Java poster

Object Source: D 6029(L)

Date of creation : 1849-1904

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Format : Poster

The broadsheet advertises emigration to South Australia aboard the Java. It is part of a larger group of records and letters written by Cornish settlers in South Australia and Victoria to their families in England.

Skilled labour was in short supply in South Australia and to encourage migration, the Colonization Commissioners offered free passage to those who had the required skills: 'agricultural labourers, shepherds, carpenters, blacksmiths, stone masons, and all persons connected with building'. South Australia was promoted as a paradise:

'The province of South Australia is a delightfully fertile and salubrious country, in every respect well adapted to the constitution of Englishmen, and is one of the most flourishing of all our colonies.It is well watered,-- and there have never been any complaints from the colonists of a want of this valuable element ...'

The condition of the ship was also promoted:

'... that fine first-class teak-built ship the Java...This ship's accommodations are unusually spacious and lofty, and are so arranged as to insure the comfort of all passengers. She will carrytwoSurgeons, andtwoSchool masters, the latter of who will be regularly employed in teaching the emigrants and their children.'

However the ship had been built in 1811 in Calcutta, and although teak built and therefore considered stronger and more durable than European built vessels, more able to withstand the teredo worm's boring of ships' timber, Java was by the time of the proposed voyage past her best condition.

According to documentation from ship board diaries in the Library's collection, the steerage accommodation was severely cramped and food was very restricted in variety and quantity. Many passengers generally took additional supplies with them but it appears that the majority of the Cornish settlers were unaware that this was necessary. With crowded conditions, when whooping cough broke out aboard ship the disease spread and many children died as a result, despite the presence of surgeons aboard ship.