DOCSLIB.ORG

Jennifer S. Kain

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Jennifer S. Kain Northumbria Research Link Citation: Kain, Jennifer S. (2015) Preventing ‘Unsound Minds’ From Populating the British World: Australasian Immigration Control & Mental Illness 1830s—1920s. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University. This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/27323/ Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html Preventing ‘Unsound Minds’ From Populating the British World Australasian Immigration Control & Mental Illness 1830s —1920s Jennifer S. Kain PhD May 2015 Preventing ‘Unsound Minds’ From Populating the British World Australasian Immigration Control & Mental Illness 1830s —1920s Jennifer S. Kain A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Research undertaken in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences May 2015 Abstract This thesis examines the bureaucratic controls designed to restrict the entry of migrants perceived to be ‘mentally ill’ into New Zealand and Australia in the period between the 1830s and 1920s. It is the first study to analyse the evolution of these practices in this region and timeframe. It addresses a gap in the current literature because it explores the tensions that emerged when officials tried to implement government policy. This study sheds new light on the actions, motivations and ideologies of the British and Australasian officials who were responsible for managing and policing immigration. While there were attempts to coordinate the work of border officials, this proved very difficult to achieve in practice: some immigration controllers were, for instance, receptive to the theories that were coming out of international debates about border control, others retained a parochial perspective. The thesis argues that every attempt to systematise border management failed. The regulation of the broad spectrum of ‘mental illness’ was a messy affair: officials struggled with ill-defined terminology and a lack of practical instructions so tensions and misunderstandings existed across local, national and metropolitan levels. Based on extensive research in British, New Zealand and Australian archives, this study reveals the barriers that were created to prevent those deemed ‘mentally ill’ from migrating to regions imagined as ‘Greater Britain’. It shows how judgements about an individual’s state of mind were made in a number of locales: in Britain; on the voyage itself; and at the Australasian borders. This thesis, by exploring the disordered nature of immigration control, will add a new perspective to the existing scholarship on transnational immigration legislation and Australasian asylum studies. The in-depth examination of border control systems also contributes to our understanding of the links between migration and illness in the British world during this period. i ii Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... i List of Tables ................................................................................................................ v List of Process Diagrams ............................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... ix Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ xiii Introduction: Migration, Mental Illness and the British World 1830s—1920s ................ 1 Scope and Terminology ................................................................................................ 3 Key Historiography .................................................................................................... 10 Sources and Methodology .......................................................................................... 16 Aims and Structure ..................................................................................................... 20 Chapter One: Administering the British World .............................................................. 27 Political Administration 1820s to 1920s .................................................................... 29 British World Structures ............................................................................................. 40 Categorising Worthiness ............................................................................................ 52 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 62 Chapter Two: Populating the British World 1830s—1860s ........................................... 64 Recruiting Good Characters ....................................................................................... 66 Enforcing Good Conduct ............................................................................................ 73 Seeking Recompense for Public Charges ................................................................... 78 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 91 Chapter Three: Funding ‘Unsound Minds’, New Zealand 1870—1876 ........................ 94 The Agent-General as Migrant Selector ..................................................................... 96 ‘Half Scamps, Half-Lunatics’: Imbecile Passengers Act 1873 ................................ 105 Repatriating the ‘Knowingly Insane’ ....................................................................... 115 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 131 Chapter Four: Parochial Border Controls in a Globalising World: New Zealand 1876— 1899 .............................................................................................................................. 133 Assisted Immigration 1876–1883 ............................................................................. 135 Imbeciles Passengers Act 1879-1899: Operations and Results ................................ 145 Degeneration and Border Control ............................................................................ 162 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 177 Chapter Five: Prohibiting ‘Idiots’ & ‘Insane’, Immigration Acts 1899—1912 ........... 180 The Transnational Dimension: The Insane Become Prohibited ............................... 183 Debating Which Types to Prohibit ........................................................................... 186 Transnational Comparisons: Policy Translated into Practice ................................... 198 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 216 iii Chapter Six: Standardising Defence Lines, Eugenics & Border Control 1912—1920 218 William Perrin Norris: Transnational Medical Reformer ........................................ 221 Reinforcing Border Controls .................................................................................... 