‘Most came because their fare was paid for them’: NSW assisted immigration

Free assisted emigration from Great Britain and Ireland was the cornerstone of the rapid growth in NSW’s population in the 19th century. Seventy-seven per cent of all immigrant arrivals into Sydney between 1830 and 1890 were ‘assisted’, a mass movement financed overwhelmingly by funds raised in NSW.

These immigrants would have been aware of Emigration Agents; the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners in London; Surgeon-Superintendents, Matrons and Water Closet Constables on the voyage; the members of the NSW Immigration Board who interviewed them on arrival; and the efforts of the NSW Immigration Agent to ease their passage into the colony. By the standards of the time, it was a highly organised journey and, amazingly, it has left behind a large paper trail of official documents – not just the ships’ lists (the delight of family historians), but also the thousands of other pieces of paper that provide a picture of how the system was set up and experienced.

Join us for this webinar led by Dr Richard Reid, to get a glimpse of the treasures in the NSW State Archives Collection that illuminate the assisted emigrant journey.