Cornish Australians

Cornish Australians ( kw, Ostralians kernewek) are citizens of Australia who are fully or partially of Cornish heritage or descent, an ethnic group native to Cornwall in the United Kingdom.

Cornish Australians form part of the worldwide Cornish diaspora, which also includes large numbers of people in the US, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and many Latin American countries. Cornish Australians are thought to make up around 4.3 per cent of the Australian population and are thus one of the largest ethnic groups in Australia and as such are greater than the native population in the UK of just 532,300 (2011 census).

Cornish people first arrived in Australia with Captain Cook, most notably Zachary Hickes, and there were some Cornish convicts on the First Fleet, James Ruse, Mary Bryant, along with several of the early governors. The creation of South Australia, with its emphasis on being free of convicts and religious discrimination, was championed by many Cornish religious dissenting groups and Cornish people comprised a sizeable proportion of settlers to that colony. Large scale Cornish emigration to Australia did not begin until the 1840s, coinciding with the Cornish potato famine and slumps in the Cornish mining industry. The gold rushes and copper booms were major draws on Cornish people, not just from Cornwall itself, but also from other countries where they had previously settled.

In recent years the story of the ''Lost Children of Cornwall'', child migrants sent from Cornwall to Australia up until the early 1970s, has come under intense scrutiny. The practice of sending apparently unwanted or orphaned Cornish children abroad continued long after it had ceased, after being discredited, in other areas. It has been the subject of apologies by both the Australian and British prime ministers.

Number of Cornish Australians

A 1996 study by Dr. Charles Price gives the total ethnic strength of Cornish Australians as 269,500 with a total population of 768,100. This is made up by 22,600 of un-mixed origin and 745,500 of mixed origin and equates to 4.3 percent of the Australian population. This makes the Cornish the fourth largest Anglo-Celtic group in Australia after the English, Irish and Scottish, and the fifth largest ethnic group in Australia.

Approximately 10 percent of the population of South Australia, and over 3 percent of Australia as a whole, has significant Cornish ancestry. In the 1986 Australian Census 15,000 people reported their ancestry as Cornish,Hale, Amy and Payton, Philip, New Directions in Celtic Studies, 2000 however, no figure from the 2006 Australian census has been published as to how many reported their ancestry as such in that year.

In 2011 a campaign was launched to increase the number of people writing in their Cornish ancestry on the 2011 Australian Census.

Culture

Festivals

The Cornish who moved to Australia brought with them many festivities and holidays. The most important being at Christmas and Midsummer.Payton, Philip, Making Moonta: The Invention of Australia's Little Cornwall

* Christmas, amongst other things they would bring greenery inside their houses and sing their traditional carols.
* Midsummer, 24 June, was traditionally celebrated with fire. Cornish Australians used large amounts of fireworks, described as ''enough to bombard a town'', as well as numerous bonfires. It was observed as a general holiday with large numbers of community events also took place, including many sporting events, concerts, parades and tea-treats.
* The Duke of Cornwall's birthday was observed as a general holiday.
* Whit Monday was believed to be a more important celebration than the Queen's birthday.
* St Piran's Day was celebrated during the early days in South Australia.

The Kernewek Lowender ( Cornish for "Cornish happiness"), held biennially since 1973 in the South Australian towns of Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo, is the largest Cornish festival in the world, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year.

There have been four Cornish festivals held in the City of Bendigo since 2002. The most recent was held at Eaglehawk in March 2010 and was entitled 'Welcome Back Cousin Jack'(We welcome you 'One and All').

Food and drink

Cornish food like the Cornish pasty remains popular in Australia. Former premier of South Australia, Don Dunstan, once took part in a pasty-making contest. Swanky beer and saffron cake were very popular in the past and have been revitalised by Kernewek Lowender and the Cornish Associations.

In the 1880s Henry Madren Leggo, whose parents came from St Just, Cornwall, began making vinegar, pickles, sauces, cordials and other grocery goods based on his mother's traditional recipes. His company, now known as Leggo's, is wrongly believed by many to be Italian.

