Record series
Air Flight Nominal Rolls
VPRS 5980
by 1954 - 1979
Open
North Melbourne
Agencies
This record series was created by:
Chief Secretary's Department ( VA475 ): 1954 - 1971
Agencies responsible for this record series: Date Range
Series date range: 1954 - 1979
Series in custody:
1954 - 1979
Contents in custody:
1954 - 1979
Function / Content
BackgroundThe series has its origin in agreements reached between the Commonwealth and British Governments in March 1946 for free and assisted passage for British residents wishing to migrate to Australia. Under the agreements residents of the Australian states could nominate residents of the United Kingdom for assisted passage to Australia, or in the case of British ex-Service men and women and their families, free passage. Nominations were of two types: personal and group. Personal nominations were made by residents of Victoria who were friends or relatives of the nominee, or an employer seeking a particular worker. Group nominations were usually made by employers seeking to recruit particular categories of workers, though groups such as religious organisations also participated. The States agreed at the Premiers Conference of 1946 to take responsibility for verifying nominations and arranging for reception, transit accommodation, travel to final destination and aftercare. The end of the States role in immigration matters came in early 1983, when the Commonwealth (VRG 87) took over its remaining functions relating to administering both assisted and unassisted British sponsorship schemes and associated services.
The recording agencies for this series are as follows:
Immigration Branch/State Immigration Office, VA 475 Chief Secretarys Department, 1954-1971;
Immigration Division, VA 552 Department of State Development and Decentralisation, 1971-1977;
VA 1042 Ministry of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, 1977-1979.
In essence, this series provided a means for checking that those people expected to arrive on a particular flight did, in fact, arrive.
Contents include
Nominal roles of migrants expected to arrive on a particular air flight.
Correspondence between the various authorities regarding expected times of arrival, changes to rolls, and travel arrangements.
Correspondence to the nominator informing them of the nominees expected time and place of arrival.
Summary lists at the front of files showing names, flight numbers, and dates of arrival for those people listed on the roles within the file.
Information in the series includes
Nominee name, date of birth, occupation and religious persuasion;
Flight number, destination within Australia, and accommodation requirements upon arrival.
Name of nominator and relationship to nominee (provision of these details varies throughout the series).
How to use the records
The rolls are contained in files, arranged chronologically by date of arrival. This date, and the flight number, may be obtained from:Card Index to Sponsors of Migrants (VPRS 5981) or
Card Index to Migrants (VPRS 5982).
Once the date is known, consult the Records Description List for this series and identify the unit containing the files for the period in which the person of interest arrived. The flight number may help to narrow the search once the file is located, but it is not essential.
Recordkeeping system
Arrangement is chronological by date of arrival. The rolls, and any other records associated with the flight, are maintained in files or, later in the series, folders. Files may contain papers relating to several flights, and cover a period of several months.There are not many records in the series for the period prior to 1959. Whether the records are incomplete, or there simply werent many flights in this period, is not known.
