Oceania Research
Australia and New Zealand
Australia
In 1770, James Cook sailed the eastern coast of Australia and claimed it for Great Britain
The eastern coast of Australia was known as New South Wales
The western coast of Australia was first called New Holland, then Swan River Colony, and later Western Australia
Penal Colonies were established from 1788 – 1868 in various parts of Australia
New South Wales began encouraging immigration around 1835 by paying bounties to skilled tradesmen and laborers
In the 1830’s and 1840’s many immigrated from Ireland during the potato famine
In 1850’s Australian gold rush spurred immigration
Useful Websites
Has a convit transportation registers database
State Library of South Australia
Has a database called Bound for South Australia, which contains passenger names from 1836 – 1851
Trove – A National Library of Australia resource that brings together content from multiple repositories
New Zealand
PapersPast is a New Zealand newspaper database