Female orphans from Donegal Dispatched to Australia 1848 - 1850
By May McClintock

Between 1848 and 1850 over 4,000 female orphans arrived in Australia from Irish workhouses as part of a pauper immigration scheme devised by Earl Grey, the British secretary of State for the Colonies. It was thought that the shortage of labour in Australia and an imbalance of the sexes could be overcome by alleviating the overcrowding in Ireland's famine-filled workhouses.

From the beginning the scheme was vilified by the colonists and for the two years of its operation they heaped scorn and derision, not on the authorities, but on the heads of the unfortunate orphans. They were despised by the settled community in Sydney and Melbourne who considered they were foisted on them for political reasons. The utter disdain of the colonists and newspapers editors reached amazing depths - the girls became part of the 'damned whore' stereotype, the doormats of the Western world, dirty brutes, professed public women and barefoot little beggars'. The Captain and matron of one of the ships recorded that 'they were notoriously bad in every sense of the word, violent, disorderly, obscene and profane in their language, many of them prostitutes and many of them not orphans at all who had been swept from the streets into the workhouses with a view to their being swept out to New South Wales.

Considering that these girls were aged between 14 and 18 years, had lost one or both parents during the worst years of the Famine, and were mostly from small towns, it is difficult to accept such contemptuous comments. How are they to be judged? So much as is known about these young girls comes from government reports and official correspondence. The authors of these documents were concerned with the smooth execution of a government policy. They did not show the orphans' point of view. Of the 4,000 girls taken to New South Wales and Victoria, one hundred came from Donegal workhouses. It is hoped that this article will help bring one closer to this group of underprivileged and destitute young women. This is a difficult assignment when one considers that on the whole they were illiterate. They left no diaries,but they challenged us to jump to their defence. Ann Kelly wrote home to her mother to give an account of her voyage and the impressions of her new life. Her letter poses more questions that can be answered and will be dealt with later.

The orphans from Donegal were from the destitute class of Irish society. They were orphaned, some had lost one parent, some had lost both, but who in desperation or abandoned, turned to the Poor Law Union for charity. It was in the workhouses of Letterkenny, Milford, Dunfanaghy, Glenties, Donegal and Ballyshannon that they were offered a chance to escape to a prosperous land, a land where wages for domestic service were high and most importantly a land where food was in plentiful supply.

The Lady Kennaway took the first batch of orphans from Donegal to Port Phillip, Melbourne, in 1848. Eleven ships during the two years that the scheme operated sailed to Sidney. Six ships landed at Melbourne, and it would appear from the records that the Donegal girls went on the Lady Kennaway, the Derwent and the Eliza Caroline. From the records in Letterkenny and Milford one can trace the course of events. Preparations began in Milford in 1848 when it was 'resolved that the list of Female Orphans in the Workhouse desirous of emigrating be sent to the Poor Law Commissioners with the minutes and that the Commissioners be requested to have an officer of the Emigration Commissioners visit the Workhouse in order to ascertain whether the candidates for emigration are suitable and of the property class and provide the necessary outfits for them that they may be selected and to send them to the port for embarkation. Also resolved that the Board furnished the Board of Guardians on this day week with a list of orphans in the house aged between 14 and 18 years, taking into account the length of time they have been in the house, their conduct and their general proficiency as to education'. In Milford the plans for the orphans were on the agenda again on July 31, 1848 when their outfits, travelling expenses and the itinerary were finalised - from Milford to Dublin and thence to Plymouth. Eleven orphans were chosen but their names are not listed. Messrs Gregg. Fullerton and Andrew Patton were put in charge of purchasing the outfits and the emigration account. Clothing, boxes, shoes, books and dressmakers' bills came to a total of thirty pounds, two shillings and two pence.

Meanwhile in Letterkenny workhouse similar plans were ongoing . Outfits were being prepared, boxes costing 4 shillings each were ordered from Alexander Moore and John Kennedy. On the 18th August 1848 we learn that orphans had also been selected in Dunfanaghy. Unfortunately the minute Books for Dunfanaghy are not available for that period. But Letterkenny Minutes state: 'it is resolved that in accordance with the suggestion of Mr Otway, the clerk be directed to apply to the Dunfanaghy Board of Guardians to permit their Master to take charge of the emigrants from his workhouse on their voyage to Dublin as this Board understands that it is the intention of the Dunfanaghy Guardians to send them with their own emigrants. This Board will gladly contribute their quota towards the payment of expenses in this expedition, it is understood a similar application will be made on the part of the Milford Guardians. The Board will have much pleasure in lodging the emigrants from Letterkenny on their way to Dublin'.

Great effort was put into the outfits in Letterkenny, although nationally the wardrobe is given as 'six shifts, two flannel petticoats, six pair of stockings, two pair of shoes and two gowns'. Mr Gallagher, a member of the Board and proprietor of the biggest retail establishment in the town furnished the list:

No mention is made that the order was accepted. If it was, the Letterkenny orphans were extremely well dressed. Although no clear evidence exists of the conditions in Letterkenny Workhouse, it was in all probability not unlike those that have been researched The Famine had destroyed all chance of a normal childhood for the girls who went to Australia. They had witnessed the deaths of their parents, disease, unemployment, hardship, and worst of all, famine fever. They were devoid of hope, comfort and family love. Punishments were severe. In Milford during the hungriest years of the Famine inmates found eating raw vegetables in the garden were given a punishment of 20 lashed on the bare back.

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