The making of an Australian colonist': How SS Great Britain's voyages to and from Australia contributed to the creation of a national feeling

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In 1888 Robert Thomson said 'Let all the people from Great Britain and Ireland come here if theychoose; they would immediately become Australians the moment they set their feet on the shoresof this continent with the determination of never going back from it.'1Thomson claims that therewas a feeling of belonging upon arrival. However, how did the journey that every migrant had totake to reach those shores contribute to this feeling? I propose to look at SS Great Britain's journeysto and from Australia, analysing how migrants' motivations and experience of the voyagecontributed to the development of a national feeling in Australia. I will explore how the journey wasportrayed by merchants and the government, determining the relationship between the two, andcompare that to migrants' actual experience.