229 Eugenic Border Controls, New Zealand and Australia 1913—1920 ....................... 263 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 276 Chapter 7: Insufficient Mental Equipment ................................................................... 279 Systematic Emigration to Empire Settlement: Plus ça Change ............................... 281 Sir Neville Howse:‘One of the greatest organising brains in the medical service’ .. 287 From ‘Half-Scamps, Half-Lunatics’ to the ‘Temperamentally Unsuitable’ ............ 299 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 311 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 313 Appendices ................................................................................................................... 320 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 327 Primary Sources ........................................................................................................ 327 Books ................................................................................................................ 327 Chapters in Books and Articles in Journals .....................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Joshua Thomas Bell Queensland and the Darling Downs 1889-1911 by D
    Joshua Thomas Bell Queensland and the Darling Downs 1889-1911 by D. B. Waterson Received 27 September 1984 The pastoral, legal and political career of Joshua Thomas Bell niuminates certain aspects of Queensland in general and Darling Downs history in particular during a critical time in that region's evolution. When Bell first entered the Queensland Legislative Assembly for the Northem Downs constituency of Dalby in 1893 (a seat which he was to retain until his death nineteen years later), the colony, society and landscape of the Downs were about to undergo their third major transformation since the coming of European pastoralists and the hesitant establishment of selector-based agri­ culture during the 1860s and 1870s. Bell's personal origins and subsequent career - he was bom in 1863 - thus spans two of the most significant phases in the European history of the region.' Bell, scion of an old-established Queensland pastoral family, now in the hands of the financially unstable Darling Downs & Westem Land Company and its overdraft master, the Queensland National Bank, entered ParUament at the time of the massive financial crash in Queensland. Yet the DarUng Downs was about to embark on a thorough reconstmction and expansion of its mral enterprises. Bell's period in Parliament saw a rapid increase in mral productivity and population on the Downs - more than in other parts of Queensland, including Brisbane - and an acceleration of Toowoomba's rise to prominence as the regional capital. The application of new tech­ nology, particularly in refrigeration and plant breeding, the inter­ vention of the State in distributing old pastoral freehold estates to Professor Duncan Waterson is Professor of History, School of History, Philosophy and Politics, Macquarie University, Sydney.
    [Show full text]
  • Captain Francis Melville
    Free Copy In This Edition: Page Page Geelong Mechanic’s Institute 2 2012-The End of the World? 20 Euphemisms 4 The Refrigerator 21 Two-up 5 Spartacus 22 The Narwhal 6 Portarlington Mill 24 Ian McDonald 8 Johann Strauss II 26 Adidas 10 Everything is So Expensive! 28 ‘Captain’ Francis Melville 12 Aussie Animals Word Search 29 “Victoria Is Free!” 14 Helen of Troy 30 Monopoly 15 150 Years Ago 31 Geelong’s Liquor War 16 Then… & Now 32 Blueberry Pudding 19 1 On December 8, 1846, preliminary arrangements were made for the establishment of a Mechanics Insti- tute in Geelong. Unfortunately, in what was to become a well established pattern, the Institute faced almost continuous financial difficulties from the beginning. The The Mechanics Institute in 1866 original membership of 106 persons who paid an annual subscription of £1 was clearly insufficient to meet the costs of running the institute. Survival came through fund raising from social functions, the donation of books and, in 1849, Governor George Gipps provided a grant of £200. However, by 1851 membership had fallen to 61, and a lack of interest, financial insolvency, and a depleted population due to the gold rush led to the disbanding of Geelong Mechanics Institute in 1853. The Institute was revived a year later in November 1854, and a number of fortuitous circumstances combined to ensure its continued survival. The Legislative Assembly of Victoria offered £1500, conditional on a similar amount being raised locally. The Institute then amalgamated with the rival Geelong Literary and Scientific Society and an experienced librarian, Benjamin Wheatland, was employed.
    [Show full text]
  • House of Representatives By-Elections 1902-2002
    INFORMATION, ANALYSIS AND ADVICE FOR THE PARLIAMENT INFORMATION AND RESEARCH SERVICES Current Issues Brief No. 15 2002–03 House of Representatives By-elections 1901–2002 DEPARTMENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY ISSN 1440-2009 Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2003 Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written consent of the Department of the Parliamentary Library, other than by Senators and Members of the Australian Parliament in the course of their official duties. This paper has been prepared for general distribution to Senators and Members of the Australian Parliament. While great care is taken to ensure that the paper is accurate and balanced, the paper is written using information publicly available at the time of production. The views expressed are those of the author and should not be attributed to the Information and Research Services (IRS). Advice on legislation or legal policy issues contained in this paper is provided for use in parliamentary debate and for related parliamentary purposes. This paper is not professional legal opinion. Readers are reminded that the paper is not an official parliamentary or Australian government document. IRS staff are available to discuss the paper's contents with Senators and Members and their staff but not with members of the public. Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library, 2003 I NFORMATION AND R ESEARCH S ERVICES Current Issues Brief No. 15 2002–03 House of Representatives By-elections 1901–2002 Gerard Newman, Statistics Group Scott Bennett, Politics and Public Administration Group 3 March 2003 Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Murray Goot, Martin Lumb, Geoff Winter, Jan Pearson, Janet Wilson and Diane Hynes in producing this paper.
