The full content of this document is only available to subscribing institutions. More information can be found via www.amdigital.co.uk

Title The Peril of Melbourne
Date 1907
Document Type Pamphlet
Publisher Information Victorian Land Settlement Division of the Immigration League of Australia
Reference HT 15913
Library / Archive Museums Victoria
Collection Name White Australia
Description The pamphlet promotes the increase of primary production and producers in Victoria, land settlement opportunities, and expresses concern regarding the emigration from Victoria of the fit, educated and able. It admonishes the Victoria state government for enabling this situation through thwarting land settlement. It also includes the membership, platform and objectives of the Immigration League of Australia, including Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, its president. Its stated platform is "The settlement and cultivation of our lands, and the attraction of desirable immigrants to Australia" through advocacy of closer settlement, education regarding need to increase agricultural population, dissemination of information regarding land settlement and immigration In Australia and overseas and provision of assistance and advice to arriving immigrants.
Biographical Note / History The Peril of Melbourne' refers to the threat to Melbourne's prosperity if rural settlement and production on the land is not increased and assured. The priority for the association was the settling of locally-born people on the land and then opening land up for immigrants. The essay also includes negative international comparisons with Victoria regarding primary production, birth and marriage rates. Finally the essay concludes with a warning statement regarding Australia's vulnerability to invasion, particularly by Asian populations. In the absence of any national immigration selection policy prior to 1920, voluntary agencies formed, including The Immigration League of Australia. It was formed in 1905 by Richard Arthur, MLA for New South Wales with encouragement from Prime Minister Alfred Deakin. A later offshoot was called the Immigration League of Australasia, while the original body was renamed the British Immigration League of Australia which focused on immigration from Britain. By 1914 the League had brought 7,500 migrants to Australia mostly from London under agreement with the Central (Unemployed) Body for London.
Theme(s) Motives for Emigration
People Deakin, Alfred
Keywords land grant, settlement, emigration, immigrant, agriculture, education, Orient Line
Additional Information Please note: Some of the metadata for this document has been taken from the Museum Victoria catalogue.
Catalogue Link Museums Victoria Catalogue
Language English
Copyright Museums Victoria