Experiencing transit: on British emigrant ships to Australia in the 19th century

In the 19th century, all British migrants to Australia shared a unique time on the high seas, where seasickness, storms and interpersonal conflicts contributed to the lived and felt reality, as did concerts, sunsets and friendships. The passengers had to navigate closeness and separation, boredom and excitement, life and death. Structures of power, responsibility and authority were omnipresent, fragile and contested. This experience is reflected on and documented in diaries, letters, guidebooks, political papers, newspaper articles, and ship surgeons' journals.

This book explores case studies from about 110 sailing vessels and steamships on their way from the United Kingdom to the eastern Australian colonies between 1848 and 1898. Taking this as an exemplary laboratory setting for experiencing transit, it aims to enrich the concept of transit with emotional, experiential, social, and mental aspects – perspectives that have been neglected in historical research so far.

Daniela Dyck studied History, English, Latin and Education in Heidelberg. She earned her PhD degree in Modern History from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich as part of the DFG-SNF-research project “Lives in Transit. Steamship passages in the late-19th and early-20th century world”. Since then, she has been working in the field of teacher education, science management, and project administration.