    [Show full text]
  • Issue 111 February 2017
    Spreading Branches Narre Warren & District Family History Group Inc. Specialising in the Casey Cardinia Area Incorporated 1992 – Inc. No. A0023666M – ISSN 1445 - 2162 Issue 111 – February 2017 Our Move We’ve known it was coming for years, but now it’s getting closer and becoming a reality. And, we’re really pleased to be able to start getting some real news about our impending move out to members at last. At this stage, it looks like we’ll be saying our goodbyes to the Narre Warren Library in June or July of this year and moving to a new space that is being made ready for us within the Cranbourne Library complex. Fay and I saw the space this week, if you can ‘see’ a space that is. It is very hard to visualise a space when the wall on the left is going and the wall behind you is moving, and a wall is arriving on the right, and I have no idea what was happening to the wall at the front! Heather and the Local History Archive will be coming with us – or we’ll be going with them. our present one and it will be rectangular, not like Whatever way you want to look at it, this is great the current Research Room with lots of angles news for us. We have always enjoyed working with that make it hard to place furniture. We will have Heather and look forward to being able to continue independent access to the new Research Room to do so. via the entrance on the other side of the library Our new home will be just over twice as big as building where the radio station is.
    [Show full text]
  • Earle Page and the Imagining of Australia
    ‘NOW IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT’ EARLE PAGE AND THE IMAGINING OF AUSTRALIA ‘NOW IS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT’ EARLE PAGE AND THE IMAGINING OF AUSTRALIA STEPHEN WILKS Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for? Robert Browning, ‘Andrea del Sarto’ The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. Edward John Phelps Earle Page as seen by L.F. Reynolds in Table Talk, 21 October 1926. Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au ISBN (print): 9781760463670 ISBN (online): 9781760463687 WorldCat (print): 1198529303 WorldCat (online): 1198529152 DOI: 10.22459/NPM.2020 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This publication was awarded a College of Arts and Social Sciences PhD Publication Prize in 2018. The prize contributes to the cost of professional copyediting. Cover design and layout by ANU Press. Cover photograph: Earle Page strikes a pose in early Canberra. Mildenhall Collection, NAA, A3560, 6053, undated. This edition © 2020 ANU Press CONTENTS Illustrations . ix Acknowledgements . xi Abbreviations . xiii Prologue: ‘How Many Germans Did You Kill, Doc?’ . xv Introduction: ‘A Dreamer of Dreams’ . 1 1 . Family, Community and Methodism: The Forging of Page’s World View . .. 17 2 . ‘We Were Determined to Use Our Opportunities to the Full’: Page’s Rise to National Prominence .
    [Show full text]
  • Camden Municipal Council Area Street Names
    CAMDEN MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AREA STREET NAME SOUTH CAMDEN Adelong Place The name Adelong appears to be derived from the Aboriginal language meaning "along the way" or "plain with a river". Antill Close Named after the Antill family of “Jarvisfield” Picton. Henry Colden Antill who was born in 1779 in New York of British stock, his father was John Antill. Henry migrated to Sydney on 1/1/1810. Married Eliza Wills in 1818 and in 1825 settled on his estate near Picton, named Jarvisfield; and, in 1844 he subdivided part of his estate on the north of Stonequarry Creek, as the result he made possible the founding of the town of Picton (originally known as Stonequarry). He died and was buried in the family vault at Jarvisfield, in August 1852, survived by six sons and two daughters. Picture of Henry Colden Antill Araluen Place The name 'Araluen' meant 'water lily' or 'place of the water lilies' in the Aboriginal dialect of the Araluen area of NSW Armour Avenue Named after Robert William Armour born 1848 worked at the”Hermitage” The oaks in 1845. A noted bushman and expert horseman. In the early 1850s he brought land at Cobbitty. Son George was a prominent apiarist and well known keen sportsman, barber and poet. He died on 29 Oct 1933 and is buried at St. Paul’s Cobbitty. Arndell Street Most likely named after Doctor Thomas Arndell (1753- 1821), surgeon, magistrate and landholder, was one of seven assistant surgeons who formed the medical staff led by Surgeon-General John White which cared for the convicts in the First Fleet .
