Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide'

In the 1800s, thousands of European migrants made the long and arduous voyage to Australia. They all came by sea, many to establish a new life. It was a trade involving hundreds of ships from convict transports to gold rush clippers. Despite its pivotal role in the development of the country, the only significant remaining heritage of this ship trade is the City of Adelaide.

The City of Adelaide was purpose built to serve the passenger trade. For a quarter of a century, the clipper played an important role in the development of the colony of South Australia. She carried all classes of passengers from the rich to the poor, from people 'of substance', to government assisted emigrants. Her first class cabins were considered to be the finest of the sailing ship era. Today their descendents living in Australia number in the hundreds of thousands.

On annual outward voyages to Adelaide the clipper carried goods needed for the colony’s development and survival. On return voyages to London, she would carry South Australian produce including copper and wool. The ‘City of Adelaide made more visits to the fledgling colony than any other vessel before or since.

By using the menu options on the left you will be able to find:

• A database of all available passenger names with drop-down filters that enable individual passengers or individual voyages to be reviewed. This database utilises the actual names on the passenger lists.
• Passenger Lists by voyage. These are grouped as either voyages to Adelaide or voyages to London. These lists may not be 100% accurate however they do provide other GEDCOM names of passengers such as maiden names. These lists may also provide transcripts from newspapers relating to the particular voyage. The newspapers of the times would obten describe ascpects of the voyage, names of passengers, or publish letters from the passengers honouring the Captain, Officers and crew.
• For Registered Users with an account greater access to the information in the GEDCOM genealogy database.
• Calculations showing how a quarter of a million descendants of passengers today were derived at. Please note that we have not yet attempted to calculate how many descendants of crew might also be alive today. Crew descendant numbers have therefore not been included in the passenger descendant numbers.
• Stories of the Rich and Famous who availed themselves of the First Class luxury of the Saloon Class onboard the City of Adelaide.
• A collection of Diaries and Accounts that have survived to this day which provide an incredible glimpse into life onboard in the 1860s and 1870s.
• An ever growing set of Passenger Stories as our volunteer researchers and members of the public unearth fascinating details of the aspirations of the passengers of the City of Adelaide - from the rich to the poor, from people 'of substance', to government assisted emigrants.

We hope you enjoy learning about these people as much as we have enjoyed providing their stories.