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Opposing Australia’s First Assisted Immigrants, 1832-42

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  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Melanie Burkett

    1. Hamden, USA

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  • Analyses the motives behind the Australian elite's denouncement of government-assisted migrants
  • Unravels political, economic, and cultural forces involved in the construction of social hierarchy in a settler colony
  • Touches on Australian attitudes felt towards immigration and immigrants today

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Migration History (PSMH)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Melanie Burkett
    Pages 1-27

  3. Collateral Damage in a Political Game

    • Melanie Burkett
    Pages 29-61

  4. The Interwoven Trio: Immigration, Representative Government, and Transportation

    • Melanie Burkett
    Pages 63-90

  5. Land, Labour, and the Economic Development of New South Wales

    • Melanie Burkett
    Pages 91-125

  6. When Wealth Equals Worth

    • Melanie Burkett
    Pages 127-154

  7. Impossible Standards: Gender Norms and the Rejection of Single Female Immigrants

    • Melanie Burkett
    Pages 155-182

  8. Adversity Absent Compassion: The Migrant Experience

    • Melanie Burkett
    Pages 183-209

  9. Conclusion

    • Melanie Burkett
    Pages 211-225

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 227-256
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Keywords

About this book

This book unravels the paradoxical denigration of the first significant group of free (non-convict), working-class emigrants to the Australian colony of New South Wales in the 1830s. Though their labour was sorely needed, the colonial elite rejected the new arrivals on the grounds that they were ‘lazy’ and ‘immoral’. These criticisms stemmed from political, economic, and cultural motivations that ultimately sought to protect, legitimise, and cement the elite’s financial and social hegemony. The author seeks to explore the ulterior motives behind the public denouncements of immigrants by exposing the conflicting and opportunistic rationales used. Brought to Australia from Britain and Ireland through the experiment of ‘government-assisted migration,’ these immigrants are often remembered as ‘brave pioneers’ today, but this book exposes the deep antagonistic attitudes toward immigration that remain entrenched in Australian society. Uncovering early forms of class antagonism in Australia,this book presents useful insights for those researching Australian history and migration studies, as well as scholars of colonial history, by providing a model for re-evaluating and confronting a long-standing pattern in most settler societies: hostility toward immigrants.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Hamden, USA

    Melanie Burkett

About the author

Melanie Burkett is the Assistant Dean for Advising and Experiential Learning and Assistant Professor of History at Quinnipiac University, USA. Her research focuses on migration to Britain’s settler colonies in the nineteenth century. Her work has been published in Australia, Migration and Empire: Immigrants in a Globalised World (Palgrave, 2019), the Journal of Migration History, and the Melbourne Historical Journal. She studied at Macquarie University with the support of the International Macquarie University Research Excellence Scholarship, and during that time, she served as a post-graduate student representative to the Australian Historical Association Executive Committee. Prior to that, she studied history at North Carolina State University, USA, and obtained degrees from Duke and Ohio universities.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Opposing Australia’s First Assisted Immigrants, 1832-42

  • Authors: Melanie Burkett

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Migration History

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84920-7

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-84919-1Published: 27 October 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-84922-1Published: 28 October 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-84920-7Published: 26 October 2021

  • Series ISSN: 2946-4358

  • Series E-ISSN: 2946-4366

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 256

  • Topics: History, general, Migration, Imperialism and Colonialism, History of Britain and Ireland, Social History

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