Early Migration Schemes

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.

Comments (53) popular  |  oldest  |  newest

Discovery Centre 14 May 2009 12:24

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 26 Jun 2009 11:21

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 15 Mar 2010 12:50

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 05 Jan 2011 10:20

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 28 Jan 2011 11:51

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 09 Feb 2011 12:06

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.

reply (4)   

Frederick Smith 21 Feb 2011 11:50

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?.

 

Discovery Centre 21 Feb 2011 16:14

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. (4)

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 21 Feb 2011 16:23

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 21 Feb 2011 16:31

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 15 Mar 2011 11:01

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 09 Apr 2011 11:10

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!

reply (5)   

Discovery Centre 10 Jun 2011 14:22

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 15 Jul 2011 15:42

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.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 30 Jul 2011 10:36

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

reply (4)   

noelene marshall 16 Sep 2011 02:33

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.

 

Discovery Centre 17 Sep 2011 10:59

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. (4)

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 10 Oct 2011 10:08

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.

reply (4)   

Sean Hants 27 Dec 2011 01:35

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

 

Discovery Centre 01 Jan 2012 15:47

Hi Sean, thanks for the enquiry.  We have sent you an email with some links and information.   (4)

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 10 Feb 2012 16:11

Hi Cathy,

We have found http://api.records.nsw.gov.au/series/5240 held at the Western Sydney Records Centre (no digital copies) but we are not sure this is what you are looking for. You may have to contact the State Records Authority of NSW directly for further information.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 05 Mar 2012 15:08

Hi there Ronald. Most of the resources that you need to do your search are mentioned on the page or in the comments above. The John Knox actually came into Sydney not Brisbane. None of the Earl Grey Ships came to Brisbane but some of the girls that landed in Sydney (and possibly Melbourne or Adelaide) later made their way to Brisbane. Mary's name is one the John Knox passenger list at State Records NSW and she would be mentioned in Trevor McClaughlin's book that we've discussed above a number of times. She would have gone through the Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney where the girls who were part of the Earl Grey Scheme that arrived in that city were housed. The Irish Famine Memorial located at Hyde Park Barracks has a great website with a database of the orphans. They are currently adding the John Knox orphans to the database but are not up to K yet! Mary does not appear on the list of orphans on the memorial but only a small number do.

reply (4)   

Discovery Centre 28 Mar 2012 11:29

Hi there, Susan is listed both in the database of the Irish Famine Memorial (linked at left) and in Trevor McClaughlin's book mentioned above on p.327, with the employer to whom she was indentured listed. Of the two women she was travelling with, one came from the same town, Rosscrea, while the other came from Nenagh, both being in Tipperary. Travelling together doesn't necessarily mean they were related but they might have been. The original passenger list, the microfiche of which can be viewed at the Public Record Office of Victoria, might reveal more, although it's unusual for McClaughlin not to say so in his book this if so. The girls that were on the Earl Grey ships were dubbed orphans but, of course, not all were. The Famine meant that many families lived in great poverty and their parent's simply were not able to feed everyone. Some of these girls therefore went to workhouses and thence to Australia. There is an interesting bit of information on the Pemberton and it's orphans in the history of the Royal Hibernian Military School but plenty more can be found by doing an online search. This link indicates that Susan would have come from the Poor Law Union in Rosscrea. We hope this helps!

reply       

Discovery Centre 09 Apr 2012 13:57

Hi MM, have you looked at Trevor McClaughlin's book Barefoot and pregnant? It discusses Eliza Blackburn/Connelly on p 216. If she was indentured her records would be with SRNSW but looking at the book it doesn't look like she was, as McClaughlin would normally mention it. Nevertheless it might be worth looking. The entry lists ALL her relations in the colony including her father Michael Blackburn, uncles Thomas and Richard and cousin Thomas, living in Sydney. She went to her aunt Ellen who's husband was Inspector Holmes, who also lived in Sydney and possibly she did some sort of household duties for them. Because her uncle was a police inspector, SRNSW may have correspondence relating to the Inspector himself. He seems to be referred to in the newspapers and you can search these for further mentions on the Trove website. Her parents are listed as Michael Blackburn and Ellen Connelly, indicating that she was possibly known by her mother's name and thus suggests that her parents may not have been married.

reply       

Discovery Centre 16 Apr 2012 12:02

Hi Lee-Ann, it sounds like you have already consulted the resources mentioned in the article and comments above and know a bit of information. The museum doesn't hold records here so to discover more you'll need to consult some other resources both in Australia and Ireland. You may want to obtain birth, death & marriage records for her and other members of her family; consult wills & probates and other archival material (such as mining licenses - Inglewood was a gold rush town at the time she was there) at the Public Record Office of Victoria; search online newspapers for mention of them; and contact the Inglewood Historical Society for a start. For research into her and her ancestors' lives in Ireland you might want to get some ideas from the National Museum of Australia's excellent site on Irish family history research. There are myriad resources out there that might hold information and some inspirational ideas of avenues to research can be found in the State Library of Victoria's Family History Resources page.

reply