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Where do flies go....?: Emigration Voyage 1920
This book is a journal written by a young married couple emigrating to New Zealand in 1920. Their voyage' of almost eight weeks, is recorded in a daily journal they took it in turns to write. We only had the journal (inherited from within the family) and employed a genealogist in New Zealand to complete the story. It is written in a manner lost in writing today. It is elegant and stylish. Samuel and Isabel were just two of the emigrants on the SS Mahana (The Brides Boat) which carried almost one thousand emigrants when it had been built to hold only 450!
Their voyage began only eighteen months after the ending of WW1. A land 'fit for heroes' offered few prospects, few jobs and nothing for those who had fought for their country. The New World, in particular New Zealand, offered far more. As a consequence massive numbers of people chose to emigrate. Tradesmen and women seeking jobs and young women seeking husbands were the vast majority on this journey and many others like it. While we focus on the trauma of death and sacrifice we forget the social upheaval which followed.
This is a beautiful piece of social history and is well worth a read.
Their voyage takes them across the Atlantic, they land in Norfolk Virginia, pass through the Panama Canal which had recently been opened and visit Panama City then continue across the Pacific Ocean.
The title ' Where do flies go?' comes from a Music Hall song enjoyed by all the children on the journey.
The original journal is now in the archive of the Maritime Museum in Liverpool.
Their voyage began only eighteen months after the ending of WW1. A land 'fit for heroes' offered few prospects, few jobs and nothing for those who had fought for their country. The New World, in particular New Zealand, offered far more. As a consequence massive numbers of people chose to emigrate. Tradesmen and women seeking jobs and young women seeking husbands were the vast majority on this journey and many others like it. While we focus on the trauma of death and sacrifice we forget the social upheaval which followed.
This is a beautiful piece of social history and is well worth a read.
Their voyage takes them across the Atlantic, they land in Norfolk Virginia, pass through the Panama Canal which had recently been opened and visit Panama City then continue across the Pacific Ocean.
The title ' Where do flies go?' comes from a Music Hall song enjoyed by all the children on the journey.
The original journal is now in the archive of the Maritime Museum in Liverpool.
61 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 21, 2019
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