New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1974

What is in This Collection?

This collection contains immigrant registers from New Zealand, covering the period 1839 to 1973. Upon leaving a home country for New Zealand, all passengers in a ship were listed in a register book, and were then checked against that register upon entry into their port of destination. As a form of identification was required to embark on the ship, these immigration records are generally accurate. However, since they were normally handwritten by an officer, slight errors are not uncommon. The records are written or printed on prepared forms, tabular format, in bound volumes. Most registers are legible; however, some are faded or have some bleed-through, and so are a bit difficult to read.

Many people immigrated to New Zealand to form colonies and settle for a better life. From the 1840s until the 1970s, Britain was the main source for immigrants, and all ships carrying passengers in or out of any British port were required by law to present their passenger lists to the relevant port authorities. Other immigrants came from Western Europe, Polynesia, and Asia. Prior to 1900 there were various classes of immigrants, with the largest groups being the assisted immigrants and paying passengers.

New Zealand became multicultural due to the number of immigrants coming from other countries. Beginning in 1871 the New Zealand Government began to offer assisted passages to selected immigrants and others nominated by relatives. The migration of the 1870s was the most significant in New Zealand history.

In 1874 thousands of assisted immigrants arrived in New Zealand, forming the greatest level of migration ever. Almost half of the new immigrants came with government assistance. Three-quarters of these sailed directly from the United Kingdom. Because of economic difficulties in the later 19th century, assistance was finally terminated.

In 1891 New Zealand received the last small group of assisted migrants. However, assisted migration was restored in 1904 when the country's economy returned to prosperity, making it once more an attractive country to new immigrants. During the early 20th century one-third of the immigrants came from Australia and two-thirds from the United Kingdom.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

To Browse This Collection

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

Collection Content

This collection contains primarily New Zealand immigration passenger lists, although crew lists make up a significant portion as well. Approximately ten percent of the collection is a mixture of other travel-related documents, including goods manifests.

Sample Images

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  Passenger List

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  1888 Master list

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  1888 Crew List