Read more
British history, particularly British Imperial history, includes the movement of people from Britain to other parts of the world. For many this was a move as emigrants seeking a new life in another country.
From about 1830 there was considerable interest in emigration to the Australian colonies, supported for the first time by various British government and colonial programs of assisted passage.
The passage to the Australian colonies involved travelling half way around the world. For over ninety percent of emigrants this necessitated passage in a small wooden square-rigged sailing vessel beneath the deck as steerage class passengers, where conditions were rudimentary, crowded, noisy, smelly, damp and lacked privacy.
This book tells the story of a passage by some 260 emigrants to colonial South Australia in 1850 on board a square-rigged vessel called the Stag. It incorporates the transcribed diary of one of the steerage class passengers Francis C Taylor and gives a vivid insight into shipboard life on the long and difficult passage.
About the author
A graduate from the Australian National University, Canberra, Doug Limbrick worked for many years in social policy development, advice and evaluation. Authored many papers, reports, monographs and journal articles on social policy issues in areas such as poverty, disadvantage, housing and homelessness including international comparisons. Over the last 20 years has focused particularly on nineteenth-century Australian history with an emphasis on emigration to the colonies, including exploration of the reasons why people emigrated, the impact of the emigration process, the passage to the colonies, the ships and the arrival process.
