Continuity and change in identity and language : Welsh migration and settlement in the Newcastle coal mining district, New South Wales, 1850-1914

Abstract

In the second half of the nineteenth century thousands of men, women and children moved from the valleys of South Wales and, through a process of stage, chain and niche migration, settled in the Newcastle Coalmining District of NSW. Of all the settlements in NSW, only here in the developing but relatively isolated coalmining villages, did they concentrate in sufficient numbers to establish themselves as a distinctive and stable group, with their own language, chapels, social structures, societies and identity.

But within two generations, in the context of increasing nationalism both in Wales and in NSW, their language, initially passed onto the second generation, did not survive the influences of education in English and the perception of English as the language of progress. Their institutions, the chapel and the eisteddfodau had become English, and Welsh identity became a matter of ceremony and nostalgic tokenism. Despite this absorption, aspects of Welsh culture were appropriated, developed and transformed by the majority Anglo-Australian protestant population of the Newcastle district.

This thesis will explore the pre and post—migration experiences of the Welsh community in the Newcastle Coalmining District, analysing both the society and communities from which they came and those into which they settled. In examining the process of their settlement and adaptation, the analysis seeks to establish the factors that fostered and supported continuity of language and identity. The Welsh migrants came predominantly in family groups or sponsored other family members, workmates, friends and neighbours to join them. For the majority the Newcastle Coalmining District was the final place of settlement in what for many was a series of staged moves along established migration streams. Here they formed Welsh communities with distinctive institutions and networked with Welsh communities within the Australian colonies and beyond. They maintained links with Wales linguistically, culturally and socially through ongoing contact, mining matters and Welsh publications in both English and Welsh. They imported Welsh-speaking ministers of religion who became community leaders and nurtured Welsh language during their lifetimes.

The thesis will demonstrate that late nineteenth—century migrants’ individual and family life stories can be reconstructed from primary sources and, at least in the case of assisted migrants, by linking of records in both Britain and Australia. It will also demonstrate that many aspects of linguistic identity and practice can be reconstructed from fragmentary and incidental sources and that Welsh was the preferred language of many migrants, spoken, written and read. It will be shown that it was the loss of language in particular that marked the loss of their distinctive Welsh identity.

The thesis will argue that their absorption into the majority Anglo-Australian culture was inevitable, reflecting a similar and parallel process taking place in Wales. The Welsh community and their leaders aided the loss of language, identity and cultural distinctiveness as did the tension between their identities as Welsh and as miners, as British, and as emerging Australians.