On the move

When you look at data in a new way, they raise new questions. That, in turn, can send you off in search of new (or at least, more) data.

The fan chart showing the country of birth of each direct ancestor for seven generations inevitably led to making a place of death chart. While the new chart was interesting, it was the differences that really attracted attention. An ancestor born in one place but who died in another must have been a migrant.

We could ask many questions about migration -- how?, why?, when? ... I chose to begin by examining the time period in which the travel occurred. It seems likely that the motivation and the means will be linked to when the migration took place.

The chart identifies three clusters of journey. Blue shows people who came to the colony of New South Wales and settled in its northern districts. Maroon segments indicate people who came to the newer colony of Queensland. Wattle yellow illustrates migrants to the Commonwealth of Australia.

The dates that actually divide the spans were 6 June 1859 (separation of the colonies) and 1 January 1901 (federation) but there were periods around those borders when none of our ancestors were travelling.

There were very good reasons why no one made the move to Australia between 1914 and 1918 and compelling motivation to do so when the War ended. But what of the quarter century before? Were there simply fewer migrants coming or did our Australian ancestors not associate with the "new chums" of that period?