Year 9 History: The Making of the Modern World
Topic 2: European Migration to the Port Phillip District,
and the impact on Aborigines
Supplemental material and activities
To follow on from your introductory work on emigration to Australia, the sources and information in
this resource booklet will help you to identify some of the ideas, beliefs and motives that caused
people to emigrate to the Port Phillip District – the region that became Victoria.
As you work through this booklet (and the Year 9 History course overall) you will continue to develop
a range of skills, both broad-based skills that transfer between subjects, and others specific to the
study of History, such as:
-
An ability to identify the relationship between events and developments, for example the
effects of the Industrial Revolution on different peoples’ lives
Identify the origin, purpose, and context of different historical sources
Refer specifically to different sources in responses to questions
You will also gain a greater understanding of the patterns of migration to the Port Phillip District
during the 1830s and 1840s, and the effect of that migration on Aborigines.
PART ONE:
MIGRATION TO THE PORT PHILLIP DISTRICT
Thomas Henty was a sheep farmer and banker from Sussex on the south coast of England. He
emigrated with his family to Australia in 1829. They arrived in what is now Perth, but poor land
caused them to move to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). There too they had bleak prospects so
eventually settled the southern coast at Portland. They were the first European settlers in what
became the Port Phillip District. Hendy became a prominent Victorian settler and Henty Street in
Brighton is named after the family.
The motives for emigration are revealed in the following sources.
Thomas Henty wrote to a friend in 1822 who had recently emigrated to New South Wales about the
difficulties in England and about his friend’s emigration…
The state of agriculture is worse than when you were here, there is absolutely no sale for anything in
the shape of agricultural produce, I have not sold sheep or taken £20 for corn…Ruin stares the
farmer full in the face, and rents are lowering all over the Kingdom, but this will not save the
farmers, unless prices are brought up, and I confess I now think there is no chance of it…
…It requires great courage to surmount the many difficulties and privations you necessarily will have
to encounter. I long to receive a letter from you, giving me a very particular account of the country,
but more particularly of the prospect for a farmer with a pretty good stock of agricultural
knowledge.
Source 1: Letter from Thomas Henty to a friend, John Street, in 1822
1. Why was Thomas Henty so interested in emigration?
By 1828 the Henty’s had decided to emigrate. The extracts from a letter below outline the reasons…
I have almost come to the conclusion that New South Wales will do more for our family than
England ever will...At the expiration of 10 years in New South Wales I shall be much disappointed if
we individually are not worth double that sum (£400 or £500 a year - double that would £800 or
£1000 a year), arising from the accumulation of our Stock and our annual exports to England. For the
first year or two we shall have to endure privations and hardships which we have not been
accustomed to in England...our name is already well known in the Colony, and immediately we get
there we shall be placed in the first Rank in Society, a circumstance which must not be overlooked...
Source 2: Thomas’ eldest son, James Henty, writing to his brother William in 1828
1. Identify the push and pull factors that caused the Henty family to emigrate.
2. Which of the two forces, push or pull, do you consider the strongest in their case?
The conditions in England, Ireland and Scotland for many people were dire. These quotes give an
impression of the situation for much of the population:
We heard from a labourer the following account of a day’s diet. After doing up his horses he takes
breakfast, which is made of flour with a little butter, and water ‘from the tea-kettle’ poured over it.
He takes with him to the field a piece of bread and (if he can afford it) cheese to eat at midday. He
returns home to a few potatoes. The supper very commonly consists of bread and water. Both
farmers and labourers suffer from the oversupply of labour. We found a prevalent desire for
emigration among the labourers themselves.
Source 3: James Caird, 1852
In the best cases a temporarily endurable existence for hard work and good wages, from the
workers’ standpoint; in the worst cases, bitter want, reaching even homelessness and death by
starvation. The average is much nearer the worst case than the best.
Source 4: Frederick Engels, 1844
The people were ragged to a degree of wretchedness not seen in any other country.
Source 5: Alexander Somerville, 1847
There can be no doubt that textile workers’ living standards declined appreciably in the 1820s and
1830s. Many became unemployed. For those who could not find work or a potato patch there was
only the emigrant ship as an escape.
Source 6: Gearoid L’Tuathaigh, Ireland Before the Famine, 1972
1. What additional push factors can you identify from the quotes above?
After the Henty’s settled in Portland others developed an interest in the region. In 1835 John Batman
explored Port Phillip Bay. John Pascoe Fawkner settled on the Yarra in August 1835 and Batman
returned in November with pastoralists and their sheep. His journal reveals his initial impressions
about the area that is now Melbourne:
Saturday, May 30 1835: On my landing I found the hills of a most superior description – beyond my
most sanguine expectations. The land excellent, and very rich…good hay could be made, and in any
quantity.
