In the 1850s my ancestor left far southwest England for Australia, possibly as part of the 1850s gold-rush. Is there documented experiences of people contemplating emigrating from remote parts of England to Australia, particularly covering what they knew about the destination, how it was communicated to them and how they met the costs and logistics of the journey preparation. I am trying to appreciate what was going through my ancestor’s mind before they embarked. I imagine that the years leading up to gold-rush era there was considerable trepidation and caution but then with that event a mad scramble so I would like to understand both periods. Looking for introductory answer and texts that might introspect their thinking and how the prospect was reflected in their community.
Hey, sorry, forgot about this one.
I can't directly answer this, but I do have some resources you'll want. I've been doing a bit of reading about an earlier period, and a very useful resource is "Australian Autobiographical Narratives" by Kay Walsh and Joy Hooten. The first volume (before 1850) can be downloaded for free from the NLA site but the second volume (1850 to 1900) which is what you'll want, you'll have to get from the library or buy. It's a list of basically all autobiographical works about Australia with a brief description and a date range. It should be pretty easy to find a lot of books by people who moved to Australia in the 1850s.
Another possibility might be to see what newspapers back home said about Australia or immigration in that period. Newspapers in the nineteenth century were often circulated around a fair bit and read out loud, so that a lot of people who couldn't necessarily afford the subscription, or even read, would still be aware of the contents. Unfortunately English newspapers haven't been digitised for free (Welsh ones however have been, so if you meant they were from the Welsh borders rather than like Devon or Cornwall, then there are some pretty easy to access ones there). To get English ones you'll have to see which databases your library has access to. The big one is the 'British Newspaper Archive' but I believe it's quite expensive, so your library system may well not have it (mine does but it can only be accessed in library). There are other titles in other places as well: the Guardian and Observer on Proquest Historical Newspapers, the Times has its own database, as does the Illustrated London News, there are some other ones as well. Check the library website as I said.