12 September 2019 – 10 February 2020
As a nation of immigrants, the interest in where we all came from is everywhere – with television shows like Who Do You Think You Are?, DNA Testing and Ancestry.com to name a few.
The Queensland Maritime Museum may be able to answer some of the big questions with a new exhibition on immigration to Queensland.
The successive waves of immigrants seeking a major life change in Queensland, from the Langites in 1839 to the post war settlers leaving a war-ravaged Europe, all arrived by ship.
The exhibition looks at the vessels who brought the immigrants from sailing, steam and diesel fuelled ships. Until later times, they were mostly uncomfortable, unsanitary and very slow, often delayed another month in quarantine on Peel Island.
The display chronicles the enticing, exaggerated government propaganda to increase the state’s population of needed farmers, skilled artisans as well as manual and factory labourers.
For example, the Langites were carefully selected by the firebrand Reverend John Dunmore Lang on grounds of race, religion and occupation – all Scottish or English Protestants and middle-class artisans.
The exhibition follows the personal stories of Scottish, German, British, Chinese, Danish, Italian and Greek people on the move. There is also a little-known section on WW2 evacuees from Hong Kong, a forced migration fleeing from the Japanese invaders.
The Museum collection displays the sea chests, suitcases, diaries and worldly possessions, reminders of home that most would never see again. The display also beautifully reconstructs a typical cabin and furnishings from a post war liner.
The public program is a series of highly credited archivists and researchers from Queensland State Archives, the State Library of Queensland, the Australian Heraldry Society and Ancestry.com who will speak on the topic and take Q&As. As well, author Jane Smith will launch her new book, ‘Ship of Death’ the true story of the Emigrant, where 44 passengers and health care workers died from a typhus outbreak.
Get ‘hands on’ with the Queensland State Archives provided computer and access their immigration indexes for FREE!
Museum guests also have the chance to win a AncestryDNA Kit DNA test (value AUD$129) and a 12-month UK Heritage Plus membership (value AUD$249.99) as prizes from Ancestry.com, allowing the winners to trace their family’s story in all of our records from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK.
