My Favourite Migration Books

Late last year, one of our topics for #ANZAncestryTime, was Migration. In case you haven’t caught up with it yet, #ANZAncestryTime is genealogy/familyhistory discussion on Twitter. I’m very happy to be one of the moderators, and look forward to it, every Tuesday night at 7pm AEST

One of our migration topics for discussion, was “books we have read about migration”. There were many great suggestions for books that I haven’t read yet, that I’ve added to my “to read” list. Over the years, I’ve read many migration books, so I thought I’d share six of my favourites here, from my bookshelf. I would highly recommend all of these books to anyone interested in history and particularly, migration.

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
This book explores the truth about the voyage of The Mayflower and follows the first 55 years of settlement in America

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
The author tells the mostly untold migration story of America, This is the decades long migration of black citizens who fled the south, fo other parts of America, looking for a better life.

Hell Ship by Michael Veitch
The true story of the plague ship Triconderoga, one of the most disastrous voyages in Australian history.
Link to a review that I wrote: Hell Ship by Michael Veitch

The Long Farewell by Don Charlwood
Don Charlwood has used diaries and archival records to follow the journeys of emigrants who left Britain for Australia, in the early nineteenth century. We read about their experiences, problems, and the personalities of some of those who were heading to Australia to start a new life.

Voyage to Australia: Private Journal by James Bell
This book is the personal diary of James Bell, who took the long voyage to Australia in 1838, leaving his family and friends, and not knowing what to expect of the new country, so far away. This original diary turned up at a country bookstall in England, 150 years after it was written. The State Library of South Australia managed to buy the diary at auction.
Link to a review that I wrote: Private Journal Of A Voyage To Australia by James Bell

1788: The Brutal Truth of the First Fleet by David Hill
This extremely well researched book tells the story of the voyage of the first fleet to Australia. We read about their hardships and difficult experiences. David Hill has also researched the first years of settlement in Australia after the arrival of the first fleet.

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