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Searching passenger lists
On this page you’ll find ways to search passenger lists online, or search for physical copies of passenger lists in our reading rooms using Collections search.
Content warning
Archives can contain sensitive content that may be distressing. Some items may depict or describe injuries, disease and deaths. Take care when accessing them.
Know before you start
Passenger lists record arrivals into New Zealand ports from 1838 to 1973. Not all passenger lists were collected before 1910, so earlier records may have gaps and inconsistencies. Passenger lists were not always intended to serve as immigration records, but to record the monies received by the shipping companies as a form of accounting.
All passenger lists are open access and when originals are too fragile for public handling, microfilm or repro (reproduction) copies will be provided.
What’s digitised
All passenger lists held by us have been digitised and are available online through FamilySearch.org.
Searching FamilySearch by name
Click on the link New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1973
Input the name, year and/or location keywords to search for your subject.
You may need to broaden your keywords by using first initial and surname or trying various spellings of surnames (spell it like it sounds).
After searching by surname, you can also filter your search results by year. Click on ‘Other’, then ‘Other Year Range’ to choose a date range.
Click search and scroll for the relevant name.
Click on the camera image to view the online image.
Searching FamilySearch by port and date of arrival and ship name
Searching by port and date of arrival can be time consuming.
Click on the link New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1973.
Click ‘BROWSE ALL 296,095 IMAGES’
Choose the relevant port of arrival (these may be listed several times so check every entry).
Click on the year of arrival.
Click on the ship’s name to open the digitised passenger or crew list you want to search.
Searching Collections search by ship name
Open Collections search.
Input the ‘[ship’s name] passenger list’.
The available passenger lists will appear. Click on the relevant box and click on the link beside ‘View online’ to open the image.
Not all passenger lists can be found by searching the ship name on Collections search. If you still can’t find what you’re looking for ask an archivist for help.
What you can find
Passenger lists include names of those travelling to New Zealand by ship. They are listed by surname and first name or initials. Lists often state a passengers':
age
gender
occupation
last place of residence
travel party names
Entries may also include place of birth or marital status.
Browse the archive
You can find all original copies of digitised passenger list records in one of our 4 reading rooms. Most items are held at our Wellington archive.
We’ve included links throughout this guide that will take you directly to the series on Collections search. The entries on our Collections will indicate which archive holds the item.
Scroll to the bottom of that page and click on ‘Record hierarchy’ for individual R-numbers (item codes). These are useful for ordering items to view at the relevant reading room.
If you still can’t find what you’re looking for contact us.
Searching in our reading rooms
Wellington reading room
The General Biographical Index c1840 to 1880s
This physical ‘finding aid’ or tool to locate passenger lists is a catalogue of index cards compiled from various ship records. The alphabetical list of passengers may contain an initial, surname, gender, ship name, arrival date and other information. They will lead you to a passenger entry in a physical record.
Other immigration records
1838 to 1853 New Zealand Company records have information about immigrants to New Zealand [AAYS 8982].
1870 to 1888 assisted immigration (all of New Zealand) [ACFS 8243].
1883 to 1973 commercial passenger lists and some crew lists, collected by Customs [ADBO 16135].
1855 to 1870 assisted immigration (Canterbury only). During this period, assisted immigration was managed by the provincial governments. Only the records from Canterbury have survived [ACFS 8243].
Dunedin reading room
Our Dunedin archive does not hold any passenger lists, but there are forwarded duplicate lists included in letters and correspondence:
inward letters from the Otago Agents at Edinburgh [AAGK 709].