Speakers’ Corner: Caroline Chisholm — Jennifer Jones & Anne Young

Many thanks to Jennifer Jones of TrackingDowntheFamily and her guest today, Anne Young of Anne’s Family History, for their stories about Australia’s Caroline Chisholm. It was lovely to see

Bill Moore

,

Lori Olson White

,

Cynthia Boatright Raleigh

,

Diane the FH Bowerbird

,

Linda Teather

,

Marci Keats Rudolph 🇨🇦

and many more for taking the time to join us online for today’s special program.

Caroline Chisholm (1808–1877)

With an audience representing not only Australia but also New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, our talk today helped give us a new appreciation for nineteenth-century Australia and the immigration waves that helped develop the country.

One of the most interesting aspects was how her story appears to have faded from popular consciousness once she was removed from the currency. This is a terrific reminder of the power of story and how our own stories can keep memories of ancestors alive in a family.

Referenced images

Portrait of Caroline Chisholm (1852), painted by A.C. Hayter; on stone by Thomas Fairland, sourced from the Trove online platform for the National Library of Australia.

An illustration by Fred Barnard from Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Shows Mrs. Jellyby, a satirical character engrossed in her philanthropic work for Africa, neglecting her family and household duties.

Caroline Chisholm’s departure for Australia aboard the Ballarat: Illustrated London News, 1854, sourced from the Trove online platform for the National Library of Australia.

Anne referenced Ballarat and Caroline Chisholm’s travels in October and November 1854 from Melbourne to the diggings at Bendigo.

This trip took Chisholm through the treacherous Black Forest to the diggings at Bendigo, Castlemaine, Forest Creek, and Simson’s (near present-day Maryborough). Her travels are marked with red-highlighted stars. Following her proposal, ten shelter sheds were built within a year at Essendon, The Gap, Gisborne, Keilor, Keilor Plains, the Black Forest, Woodend, Carlsruhe, Malmesbury, and Elphinstone. The route is along what is now the Calder Highway.

View of an emigrant's home (“Hemming's Patent Improved Portable Houses”) designed to accommodate 72 persons on the plan suggested by Caroline Chisholm.

You can also explore Jennifer and Anne’s post in anticipation of today’s program from earlier this week:

Speakers’ Corner Premier: Anne Young sharing Australia’s Caroline Chisholm

Resources

Anne and Jennifer shared a few resources they thought you might be interested in exploring further.

• Wikipedia: Caroline Chisholm

• Australian Dictionary of Biography: Caroline Chisholm

• Analysis: Journal of Public Pedagogy: “Caroline Chisholm: public pedagogy personified,” by Flossie Peitsch at Victoria University

Join us at the Speakers’ Corner next month!

Over the coming months, we plan to build on this first episode of the series to create a warm, friendly, and welcoming space where these stories can be shared, heard, and celebrated. Next month, Jennifer will be joined by

Aryn Youngless

and

Bill Moore

. Tap below to learn more and register.

Join us on September 11th for “Women in our Trees” with Bill Moore and Aryn Youngless.

Watch for our Substack Live preview a few days earlier, too!

Step up on the Soapbox

We have programs in planning stages through mid-2026, but there’s still room for you to tell your story. Events will be held live and recorded in the same manner as other Projectkin events. Unlike written essays, these programs will be optimized for live storytelling, though the format can vary depending on our speakers’ preferences.

If you’d like to share a story or learn more about the program, you can complete a simple form at Projectkin.org/speakers-queue to be put into the Soapbox queue.