Clarification about Assisted Immigration, please - Queensland 1871

[halhawk]

Hi - apologies if this has been answered somewhere already.  I think I have a general idea about how Assisted Immigration worked, but I have a query prompted by looking at a scan of the Index of Assisted Immigration found online at Queensland State Archives.

My distant (and previously totally vanished) relative is listed arriving at Moreton Bay in July 1871. The Index shows her as part of a group of 105 (almost entirely) young single women, under the heading 'Free'.  How was this different to the group labelled 'Assisted?  I have very quickly found a great deal of information about her subsequent life in Brisbane, including (from an obituary) that she used to say she went out to Australia for a holiday and stayed! Somehow I don't think the holiday fits with her entry on the register?

Thanks for any help
halhawk

[Jebber]

As I understand it, assisted passengers had their fares paid for them, either by future employers in Australia, of by the parishes on which they were a burden in the UK.

Free passengers paid their own fares, so were not dependent on others.

I am sure someone else will come along with further information.

[a-l]

I'm not sure about the fare , I wonder if this was a group of young ladies sent to equal the male female ratio.

[Jebber]

It may have been an alternative term for Bounty Immigrants. Thousands of working class girls went through the Sydney Female Immigration Depot based at Hyde Park Barracks between 1848 and 1886.

[matthewj64]

The conditions attached to each the immigration categories, which appear as headings on the passenger lists (Full Paying, Free, Assisted, Remittance) are listed in the article below. From what I can make out, Assisted passengers were required to repay a set amount over time, whereas female domestic servants listed as Free did not.

1870 'IMMIGRATION.', Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 - 1947), 8 March, p. 4. , viewed 06 Jul 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148019696

M

Add: It also looks as though Assisted passengers were required to pay half the amount upfront, but Free did not.

[Aussie1947]

Hi,

In 1871 Immigration would have come under the 1869 Queensland Immigration Act and in short terms I think it went something like this.

Assisted Passage was meant for those immigrants approved by the Agent General who could not pay the whole cost of their voyage.

and

Free Passage was for female domestic servants and other labouring class approved by the Agent General as may from time to time be specifically required in the Colony.

There were conditions agreed to by the immigrants before they travelled.

Free immigrants had to pay on application 1 pound per adult and except in the case of female domestic servants pay back to the Qld Government the sum of 16 pound per adult in two instalments at 12 and 24 months after their arrival.

It was estimated that 16 pound was the cost of bringing an adult immigrant to Queensland.

Assisted immigrants had to pay the 1 pound per adult on application and except in the case of female domestic servants pay back 8 pounds per adult within 12 months of settling in Queensland.

Gerry


 

[halhawk]

Many thanks to all of you.  The information about the Immigration Act is exactly what I was looking for, so she presumably went as a domestic servant.  She must have settled in quickly and within 3 years she had married and settled in Brisbane. I'm glad to have found out what happened and been able to cross off one of my 'lost cousins'.

Cheers
halhawk

[Aussie1947]

The application process was fairly intense, your relative would have to get references from her employer, two respectable householders,  a magistrate or minister, a medical certificate then wait to be allocated a voyage when accepted.

Single women had to travel with a family or under the control and care of a matron.

Gerry 

[halhawk]

That's interesting ... not too difficult to get that as long as references from extended family were acceptable ... Matilda was from one of the less well off branches, but others were well-to-do tenant farmers or farm owners, and at least 2 were local magistrates (would need to check which one it might have been then).  Not sure if she was officially employed ... oldest of a fairly large family, and they had a farm tenancy, so suspect she helped in the home/on the farm.  Unfortunately although the 1871 Census was taken a week before she sailed, she was recorded as a visitor at an aunt's house ... presumably making a round of goodbye calls.

The list on the Index had one woman marked as Matron, which I did suspect might mean supervisor. I'm not sure I would be enthusiastic about supervising 102 15-31 yr olds on a voyage that long.

Thanks again
halhawk