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- Queensland Ship Deserters 1862-1911
Records in this collection
- Aliens Registered in the Northern Territory 1916–1921
- Calais Lacemaker immigrants to South Australia 1848
- Convict Transportation Registers 1787-1870
- Convicts in South Australia sentenced to transportation 1836–1852
- Emigrants from Hamburg to Australasia 1850-1879
- Emigrants seeking free passage to South Australia 1836–1841
- Emigration: Where to Go
- Genealogical Index to Australians and Other Expatriates in Papua New Guinea
- New South Wales and Tasmania: Settlers and Convicts 1787-1859
- New South Wales assisted passenger lists
- New South Wales unassisted passenger lists
- New South Wales, Convict Arrivals 1788-1842
- New Zealand Emigration and Gold Fields
- New Zealand for the Emigrant 1890
- Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960
- Passengers to South Australia on board Buffalo 1836
- Queensland Assisted Immigration 1848-1912
- Queensland Customs House Shipping 1852-1885: Passengers and Crew
- Queensland Early Pioneers Index 1824-1859
- Queensland Immigration Registers 1922-1940
- Queensland Naturalisations 1851-1904
- Queensland Nominated Immigrants 1908-1922
- Queensland passports index 1915-1925
- Queensland Ship Deserters 1862-1911
- Queensland, Brisbane Register of Immigrants 1885-1917
- Queensland, Maryborough Registers of Rations Issued to Immigrants 1875-1884
- South Australia Naturalisations 1849-1903
- South Australia, immigrant agricultural workers 1913-14
- South Australian ex-convicts
- Victoria coastal passenger lists 1852-1924
- Victoria Inward Passenger Lists 1839-1923
- Victoria Inward Passenger Lists 1839-1923
- Victoria Outward Passenger Lists 1852-1915
Find your ancestors in Queensland Ship Deserters 1862-1911
QUEENSLAND SHIP DESERTERS 1862-1911
Do you have Queensland ancestry?
The Queensland Ship Deserters index has been compiled from the early 1860s to 1911 and contains approximately 3,800 entries. If you think you may have an ancestor who deserted from a ship at a Queensland port then he could be in this index. It's a great genealogy tool for anyone exploring their family history or building a family tree.
The men - and boys - deserted from ships at ports in Queensland, and while the majority of these were from ships in Brisbane, other desertions occurred at Rockhampton, Maryborough, Cooktown, Bundaberg, Townsville, Bowen, Normanton and Gladstone. These are all recorded chronologically by date in the Register of Seamen at the Queensland State Archives.
The majority of the ships were immigrant ships bring passengers to Queensland. The records for deserters include surname, sometimes given name(s) but more frequently initials, usually age, ship and date of desertion, and occupation on ship (this is omitted for Rockhampton in 1882 and for all ports from January 1884 to 1893). Other information in the database includes No. (as listed in the record, no explanation of its significance is given), date of entry (from the Harbour Masters records), date of desertion and additional remarks such as alternate names and punishment.
The youngest deserter was an eight year old boy H. McNeil from the Samoa in August 1899 while the eldest deserter was W.O. Tool, who, at age 68, deserted from the Dharwar in September 1889.
By far the greatest percentage of those who deserted in Queensland had surnames of British origin. There were a number of obviously Scandinavian surnames with a smaller proportion of German surnames. Very infrequently a country is listed with the deserter’s surname, such as Aberg (Finland), Anderson (Sweden), Birs (Norway), Breacher (Austria), Carbetts (Italy), Grath (Hamburg) and Peters (Denmark), but unfortunately these are isolated instances.
"What information can I find in this index?"
• First name
• Last name
• Age
• Ship
• Record number
• Date of entry
• Date of desertion
• Place of desertion
• Occupation
• Remarks
Data provided by Gould Genealogy.