MultiCultural Stewpot
The image on the header shows a Cobb & Co stage coach and Chinese gold diggers bound for Ballarat.
European settlement was multicultural from the first day the convicts and crew of the eleven ships of the First Fleet arrived.
We know from ship’s records the ‘stewpot’ was bubbling with:
14 North Americans
33 Scots
141 Irish
9 Jews
9 Welsh
12 Black Africans, Americans and West Indians
2 Channel islanders
and the rest were English.
Between 1787 -1867 around 160,000 people were transported to the Australian penal colonies. 20.7% were women and 79.3% men. The most common names were William, Smith, Brown, Johnson and Jones.
Lots more content to come in this section including sections on Afghans, Jews, Kiwis etc …. in the meantime, watch the documentary from the Sydney Stories series of videos.