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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office. Australia, 1849-1850
Author Wood, C Alexander; Rogers, Frederic; Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton
Date 3 Aug 1849 - 1 Apr 1850
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/67
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters, mostly addressed to Herman Merivale, some for the attention of Lord Grey, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The correspondence covers a wide variety of subjects including the sale of land, the funding of assisted migration, conditions onboard migrants ships (notably the flogging of female migrants on the 'Ramilies'), the suitability and selection of migrants, and the emigration of servants, labourers, veterans and 'capitalists'. Much of the material deals with regulating the above. An index is included at the end of the volume.
Series Description This series contains original correspondence, entry books and registers of the Agent General for Emigration, the South Australian Commissioners and the Land and Emigration Commission. Amongst the miscellaneous contents are registers of births and deaths of emigrants at sea 1854-1869, lists of ships chartered 1847-1875, registers of surgeons appointed 1854-1894, and volumes of The Colonial Gazette 1838-1842.
Biographical Note / History A Colonial Land and Emigration Commission was created in 1840 to undertake the duties of two earlier and overlapping authorities which were both under the supervision of the Secretary of State. These were the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, established under an Act of 1834, and the Agent General for Emigration, appointed in 1837. The new commission dealt with grants of land, the outward movement of settlers, the administration of the Passengers' Acts of 1855 and 1863 and, from 1846 to 1859, the scrutiny of colonial legislation. In 1855 it became the Emigration Commission. In 1873 the administration of the Passengers' Acts was transferred to the Board of Trade. The commission's powers were gradually given up to the larger colonies as they obtained self-government, and after 1873 its only duties were the control of the importation of Indian indentured labour into sugar-producing colonies and it was abolished in 1878.
Theme(s) Politics, Legislation and Governance; Motives for Emigration; Journey Conditions
Country (from) Germany; Ireland; Great Britain
Country (to) Australia; New Zealand
Places Geelong, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia, Australia; Cape of Good Hope; London, England
Ports Sydney, New South Wales, Port Phillip, Victoria, Twofold Bay, Australia; New Plymouth, Wellington, New Zealand; Plymouth, England; Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality German; English; European; Irish
Ships Aurora; Mary Shepherd; Ramilies; James Gibb; Earl Grey; Roman Emperor
People Merivale, Herman; Lord Howick (Grey, Henry); Grey, Sir George; Fitzroy, Governor Charles Augustus; Denison, Sir William
Keywords emigration, child migration, agriculture, labour, labourer, administration, land price, land sale, servant, finance, money, morality, surgeon, workhouse, eligibility, claims, female emigration, orphan, industry, Bank of England, New Zealand Company, passage money, regulations, legislation, transportation, religion, matron, flogging, assisted emigration, army veteran, agent, convict, shipping, land grant
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK