Swan River mania refers to the period of high immigration to the
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...
in
Western Australia due in large part to exaggerated claims in the British press of riches to be found in the "land of promise."
The
media hype only lasted between 1829 and 1830 when the first mail ship arrived back detailing the hardships of life in the colony, this bad press stemmed the flow of emigration for many years until the forced migration of
convicts in 1850 and the Western Australian gold rush in the 1890s.
References
Encarta article on Perth WAUniversity of Western Australia History Snapshot
History of Australia (1788–1850)
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