No passenger list for the Pribislaw has ever been found.

An embarkation list would have been prepared at Hamburg in 1849, since this was required by the Hamburg authorities before ships were permitted to sail, but all Hamburg embarkation lists with dates prior to 1850 were subsequently discarded. Captain P. W. Niemann must have held a copy of the Pribislaw’s embarkation list, and may have handed it in to the Superintendents Immigration Office on arrival in Melbourne, but if so, it was either lost or destroyed. No official lists of those arriving at or departing from Rio de Janeiro aboard the Pribislaw have yet been found.

Of 198 passengers known to have arrived in Australia aboard the Pribislaw, the names of 183 have been identified so far.

Naturalisation Records

By researching 1849-51 New South Wales naturalisation records and Victorian naturalisation records from 1851-1903, I have obtained the names of 71 of the Pribislaw’s male steerage passengers who disembarked at Melbourne. By adding to these the names of 26 known pre-embarkation German-born wives and 61 German-born children, plus three other children known to have been born during the voyage, I have compiled the names of 158 immigrants. Details of these, including wives’ and naturalised children’s names, are set out below.

Key to order of information in the lists below:

[NAME. BIRTHPLACE. NATURALISATION DATE. – AGE – ADDRESS. SPOUSE ON ARRIVAL. GERMAN AND PRIBISLAW BORN CHILDREN (excl. Naturalised)