Angove Family Winemakers, formerly Angove's, was founded by Dr W.T. Angove, a Cornish doctor who migrated to South Australia with his family in 1886. He planted vines in the outer Adelaide suburb of Tea Tree Gully, though 125 years on most of its wines are based on Riverland grapes. They have recently started producing wines from their new vineyard purchased in 2002 in McLaren Vale. The distribution company wholesales not only Angove wines and St Agnes Brandy but also Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne and a dozen other companies' wines and spirits.

Matt Wilkinson of Pope Joan in Brunswick East, Melbourne, won the Southern Final of the Great Australian Sandwichship in 2011 with his lunch roll The Cornish which won an award in its category.

Language

The Cornish language is spoken by some enthusiasts in Australia.

Members of the Gorsedh Kernow make frequent visits to Australia, and there are a number of Cornish Australian bards.

South Australian Aborigines, particularly the Nunga, are said to speak English with a Cornish accent due to the fact that they were taught English by Cornish miners. Most large towns in South Australia had newspapers at least partially in Cornish dialect. At least 23 Cornish words have made their way into Australian English, these include the mining terms ''fossick'' and ''nugget''.

Literature

''Not Only in Stone'' by Phyllis Somerville is the story of emigrant Cornishwoman, Polly Thomas, who faces many trials and tribulations in the pioneering era of South Australia. The book won the South Australian Centenary novel award in 1936.

''Kangaroo'' is D. H. Lawrence's semi-autobiographical novel based on his wartime experiences in Cornwall and subsequent visit to Australia.

D. M. Thomas is an internationally renowned Cornish author who spent part of his childhood in Australia, drawing upon his experiences in his work.

Rosanne Hawke is an author of children's books from Kapunda in South Australia.

Bruce Pascoe, who challenged the colonial historical narrative in '' Dark Emu: Black Seeds, Agriculture or Accident?'', has both Cornish and Australian Aboriginal (Bunurong, Yuin and Tasmanian Aboriginal) roots.

''The Gommock. Exploits of a Cornish Fool in Colonial Australia.'' is a historical novel by Marie S. Jackman based around the lives of a Cornish emigrant miner Yestin Tregarthy and his wife Charlotte, set at the Burra Burra copper mine in South Australia.

Nobel Prize–winning author Patrick White wrote many novels with Cornish characters and themes. His fifth novel, ''Voss'', includes a character named Laura Trevelyan. ''A Fringe of Leaves'' portrays Cornishwoman Ellen Roxburgh née Gluyas shipwrecked on an island and living amongst the aboriginal population.

The celebrated Australian poet John Blight's ancestors arrived in South Australia on the Lisander, in 1851. In the 1987 recording ''John Blight'' he describes his Cornish background and its influence on his style.

A true life character was George Hawke. He spent his early life working as a wool stapler for the Allanson family. He was born in St Eval Parish on 2 October 1802 at his father's farm near Bedruthan. Following losses in an economic recession, George decided to emigrate to Australia. His words were recorded in a letter at age 70 years to a nephew back in Cornwall. The letter was later reproduced in full in Yvonne McBurney's book, ''The Road to Byng''.

Art

Oswald Pryor (1881–1971) was a miner and cartoonist, born in Moonta and remembered for his humorous depictions of the lives of Cornish miners. Collections of his work include:
*Pryor, Oswald. ''Australia's little Cornwall'', Adelaide, S. Aust.: Rigby, 1962
*Pryor, Oswald. ''Cousin Jacks and Jennys'', Adelaide : Rigby, 1966
*Pryor, Oswald. ''Cornish pasty : a selection of cartoons'', Adelaide : Rigby, 1976

Roger Kemp – Abstractionist Painter

Music

Cornish Christmas carols are still traditionally sung in parts of Australia, just like in Grass Valley, California. Cornish Australians have a place in the transnational Cornish carol writing tradition. ''The Christmas Welcome: A Choice Collection of Cornish Carols,'' published at Moonta in 1893, was one of several such collections published between 1890 and 1925 from Polperro to Johannesburg. The Cornish also used to decorate their houses with greenery for Christmas, a tradition that was transported with them to Australia.

Cornish male voice choirs and brass bands were once a popular part of Cornish Australian culture, but this has waned somewhat.

Religion

Many Cornish settlers in Australia were Methodist and many chapels were built in the places that they settled. Others were Anglican, while few were Roman Catholic. Their Methodism was a badge of distinctive Cornishness and also gave them their trade unionist convictions. Most of the 22000 Wesleyan Methodists, 6000 Primitive Methodists and more than 6000 Bible Christians in South Australia in 1866 were Cornish.

