I am often asked about Suffolk agricultural labourers migrating to Australia. I know that there were advertisements for workers in the newspapers and that recruiting men travelled from village to village. I found a couple of advertisements in the Framlingham Weekly News of Saturday 25th June 1910 (which fits in with the Suffolk boys who died as Australian troups in WWI). Advertisement 1 reads West Australia Special offer to Farm Workers. Fare £2. Recent experience essential. Women domestics free. Particulars free concerning all branches of employment fares to all parts of Australia. Australian Agency, 9 London St, London EC Advertisement 2 reads Australia. Canada. Wanted. 100 Farm hands. Part Fare Paid. 100 experienced men and Labourers for farms. 100 Domestics. Part Fare Paid. 2 families. Farmwork. Good Wages. House. 3 couples wanted, wife in, man outside. General Labourers at 7/- a day. 3 gardeners. Good Wages. The Emigration Offices, Waters and Son, 45 Princes Street, Ipswich Note: 7/- = seven shillings, or in today's money 35 pence. Pat ...

Thanks Pat and Margery It is great hearing these stories. My Great Grandfather also left Ipswich in 1911 (amid a bit of a scandal, we believe) and found himself work as a labourer at a timber mill in Koondrook, a very small country town on the Murray river in Victoria. I have a wonderful photo taken in 1911 of him with a large group of the mill workers in the setting of the Australian bush amongst the gum trees. My great aunts always laughed at how very English he looked and stood out amongst the group. He met and married the granddaughter of a German immigrant and the rest is... family history. :-) I was always told that he had answered an advertisement for labour, but am not sure if it was here in Australia or in Suffolk. Janine -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Patricia Bridges Sent: Wednesday, 4 July 2012 2:49 AM To: Suffolk Mailing List Subject: [SFK-UK] Migration of Suffolk farm hands to Australia/Canada ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2193 / Virus Database: 2437/5107 - Release Date: 07/02/12