Thursday, June 4 1835: Most beautiful sheep pasturage I ever saw in my life. I am sure I can see
50,000 acres of land in one direction, and not fifty trees…
Source 7: from John Batman’s journal
Major Thomas Mitchell
June 29, 1836: The scene was different from anything I had ever before witnessed, either in New
South Wales or elsewhere. A land so inviting, and still without inhabitants!...I felt conscious of being
the harbinger of mighty changes; and that our steps would soon be followed by the men and the
animals for which it seemed to have been prepared.
Source 8: from Thomas Mitchell, Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, 1839
1.
2.
3.
4.
What did Batman think of Port Phillip’s lands?
Why was it significant that there were so few trees?
Why did Mitchell find the land so inviting?
What does he mean by the phrase ‘a land so inviting, and still without inhabitants’? Does
this seem an odd statement?
As news about the Port Phillip District made its way back to England, emigration became a popular
topic in printed newspapers and journals. The following documents sample some of this material.
Emigration is a public blessing; while it relieves the home country of superabundant members of the
producing classes, it also creates a market for the produce of our looms and manufactories. It
promotes the prosperity of thousands who, if they continued in their fatherland would be merely
able to eke out a miserable experience. The struggle for existence of the lower and middle classes, at
home, becomes more difficult as population increases and wealth consolidates in the hands of those
already rich.
Source 9: J.C.Byrne, Twelve Years’ Wanderings in the British Colonies from 1835 to 1847, London 1848
For growing wheat, maize, and potatoes, the Port Phillip District is unrivalled in Australia. Any man
who is able and willing to work may here obtain employment. I do not know of any sober industrious
freeman who has not saved money, or accumulated its equivalent in property.
Source 10: D. McKenzie, The Emigrant’s Guide or Ten Years’ Practical Experience in Australia, London 1845
The Australian colonies present an almost boundless field for the industry of man. All who are willing
and able to work may live, and live well, there.
Source 11: R.J.Mann, Mann’s Emigrant Guide to Australia, London 1849
1. Why does Byrne claim emigration is a ‘public blessing’?
2. How was the Port Phillip District portrayed in the three sources above?
3. Do McKenzie and Mann agree or disagree? Explain your thoughts.
But there were warnings for those who may not be able to manage the demands of the migrant
lifestyle…
None should leave England who are advanced in years, or ill in health. It requires an energetic, and
healthy mind, to contend with the troubles of first settlement. Those who can compete with their
own grade of life in England should not risk their happiness by emigrating.
Source 12: G.H.Haydon, Five Years’ Experience in Australia Felix, London 1846
Those who can obtain food and peace of mind in their own country would do well to endeavour to
be content therewith, rather than to incur the risks attendant on emigration. While sober,
industrious, and prudent persons have, in many instances, found it easier to obtain a livelihood in
the Australian colonies than in England, many have been ruined and others have sunk into hopeless
degradation.
Source 13: James Backhouse, A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies, London 1845
1. What types of people were advised to emigrate in the documents above?
2. What qualities do the writers of these documents say the emigrants should possess?
3. Was emigration recommended for everybody? Explain your response.
Caroline Chisholm worked in Australia in the 1840s to help families become established and during
her work she recorded the experiences of many migrants. The statements made to her reveal some of
the attitudes of those who had emigrated to Australia…
I worked hard when I arrived, as bricklayer, plasterer, or any work I could get. My brother lives in
London…be sure you see them, and do all you can to get them out to Australia.
Source 14: From Statement No.1, John O, formerly of Commercial Road, London
Oh, what a difference there is between the country and home for poor folks. I know I would not go
back again, I know what England is. Old England is a fine place for the rich, but the Lord help the
poor.
Source 15: From Statement No.5, Ellen W, formerly of London
I am a great deal better off than at home. I would not go home again, would you?...We bake our
own bread, English fashion; have meat, bread, butter, and tea three times a day, and plenty of
eggs…I’m blessed!
Source 16: From Statement No.14, William C, formerly of Surrey
1. What values and beliefs to these three statements reveal?
2. How does the diet of the writer of Source 16 compare with that described in Source 3?
3. How might these statements have been received by the rural populations of England,
Scotland and Ireland? Use earlier documents in this booklet to help answer this question.
Extended response:
Learning to write in a concise manner is an important skill. You should be able to complete your
response to the task below in around 250-300 words, or roughly one hand written page.
Based on your knowledge of the topic, and with reference to specific sources, explain the motives
that Europeans had for settling in the Port Phillip District.