Sport

There has been much involvement of Cornish Australians in sport over the years. Many playing rugby and cricket at an international level. This has led to the Cornish chant of "Oggie, Oggie, Oggie, Oi, Oi, Oi," taken on by all Australians as "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie."

The Cornish took some of their own sports with them to Australia. Cornish wrestling matches were a regular occurrence, held at festivities throughout the year, particularly Midsummer, Easter and Christmas. Thousands attended these contests, which were sometimes spread over several days and with wrestlers representing different mining regions. There were many Australian champion wrestlers and some of these competed internationally.

Politics

The Cornish miners founded the first trade unions, and were instrumental in the formation of the Australian Labor Party. The first Labor party minority government in Tasmania (1909) was led by premier John Earle. The first Labor party majority government in South Australia (1910–12) was led by premier John Verran, a Cornishman from Gwennap. The first Labor party majority government in Western Australia (1911–16) was led by premier John Scaddan, a Cornishman from Moonta. Sir Robert Menzies founded the Liberal Party of Australia in 1944.

Heads of Government

Prime Ministers

Three of Australia's prime-ministers and one Acting prime Minister are known to have Cornish ancestry.

* Robert Menzies, Australia's 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister, 1939–41 and again 1949–1966, was half Cornish. Meeting Cornish author A.L. Rowse in Oxford once, he introduced himself as "a Cornish Sampson on his mother's side." His grandfather was the prominent Cornish trade unionist John Sampson.
* Bob Hawke, 23rd Prime Minister of Australia and longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister. Both of his parents were of Cornish ancestry. Hawke's leadership has been credited with reinvigorating academic interest in the Cornish in Australia.
* Scott Morrison, Australia's Prime Minister between 2018 and 2022 confirmed he has Cornish ancestors when he visited Bodmin Jail and St Keverne in Cornwall during the G7 2021 to research his family history.

Acting Prime Ministers

* George Pearce was acting prime minister for seven months in 1916 while Billy Hughes was overseas and remains the only Senator to have fulfilled the role of Prime Minister without resigning his Senate seat.

Premiers

Fourteen state premiers are known to have strong Cornish connections. At least six Premiers of South Australia, and four Premiers of Western Australia, have been of Cornish descent or birth.

=South Australia

=
* George Waterhouse – 6th Premier of South Australia, 1861–1863. 7th Premier of New Zealand, 1872–1873. Born in Penzance in 1824.
* James Penn Boucaut – 11th Premier of South Australia. A judge and politician, Boucaut was Premier of South Australia three times: 1866–1867, 1875–1876 and 1877–1878. Born in Mylor in 1831, he emigrated to South Australia with his parents in 1846.
* John Verran – 26th Premier of South Australia, 1910–1912. The 1910 election saw the South Australian division of the Australian Labor Party form a majority government, the first time a party had done so in South Australia. Verran was born at Gwennap in 1856 and when only three months old was taken by his parents to Australia. The family lived at Kapunda, South Australia, until he was eight, and then moved to Moonta where copper had been discovered in 1861.
* Robert Richards – 32nd Premier of South Australia, 1933. Born in Moonta in 1885, the youngest of twelve children to Cornish miner Richard Richards.
* Don Dunstan – 35th Premier of South Australia, 1967–1968 and again 1970–79. Born on 21 September 1926 in Suva, Fiji to Australian parents of Cornish descent. He played a crucial role in Labor's abandonment of the White Australia Policy, securing of Aboriginal rights and encouraging a more multi-cultural Australia. His socially progressive administration saw Aboriginal land rights recognised, homosexuality decriminalised, the first female judge appointed, the first non-British governor, Sir Mark Oliphant, and later, the first indigenous governor Douglas Nicholls.
* David Tonkin – 38th Premier of South Australia, 1979–1982. Born in Adelaide in 1929.

