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At the height of the Victorian gold rush, between July 1852 and June 1853, hundreds of government-assisted migrants from Lancashire, England, made their way to Australia and disembarked in Victoria. They were part of a huge flood of such migrants who poured into the new-born colony as the colonial administration scrabbled to cope with the gold rush.
The scheme was an unprecedented achievement in government-organised migration. Yet most historians have tended to dismiss these assisted migrants as the unskilled poorest-of-the-poor, and not of the same calibre as the working-class and middle-class unassisted migrants also arriving at the colony in great numbers.
However, far from being the dross of England, these migrants were intelligent, highly motivated risk-takers, many of whom went on to experience success as gold diggers, selectors, tradespeople and entrepreneurs.
Made in Lancashire is a collective biography that explores in detail who these Lancashire assisted migrants were: their origins, why they migrated, where they went on arrival in Victoria, and what they made of their lives.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Richard Turner graduated as Doctor of Philosophy in History at La Trobe University in September 2019. He was also awarded the Nancy Millis Medal for producing a thesis of exceptional merit. Turner previously had a significant career as a filmmaker, with 21 credits to his name as a director, producer and writer. In the 1980s he was also an important contributor to the gay publications industry in Australia as a journalist, editor and publisher, for
Campaign Magazine,
Sydney Star,
Star Observer and
Outrage, and as a director of the Gay Publications Cooperative. He also contributed regularly to
Sydney Morning Herald, SBS TV, TVNZ, Network Ten and ABC TV.
