Discuss the impact the Irish had on Australian society in the 19th Century.

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Niall Orr                                                                              200206854

Discuss the impact the Irish had on Australian society

 in the 19th Century.

Between 1791 and 1868 about 50 000 Irish-born men and women went to the British colonies in Australia as convicts. On top of this, a major force moving Irish migration to Australia was personal relationships, many of the Irish already in Australia encouraged friends and relations to join them, either paying for their passage or receiving government assistance. The consequence was thousands more travelled to Australia as free immigrants; particularly wives and children of the convicts in assisted migration. Patrick O’Farrell writes, “The Irish themselves made much of their devotion to chain migration, lauding it as evidence of generosity, family loyalty and so on.” 

It has been estimated that around 35 percent of today’s Australian citizens have Irish ancestry. Jackelin Troy cites that “for most of the nineteenth century at least a quarter of the population of Australia was Irish or of Irish parentage.” Therefore it can be agreed that the Irish were a dominant element in the pluralistic Australian society. Many historians have cited that the Irish have made a significant contribution to the development of Australia and of the Australian identity.

The first significant wave came as political prisoners of the 1798 Rebellion, and thereafter further came for petty or serious crimes – a spectacular increase occurred in the 1850s and 1860s, not just because of the Great Famine, but particularly due to the gold rushes. It is important to note that the pattern of settlement differed a great deal to those of England and the United States. Settlement in Australia was much more dispersed and agricultural and less concentrated as it was in cities such as New York. Historians such as David Fitzpatrick have proposed that immigration to Australia was better regulated, and the Irish possessed sufficient capital to enable some mobility and choice of employment.

Patrick O’Farrell has made claims that the Irish have been “the dynamic factor in Australian history…the galvanising force at the centre of the evolution of our national character.” Many lived Australian lives based on the assumption that if they struck it rich they would return to Ireland. However, many found that life was more favourable in Australia and stayed encouraging more friends and relatives to travel down to the Southern hemisphere land. As some strived to make a living and contributed to society, others continued the life of crime that got them there in the first place. Therefore, with the overwhelming number of Irish people emigrating to Australia in the 19th Century and with many leading very contrasting lives; did the Irish have a ‘constructive’ impact on Australian society?

Many of the 19th Century Irish Catholics, who arrived in chains or as assisted migrants, at the bottom of a vicious caste system of British Australia, developed into law-abiding citizens with the desire to contribute to and be respected in Australian society. Historian Bob Reece cites “The labour value of the Irish and their social ambition triumphed over ancient prejudice. Economic success and social mobility were possible; political influence was in reach; the old preoccupations of Ireland were not so relevant.”

However, with many of the Irish emigrating to Australia as criminals it could be conceived that some would have had a negative impact on the country. “Irishmen counted for 23 percent of the total number of convict males in Australia for the period of transportation from 1788 to 1867.” A large proportion of the convicts being exiled to Australia were Irish as these figures suggest, and although many would be because of minor crimes or even innocent crimes; some would be for major offences and these men would have been a danger to society. Such men would look to continue their life of crime as soon as they arrived in Australia – as O’Farrell states, “escape was the obsession of the earliest Irish.” It was these men who had an adverse effect on Australian society.

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These Irish formed wild settler clans which caused long feuds with the authorities creating problems for the early developing Australia. These convicts who managed to escape the Australian colonies and take refuge in the outback became known as ‘bushrangers.’ These fleeing Irish convicts struggled to support themselves in the harsh Australian wilderness and therefore turned to robbery and violence on remote settlements and travellers. The most famous example of a bushranger tormenting and causing problems for the authorities was Ned Kelly. O’Farrell states ‘he was evil on a grand scale’ – yet he and his gang gained support from ...

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