QUICKLINKS

Early Migration Schemes

15 February, 2009

Patrick Duggan Irish migrant with Family c. 1915
Source: Private collection: April Huxley

Question: What was the Earl Grey Scheme?

Answer: The Great Famine in Ireland in the 1840s was a time of great change for the people of Ireland. The population of Ireland reduced significantly during this time with many people making the voyage to Australia.

Among those making the journey were approximately 4000 Irish female orphans under the Earl Grey Scheme. The immigration scheme was the brain-child of Earl Grey. He was the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and designed the program to meet an Australian demand for domestic servants and marriageable young women. It would also serve to reduce overcrowding in Irish workhouses.

In the late 1840s many ships came to Australia bringing young girls travelling alone. Ships carrying orphan girls included the William Stewart in May 1848 with 51 aboard, followed by the Mahomed Shah in July 1848 with 12 orphan girls. The largest number of orphans arrived on the Pemberton in May 1849 as part of the Earl Grey Scheme. 305 orphans disembarked from this ship after a voyage of 113 days.

The orphans arrived in Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart and Port Phillip and from these ports were spread across eastern Australia. Many suffered at the hands of their employers and husbands with beatings and violence. Others found their experience in Australia to be prosperous. Many married successful gold miners, landowners, farmers and shop keepers and led happy and fulfilling lives in Australia.

The scheme was relatively short-lived and only lasted two years as many ‘anti’ groups saw Australia being flooded with Irish immigrants. These young women were condemned in local newspapers as being unskilled, untrained and useless, and a financial strain on Australia. The Earl Grey scheme, although the brain-child of the Irish Secretary of State for the Colonies, was funded by the Australian people. In May 1850 the scheme was suspended. With the beginning of the gold rush, discussions surrounding assisted immigration passages were dropped as many migrants were now willing to pay for their own journey in the hope of making it big on the gold fields of Australia.

Your comments

Interesting site. But where does your information about the william Stewart and the Mahomed Shah come from? The Earl Grey scheme did not get under way that early? I can give you the British PArliamentary paper reference if you wish.

Trevor - part of the material used to research this article came from Michael Cannon's book entitled Perilous Journeys to the New Land. Please refer to chapter 14 of this book for more information about the two ships you mention.

Please refer to http://irishfaminememorial.org/orphans/earl_grey.htm for more information about the Earl Grey scheme.

I have an ancestor who I believe was part of this scheme - an young woman on the Diadem. Do you have any information on a Mutual Cooperation Scheme mentioned as part of the entries re the Minerva 1850.

I also had an ancestor who arrived on the Diadem and I have been trying to find out if she boarded the ship in England or New York as that is where she was born and she was the only girl onboard from the USA.

A great source of information about Irish orphans in Australia is this printed resource, available in the Immigration Discovery Centre. It has a great deal of information about individual migrants and the conditions under which they travelled to Australia.

I am trying to find descendants of some girls from Dunmanway, Co. Cork who left Ireland in late 1849 and arrived in Australia on the Eliza Caroline ship. If you have any information on descendants it would be fantastic.

Hi Síle – The Irish Famine Memorial website contains some very helpful information about the Earl Grey Scheme and includes passenger lists of the various ships that came out to Australia as part of the scheme. Official passenger lists for the Eliza Caroline can be obtained through State Records New South Wales. Another great source of information about Irish orphans in Australia is this printed resource, available in the Immigration Discovery Centre. It has a great deal of information about individual migrants and the conditions under which they travelled to Australia.

My G G Grandmother Bridget McCarthy aged 17 from County Cork was one of the orphans on the 'Pemberton' which sailed from Plymouth in Jan.1849, and arrived in Melbourne in Nay 1849 under the Earl Grey Scheme. Thanks for thr link to the Immigration Discovery Centre.

My GGG Grandmother Jane Stafford Irish orphan girl has a history. I found it tonight by chance. Thank you to everyone who shares this information.

My GGGGrandmother, Jane Hutchinson, was part of the Earl Grey Scheme and came to Port Phillip aboard the "Derwent". She married Thomas Buckler and they went on to have twelve children - from all accounts they were happy.

My relatives came out to Australia in 1851 part of the Earl Grey Scheme. The ship was called the Earl Grey. I can not find a picture of the ship and I have searched. I have seen the ships list but no pictures of the ship. They landed in Sydney - can you help

Hi Jeannette, unfortunately we weren't able to locate any images of the Earl Grey either online or in any of our references in the Discovery Centre. But you could do a more comprehensive search both online and in libraries, using the excellent list of shipping image resources provided by the State Library of Queensland and/or Coraweb.