=Western Australia

=
* John Scaddan – 10th Premier of Western Australia, 1911–1916. John Scaddan was born in Moonta in 1876, of a Cornish family. He led the first Labor party majority government in Western Australia. The hamlet of Scaddan located along the Esperance Branch Railway in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia is named after him.
* Albert Hawke – 18th Premier of Western Australia, 1953–59. Born in 1900 to James Renfrey Hawke and Eliza Ann Blinman Pascoe, both of Cornish descent, in Kapunda, South Australia. He was uncle to Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
* David Brand – 19th and longest serving Premier of Western Australia, 1959–1971, grandson of Samuel Mitchell (1838–1912), who was born in Redruth, Cornwall, and established the mining industry in Western Australia, operating the state's first commercial mine, at Geraldine near Northampton. He served in both houses of the Western Australian parliament
* John Trezise Tonkin – 20th Premier of Western Australia, 1971–74. Born in Boulder in 1902. The stage 4 completion of the Beechboro-Gosnells Highway in 1985 saw the highway renamed Tonkin Highway. Tonkin Bridge was also named after him shortly after his death at age 93.

=Tasmania

=
* Edward Braddon – 18th Premier of Tasmania, 1894–1899. Braddon was born in St. Kew, Cornwall in 1829. He was a member of the First Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives. Braddon was a Tasmanian delegate to the Constitutional Conventions. Both the suburb of Braddon in the Australian Capital Territory and the Division of Braddon in Tasmania are named after him. His sister, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, was later a famous novelist.
* John Earle – 22nd Premier of Tasmania, 1909 and again 1914–1916. Born into a farming family of Cornish descent in Bridgewater, Tasmania in 1865. He became Tasmania's first Labor premier, leading a minority government. He was Vice-President of the Executive Council from 1921–1923.

=Queensland

=
* Anna Bligh – 37th Premier of Queensland, 2009–2012. Bligh describes herself as a descendant of Cornishman William Bligh. She was the first woman to be appointed Premier of Queensland and, at the 2009 Queensland State Election, she became the first woman elected in her own right as a state premier in Australia. In 2009, Bligh was elected for three-year term to the three-person presidential team of the Australian Labor Party.

=Victoria

=
* Albert Dunstan – 33rd Premier of Victoria, 1935–1943 and again 1943–1945. Dunstan was born on 26 July 1882 at Donald East, Victoria, the son of a Cornish gold rush immigrant. He was the second longest serving Premier and the first to hold the position in its own right.

=Northern Territory

=
* John Langdon Parsons – 5th Government Resident of the Northern Territory, 1884–1890. Member of the South Australian House of Assembly for Encounter Bay, 1878–1881, and North Adelaide 1881. Minister of education, 1881–84. He was the first Minister for the Northern Territory, 1890–93. He was instrumental in the development of railways in the Territory, and he also recognised Aboriginal land rights. Parsons was consul for Japan from 1896–1903. Member for the Central district in the Legislative Council, 1901–1903. Born on 28 April 1837 at Botathan near Launceston, Cornwall.

Other politicians

There have been many other Australian politicians of Cornish birth or descent. Some of these are listed below, starting with perhaps the most important, Sir John Quick, Founding Father of the Australian Federation.

* John Quick – Postmaster-General, 1909–1910. Federal Member of Parliament for Bendigo, 1901–1913. Victorian Legislative Assembly member for Bendigo, 1880–1889. He was a leading delegate to the constitutional conventions of the 1890s, proposing in August 1893 that a formal national convention should be established, with each of the six Australian colonies to be represented by ten elected delegates. The proposal was agreed on, and in November 1893 Quick drafted a bill which formed the basis of the deliberations at the formal convention held in Adelaide in 1897. He was born in Trevassa, Cornwall, in 1852. In 1913 Quick became the founding President of the first Bendigo Cornish Association.
* John Langdon Bonython – editor, newspaper proprietor, philanthropist, and journalist. Member of the First Australian Parliament. Member for South Australia, 1901–1903. Member for Barker, 1903–1906. Editor of the Adelaide daily morning broadsheet, The Advertiser, for 35 years.
* John Lavington Bonython – Mayor of Adelaide, 1911–1913. Lord Mayor of Adelaide, 1927–1930. Son of John Langdon Bonython.
* Herbert Angas Parsons – judge and politician, son of politician John Langdon Parsons. Member of the House of Assembly for Torrens, 1912–15, and for Murray 1918–21. He was briefly attorney-general and minister of education in 1915. Parsons was appointed K.C. in 1916, a judge of the Supreme Court in 1921, he was senior puisne judge in 1927, and acting chief justice in 1935. On occasions Parsons acted as deputy governor and, after his father's death, in 1904 he became consul for Japan. President of the Cornish Association of South Australia, warden of the University of Adelaide's senate, and vice-chancellor from 1942–1944. Son in law of John Langdon Bonython.
* Garfield Barwick – Attorney-General of Australia, 1958–64. Minister for External Affairs, 1961–64. Seventh and longest serving Chief Justice of Australia, 1964–81. He was appointed a judge of the International Court of Justice, 1973–74.

