Exodus to New South Wales

Exodus to New South Wales

In August 1837, there had been a mass exodus from the village to the young colony of New South Wales.

The great poverty among the agricultural community had been further aggravated by the decline of hand-weaving on the cottage looms, brought about by the establishment of the powered machines in the mills astride the streams in the nearby valleys.

The hand-looms were usually set up in the living-rooms of the cottages, as being the only available space. In the smaller dwellings there was a very little other ground-floor accommodation, and meals were eaten and other activities carried on among the skeins of wool and worsted.

All the members of the family we expected to do their share of the weaving, provided that their feet could reach the treadle which divided the threads of the warp, and that their immature fingers were strong enough to throw the shuttle through.

The stark hunger and lack of material possessions of the lower-class workers in the locality had inspired the saving, 'Bisley - God help us'.

Pat Carrick Collection