Pat, this has been an interesting search but the arrival of your John DASH seems to elude all of us.
It's not unusual to find no record of an arrival into Australia in the 19th century. Often shipping lists are not available, having been lost or destroyed. Those who came on an assisted passage may be well recorded but those who paid their own fares are not. There was no requirement for passenger lists for unassisted immigrants to record anything except their names so quite often there isn't even a forename just, for example, Mr J Smith. Inter-colony shipping lists are often not very reliable, and people moved from colony to colony on foot or by horse etc and were not required to inform any authorities.
Different colonies had different record-keeping, some better than others!
Of course there were no passports either so you could use any name you liked, and give your own details so they may not be reliable at all. For example immigrants may give the wrong age so as to be accepted by an immigration scheme. Then there are mis-transcriptions, etc etc
So it's quite possible to come to Australia and the documentation not be available.
Cheers, Judith
