ENDNOTES and EXTRA INFORMATION

A-Z of Convicts in Van Diemen’s Land

ABSCONDER

12-hour absence and Absconding Act: Victoriae Reginae, No 16, Absconding Act: 271, 272, 1846. The first Van Diemonian convicts absconded in October 1803. Having changed their minds, they returned just in time to be punished during colonization celebrations. Nicholls, Mary, ed., The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803 – 1838, THRA, Launceston, 1977: 28-29. When a convict absconded their physical description was printed in the newspapers to alert the public. If they were not apprehended the word ‘run’ was scrawled in pencil across their conduct record, when recaptured it was rubbed out. At Sarah Island the standard punishment was dropped from 100 lashes and six months in leg irons to 50 lashes and three months in leg irons to encourage men to return to the station. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: The Death of a Convict Station: 62, 183.
Rewards: Calder, James, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27, Sullivan’s Cove, Adelaide, 1979: 51; Heard, Dora, ed., The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement, THRA, Hobart, 1981: 29; Colonial Times, 26 February 1840. In January 1826, the Colonial Times denounced the rewards on offer as woefully inadequate and outlined four instances in which the recipients may not have been paid. Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 27 January 1826. According to John Mortlock, the standard £2 reward had to be paid back to the government by the absconder. Mortlock, John, Frederick, Experiences of a Convict, Sydney University Press, London, 1965. First printed in 1864: 111
Clothes: Eleanor Phillips per Mary Ann, CON40/1/7, 31 March 1823.
Haversack: Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, ‘Memoranda by Convict Davis Servant to Mr Foster, Suprintt of Convicts, Norfolk Island – 1843 – Relating principally to Macquarie Harbour’ The International Centre for Convict Studies ed., Bits of bag could also be used to strengthen shoes and lash logs together to build rafts, in lieu of rope. Having given up hope Alexander Pearce considered hanging himself with a piece of bag. Sprod, Dan, Alexander Pearce of Macquarie Harbour: Convict, Bushranger, Cannibal, Cat and Fiddle, Hobart, 1977: 48
Fire: Derrincourt, William, Becke, Louis, ed., Old Convict Days, Penguin, Blackburn, 1975. First published in 1889: 46 Among the many items John Graham, John Germanston and John McCarthy took when they attempted to flee Sarah Island was a tinderbox and old shirts to use as charcloth. Davey, Richard, The Sarah Island Conspiracies, The Round Earth Company, Hobart, 2002: 52
Utensils: Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 178.
Food: Binks, C. J., Explorers of Western Tasmania, Taswegia, Devonport, 1982: 35; ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’, Department of Primary Industry and Water.
Alexander Pearce: Sprod, Alexander Pearce of Macquarie Harbour: Convict, Bushranger, Cannibal.

ASSIGNMENT

Hobart Town Gazette, 7 October, 1826. Tuffin, Richard, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Assignment. In 1826, masters were expected to supply their servants with 10 ½ pounds of meat, 10 ½ pounds of flour, 7 ounces of sugar, 2 ounces of salt and 3 ½ ounces of soap each week. Tardiff, Phillip, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1990: 19
Mary Ann Anderson: Mary Ann Anderson per Brothers, CON40/1/1, 21 January 1826. Mary Ann Anderson left behind three children in Lancaster.

