When my father was still living, we took a DNA test so that we wouldn’t lose that familial information. Also, Dad and I wanted to confirm our relationship to Daniel Boone.
During my research, I uncovered a distant relative in Tasmania. I am happy to say that our new friend, David Boon, met up with us for a grand tour of the Hobart area. We walked down Kelly’s Steps, saw the beautiful homes in Battery Point, and learned about convict history. Fifty years ago, no one would claim to be descended from convicts, but today it’s quite fashionable. Seventy five percent of all Tasmanians are descended from convicts. Citizens of Tasmania were embarrassed of their penal colony past and started to tear down the walls. People got together and said that they needed to save some of this unique history.
Mawson’s Hut
Seventeen men went to Antarctica to build and establish a dwelling on the continent in 1912. Ironically, it is still there today despite being at the windiest place on earth at sea level.
If you were the expedition leader charged with recruiting men, who would you choose? Certainly not tourists. What kind of skills do you need? What are you looking for?
The expedition leader took two dog handlers, an electrician, radio operator/mechanic, taxidermist, collector, mechanic/physicist, photographer, biologist, surgeon, meteorologist, medical officer/bacteriologist, astronomer/magnetician, chief magnetician, exposition store manager, and mechanical engineer.
In Hobart a replica of the original hut standa as a museum.
Penitentiary
We went to the Hobart Convict Penitentiary and took a tour from a volunteer who was a lot of fun … and a convict descendant. Perhaps it is a requirement. At one point, she needed someone to lead us through some intricate tunnels complete with turns. She recruited Rob (not my husband) and he went the wrong way. The next time she needed a leader, she said, “I am not going to ask Rob to lead us.” Haha!
Here are some things that we learned:
- It first housed convicts and then became a jail.
- Notorious convict Rory Jack Thompson murdered and dismemberment his wife.
- The death penalty was by hanging. The last hanging in Australia happened in 1968.
- The convicts had one set of clothing for 365 days, and it was worn day and night while engaging in hard labor.
- They were required to go to church. Free Anglicans were also in attendance. Women complained that the convicts smelled.
- Gambling and liquor took place in the church.
- Solitary confinement was a punishment, and it lasted no more than three days. They were needed for labor.
Female Factory
The women convicts were sent to a different prison in Hobart called the Female Factory. About 13% of the convicts in Tasmania were women.
It was called a ‘factory’ as the women were employed weaving woolen cloth, sewing convict shirts, trousers and linen shifts, or washing laundry.
A lot of women came here from slums. The average woman was 5’1″ because of malnutrition. The average age was 26.
It didn’t take much to get arrested. Maybe you stole some bread because your child was hungry or a coat because you were cold.
The first batch of foreign women arrived on the good ship Harmony one day in January, 1829, at 4am. Men from the village came out to see them. The women did a walk of shame to the penitentiary. Their clothes were burned, their hair cut off. The women received long gray garments but no underwear.
Then they were divided into three classes. First class were assigned out to freeholders who became their “jailers.” A lot of the women ended up back at the prison. Third class were kept in harsh conditions in the prison until and if they could work their way up to a higher class.
The prison was already overcrowded with locals when the foreign women arrived. They were given a minimum sentence of 7 years. It could be 10 or 14 years. Probably they would never go home. How could they afford to? Basically it was a life sentence. Some left husbands and children behind. They were sent here to learn decency and industriousness and to be farmed out.
Conditions at the Female Factory were terrible. It was a cruel and unjust place. Some of the women got pregnant. The nursery was a foul environment with crowded conditions, poor nutrition, and inadequate ventilation. Infant mortality was 25%.
Lip Lab
Mount Wellington
MONA
The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is not like any museum that we have ever visited. David summed it up when, as a teacher, he toured the museum for suitability for field trips and came back with a hard NO.
There was one area called Adult Only. I wish that I could unsee much of what was in there!!
There was one room that was enclosed with green curtains. Rob started to go in and the attendant said, “No, this room is just for women.” Well, of course, I had to go in. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the room. I just think that they wanted to mess with the men.
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