* John Pascoe Fawkner – Founder of Melbourne. Member of the Victorian Legislative Council. His mother, Hannah Pascoe, was of Cornish parentage.
* John Gale – Father of Canberra. Gale was the founder of the Queanbeyan Age newspaper. He is best remembered for his strong and successful advocacy of Queanbeyan-Canberra as the best site of a future Australian Capital. He was born in Bodmin in 1831.
* Ray Williams – Member for the Electoral district of Hawkesbury in the New South Wales Parliament since 2007.
* George Laffer – Member of the South Australian House of Assembly for Alexandra from 1913–1933. He was Speaker from 1927 until 1930.
* John Lutey – Member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for Brownhill-Ivanhoe, 1917–1932.
* John Holman – Member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for North Murchison, 1901–1904. For the Electoral district of Murchison, 1904–1921. For the Electoral district of Forrest, 1923–1925. His daughter, May, took over the Forrest seat after his death in 1925.

* May Holman – Member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for Forrest, 1925–1939. The daughter of John Holman, she was the second woman to be elected to an Australian parliament and the first female Labour parliamentarian. Holman was a delegate to the League of Nations Assembly in 1930. She died in a car crash on the day of her fourth re-election. Her brother took over the seat after her death.
* Richard Buzacott – Member of the Australian Senate for Western Australia, 1910–1923.

* Frederick Vosper – Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for North-East Coolgardie, 1897–1900. Newspaper journalist and proprietor, he founded The Sunday Times (Western Australia). Born St. Dominic, Cornwall, in 1869.
* Henry Dangar – Pastoralist, surveyor and explorer of Australia. Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council for Northumberland, 1845–1851. By 1850 he owned or leased over 300,000 acres (121,406 ha). Born St Neot, Cornwall, in 1796.
* Mark Goldsworthy – Member of the South Australian House of Assembly for Kavel since 2002.
* Ian Trezise – Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Geelong, 1999– . Son of Neil Trezise.
* Baden Teague – Senator for South Australia 1977–1996.
* Brice Mutton – Member of the Parliament of New South Wales for Concord, 1949. Born Lerryn, Cornwall, in 1890.
* Tom Uren – Member of the Parliament of Australia for Reid, 1958–1990. Various Ministerial roles during the 1970s and 80s. Father of the House of Representatives, 1984–1990. Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party, 1975–1977.
* Nick Champion – Member of the Australian House of Representatives for Wakefield from 2007 until 2019, then member for Spence.
* Robert Brokenshire – Member of the South Australian Parliament for Mawson, 1993–2006. Member of the South Australian Legislative Council for the Family First Party since 2008.
* Neil Trezise – Player and captain for Geelong Football Club. Member of the Victorian Legislative Council for Geelong West, 1964–1967, and again for Geelong North, 1967–1992.
* Bob Chynoweth – Member of the Australian Parliament for Flinders, 1983–1984. Member of the Australian Parliament for Dunkley, 1984–1990, and again 1993–96.

* George Pearce – Senator for Western Australia, 1901–1938. Instrumental in founding the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia. Minister for Defence, 1908–1909, 1910–1913, 1914–1921 and again in 1932–1934. Vice-President of the Executive Council, 1926–1929. Various other Ministerial roles during the 1920s and 1930s. Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party, 1915–1916. Leader of the Australian Labor Party in the Senate, 1914–1916. Leader of the National Labor Party in the Senate, 1916–1917. Leader of the Nationalist Party in the Senate, 1917–1931. Leader of the United Australia Party in the Senate, 1931–1937.
* Josiah Thomas – Member of the Australian Parliament for Barrier, 1901–1917. Senator for New South Wales, 1917–1923 and again 1