Female orphans from Donegal Dispatched to Australia 1848 - 1850 - Part 2
By May McClintock

On an autumn day in 1848 the three groups of girls from Milford, Dunfanaghy and Letterkenny set out on their long journey. One wonders how they felt, were they excited as most teenagers would be, were they frightened and apprehensive as they set off? Did they realize they would never return? There is no record of their actual departure. The Board chose them and arranged for their journey to Dublin and immediately set about selecting another batch.

Fortunately the documents of the Lady Kenya are available and for the first time the names of the girls are recorded. The Immigration Board of Inspectors under the chairmanship of Dr John Patterson went on board and gave the following report:

According to instructions the members of the Board proceeded on board the Lady Kennaway on the day after her arrival with female orphans after a voyage of 85 days. The females in question had been selected out of several of the Poorhouses in Ireland and consist of girls aged between 14 and 18 years. Their general aspect indicates good health and gives the impression that they belong to the humbler ranks of life. They are generally of stout make, rather low in stature and are endowed with strongly marked Irish physiognomies. They are almost exclusively of the Roman Catholic religion and it would appear that most of them have been in service previously to their leaving their native land. We do then consider them to be on the whole, a most seasonable supply and acquisition for this city. As come from small country towns and adjoining districts, they have never seen those demoralizing scenes too frequent in large towns. They are most anxious to please their employers and we doubt not that they will be teachable and make good and useful servants. Very few of them can read and write, although each of them was given a prayer book and a Testament from their respective Unions. They are represented as being well conducted during the voyage. Some few of them are rather noisy and boisterous occasionally and would not hesitate at times to let out a bit of an oath. On board this vessel were 7 families, 191 girls, one child died on the journey. The people arrived in excellent health and exhibited the appearance of having been on full allowance. Not a single complaint was made'.

As well as the names of the orphans and the householders in Melbourne who employed them, Dr Patterson's report provides more information than is available in Irish records: i.e. The girl's background, appearance, their future role as servants, lack of education and behaviour. Could his report be a sort of propaganda to be used in the ongoing struggle between colonists and the authorities? An article in one of the Australian newspapers described the arrival of a batch of girls as 'a cavalcade of fourteen or fifteen drays, with freights of those useless beings, the Orphan girls from the Irish parishes. It is hoped that a stop will shortly be put to this species of emigration. The specimens we already had have sufficed to show that the class is utterly useless to the Colony and in fact mischievous. The papers are full of the misdoings of these girls, and where they are not absolutely depraved they are so stupid that they are fit for nothing'.

Perhaps one can get closer to the girls in the letter written by Ann Kelly, one of the Letterkenny orphans. The letter is addressed to her mother. She wrote to reassure her that she had arrived safely. 'I write this to let you know that I have arrived safely at my journey's end after a very good voyage of 3 months. We were all very well treated on board the ship by every person, the doctor, Captain and Matron being all very kind to us'. She then goes on to describe Dr. Patterson's visit to the ship and later tells her mother that he had employed her as a servant, that he came from Strabane, had been dispensary doctor in Kilmacrennan, his wife, a Miss Starritt, came from Letterkenny. Ann then passed on news to her family urging them to join her. 'The wages are very good, being from £12 to £18 so the sooner you come out the better.' She mentions by name some of the Letterkenny orphans and asks her mother to 'let the Bishop Reverend McGettigan, know we are all well, Dr Patterson knows the Bishop very well.'

Obviously before she left, her relatives and neighbours had given her a list of people who had gone to Australia and lost touch with their families - 'Let my aunt know that I have been looking about for Joseph and Fanny and Jane McAllister and have only been able to learn that Joseph is about 100 miles in the country and when I see him he will tell me about the girls. Tell Mrs. Callaghan of Ballyboe that I have not found her mother and uncle yet'. This letter is remarkable, as the writer makes no reference to her workhouse experience, concentrating only on her family and friends, hoping they would all join her in the 'land of plenty'. In July 1850, seven months after arrival in Melbourne, she married Edward Bedford. a householder, and his occupation is given as a groom. They had five children and later moved into the upper working class area of Fleminton. Ann Kelly was not typical of many of the orphans,and the question of how well they turned out is not easily answered. The exaggerated stories of their uselessness and immorality, their prostitution and drunkenness had a political purpose - to bring the pauper emigration scheme to an end. Sadly some of them committed suicide and many did become prostitutes, but that is not to say they were immoral before they arrived. Much of the evidence relating to the girls was written by their enemies. It is fortunate that excellent researchers in Australia have now begun the task of an objective appraisal of the scheme.

Thanks to Trevor McClaughlin at Macquarie University, Sydney, a full list of the girls who left letterkenny in the autumn of 1948 is available. These are not famous names but they are part of our Donegal history and deserve recognition.

The Lady Kennaway arrived at Port Philip on 6th December 1848 and dispatched the following orphan girls:

From: Donegal Annual 2001

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