Famine Orphan Emigration Scheme (Part 1)

Some years ago I visited the Hyde Park Barracks Museum in Sydney and viewed the Australian monument to the Irish Famine.  It was commissioned in 1999 by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales on behalf of the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee.  The sculpture consists of a bronze table piercing the sandstone wall of the museum with the names of the orphan girls sent out from Irish Workhouses to Australia sandblasted onto glass panels.  It includes a shelf with a few potatoes, a shovel, some books and personal belongings with three bronze stools showing evidence of womens clothing and needlework.

The orphans commemorated in this monument were the more than 4,000 girls from Irish Workhouses who in the aftermath of the Great Famine were selected by government officials to be sent to Australia between October 1848 and August 1850.  The Orphan Emigration Scheme was devised by Earl Grey, the British Secretary of State, as a means of alleviating overcrowding in Ireland’s workhouses and in an attempt to lessen the imbalance of the sexes in Australia.

Criticism of the Orphan Emigration Scheme was led amongst others by the Anglican Bishop Goold of Melbourne and much of that criticism was based on fears that an influx of orphan females, the majority of whom were Catholics, would ‘Romanise the Australian colonies’.  The Orphan Immigration depot in Adelaide was described as a ‘government brothel’ and claims were made and reported that the orphans were not the ‘kind of people suited to Australia’s needs.’  In the face of increasing mounting criticism the Scheme was abandoned at the end of 1850, but not before more than 4,000 young orphan girls had landed at Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.  Amongst their numbers were two groups of girls from Athy’s Workhouse.  The first group of 18 girls travelled in the ship ‘Lady Peel’, arriving in Sydney on 3^rd July 1849.  The second and last group of girls comprising 16 former inmates of Athy’s Workhouse arrived in Sydney on the ship ‘Maria’ on 1^st August 1850.  The details of those who arrived in 1849 are:-

NAME	AGE	ADDRESS	PARENTS		RELIGION
Carroll, Ann	17	Athy	Martin and Biddy	Father in America	R.C.
Clare, Ann	17	Athy	Patrick and Ann	Mother living in Athy	R.C.
Connor, Lucy	19	Athy	James and Eliza	Both dead	R.C.
Croak, Bridget	19	Stradbally	John and Ann	Mother living in Hyde, Kildare	R.C.
Dobson, Margaret	17	Athy	Joseph and Julia	Both dead	R.C.
Egan, Bridget	18	Athy	John and Jane	Mother living in Athy	R.C.
Fitzpatrick, Eliza	19	Monasterevin	Stephen and Elizabeth	Both dead	R.C.
Flemming, Catherine	18	Athy	Barney and Catherine	Mother living in Athy	R.C.
Flemming, Rose	19	Ballyadams	Patrick and Mary	Mother lives in Ballyadams	R.C.
Green, Mary	18	Athy	John and Catherine	Both dead	R.C.
Hayes, Mary	18	Athy	John and Mary	Both dead	R.C.
Hayes, Elizabeth	18	Athy	John and Mary	Both dead	R.C.
Ivory, Bridget	17	Athy	James and Margaret	Both dead	R.C.
Moore, Bridget	18	Athy	James and Mary	Father in America Mother living in Athy	R.C.
Murray, Ellen	18	Athy	Hugh and Jane	Mother living in Athy	C. of E.
Neill, Margaret	18	Athy	Michael and Catherine	Both dead	R.C.
Sinclair, Ann	17	Àthy	Patrick and Mary	Living in Athy	R.C.
Sullivan, Ellen	18	Athy	John and Ellen	Mother living in Athy	R.C.

......................... TO BE CONTINUED ...............................