Therefore, there was a stream of seemingly endless migrants from Ireland to Australia and other parts of the world.

             Even though there were so many Irish people wanting to come and live in Australia, the famine had little direct effect on Australia. At the time, immigration to Australia was still governed by the demand for residents, rather than the plight of Irish emigrants escaping the famine. In fact, the number of Irish people coming to live in Australia declined rather than increased during the famine years. One exception was the importation of approximately 4,000 orphan girls from Irish workhouses into New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Nearly all teenagers, they were brought into Australia to correct the sexual imbalance in the colonies and to relieve the shortage of domestic servants. It was hoped that ultimately many of them would marry, and no doubt many tens of thousands of modern-day Australians are their descendants. However, when the orphans first arrived on Australian and especially Victorian shores, they were met with mixed receptions. The general public reaction was one of anger at these girls being allowed into the country. The widely held belief was that they were not admirable specimens of Irish women, rather that they were "poor, stunted ignorant creatures" and "certainly unfavourable" . In an article in the London Spectator, their class is spoken of as "Nearly the worst class that can be chosen. (the girls are) ill-organised, diseased and incorrigibly depraved. they are the most demoralised refractory and un-manageable class in emigrant ships." In Australia as well, the media spared these orphans no mercy - in an article in the Melbourne Argus it was written that "the workhouse is not a desirable school for the formation of character ; female character in particular." The only supporter the girls" had was the church, which accused people of discriminating against the girls according to their nationality, and stood up for them when no one else would.