This online database is the place to begin researching ancestors coming to South Australia.

Passengers in History brings together two wonderful resources:

• A passengers database developed by the South Australian Maritime Museum
• A list of ships’ logs and diaries, titled Log of Logs

The passenger database was produced by volunteers at the South Australian Maritime Museum, especially Rob Lincoln, over 20 years. The database lists 328,000 passengers who came to South Australia between 1836 and 1964 along with 600 pages listing passenger diaries, letters and ship logs and where to find them.

Ian Nicholson produced three volumes of the Log of Logs between 1988 and 1998. His database lists logs, letters and diaries of voyages to Australia. Most he researched himself but many were crowd-sourced from volunteers corresponding with him by mail, complete with stamps and envelopes. A number of volunteers have helped digitise the Log of Logs, but particular thanks go to Lesley Dunstan for her persistent dedication to this task.

Passengers in History provides details of ships, ports and fellow passengers and connects to the National Library’s Trove website to draw newspaper articles related to ships. The site will grow as people add their own information and photographs of their immigrant ancestors.

You can visit the website and search the database here.