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Well over a million emigrants arrived in Australia and New Zealand in the nineteenth century, part of a European migration unparalleled in history.
The shipboard diaries of passengers, and the journals and letters that document the emigrant experience in the new world, form a large part of the M Series.
The M Series has copied papers in private hands and collections of maritime museums and record offices that document the emigrant experience, including the SS Great Britain Project, Bristol.
The SS Great Britain made 32 round voyages between Britain and Australia in the period 1852-1876, carrying an estimated 15,000 emigrants, more than any other ship.
Built in 1843 it was the first iron-built ocean-going steamer with a screw-propeller and the largest ship then afloat.