Between 1848 and 1850, over 4,000 Irish orphan girls from the workhouses of Ireland were shipped to Australia under an assisted passage scheme called the Earl Grey Scheme - an effort to solve the massive gender imbalance existing in Australia at that time. The girls were aged between 14 and 18, mainly orphans but some also had at least one parent living, yet they were still eligible for the scheme. In Australia they worked mainly as domestic servants, married and raised large families - in a way achieving exactly that which the scheme set out to achieve. This talk offers an overview of the origins and practice of the scheme and the many hardships the girls endured in 19th century colonial Australia.

Address
Co. Galway – County