    [Show full text]
  • The Importance of Boundaries
    The importance of boundaries Colin Hughes Emeritus Professor of Politic Science, University of Queensland Research Paper 1 (November 2007) Democratic Audit of Australia Australian National University Canberra, ACT 0200 Australia http://democratic.audit.anu.edu.au The views expressed are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Democratic Audit of Australia. If elections are to be thought fair, their outcomes should correspond as closely as possible to the inputs of voter preferences. A particular percentage of the votes counted for a party should produce close to the same percentage of the seats won by that party. Down that path lie the topics of partisan bias and proportional representation with multi-member electoral districts as the most common solution. But there is a second criterion of fairness which is that outcomes should correspond to the numbers of electors or people to be represented. That criterion is often called equality, and down that path lie the topics of malapportionment and enforced equality as a solution. The two criteria may not work in the same direction.1 In Australia the problem of equality has been debated mainly with respect to the dichotomy of town and country, ‘town’ usually meaning the State capital(s) which have been invariably by far the largest urban center in each State and ‘country’ the rest, though sometimes the larger provincial cities and towns get lumped in with their local metropolis. Should town voters have the same quantity of representation, measured by the number of electors in the electoral districts, as country voters? There has also been a sub-plot, which is what this paper is about, that concerns the existence of a small number of electoral districts spread over exceptionally large areas in which the population, and consequently the numbers of electors, is relatively thin on the ground and widely scattered.
    [Show full text]
  • House of Representatives By-Elections 1901-2005
    Parliament of Australia Department of Parliamentary Services Parliamentary Library RESEARCH BRIEF Information analysis and advice for the Parliament 16 August 2005, no. 1, 2005–06, ISSN 1832-2883 House of Representatives by-elections 1901–2005 The first part of this revised brief discusses the 141 by-elections for the House of Representatives since Federation, including the most recent for the New South Wales division of Werriwa. The brief’s appendices give a full set of by-election figures. Gerard Newman, Statistics Section Scott Bennett, Politics and Public Administration Section Contents Party abbreviations ................................................... 1 Executive summary ................................................... 2 Contests ......................................................... 2 Causes .......................................................... 2 Outcomes ........................................................ 2 The organisation of Commonwealth by-elections.............................. 3 The reasons why by-elections have been held .............................. 3 The timing of by-elections ............................................ 4 By-elections 1994–05 ............................................. 5 Vacancies for which no by-election was held 1901–2005 ................... 6 Number of nominations .............................................. 6 Candidates per by-election ......................................... 7 Voter turnout ..................................................... 7 Party performance ...................................................
    [Show full text]
  • BOOK I-AUSTRALIA at WAR CHAPTER 1 If
    BOOK I-AUSTRALIA AT WAR CHAPTER 1 THE OUTBREAK OF WAR ON the 30th of June, 1914, the Australian daily newspapers contained cablegrams announcing the startling fact that two days previously the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Archduke Frariz Ferdinand, together with the Archduchess, had been assassiiinted at Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, by a Serbian political desperado. The news was, of course, published under large headlines in the journals. Obviously an important event in world politics had occurred. Some serious consequences might be expected to follow. But nobody in Australia dreamt that this crime committed in the Balkans was of momentous concern for this country. If anyone had suggested that nearly 60,000 men in the prime of life and physical capacity were marked for death, and that 140,000 more would suffer maiming, as a consequence of what had happened at Sarajevo, his prediction would have seemed too absurd for credence. Where was Sarajevo? It is likely that many Australians had never even heard of the place, though memories of a school geography lesson, or study of the map of Europe, may have brought the name to the minds of a few. Shakespeare did not know where Bohemia was: in a stage direction at the head of Act 3, Scene 3, of The IVinter’s Tale, he referred to it as “Bohemia, a desert country near the sea,” though it is an inland country with no seaboard whatever. Where Shakespeare tripped we shall intend no reproach if we assume that Australians were not very well informed about a remote town in a small Balkan state.
