Summary

Book entitled 'The Emigrant's Guide to Australia', published by George Philip and Son, Liverpool, London, Dublin and Glasgow in 1853. Written by John Capper, the book includes the subtitle: 'Containing the fullest particulars relating to Recently Discovered Goldfields, the Government Regulations for Gold Seeking, &c.'

The book went to at least three editions by 1856, and a condensed facsimile edition was issued in Melbourne by Hawthorn Press in 1973. It is a particularly detailed guide for emigrants, including suggestions on clothing, organising passage, shipboard life, requirements for 'bush life' and regulations relating to gold mining. The author was probably John Henry Capper, a Home Office clerk who succeeded Aaron Graham as Inspector of the Hulk Establishment at the end of 1814.

Physical Description

Hardbound book with 254 pages of written text and three supplementary maps. The exterior is blue in colour and has a yellowing lname label on the front with the title and author details. The interior pages are printed in black ink as are the maps.

Significance

Capper's book The Emigrant's Guide to Australia went to at least three editions by 1856, and a condensed facsimile edition was issued in Melbourne by Hawthorn Press in 1973. It is a particularly detailed guide for emigrants, including suggestions on clothing, organizing passage, shipboard life, requirements for 'bush life' and regulations relating to gold mining. The author was probably John Henry Capper, a Home Office clerk who succeeded Aaron Graham as Inspector of the Hulk Establishment at the end of 1814. He was given an annual salary of £400, with an allowance of £131 a year for the use of his home. Capper carried out the recommendations of the 1811 Committee by dividing the convict ships into compartments. In 1822 he wrote Two Reports [on Transportation]...detailing expenses and chaplains' reports on convict hulks for the House of Commons, and also authored a report on the employment of prisoners at Bermuda. However, he used a room at the Home Office while he still drew the allowance for use of his home, and during his long term of office his nephew increasingly carried out the work while also running his own grocery business on the Strand. In 1847 Capper was blamed for the slackness and corruption within the system, and a damming report on the atrocious conditions on the hulks forced Capper and his nephew to resign. W B Johnson, The English Prison Hulks (Phillimore, Chichester, 1970), quoted by Ann Coats in From 'Floating Tombs' to Foundations: The Contribution of Convicts to Naval Dockyards and Ordnance Sites. http://www.chrysalisbooks.co.uk/assets/samplepdfs/pdfs/ageofsailFloating_tombs.pdf.

More Information

  • Collecting Areas

    Migration & Cultural Diversity

  • Acquisition Information

    Purchase

  • Author

    John H. Capper, 1853

  • Inscriptions

    'THE EMIGRANTS GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA WITH Three New Maps of the Gold Fields ON A LARGE SCALE/ (B)Y. JOHN CAPPER , F.R.A.S., LATE EDITOR OF THE EMIGRANT'S JOURNAL'. 'THE EMIGRANTS GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA CONTAINING THE FULLEST PARTICULARS RELATING TO THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED GOLD FIELDS, THE GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS FOR GOLD SEEKING, & c/ Second Edition, Considerably Enlarged; WITH THREE NEWS MAPS OF THE GOLD FIELDS, COMPRISING THE MOST RECENT DISCOVERIES.../ (B)Y. JOHN CAPPER , F.R.A.S., LATE EDITOR OF THE EMIGRANT'S JOURNAL/ LIVERPOOL: GEORGE PHILIP & SON. LONDON: WILLIAM ALLAN. EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES. DUBLIN: W. ROBERTSON. GLASGOW: R. GRIFFIN & CO. 1853'.

  • Classification

    Migration, Orientation, Promotional materials

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    History

  • Type of item

    Document

  • Object Measurements

    12.3 cm (Width), 2.1 cm (Depth), 18.1 cm (Height)

  • Overall Dimensions - Folded

    123 mm (Length), 180 mm (Width)
    Measurement From Conservation.

  • Maximum dimensions

    635 mm (Length), 520 mm (Width)
    Measurement From Conservation.

  • Keywords

    Convicts, Gold Rushes, Immigration, British Immigration, Gold Mining, Gold Miners, Goldfields, Immigration