Summary

One of a series of postcards issued by the Commonwealth Immigration Office, during the early 1920s, to promote immigration to Australia for rural settlement. This particular postcard promotes rural life in Australia as a somewhat idyllic lifestyle choice for immigrants.The scene depicts a carter's horse team stopped at a campsite beside a dirt road in a bush setting. The horses have been unhitched and unharnessed and are standing facing a wagon piled high with a load of bagged grain, with their heads in a water or feeding trough. In the background is a saddled horse hitched to a tree and four men seated around a camp fire. The caption states that 'last year there were 2,415,510 horses in Australia', which is a reference to the offical statistics recorded in 1920. The reverse side has a outline map of Australia with 'Kinsmen! We Welcome You' printed across it, together with population statistics and a reference to the Australian Pavilion at the British Empire Exhibition, which was held at Wembley, England, from April-October 1924.

The postcards were part of a promotional scheme, that also included advertising posters, introduced by the Commonwealth Immigration Office, after it assumed responsibility for the recruitment and transport of assisted immigrants to Australia from the individual State governments in 1921. The postcards portray rural activities, and feature positive propaganda style messages to entice intending migrants. The rural subject matter highlights the strong push for British rural workers and settlers during the 1920s as part of the Empire Settlement Scheme.

Physical Description

Postcard with black and white photograph of a rural scene published as a half-tone print with accompanying text on front and back of card.

Significance

This collection of postcards offers important insights into Australia's migration policies and promotional activities during the 1920s, a period when enticing British immigrants for agricultural settlement was a key priority, along with attracting farm labourers and domestic workers. Recruiting British migrants to Australia to settle on the land was an important Government strategy for Australian immigration schemes at this time, particularly with the launch of the Empire Settlement Scheme in 1922, which offered assistance and land packages to immigrants from the United Kingdom with varying degrees of success.

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