Viikkosanomat, November 17, 1986

              Mätti Kurikka and 'Kalevan Kansa':
the Utopian Project iii Queensland
1899_1900
In addition to the German immigration there had been a steady flow
of Scandinavians into Queensland ever since the 1870s The
Scandinavians were vvell thought of settlers in Australia and there
were emigrants from Denmark Sweden and Norway who chose to
make their way there Their Governments however regarded the
Australian immigration schemes with suspicion partly a consequence
of unfortunate experiences with earlier schemes for the recruitment of
settlers for South America and Hawaii98
In Finland the attempts to recruit new settlers aroused a more
encouraging response The repressive measures of the Russian Tsarist
Government which led in time to the February Manifesto of 1899 were
driving many in Finland to look overseas for opportunities of political
liberty and a better standard of living in the new countries The peak
in Finnish emigration occurred in 1902 when over 23 000 people left
the country raainly heading for America
While most of the emigration took place spontaneously and at the
individual level the idea also arose of establishing an organized Finnish
settlement overseas The first choice seemed to be Canada which was at
that time actively soliciting settlers from Finland both Newfoundland
and British Columbia were mentioned alternatives In the summer of
1899 a special Commission was sent from Finland for Canada to
investigate the scheme The backers of this "New Finland" project
however were mainly middle-clas- s and politically conservative and thus
failed to win the support of the socialists For a variety of reasons
never came to fruition100
iiii I T?Flaift)LQLCjb-&T[fflnr?rrl-
J
rtfPirtti{X 6pSt nrf is
äWoSRRHHflHHMHi
One of the major ocncations among
Finnish immigrants n Australia was
mining This photogizjii was taken in
Mt Isa in L-3-4
w V}
NsS
as
as
as
it
mfSiiVrv Xtsxptm:b:eiiQ-mm&- tB&ERsSa&rmtämtä&'y-s-j S8&
Edward Suvanto a seaman from
Turku who landed in Newcastle in
1913 photographed with a friend
Within the Finnish labour movement attention turned instead to
Australia and in particular to Queensland With an area three times the
size of Finland the Colony had a population at this time of only around
half a million In 1899 a Labor Government came to power in the
Colony even if only briefly and in Finland the left-win- g paper Työmies
one of the voices encouraging emigration to Australia wrote warmly of
the conditions of the working class in Queensland emphasizing the
short working hours and the arbitration system it looked as if the
emergent "United States of Australia" was going to fulfill the ideals
borne by the European labour movement101 Matti Kurikka's socialist
utopian idealism found warm support and so began the first moves
towards the concrete realization of the dream in Australia
(2) The Origins of Matti Kurikka's 'Kalevan Kansa'
Colony
The considerations set out above were probably the same ones that were
in the mind of Matti Kurikka (1863—1915) one of the leading figures of
the Finnish socialist movement at that time (He was the fifth-generati- on
descendant of Niilo Kurikka a smallholder who had moved into
Ingermanland in 1694 )" Matti Kurikka studied for a time at the
University of Helsinki and was attracted in his thinking to utopian
socialism a movement which attracted support in many parts of the
world during the 19th century and led to a number of attempts to set
up communities operating on socialist and related principles Kurikka
became a journalist working first for Viipurin Sanomat (a regional
paper published in Vyborg) from 1888 to 1894 and then becoming
Editor of the socialist paper Työmies (The Worker') in 1897 After
some of his articles had aroused considerable contention he resigned
from this position in the spring of 1899 and in May of the same year
placed an announcement in the press calling a meeting of people
interested in establishing a Finnish colony in Australia"" About 800
people responded to the announcement and a settlers' association under
12
iy
' the name of Kalevan Kansa ("The People of Kaleva") was established
-- with Matti Kurikka electedas the first President104
The subsidies for immigrants offered by the Queensland Government
were knovvn about in Finland: e g free passages from London to
Australia etc In return the settlers who had to be in good health and
aged betweenl7 and 35 were required to bind themselves to remain in
the Colony for at least one year105 The journey from Helsinki to
London would cost 52 marks and the charge from London onwards
would be no more than 25 marks (to cover food and bedding)
Despite the enormous initial interest in the Queensland project only
180 people actually set out106 It is difficult toassess how many of these
were genuine supporters of Kurikka's ideas according to one source
there were 78 of these107 Kurikka arrived in Brisbane on 2 October
1899 and (in accordance with instructions from London) was well
received108 He had been offered 3000 marks by the Queensland
Government if he would write a book in Finnish about the Colony
vvhich is clear evidence that the Government was placing hopes on
future Finnish immigration109 There were other Finns as well travelling
at the same time as Kurikka he describes them as follows:
"Five of the Finns are unmarried boys splendid lads who think the same vvay I
do the sixth — a married man — a simple rehgious Lestadian pietist from
Ostrobothnia "l0
From a postcard he sent later it emerges that there were also three
children thus making a total of ten Finnish passengers111
Even before the year was out however the Finnish settlers ran into
difficulties Complaints had been made to the Queensland authorities
and according to the local Immigration Agent they were discontented
lazy and arrogant"2 At this point the Queensland Government
terminated assisted passages for Finns in view of the difficulties
experienced in dealing with the Finnish settlers"3 In the Immigration
Agenfs Report for the Year the following account is given:
The difficulty vvith Finns seems to be their slowness in adapting themselves to
colonial conditions In special circumstances their knowledge of farming coupled
with much steadiness of character and conduct have earned them golden opinions
with employers but certain peculianties of temperament and temper added to a
singular mäbility to acquire even the most rudimentary knovvledge of English
have made many employers cautious about entering into engagement with them114
What grounds there may have been for the termination of assistance
to Finnish settlers other than those outlined above is difficult to
determine It should be mentioned that the Melbourne Scandinavian
paper Norden commented that although it had representatives and
agents ali over Queensland no complaints against the Finns had been
reported anywhere Norden suspected political pressures and drew
attention to the recent case of the British consuls in Finland themselves
Finns who had been forbidden by the British Government to become
involved with any anti-Russi- an demonstrations There was more
happening behind the scenes than was usually realized commented
Norden "5
At the Reception Depot for immigrants in Brisbane the Finns were
issued with railway tickets to various different parts of the Colony in
order to reconnoirte for land and jobs Most of them found empoyment
either inland on the railway Iine being built to the mines or in the cane
plantations in the north In Brisbane Kurikka went to work in a mill
using the name Math K Club (the Finnish word kurikka means' a club
or cudgel') wishing to avoid the Governmenfs agents"6 His pian was to
save up enough capital to be able to buy land on the coast for a
community home He was thrilled by the sense of liberty after the
restrictions suffered in Finland"7 for liberty was what he had come in
quest of He wrote with delight to his daughter:
"Here there is complete liberty No one asks for anyone's papers no one is asked
where he comes from only what he is capable of There is complete freedom of
religion and no censorship at ali"118
Olavi Koivukangas
Olavi Koivukangas
born 12111941 graduated
from the University of Turku in
1967 In 1968 the Australian
National University in Can-berra
granted him a PhD
scholarship on the study on
Scandivavians in Australia He
received his PhD in Demo-graph- y
in 1972 and returned to
Finland In 1 974 Dr Koivukan-gas
was appointed Director of
the Institute of Migration in
Turku He is also the President
of the Finnish-Australia- n So-ciety
I984- - The present study
on Finns in Australia 1851-- 1
947 is a history of first Finns in
Australia and has been sub-mitt- ed
to the University of
Turku for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy in History in
September 1986
Continued next weck