Hearts broken here, homes wasted there : Maria S. Rye and assisted female migration to provincial Otago : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, in New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis looks at the women and the processes involved in the emigration scheme that saw single young women who emigrated to Otago as assisted immigrants. They were recruited to be domestic servants and future marriage partners because of the influx of men to the gold fields. This influx led to the Otago Provincial Government developing a scheme that promoted assisted emigrations to single females. This thesis focuses primarily on the importance of moral threats surrounding these women on their journey to New Zealand. The scheme's organisers saw moral risks to the women as the primary threat to both the immigrants and the scheme itself. There was fear of recruiting the wrong sort of women; the moral risk that the women faced in travelling without family; the moral risk to themselves and others on the voyage; and the risks when they arrived in the immigration barracks or when they left its protection for their new lives. This thesis asks if the risk to the good character and well-being of these women was as justified as authorities feared it to be. In exploring the experiences of these young women, it is clear that despite some notable exceptions, the scheme was successful in its own terms, ensuring better futures for the women themselves.