The Hercules: A History of Scottish Diaspora

Join Annie and Jenny on a trip around the world. The year is 1852, the Potato Famine and Highland Clearances are causing devastation, and hundreds of Scots board The Hercules, a ship destined for Adelaide, but struck by horrific disaster. As they leave their home in Scotland to start a new life halfway around the world, storms, disease, and sharks all plague the voyage. This episode looks at why these people left their homes, the journey they undertook, and their lives in Australia, if they survived to live them. 

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References: 

Devine, T. M, “The Scottish Clearances: A History of the Dispossessed, 1600-1900”, 2019, Penguin

Devine, T.M, “Scotland’s Empire: The Origins of the Global Diaspora”, Penguin, 2004

Hunter, James, “Scottish Exodus: Travels Among a Worldwide Clan”, Mainstream, 2005

Richards, Eric, “Highland emigrants to South Australia in the 1850s”, Northern Scotland, Vol 5, Feb 2015

Reportings from the Inverness Couier, Cork Examiner, Edinburgh Evening Courant. 

You can read the ship registers here: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/highland-and-island-emigration-society-records