BAKERY

Illustration based on Richmond Gaol bakery and equipment; Brand, Ian, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854, Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 1990, Enclosure No.1; Richard Bruin per Coromandel, CON31/1/1, 19 March 1829. ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’.
Van Diemonian Bread: Emberg, Buck ed., Emberg, Joan, ed., The Uncensored Story of Martin Cash The Australian Bushranger as Told to James Lester Burke, Regal Press, Launceston, 1991: 95; Joseph Clark per William Miles, CON31/1/6; Hobart Town Courier, 19 September 1834; Colonial Times, 21 October 1834 & 15 February 1842. The sacred daily bread was widely regarded as the most important article of food. In 1807 the colony’s bakers were called upon to drop the price from 5s to 4s for a 2 pound loaf. Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood: 133. By the end of the transportation period a 2-pound loaf was worth 7d. Courier, 30 December 1853. When the bread act was introduced, any loaf not entirely comprised of wheatmeal had to be marked with an ‘M’. If a loaf weighed less than the 2-pound standard it could still be sold as long as the customer was forewarned. Colonial Times, 16 October 1838. Scales and weights had to equate to the imperial standard and wayward vendors risked a fine of no less than 5s and no more than £5. Hobart Town Courier, 19 September 1834. Following complaints made by convicts at the notorious Grass Tree Hill Road Station, Lieutenant-Governor Arthur conducted an inspection into the quality of the bread. He declared it ‘very good’ but according to convict John Leonard it was so sodden it could stick to a wall. John Leonard’s Narrative, Popinjay Publications, Woden, 1987: 99, 100
William Cripps: William Cripps per Anson CON33/1/49. Launceston Examiner, 24 December 1852. Mercury, 6 December 1888.
Bread and Damper: Burt, Alison, ed., The Colonial Cookbook; The Recipes of a By-Gone Australia, Paul Hamlyn, New South Wales, 1970, first published in 1864: 111 Joseph Mason, a convict, related the following recipe for damper: Spread your flour and a little salt on a wide piece of bark. Wet it, knead it well and shape it into a flat loaf. Scrape an area of approximately the same size on your hearth, place the dough down and cover it with hot ash. Let it cook for three quarters to one and a half hours. When ready take it out and beat off the ash. A severed cow’s tail was a favoured dusting device. Kent, David, Townsend, Norma, Joseph Mason: Assigned Convict, 1831-1837, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1996. Another convict named Robert Peate remarked that fat was mixed with flour and baked on flat stones. Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 42. John Broxup, also a convict, exclaimed damper was as good a bread as he’d ever eaten, and that Van Diemonians could muster up a meal from ingredients that would not have warranted a second glance in England. Broxup, John. The Life of John Broxup: late convict of Van Diemen’s Land, Sullivan’s Cove, Hobart, 1973: 12.

BED

Hobart Town Gazette, 29 July 1826 & 30 September 1826. Due to the incendiary nature of bedding materials, smoking in bed was strictly forbidden; in October 1834, Richard Aspden copped 80 lashes for setting fire to his bedding. Richard Aspden per Southworth CON31/1/2, 28 October 1834. During the probation period convicts slept in tiered berths measuring approximately 24 inches wide, 6-feet-6-inches long partitioned by a board from 8 to 12 inches high. Syme, J., Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land, the author, Dundee, 1848: 184

BLACKSMITH

Illustration based on the blacksmith display at Narryna Heritage Museum, Battery Point, Hobart; Brand, Ian, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898, Regal Press, Launceston, 1998: 91; Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854, Enclosure No.1. Daniel Nightingale per Surrey CON31/1/29. Edward Guest, a convict who arrived in 1803, is considered the first Van Diemonian blacksmith. After completing his sentence he successfully plied his trade in Hobart Town. Bolt, Frank, The Founding of Hobart 1803 – 1804, Peregrine Press, Hobart, 2004: 303. John Dodds was a blacksmith who arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in July 1822. He received his free certificate in March 1828 and established a smithy at Green Ponds. In April 1839, Anthony Fenn Kemp discovered his stolen plough parts concealed beneath his bellows and Dodds copped another seven-year term. John Dodds per Prince of Orange CON31/1/9. Daniel Nightingale arrived in Van Diemen’s Land to serve seven years for stealing iron and ended up at Port Arthur for misappropriating iron fittings whilst employed on the Public Works. Iron was one of the colony’s most valuable commodities, all metal had to be imported by ship. Daniel Nightingale per Surrey CON31/1/29. For smoking in the Port Arthur blacksmith shop in February 1832, William Moore received 36 lashes and had his privileges, calculated at 1 pound 5 ounces of tea and 5 pounds one ounce of sugar, revoked. Tas papers 131 – Convict Dept returns and Misc documents 1832-1864. Frames 198-207 showing tea and sugar rations.
Coal: ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’
Anvil: Clayton also purloined a vice and leather from a set of bellows. John Clayton per Elizabeth Henrietta CON31/1/6. Hobart Town Gazette, 2 July 1824.
John Barker: In Chile, Barker lived under the assumed name of B. Smith. Davey, Richard, ed., The Travails of Jimmy Porter: A Memoir 1802-1842, Round Earth Company, Hobart, 2003: 40; Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 159.
Nailed: Joseph Wilkes per Gilmore CON31/1/46
Hit and Miss: Both blacksmiths were named William Yates and arrived aboard the same transport ship; Lord Hungerford CON31/1/45

