Emotion as a tool for humanising histories of the marginalised: a case study of industrial schools in Colonial Victoria

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines archival documents, government papers and newspaper reports relating to the first three years of the government-run child welfare system in the Australian colony of Victoria (1864–1866) to present a case study that explores how historians might use emotion as a conceptual tool for engaging with the humanity of marginalised voices from the past, particularly for periods beyond living memory. It argues that studying emotion in public debate reveals important information about the (limited) ways in which colonial society valued vulnerable children of the poor, and that despite the systematic silencing of children within child welfare records, there remain opportunities to connect with their humanity. Through a case study approach, the article demonstrates that emotion can be a tool for developing a contrapuntal reading of sources that present different – sometimes directly contradictory – narratives of events. Thus, the article makes a contribution to the social history of child welfare and also offers approaches to understanding the humanity of people from the past that will be of interest to social historians more broadly.