diduknow.info - nuggets of knowledge for your noggin
 
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Welcome
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Britain, 1858
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Decisions
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Success!
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Liverpool
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Preparing
to Leave
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Setting sail
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Day 10
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Day 27
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Storm
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Shark
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Day 55
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Land
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Arrival
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Australia
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What
happened next

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Diary
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Things to do
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Illustrations by
Nicky Elson
Leaving from Liverpool
A 1880s sailing card issued by Gracie, Beazley & Co.
A 1880s sailing card issued by Gracie, Beazley & Co.
Click the image for a larger version [opens in new window]

Decisions

The decision has been made – we will leave these shores for Australia as soon as possible. However, even if I sell everything we own I cannot afford to pay for the passage of four people.

I have made enquiries and think that there are two options – seek help from a landowner in Sydney, Australia who is known to my employer, or apply to the government for transport across the ocean.

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I don’t know which has the best chance of success. Do you have any idea?

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Ask the landowner in Sydney for help 
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Ask the government's Colonisation Commission for assistance
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Australia

Emigrants had to decide not only which country they would go to but also which town or city. The booklet, ‘Practical Hints to the Australian Emigrant’ by John Willcox, advises travellers to go to a town with good transport links to other parts of the country, rather than the nearest, lonely outpost.

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Passage

A journey by sea.

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The City of Richmond was owned by the Inman Line and operated on the Liverpool to New York route.
The City of Richmond was owned by the Inman Line and operated on the Liverpool to New York route.

People

Most people had to pay for their own ticket across the ocean. For most of the 19th century it cost £15-20 to travel to Australia in the most basic accommodation - steerage (today that is worth between £780 and £1040), and £3-5 to America (today that is worth between £150 and £250). This was a lot of money and often took all of the emigrant’s savings (if s/he had any!)

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Landowner

John’s employer is in contact with a landowner in Sydney. Men like the landowner would have been able to bring a certain number of people to Australia to work for him in return for the purchase of land – the government wanted rich people to buy and develop the colony. The landowners usually looked for single men without children – they were cheaper to transport and care for.

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Government

People like John applied to the Colonisation Commissioners – a government department – to ask for paid tickets to Australia. If they met certain standards they were accepted and then waited to be called to a ship.

The government funded this service by selling land in Australia (although the local Poor Law Authorities had worked out that it was cheaper to send a family to Australia than to pay them Poor Relief at home). This program was known as the Wakefield System (after the man who came up with the idea).

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Government

This system replaced other programmes that had not worked so well, including one where colonists paid agents to find strong English labourers to work on their land. Instead the agents sent charity cases as they were easier to recruit. These travellers were weak, poor and were often too sick to work on arrival.

Once one family member had settled in a country it was easier for others to join him. Entire families emigrated in stages, with one person making enough money in the new colonies to pay for other family members. They in turn would pay for other peoples’ passage. This is known as ‘chain migration’.

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