n/a = information not available
* = Wends
# = Possible Wends

ALTMANN Ernst. Prussia. 05.04.1851 -31- Melbourne. Christiana
AURISCH George Ernst. Prussia. 12.10.1857 -75- Hawthorn. Maria
AURISCH Johann. Prussia. 14.12.1852 -35- Melbourne. single
AURISCH Wilhelm. Prussia. 14.12.1852 -25- Melbourne. single
BOEHM John. Prussia. 20.03.1851 -31- Richmond. n/a n/a
BRUCKE Barthold. Germany. 13.12.1852 -24- Melbourne. single
BURKHARD James. Switzerland. 28.02.1852 -23- Melbourne. n/a n/a
DEHNERT Robert. Prussia. 20.06.1851. -20- Richmond. single –
DHMEL August. Prussia. 20.02.1861 -30- Ballarat. n/a n/a
DIETZ Paul. Berlin. 10.08.1853 -24- Melbourne. single
FANKHAUSER Frederick Traugott. Silesia. 00.00.1909 -61- Canterbury. single
FANKHAUSER George. Tyrol. 22.01.1858 -22- Hawthorn. single
FANKHAUSER John Gotthard. Tyrol. 30.12.1850 -50- South Yarra. Elizabeth 4
FEIGE Benjamin. Germany. 09.05.1856 -36- Melbourne. n/a n/a
FIEDLER Charles Gustav Oswald. Prussia. 11.08.1915 -71- Bruthen. single
FIEDLER Leberecht. Prussia. 30.12.1850 -32- Melbourne. Theresa 1
FINGER Christian. Prussia. 30.12.1850 -51- South Yarra. Friedericke 6
FINGER Christian Gottlieb. Prussia. 28.04.1851 -28- Richmond. single
FINGER Henry. Prussia. 28.02.1852 -21- Melbourne. single
FINGER Wilhelm. Prussia. 28.02.1852 -23- Melbourne. single
FISCHER Wilhelm. Prussia. 30.01.1860 -56- Kilmore. Eleanora 4
FRAHM Charles. Mecklenberg. 28.02.1852 -25- Melbourne. single
FRANKE Wilhelm Gustavus. Prussia. 28.04.1851 -33- Melbourne. Henrietta –
FRANZ John. Prussia. 23.07.1851 -29- Melbourne single
GEISLER Julius. Prussia. 13.12.1852 -41- Melbourne. single
GRAFF Johann. Saxony*. 20.03.1851 -49- Keelbundora. Johanna 4
GRAFF Johann. Saxony*. 17.04.1896 -52- Hazelglen. single
GRASSHOFF Charles Augustus Lewis. Brandenberg 30.12.1850 -37- Melbourne. n/a n/a
GRUNDMANN Frederick. Prussia. 18.11.1852 -44- Richmond Flat. Caroline 2
GRUNDMANN Johann Friedrich Ferdinand. Prussia. 17.06.1854 -21- Collingwood. single
GUMBINNER Julius Ludwig. Berlin. 23.08.1851 -38- Melbourne. n/a 5
HARTIG Carl. Germany. 18.02.1858 -56- Castlemaine. Magdalena
HEINBOCKEL Johann Heinrich. Hanover. 09.02.1853 -35- Melbourne. single
HEINER Ernst Wilhelm. Prussia. 06.02.1853 -31- Melbourne. n/a n/a
HELL Peter. Holstein. 25.06.1853 -31- Melbourne. single
HEMPEL Carl Ernst Saxony*. 27.03.1852 -23- Melbourne. single
HEMPEL Johann Christoph. Saxony*. 16.12.1850. -56- Brunswick. Anna 1
HEMPEL Johann Traugott. Saxony*. 28.02.1851 -33- Melbourne. single
KAISER Andreas. Saxony*. 29.12.1853 -26- Hawthorn. single
KARSTEN Heinrich. Mecklenberg. 17.01.1854 -33- Spring Creek. Maria 2
KIEHL Anton. Germany. 06.10.1859 -35- Avoca. n/a n/a
KOBELKE Edward. Silesia. 30.12.1850 -34- South Yarra. Charlotte 2
KOBELKE Charles Gustav Adolph. Silesia. 08.06.1897 -60- Abbotsford. single
LEHMKUHL Johann Friedrich Theodor. Mecklenberg. 22.11.1854 -31- Melbourne. n/a n/a
LOBER Ernst. Prussia. 09.02.1853 -32- Melbourne. single
MALTZAHN Johann. Mecklenberg. 20.03.1851 -36- Keelbundora. Sophia
MELCHIOR William. Hanover. 28.02.1852 -30- Melbourne. single
NEUMANN Carl. Saxony#. 23.01.1854 -36- River Plenty. Anna 1
OELRICH Carl August Christoph. Hamburg. 03.05.1851 -27- Melbourne. Ida
PASSARIUS William. Saxony. 09.09.1852 -32- Melbourne. single
PETERS Daniel . Mecklenberg. 31.01.1853 -31- Dry Creek. single
PLAISCHKE Carl. Prussia. 31.03.1853 -47- Melbourne. widower 2
ROEMER Johann August. Prussia. 13.12.1852 -41- Melbourne. single
ROSEL Johann. Saxony*. 31.01.1853 -50- Dry Creek. Johanna 4
SCHERELL Frederick. Hamburg. 09.02.1853 -37- Melbourne. single
SCHERELL Robert Anton. Prussia. 09.02.1853 -33- Melbourne. single
SCHNOEGULA Augustus. Prussia. 28.08.1852 -39- Melbourne. Henrietta 2
SCHOLZE Johann Traugott. Saxony#. 30.12.1850 -38- Melbourne. Christina 1
SCHUSTER Johann Gottfried. Saxony*. 28.03.1852 -38- Melbourne. Agnes 2
STEPHAN Johann. Prussia*. 27.03.1852. -40- Melbourne. Agneta
WEISSLEDER Frederick. Prussia. 29.12.1853 -24- Melbourne. n/a n/a
WINTER Friedrich. Mecklenberg. 16.12.1850 -42- Melbourne. Maria 5
WUCHATSCH Carl. Saxony*. 31.12.1853 -23- Dry Creek. single
WUCHATSCH Johann. Saxony*. 16.12.1850 -48- Melbourne. Magdalena 4
WUCHATSCH Johann. Saxony*. 26.02.1861 -23- Melbourne. single
ZIEBELL Christian. Mecklenberg. 21.05.1850 -54- Melbourne. Sophia 7
ZIESCHE Ernst Gottlieb. Saxony*. 03.05.1851 Melbourne. single
ZIMMER Johann. Saxony*. 16.12.1850 -48- Melbourne. Anna 2
ZIMMER Michael. Saxony*. 31.01.1853 -26- Dry Creek. single
ZSCHECH Michael. Saxony*. 27.03.1852 -30- Melbourne. Magdalena
ZWAR Michael. Saxony*. 01.10.1852 -23- Melbourne. single
TOTALS: TOTAL MEN – 71. TOTAL WIVES – 26. TOTAL CHILDREN – 61.
KNOWN BIRTHS ON PRIBISLAW

