You may be interested in a book called 'Fair Game' by Elizabeth Rushden and Perry McIntyre, ISBN 9780980335439
"Young women as fair game? In 1832, the British government sent 400 young single women to Sydney and Hobart on two ships–the Red Rover from Cork and Princess Royal from London–to balance the male-dominated societies. Viewed as colourful butterflies alighting on the antipodean shores, the women were ‘fair game’ for employers and potential husbands. This book analyses how this migration was allowed to happen while telling the women’s stories, describing who netted them in the hiring scramble and how they ultimately spread their wings."
Bev