I dont know what would have attracted him,but a guess would be,promise of
some land,warm weather and opportunity to make a life,here cold miserable
winter,no help if out of work,very little chance of owning property if lower
working class,.there is a rootsweb ships list,they may have some
information.
also this link about emmigration.
http://www.theshipslist.com/Forms/assisted1869.html
joyce
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger & Jodie Morris" <rog.jod(a)bigpond.net.au>
To: <MonmouthshireGwent-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 10:38 PM
Subject: Emigration from Ebbw Vale to Australia in 1870s Why??
Hello,
My Great Grandfather, JOHN MORRIS (1852-1938) moved from his family farm
near
Eardisland in Herefordshire to Ebbw Vale in the mid 1870s, where he
worked as a 'labourer' and later a 'furnace keeper', I assume in one
ofthe
local iron works (Tredegar or Sirhowy).
Can you give me some background as to what attracted him to this area in
the mid
1870s, what his work would have consisted of and work conditions?
After marrying a Welsh girl (daughter of a furnace keeper) in 1875 and
having a
couple of kids, he made the momentous decision to uproot his family
and jump on a cramped sailing boat and sail 3 months into the blue beyond to
Queensland, Australia. They did so in 1878.
What was happening in the Ebbw Vale region in the late 1870s to prompt a
decision
like this - his family had lived in the same valley in
Herefordshire for generations? Either life was rotten in industrial Wales or
the promise of life in Australia was extremely attractive.
They moved to a coal mining region in SE Queensland (Burrum River region).
This was
near a major immigration township called Maryborough.
I would like to try to understand what made them do such a momentous thing
(like
many others).
Cheers,
Roger Morris
Queensland, Australia.
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