. Emma Louise Maria SCHOLZE (26/9/1849)
. Anna Marie FIEDLER (25/10/1849)
. Amelia Sidonia NEUMANN (21/12/1849)

Known Deaths on Pribislaw

– NEUMANN child

Other Records

The names of a further 25 passengers known to have arrived in Australia aboard the Pribislaw can be added to the 157 names listed above.

Two were the cabin passengers Mr and Mrs R. GRASSMANN, whose names were listed in the Argus of 4 February 1850 as Grassmore. A third cabin passenger was Dr A. BERNDT, the ship’s surgeon.

Carl HOEHNE’S 1852 book confirms his and his wife’s presence aboard the Pribislaw. Hoehne also mentions several other Pribislaw passengers not elsewhere referred to – Mrs and Mrs SEILER from Salzenforst near Bautzen; an unnamed child of Carl NEUMANN’S who died during the voyage; and August HILDEBRANDT and his family, of Breslau. Johann Gottfied August and Juliane Dorothea HILDEBRANDT and six children are known to have settled in Australia, although the eldest – Julius – arrived aboard the Wappaus, in March 1849. The others – Auguste, Caroline Marie Elizabeth, Marie Juliane Gottliebe, James and Emmanuel all arrived with their parents on the Pribislaw.

Hoehne’s book also confirms the arrival in Australia of Johann PANNACH, a signatory to the Der Freischutz letter. PANNACH was single. Other Der Freischutz letter signatories known to have travelled on to Australia aboard the Pribislaw were Friedrich Wilhelm RASCHKE and F. W. WELTZIEN. Other signatories who possibly continued the voyage to Australia aboard the Pribislaw are J. G. FORSTER, Hugo FLEIGER, C. MAASS, RETERBERG, August STADER and F. H. VOIGHT, but no evidence of their arrival has yet been found.

South Australian settlers Johann Gabriel Martin OHLMEYER, his wife and children Carl, Wilhelmine, Caroline and Maria (later Mrs J. M. Wendt), are all stated to have arrived aboard the Pribislaw, according to Maria’s obituary in the Adelaide Chronicle of 24 May 1919.

A further Pribislaw passenger was Mrs Dorothea KOBELKE, mother of Edward, whose presence is implied by her death certificate.

Two unidentified passengers were also reported to have died on board soon after arrival at Williamstown.

The Melbourne newspaper Germania of 20 June 1862 stated the Pribislaw departed Hamburg with 229 passengers, but that ten children and two adults died between Hamburg and Rio de Janeiro. On its arrival in Melbourne, the Pribislaw was recorded as bringing 198 passengers – three cabin and 195 steerage. Allowing for the three known births, it would seem about 22 passengers must have left the ship at Rio de Janeiro, as none were reported to have died between Brazil and Australia.

The South Australian Register of 2 March 1850 reported that two cabin and 19 steerage passengers arrived at Port Adelaide aboard the Pribislaw. Assuming the steerage passengers all originally embarked at Hamburg, ie. did not board at Melbourne, about 176 must have disembarked at Port Phillip, including the two who died on board after arrival.

When the 183 identified Pribislaw passengers have been deducted from the 198 who arrived at Port Phillip, the names of 15 Hamburg-Australia passengers remain unknown. Australian marriage records confirm that many of the known passengers were single, however, some would have been accompanied by as yet unknown wives and/or children. The names of those who were never naturalised and have left no clues as to the ship upon which they arrived will never be known, unless a passenger list is found.