertain the best resource to use.

Notes:

1. Please be aware that not everyone who arrived at Fremantle appeared on passenger lists. Many do not include steerage passengers, Pensioner Guards or military personnel.
   
   
2. Passenger lists, especially from 1898 , often do not provide the full name of the passenger. In some cases only the surname is given, in others initials and surname and, in the rest, full christian name(s) and surname. If you do not know the date of arrival or the name of the ship, it is sometimes impossible to differentiate between same surnames.

Resources to use:

• 1829
  Did your ancestors arrive in this year and on the ships “Atwick”, “Calista”, “Caroline” “Cumberland”, “Gilmore”, “Governor Phillip”, “Lotus”, “Marquis of Anglesea,” “Orelia”, “Parmelia” “Saint Leonard” “Sulphur”, “Thompson” or “Ephemina”? Links are available to these passenger lists via the State Library Catalogue.
  
  
• 1829-1890 “Arrivals Index” (Fremantle) [m/fiche]
  Available in the microfiche area on the 3rd floor, provides name of passenger, date of arrival and name of ship.
  
  
• 1839-1890 “Passenger arrivals in Western Australia” [CD ROM]
  Available on the 1st & 3rd floor.
  
  
• 1885-1908 “Arrivals Index” (Fremantle) [m/fiche]
  Inward from the Eastern States. Only some passenger lists in this period have been indexed. Available on the 3rd floor.
  
  
• 1873-1925 “Arrivals Index” (Albany) [m/fiche]
  Shows only passengers from overseas. Available on the 3rd floor.
  
  
• 1873-1899 “Arrivals Index (Albany) [m/fiche]
  Inward from Eastern States. Only some passenger lists in this period have been indexed, mostly in late 1898. Available on the 3rd floor.
  
  
• 1898-1925 “Passenger arrivals in Western Australia” [CD ROM] This is an incomplete index of the microfilm reels listed below, but a good place to start. If you cannot locate ancestors here, browse the microfilms. Available 1st & 3rd floor.
  
  
• 1898-1963 Inward Passenger Manifests for ships and aircraft arriving at Fremantle and Perth Airport [m/film]
  Available 3rd floor microfilm room.
  
  
• 1898-1964 Chronological and alphabetical indexes to ship arrivals
  Lever arch files, behind the main enquiry desk on the 3rd floor.
  
  
• 1926-1947 Passenger arrivals
  Some arrivals have been indexed on the National Archives website - use the “passenger search” facility. There is a link available to the National Archives from every terminal in the State Library via the Family History Information Gateway.
  
  
• Post 1948
  Some arrivals/immigration details have been indexed on the National Archives. Use the “RecordSearch” facility. If you don't get a search result on your name, it doesn't mean there are no records on that person. Some record descriptions are still being added to RecordSearch. Contact National Archives to get help.

Other Sources
Check the following on the 3rd floor of the State Library to see when someone was in Western Australia:

• Indexes to births, deaths and marriages
• Cemetery indexes
• Indexes to wills and letters of administration
• Church baptismal, marriage and burial registers
• Biographical indexes
• Electoral Rolls (1904 to date)
• Post Office Directories
• Telephone directories (1917-1919 & 1923 to date)
• Police Gazettes (limited access to earlier editions only)
• Blue Books (1834-1905)
• Public Service Lists (1909-1987 & 1990).

There are many resources on the 1st floor that will aid you if your ancestors first arrived in other parts of Australia.

Don’t forget to check resources at the State Records Office (passenger lists to 1915 only) and the National Archives (original passenger lists 1898-1978).