    [Show full text]
  • Private LITTLETON CAMPBELL GROOM
    In Memory of Private LITTLETON CAMPBELL GROOM 1843, 42nd Bn Australian Infantry, A.I.F. who died age 28 on 10th June 1917 Son of Frederick William and Fanny Matilda Groom, of "Lorriane," Herries St., Toowoomba, Queensland. Remembered with honour BETHLEEM FARM EAST CEMETERY, BELGIUM PRIVATE LITTLETON CAMPBELL GROOM 42ND BN, AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY SERVICE NUMBER: 1843 Littleton Campbell Groom enlisted in Toowoomba on 19 February 1916 two months after his twenty-seventh birthday. He gave his occupation as newspaper reporter and was employed on the family- owned Toowoomba Chronicle. After the war his father stated he was the paper’s sub-editor. Littleton carried one of the family names, his uncle Littleton Ernest Groom being Member for the Darling Downs (MHR) and a minister in the Federal Government. Following a custom of the time, the name “Littleton” was from his grandmother’s maiden name. Littleton junior’s parents were Frederick William and Fanny Matilda Groom of Herries Street, Toowoomba. He was born and educated in the city, attending state schools and the Christian Brothers College. Littleton was of the Church of England religion. He was 5’8” tall, weighed 140 pounds and had a fair complexion, brown eyes and brown hair. After basic training he was posted to the new 42nd Battalion at the Artillery Camp at Enoggera and embarked for overseas service in Brisbane aboard A42 Boorara on 10 June 1916. Littleton continued training in England where the 42nd was based as part of the 3rd Division, the newest and last of five divisions to join the AIF on the Western Front.
    [Show full text]
  • Upholding the Australian Constitution Volume Twenty-Four
    Upholding the Australian Constitution Volume Twenty-four Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society Traders Hotel Brisbane, 159 Roma Street, Hobart — August 2012 © Copyright 2014 by The Samuel Griffith Society. All rights reserved. Contents Introduction Julian Leeser The Fourth Sir Harry Gibbs Memorial Oration Senator the Honourable George Brandis In Defence of Freedom of Speech Chapter One The Honourable Ian Callinan Defamation, Privacy, the Finkelstein Report and the Regulation of the Media Chapter Two Michael Sexton Flights of Fancy: The Implied Freedom of Political Communication 20 Years On Chapter Three The Honourable Justice J. D. Heydon Sir Samuel Griffith and the Making of the Australian Constitution Chapter Four The Honourable Christian Porter Federal-State Relations and the Changing Economy Chapter Five The Honourable Richard Court A Federalist Agenda for Coast to Coast Liberal (or Labor) Governments Chapter Six Keith Kendall The Case for a State Income Tax Chapter Seven Josephine Kelly The Constitutionality of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act i Chapter Eight The Honourable Gary Johns Native Title 20 Years On: Beyond the Hyperbole Chapter Nine Lorraine Finlay Indigenous Recognition – Some Issues Chapter Ten J. B. Paul Speaker of the House Contributors ii Introduction Julian Leeser The 24th Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society was held in Brisbane during the weekend of 17-19 August 2012. It marked the 20th anniversary of the Society’s birth. 1992 was undoubtedly a momentous year in Australia’s constitutional history. On 2 January 1992 the perspicacious John and Nancy Stone decided to incorporate the Samuel Griffith Society thirteen days after Paul Keating was appointed Prime Minister.
    [Show full text]
  • Point Puer-Fruits of an Evil System.Pdf
    Fruits of an Evil System 1 ‘..... FRUITS OF AN EVIL SYSTEM..... ’ SOME NOTABLE FAILURES FROM POINT PUER JUVENILE PRISON PORT ARTHUR, TASMANIA PETER H. MACFIE INTERPRETATION OFFICER PORT ARTHUR HISTORIC SITE A PAPER GIVEN AT PORT ARTHUR TO THE AUSTRALIAN HISTORY TEACHERS CONFERENCE AUGUST 4TH, 1989 © P. MACFIE 1998 Copyright Peter MacFie © 1998, 2018 https://petermacfiehistorian.net.au/ Fruits of an Evil System 2 In 1850 Quaker missionary Frederick Mackie used the phrase - ‘fruits of an evil system’ - when visiting two ex-Point Puer lads in their cells at Cascades Probation Station where the apparently uneducable boys were transferred after closure of Point Puer in 1848. 1 Mackie noted with empathy the plight of Robert Hart - confined to a light cell for 6 months with chains of 40 lb weight - and Thomas North, confined for 18 months in a dark separate cell with 26 lb weight, with 14 months to go. Allowed an hours exercise in the yard a day, Hart declined because of the weight of the chains. Mackie commented, “the gloomy countenance and knit brow of R. Hart relaxed after a little conversation with him, he shewed (sic) us a book in which he had been copying out some verses and learning off, “The happy shepherds”. He repeated them to us of his own accord. My soul mourned over these two youths. There was nothing forbidding or ferocious in their countenance, white the contrary, a cheerful pleasant smile would play over Hart’s features as he looked at R. Lindsey’s benevolent countenance. But their education had been a terrible one, sent to Point Pure (sic) mere boys, hardihood and daring would be the best lessons they were taught there.
    [Show full text]