PhD Research · Charles Sturt University · 2009
An exploration of the history and heritage of itinerant workers in rural New South Wales, 1850–1914
Overview
Recovering a hidden history of colonial working life.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many thousands of people moved throughout rural Australia. Geographical mobility was a key driving force behind occupations spanning pastoral, commercial, entertainment and transport industries — yet itinerant workers have remained largely absent from mainstream Australian histories.
This thesis explores the history and tangible heritage of itinerant workers in rural New South Wales between 1850 and 1914. Drawing on a wide variety of sources including regional histories, personal memoirs, photographs, diaries, newspapers and institutional records, it demonstrates that itinerancy was a regular and essential component of economic and social life in rural communities.
The research argues that itinerancy is a fruitful lens through which to understand people across ethnic and social divides — and that affirmative action is needed to ensure the rightful place of itinerant workers' legacy in the heritage of New South Wales.
"Those who continue to lead a wandering and unsettled life … are restless and dissatisfied — locomotion, like some poisonous ingredient instilled in their veins, infects their whole constitution of mind and body."— Clergyman, Australia as it is (1876)
Key themes
Six interconnected themes across history, culture, heritage and identity.
01
More than 60 itinerant occupations identified across five groups — carriers, entertainers, labourers, merchants and professionals — from shearers and circus troupes to camel drivers, hawkers and travelling dentists.
02
A new analytical framework using four mobility types — circuit, seasonal, opportune and linear — to understand how workers moved across the colonial landscape and why occupation shaped movement.
03
Itinerancy transcends ethnic divides. Afghan camel drivers, Chinese land-clearers, Indian hawkers, Lebanese merchants and Anglo-Australian labourers occupied the same niche economy, side by side.
04
The tangible heritage of itinerant workers is largely a heritage of process — visible in cleared landscapes, roads, railways and fenced paddocks — rather than in built structures.
05
Significant gaps exist in how itinerant workers' heritage is formally identified and protected. Existing local, state and national registers systematically overlook this history.
06
Itinerant workers were central to colonial growth — clearing land, building infrastructure, transporting produce and providing services to a dispersed population across vast distances.
Regional case studies
Each case study examines one occupation indicative of its itinerant group in a specific regional context.
Riverina
Chinese land-clearing gangs and the role of the Narrandera camp in supplying contract labour for pastoral expansion.
South Coast
Circus companies and the heritage of performance sites across the Shoalhaven, 1855–1914.
Far West
Afghan camel drivers, the north and west camel camps, and the mosque as enduring heritage.
South West Slopes
Hawkers of multiple nationalities — Indian, Lebanese, Chinese, Anglo-Australian — and their shared trade networks.
Upper Hunter
Thirty travelling dentists across 26 years — and the hotels, dispensaries and private rooms where they set up clinic.
Key contributions
To Australian history, cultural heritage management, and the scholarship of mobility.
The first systematic exploration of itinerant workers as a unified group in rural New South Wales, moving beyond ethnicity-focused or occupation-specific histories.
A replicable analytical framework — using occupational group and mobility pattern — for studying itinerant workers in other Australian states and internationally.
Demonstrated that itinerancy was a vehicle for the development of colonial New South Wales, not a marginal footnote to the pioneer legend.
Evidence that itinerant workers' heritage is systematically under-identified in existing heritage registers — and a call for affirmative action to address this.
Added to scholarship recovering hidden voices in Australian history alongside women, Indigenous Australians and ethnic minorities.
Identified more than 30 additional itinerant occupations beyond those known at the outset, demonstrating the extraordinary breadth of this mobile workforce.
Publications from this research
Reports, articles and other outputs arising from the thesis.
Itinerant Workers in Nineteenth Century Australia: A Survey of the Literature
Access the thesis
Available via the Charles Sturt University Research Output portal.
A Passing Occupation: An Exploration of the History and Heritage of Itinerant Workers in Rural New South Wales, 1850–1914
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
Institution: Charles Sturt University, Faculty of Science
Supervisors: A/Prof Dirk Spennemann & Prof Catherine Allan
Awarded: March 2009