About
This exhibition is a part of the Ayahs and Amahs: Transcolonial Servants in Australia and Britain 1780-1945 project, a Discovery Project funded by the Australian Research Council.
The project is dedicated to studying female domestic care workers from India and China who travelled to Australia and elsewhere during the period of British colonialism, the travelling Ayahs and Amahs.
These were extraordinarily mobile women, accompanying colonial families along circuits of empire between Australia, Asia, and the UK over two centuries.
By exploring the historical experiences and cultural memories of these earliest global domestic workers, the project aims to illuminate a broader transcolonial history of domestic work.
We are grateful to the archives, museums, libraries and individuals who have generously shared items from their collections for this exhibition. We would also like to thank the University of Newcastle for providing the funds that made this exhibition possible.
We hope you have enjoyed your visit.
Awards
WINNER of the 2022 History Council of New South Wales Addi Road Award for Multicultural History
SHORTLISTED in the 2023 New South Wales Premier's History Awards, Digital History Prize.
Our Team
ProfESSOR Victoria Haskins
Lead Chief Investigator
University of Newcastle, Australia
Professor Swapna Banerjee
Partner Investigator
Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
A/ProfessorClaire Lowrie
Chief Investigator
University of Wollongong, Australia
Dr Lauren Samuelsson
Website Developer and Exhibition Curator
University of Wollongong, Australia
Srishti Guha
Research Assistant
University of Newcastle, Australia
Your thoughts
A beautifully designed exhibition featuring a fascinating variety of material culture. The colour and abundance almost obscures the hard work that went into uncovering this history of the lives of working women who were central to family life but who only left traces in the archives. Congratulations to the team.
Sharon Crozier-De Rosa
I'm really impressed by this wonderful project and website that puts the spotlight on the lives and labours of these too often forgotten women. My mother-in-law was a little girl in India at the time of partition. She had a close relationship with her ayah and was very sad to be separated from her when the family moved to Australia. I've sent her a link to the website so she can enjoy the memories and reflect on her own experience. Congratulations on the fruits of your research.
Dr Juanita Kwok
Beautifully done - fascinating material, very well presented.
Wilfrid Prest
Such a beautiful presentation. I thought of my father's family in India my grandmother had 9 children in the 1920s she must have had ayahs to help her but there are none in any photographs -only images of a male driver and a young 'chokri'.I don't know how g'mother would have survived without help.They were railway people in what were the Central Indian Provinces - far from the metropole. Thank you for sharing this fascinating project.
deborah nixon
Fascinated by the varied experiences of colonial times. I had an ayah as I was born in 1928 in British India, Bombay Presidency (now Maharashtra) in Dhond near Poona. Lived in Baramati village. I was thoroughly spoilt. Arrived in Australia with my missionary parents in 1932.
Ian Morris Hughes
I love the catalogue too!
Victoria Haskins
An impressive piece of research - thank you for providing such a vibrant model of an online historical exhibition that foregrounds intellectual themes, uses affective evidence, and signals a way of sharing history writing, research and interpretations of the past to a wider audience. It would be wonderful to see the exhibition reviewed and also for it to be archived and usable for teaching beyond its end-date. Congratulations to the all-woman team!
Catharine Coleborne
We are really looking forward to hearing back from visitors to our exhibition. What questions did it spark for you, that we can investigate as we continue our research into the history of these fascinating women workers? What stories and memories would you like to share?
Victoria Haskins