The Maintenance Act

The Emigration Agent was responsible for migrants’ welfare on their arrival, and soon found he was providing rations and shelter for the emigrants if they were destitute or sick. The government did not have the infrastructure to support them, so they introduced the Maintenance Act, also called the Destitute Relief Act, on the 24th November 1842. The Act avoided any statement of government responsibility for the sick and destitute, instead imposed legal responsibility on the family – on the wife, husband, parents, children or grandchildren. The government provided support only if it could be proved that there were no relatives to help. The Act, although difficult to enforce against individual citizens became the legal basis for the social welfare action taken by the government.

Destitute Board

In early February 1849 the Colonial Secretary contacted the Reverend James Farrell, Father Michael Ryan, the Reverend Robert Haining and William Giles the manager of the South Australian Company, inviting them to become members of a Destitute Board. They, instead of the Emigration Agent were to receive applications for assistance from the destitute and make recommendations that rations be given to the Colonial Secretary for approval.

Meanwhile, the Emigration Agent resided at Port Adelaide and dealt with incoming ships and supervised newly arrived migrants. The Board’s first report to the Governor was on 7th January 1850 and it highlighted two problems in helping people seeking assistance. The first problem was that one hundred and ninety eight people had sought medical aid. As a result the Board was given the power to send people to the Colonial Hospital for medical aid after consultation with the Colonial Surgeon.

The second problem was the need for proper accommodation. The Board reported that it had twenty five people i.e. ’seven deserted children, a family of four, four old men, three aged cripples, a blind person, an idiotic girl, three sick men and two women lying-in’ housed in huts scattered around Emigration Square. However, nothing was done about the lack of accommodation for the destitute. The Board also reported that it had granted weekly rations to eighteen families, sixty six adults, fifteen children and there were one hundred and fourteen people on rations at years end.

In April 1851 the government granted the Board access to part of the barracks complex next to Government House on North Terrace. The destitute moved into their new quarters on 10th May 1851. It became the Destitute Asylum. For ten years, until 1860 Reverend James Farrell, Father Michael Ryan, the Reverend Robert Haining, William Giles and the Emigration Agent were active members of the Destitute Board. They supervised applications for assistance from the destitute and the conduct of the Destitute Asylum.

References

Dickey, Brian 1986. Rations, residence, resources: A history of social welfare in South Australia since 1836. Netley: Wakefield Press.

Piddock, Susan 2001, ‘Convicts and the Free: Nineteenth-century lunatic asylums in South Australia and Tasmania (1830-1883)’, Australasian Historical Archaeology, Vol. 19, pp 84-95

Richards, Eric (ed.) 1986. The Flinders history of South Australia, Netley: Wakefield Press.