Port Phillip District AOS 1: A New Land

#1. Ideas underpinning the settlement of and migration to the Port Phillip

District, including ideas about European expansion in the new world and land

ownership, and the motivations of some individuals and groups.

Port Phillip District

Main concepts:

#1. Ideas underpinning the settlement of and migration to the Port Phillip

District, including ideas about European expansion in the new world and land

ownership, and the motivations of some individuals and groups.

*3 Points in this area of study

Ideas (that underpinned settlement in Port Phillip)

- land ownership - doctrine of ‘improvement’ - European ideas of ‘using’ the land - New Opportunities and ‘space’ for pastural stations - Ideas of prosperity and opportunity

What’s a pastoral

economy?

Motivations -Push/Pull factorsThese terms can be used interchangeably….

Push/pull factors: - Effects of the Industrial Revolution in England, including

condensed - living conditions in towns, starvation, unemployment, crime,

disease, desperation. - Major events such as the Irish Potato Famine (1850’s) - Gold Rush - Multiculturalism - Ideals - Chartism, egalitarianism, pastoral economy

Push/Pull Factors PUSH FACTORS: Push factors are conditions in homelands of migrants that push them to leave for the new world. The majority of migrants who immigrated to the Port Phillip District were from Great Britain.

Conditions in Great Britain: Poverty was widespread: - In England, poor living conditions, poor agriculture and expensive land pushed people to leave. - High land prices, rent and prices of provisions also pushed people out of Scotland. - The Irish faced inequitable land distribution and in 1846 and 1847 saw the beginning of a large-scale famine, giving people the option to emigrate or die.

Conditions in other Australian colonies: - Soil quality was poor in Swan River (Perth), pushing people to emigrate to the Port Phillip District. - Land was unavailable in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), making getting ahead in life almost impossible.

PULL FACTORS: Pull factors were conditions or features within the Port Phillip District, which appealed to or attracted migrants. Features of the Port Phillip District: • There was much fertile land suitable for European farming and settlement, as first experienced by

the Hentys in 1834 and first documented by John Batman in 1835. • There was much need of labour to develop the new settlement, meaning jobs were easier to obtain

(than overseas). It was very possible to get ahead in life and to be prosperous, no matter what your beginnings.

• The gold rush of 1851 brought a huge change to the Port Phillip District. About 159,000 migrants came to the area in the 3 years following the rush, compared to 77, 345 in the 17 years prior to it (Imagining Australia, p41.) For more on gold rush, see 'Gold Rushes' page.

Groups and Individuals and their individual motivations

*The Henty Family *Sir Thomas Mitchell

*Georgiana McCrae and Penelope Selby *The Squatter class (often adventurous middle class)

*Ex-convicts *Assisted Migrants

The Henty Family

Edward Henty

*First european settlers of the Port Phillip District

*Arrived in Portland 1834

http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/land-exploration/pastoral-practices/hentys-portland

Sir Thomas Mitchell

Georgiana McCrae