My Ggrandmother Mary Rooney came to Adelaide on the INCONSTANT in 1849 and married Michael Reardon in 1852. She was an Irish orphan and that is all I know at this stage. Does anyone have anymore information? Regards, Wayne

Hello Wayne - For more information on the Irish orphans, you could look at this printed resource, available in the Immigration Discovery Centre. For more information about your great-grandmother's arrival and life in Adelaide, I would suggest that you start with the State Records of South Australia.

Jane McCabe was an 18 y.o. orphan who came out on the DIADEM and within 3 months was married to a man twice her age. She died in Jan 1885 in Geelong after 6 children (which suggests she was really 15 years old on arrival). Any idea where I might find an image of the DIADEM?

Hi John, please see our answer to Jeannette on 5 January about resources for ship images. If you haven't already, you might be curious to see an index of the Diadem passenger list on the website of the Irish Famine Memorial in Sydney.

Good site. My wife has a gt gt gt grandmother Mary Carden who came out on the Lady Kennaway. Unfortunely all we knows is she married a Robert Heaton ex convict in Melbourne on the 13th December 1851.

I am trying to locate the passenger list of Mahomed Shah arrived Pt Phillip, Vic., Australia 5th July 1848. I am interested in Mary Ann Jones, age - 14 years, & described as childs maid.

Great site with revealing info. Now found evidence of Mary Acheson and friend Mary Burns who sailed on Diadem 1850. M. Acheson married John Smith in Portland (1851), with M. Burns & Charles Smith as witnesses. However John's arrival to Victoria is unknown. Can you assist?.

Is it possible to contact John McKay who wrote about Jane McCabe who came here via the Earl Gray Scheme and married George Knight(s). From a well-known book on the subject, I believe she came from the Workhouse, Ennikillen, Co Fermanagh. I could not find her on the Diadem via the site linked with the museum but she is listed in the Assisted British Immigration 1839-1871, arriving January 1850 on the Diadem, age 18.

Hi Frederick, glad to hear you found the Mary's! John should either be listed on the Public Record Office of Victoria Assisted Passenger list if he had his fare paid or, if he paid his own way, he will be on the Unassisted Passenger lists that are held by State Records NSW. You may need to contact SRNSW for further advice if you have no luck.

Hi Rose, Mary Ann is on the passenger list of this ship, which is held by the Public Record Office of Victoria. To see the full passenger list go to the Register of Assisted British Immigrants 1839 - 1871, type in the ship's name, then select the month and the year from the appropriate drop downs.

Hi Norma, we will pass on your details to John and ask if he'd like to get in contact. We've just had another look and Jane is definitely on the Diadem list on the Irish Famine Memorial website. If you go to the Victorian list of ships and search the name 'McCabe' she will be the first result. These lists are based on research done by Trevor McClaughlin and published in his book Barefoot & Pregnant? Irish Famine Orphans in Australia.

Hi Could someone tell me where the Famine Rock on Williamstown Beach is please ?

Hi Graeme! It is off The Strand in Williamstown, within the Burgoyne Reserve. There are a few green spaces and reserves along there, but an internet map search will help you find the location.

How interesting to see that the Mahomed Shah brought some orphans. My 3x great grandparents arrived as emigrants on that 1848 voyage; their son married the daughter of one of the Irish orphan girls from the Eliza Caroline (1850)

My ancestor Ellen Dooley [ g g grandmother ] came out on The John Knox's in 1850 as one of the Irish Orphan's, and she married a James Harrison,but nothing is known of her whereabouts from 1850-1855[the year she married]. Do you know where I can find the info from if any.Good to see story's on the other Orphan's.

Hi Sharne, there's a little bit on Ellen in Trevor McClaughlin's book Barefoot & Pregnant on p258, with the information that she arrived on the John Knox, which arrived in Sydney from Plymouth on 29 April 1850. You should access a copy of the original passenger list to see what further information it contains about her. You can order this through State Records NSW or your nearest local or state library may have them on microfiche. McClaughlin also reveals that there is a little more information about her in the Register & Application for Orphans 'which gives information about the orphans' early days in Australia' (McClaughlin, p140). Register 2, No 1347 mentions her and her employer (?). This register is also available through State Records NSW. Ordering these documents may give further details about and leads to her early life in Australia. Good luck!

Ihave a copy of Trevor's book . Great reaource for all descendants of Irish Famine Immigrants! I am wondering if someone can tell me why my gg grandmother, Elizabeth Wray reached Port Phillip Bay on 25 February , 1850 on the Derwent and then according to the immigration records on Ancestry dot com dot au, sailed for Geelong on the same ship arriving there on 4 March 1850. According to her entry in Trevors's book she was sent to work for a Mary Richardson , widow in Collins Street, Melbourn so why would she go to Geelong? By October 1853 she was back in Melbourne working as a servant in Elizabeth Street before she married my gg grandfather. Just a quick belated thank you to Earl Grey for organising scheme!!

