1920s Schemes: The Barwell Boys and Little Brothers
Three main ‘waves’ of youth migrants arrived in South Australia during the 1910s and 20s. The inaugural farm apprenticeship scheme was conducted during 1913-14 and is the main focus of this website.
The programme was revived after the First World War and named after Liberal Premier Sir Henry Barwell. He aimed to recruit 6,000 farm apprentices to help ‘restock’ the state after the heavy loss of young lives during the War. However, the scheme was stopped when Labor came to power in 1924, after approximately 1,450 ‘Barwell Boys’ had arrived.
The programme was revived once more when a Liberal government returned to power in 1927. This time the scheme adopted elements of the New South Wales and Victorian based ‘Big Brother’ movement: each young migrant was to be supported by a prominent South Australian citizen. However, the scheme was again short-lived, this time due to the beginning of the Great Depression and the first series of dry seasons since the 1914 drought. 125 ‘Little Brothers’ arrived during 1927–28.
These young migrants performed many of the basic but arduous tasks that underpinned the settlement and agricultural development of South Australia. The stories of individual boys vary from tales of success, through to those who committed suicide.
Barwell Boys and Little Brothers Association
This Association was formed in the late 1970s and although these men have now passed on, their descendants continue to meet annually. Please contact convenor Don Best for details.
Online Resources
Please post a message in the Barwell Boys & Little Brothers section of our Message Board.
Watch
the ABC's Landline story on the 1920s Schemes (2008)
or
kids might prefer the
Behind the
News version (2008)
Order
Lydia McLean's novel The Barwell Boy (2007)
Read
the biography of Barwell Boy
George Francis Skingle
(SS Balranald 1923, contact
Trevor Skingle)