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Welcome to the News Website of the Toowoomba and Darling Downs Family History Society.
We will be posting regular updates of Society News and other Local Family History items.
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Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Queensland Assisted Immigration Index Errors

A valuable resource for those researching Assisted Immigration into Queensland is the online index of Assisted Passengers for the period 1848-1912. This index has links to the digital images of Passenger Lists. http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/Indexes/Immigration/Pages/Immigration1848.aspx

However the QSA states: ‘This index does not include all immigration records for the period. The records for the 1860s are incomplete because they were inundated in the 1893 floods. The registers held at Queensland State Archives were rewritten from the damaged originals during that period and contain errors. For example, as entries were "corrected" and overwritten at the time, some ships have two dates of arrival recorded. Additional research may be required to confirm details.’
Some of us have read this qualifying statement, but not thought about the implications for accurate research. Many of us have not even read it, assuming that a government produced record must be correct. 

TDDFHS member, Diana Beal, has proved the following errors:
* The list for the Young Australia 1862 voyage is in fact for the 1865 (29 May-20 Aug) voyage.
* The list for the Fiery Star 1864 voyage is in fact for the 1863 voyage (both arrived 20 Nov.)

Also our member Doreen found:
* The Dirigio of 1860 is mis-transcribed as the “Dingo”



 We would be grateful if anyone has proof of other errors, to please advise our TDDFHS secretary, so we can alert other researchers via our website and our journal The Gazette. The full transcript of Diana’s research is in the society’s latest journal.