I am looking for info on my GG grandmother, Ellen Regan, who I believe was a passenger on the Mahomed Shah arriving Port Philip Bay 1848. When I click on the link that the Discover Centre gave for Rose Palmer (Register of Assisted British Immigrants) I can find no info on ships at all, even after typing in the ship's name.

Hi Vivienne, unfortunately PROV changed their website since we wrote that answer, so the link broke. The new link can be found here. We looked at the passenger list for the Mahomed Shah but no Ellen Regan is listed. There is someone with that name on the Thames in 1853 however.

For Trevor Mcclaughin 13 May 2009. Those ships did come. Look on this site for a big list of migrant ships from 1839-1851 and more. http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/shipping/mig-vic.htm

Hi Gary, Not sure what you are referring to. I don't think anyone is denying the Mahomet Shah ,Wm Stewart and eg the Subraon (to NSw) did come. They did carry some Irish orphans but they were from Foundling Hospitals in Dublin and Cork not from recently built workhouses across Ireland. The Earl Grey scheme only brought orphans from workhouses

Onn our tree we have a Catherine Bracken who we believe was on the Inconstant. She married a William Robinson, who was murdered, perhaps by Malachi Martin, who Catherine married soon after the murder. Malachi was hung in Adelaide 1862. Catherine later married a George Ingham. My question is: in an article by Mark Staniforth "The Inconstant Girls" there is an article on a Catherine Bracken who married a William Robinson - on the same date - but they remained married with Catherine dying aged 52, and william aged 81. Is this info incorrect, or do I have the wrong Catherine & William?? Regards Dawn

Hi Dawn, what an interesting story! There was indeed a Catherine Brackin on the Inconstant according to Trevor McClaughlin's Barefoot and Pregnant? Volume 2, p399. Richards & Herraman in their article "Irish Women in colonial South Australia" in Irish women in colonial Australia, equate this Catherine Brackin with the Catherine (Nellie) Bracken whose husband William was killed by Martin Malachi (pp100-101). Mark Staniforth seems to have a different idea of the fate of the Catherine Bracken on the Inconstant. I'm not sure that we can shed any further light, so you may wish to contact him through Flinders University as he may be able to help you out further with the differences in the stories. You might also be interested in a story on the Adelaide Gaol website, which discusses the case of Malachi.

Hi Discovery centre, Just to let you know the "Trevor McLaughlin" you keep referring to, spells his name with an extra 'c' ie Trevor McClaughlin, cheers, trevor

Oh dear, sorry Trevor! We've fixed this up now. Thanks for letting us know.

HI Sharne, Did you ever find the informatiion that you were looking for, I am seeking the same info.my g.grandmother came out on the same ship and I cannot locate herfrom the time she landed in April 1850 till 1852. Did you find records of were they went and if you did could you please let me know. thankyou Her namewas Mary Walsh,came from cork, could not read or write and she was a true orphan, her parents Maurice and Joannah both deceased.

Hi Noeleen, if your ancestor is listed on the Hyde Park Barracks Memorial then she definitely went there. As we stated in our answer to Sharne, all the records for the Irish Famine Orphans are held by State Records NSW & you should contact them for further information (the link is in this answer). They also have records of indentures - ie where the orphans at HPB were contracted to work for a certain period, often one to two years and, although many went through Sydney, they ended up much further afield. You therefore may find her whereabouts between 1850 and 1852 in these types of records.

I am trying to find the papers on Bounty immigrants, I believe gggrandfather John Thomas McDermott was one, arriving on the John Knox at Geelong in 1851, but I cannot be sure, needing all information before I can make a possitive assumpton. I seem to be having no luck in finding this information on the net. Help please.

Hi Mia,

According to the PROV’s online index Assisted (or Bounty) British Migrations 1839-1871, three John McDermotts arrived on the ship John Knox on the 30 July 1851. You can view the original microfiche of these records at the State Library or Public Records Office in North Melbourne; the Book numbers are 5A and page numbers 147, 132 and 335.

my g.g.grandmother Mary McDonald came out on the Pemberton,1849, to Melbourne, an 18yr old housemaid. How can I find out if she was an orphan? Would it be fair to assume so? She was fro Kilrush co. clare

Hi Sean, thanks for the enquiry. We have sent you an email with some links and information.

I recently discovered my namesake Catherine Dowden arrived in Sydney on the John Knox in 1850. I've found her listed in Trevor McClaughlin's book. (Thanks SO much for writing this Trevor) My problem is I can't locate the Register & Application for Orphans 'which gives information about the orphans' early days in Australia' (McClaughlin, p140). I'm looking for Register 2, No 697 but can't find this on State Records NSW's website. How can I take this further?

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