I hope this doesn't seem like an obtuse question, but I've been thinking a lot about how my ancestors learned about and were persuaded to pursue emigration to Aotearoa NZ.
Growing up we learned the broad strokes, the general motivations behind the migration of people from 19th century Britain to Aotearoa, however I am interested the practical details of how they found about emigration. My great great grandmother Lydia Salter was the daughter of a tenant farmer (on Broomhill Farm) near Broadclyst. Would she have read the newspaper and seen advertisements from the (NZ) government? Were there community meetings about the benefits of emigration? I haven't been able to find any articles, ads or posters for emigration to NZ from the 1860s. Why was emigration even on her horizon? I'm so curious.
And of course the next step. How would the tickets for passage have been booked and payment made? How did she travel to the ship?
Lydia was 21 when she came to Aotearoa as a government-assisted immigrant aboard the 'Merope' in 1871. She was accompanied by her older sister, Sarah Ann Salter, and Lucy, the young sister of her husband-to-be, Edwin Britton from Butleigh, Somerset. Apparently passage for the trio was paid as a group (costing "44,5"). Edwin had emigrated to Aotearoa onboard the same ship on her maiden voyage the previous year (1870).
I'm not sure if the answer to this query is obvious, or obviously unanswerable; I'm grateful for any background or advice you can give. Many thanks!
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