Australia was destination for many female orphans in Newry Workhouse

Tomorrow evening Tuesday 24 October 22, 7.30pm at Ballybot House, Cornmarket, Newry, Historian Hugh McShane will give a talk on The Female Orphans of Newry Workhouse. At the height of the Famine these orphans were sent to Australia, employed in domestic and farm service, with many playing a part in building a modern Australia.

The Great Famine had a devastating impact on the lives of Irish people. It is generally accepted that around one million people died and at least another million emigrated during the period 1845 to 1852. However, until recently, one aspect of the Famine story has remained under the radar of historical research – the emigration of female Famine orphans from Irish workhouses to Australia. 

While attempts were made to alleviate the Famine crisis through emergency relief measures such as the importation of grain, public works schemes and soup kitchens, from 1847 British governments increasingly turned to assisted emigration as part of the solution to the humanitarian crisis that was unfolding. Emigration had already been a feature of Irish life, but was accelerated greatly by the failure of the potato crop.

Typical of the attempts by the authorities to enhance the female population of Australia were schemes where single women were encouraged to take up free passage to New South Wales. Despite these efforts to redress the balance of sexes in the sub-continent, the colonization of new areas led to demands for more female emigrants. In the decade prior to the 1840s, New South Wales had a population of 77,000, the majority male, who were “irregular in their habits and not likely much to multiply their numbers.” The colonial authorities wanted to recruit female settlers because of the large gender imbalance in the colony (8:1 in favour of men). 

By December 1847, overcrowding in Irish workhouses had reached crisis point. The annual report of the Irish Poor Law Commission (PLC) revealed that there were 120,000 persons in the workhouses, 55,000 of them children under fifteen years of age. To those in government, some of these children were regarded as ideal candidates for emigration to Australia. A scheme was devised by Henry George Grey (3rd Earl Grey), Secretary of State for the Colonies 1846-52, which would relieve the situation in the workhouses and, at the same time, meet the demand for domestic labourers and single young women in Australia. 

Under the Earl Grey Scheme, a total of 4,114 Irish orphans arrived on twenty ships over a two-year period. By 1847, the workhouses in Ireland were full, making such an emigration scheme attractive. At this early stage, the proposal included both male and female orphans but by May 1848, just as the first males were being selected, the scheme was restricted to females, the main demand among the middle class employers in Australia being for female domestic servants. The advantages of travelling to Australia were to be sold to the female orphans in very positive terms. 

Built to accommodate 1,000 inmates, in January 1846 Newry Workhouse contained only 469 paupers, yet by December it had risen to 1,063. The female orphans who left Newry Workhouse between 1848 and 1850 were understandably tempted by the offer of a new life in Australia, particularly when compared to the conditions that prevailed in the workhouse at the time. By the time of the Earl Grey Scheme, famine had increased the number in the workhouse to over 1,500. Thirty five orphan girls left Newry Workhouse for Australia between 1848 and 1850, travelling via Dublin and Plymouth and arriving at Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. The majority found employment as domestic servants or on farms.

At a remove of nearly two centuries, it is easy to speculate from the perspective of a comfortable lifestyle about how these young girls may have felt about the journey they were about to undertake. It is clear, however, that the idealized version of life in Australia, painted so vividly and persuasively by the contemporary press, and even by some of the orphans’ letters to relatives back home, was as far from reality as the distance between the mother country and the land where they sought redemption. Whilst a few, like Margaret Plunkett, Lucy Ellis and Margaret Larkin, appear to have adapted and prospered, the majority have slipped into relative obscurity, their fate unknown. Nonetheless, these young women, including those from Newry, did make an important contribution to the growth of a new nation through their sense of adventure, their relentless optimism and ultimately, through their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, who now lead modern Australia.

Admission tomorrow night 24 October is £8 Adults/ £4 Students which includes refreshments.