BRIDGE

Illustration based on information complied by Maureen Byrne and photographic reference taken by Josef Hextall and the author; Curr, Edward, An Account of the Colony of Van Diemen’s Land Principally Designed for the Use of Emigrants, Platypus Publications, Curr, Hobart, 1967:24; Byrne, Maureen, Ross Bridge, Tasmania. Studies in Historical Archaeology Number three, Australian Society for Historical Archaeology, Sydney, 1976; Greener, Leslie, Laird, Norman, Ross Bridge and the Sculpture of Daniel Herbert, Fuller’s Bookshop, Hobart, 1971; Newitt, Lyn, Convicts and Carriageways: Tasmanian road development until 1880, Department of Main Roads, Hobart, 1988. Convicts built the first Van Diemonian bridge in 1804, in order to erect a commissariat on Hunter Island. Huxley, Joanne, Site: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 2008


: 2. Convicts also built the first brick bridge, in 1816 over the Hobart Town rivulet and the first sandstone bridge over the Coal River in Richmond between 1823 and 1825. Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways.
Daniel Herbert: Daniel Herbert per Asia CON31/1/19. Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish. Australian Dictionary of Biography., Daniel Herbert. Herbert was transported for highway robbery.
James Colbeck: James Colbeck per Manilus CON31/1/6. In March 1830, Colbeck was caught trying to stow away and received 50 lashes and a stint on the treadmill.
Mail Service: Hobart Town Gazette, August 3, 1816. Samuel Wilson per Marion CON31/1/45, 23 October 1833. Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land: From 1824 to 1839. Printed by W.G. Elliston, 1839, Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land. A History of the Post Office in Tasmania, Compiled and published by the Australian Post Office, Hobart, 1975; Alexander, Alison, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Coach and Bus Services A convict named Robert Taylor was appointed as government messenger in October 1816, but after absconding and using an appropriated letter with the lieutenant-governor’s signature as a pass to roam the colony, he was sent to the goal gang for three months. Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter, 26 October 1816 & 2 August 1817. The journey between Hobart Town and Launceston could take up to eight days on foot. Broxup, The Life of John Broxup: late convict of Van Diemen’s Land: 13. By 1843, the journey took approximately 17 hours and passengers were charged £4 to ride inside the carriage and £3 to ride outside. Hobart Town Courier, 27 October 1843. By 1865, convicts at Port Arthur were permitted to write and receive one letter every three months. They could also engage in extra correspondence following an application, which was rarely refused. Brand, Penal Peninsula: Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 170
Mary Herbert Mary Witherington per Harmony CON40/1/9
Construction: Byrne, Ross Bridge: 113; Greener & Norman, Ross Bridge and the Sculpture of Daniel Herbert: 149. A riot on Christmas Day in 1834 resulted in several soldiers being badly beaten. Lieutenant-Governor Arthur traveled to Ross to deal with culprits personally. A total of 23 convicts were put on trial, many of who were sent to Port Arthur. Hobart Town Courier, 2 January 1835. After taking command of the Ross Bridge gang in June 1835, Captain William Turner hampered the illegal trafficking and brought charges against several convicts. He also declared ‘William Turner Superintendent 50th or Queens Own Ft’ be carved into all four corner stones of the bridge. In 1972, the Midland Highway was altered to bypass Ross and help preserve the bridge. Further conservation followed in 1976 when the bridge was waterproofed.
George Clay: George Clay per Sir Godfrey Webster CON31/1/1; Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 53; Hobart Town Gazette, 22 October 1825.George Clay is the same George Clay who drowned after escaping from Sarah Island.
Jorgen Jorgenson: Sprod, Dan, The usurper: Jorgen Jorgenson and his turbulent life in Iceland and Van Diemen’s Land 1780-1841, Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 2001.
Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur: Levy, Michael, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1953. During his term of office, Arthur accumulated considerable assets, most of which he sold for nearly £50,000 in 1839. In December 1837, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, administering during the rebellion and the union of the Canadas in 1841. After returning to England he was made a baronet and appointed governor of the presidency of Bombay in March 1842. Due to ill health he returned to England once again and was promoted to major general and appointed colonel to the Queen’s Own Regiment in 1853. Arthur died in September 1854 and was survived by five sons and five daughters. Levy, Michael, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1953.

BUSHRANGER

Minchin, Bob, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land, TADPAC Print, Glenorchy, 2001. The first gang was led by Richard Lemon. After a spate of bloodthirsty robberies he was shot through the head whilst asleep in 1808. His partner, John Brown, was ordered to decapitate him and carry his head back to Hobart Town for identification. Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 5 June 1808. It was estimated some 60 more men were still at large. Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 9. After Davey’s amnesty failed he declared Martial Law in April 1815. The decree was repealed six months later following conflict with Governor Macquarie of New South Wales.
Clothing and Bedding: Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 126. Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 32. When sleeping outdoors the fur was turned to the outside to catch the dew and prevent the blanket becoming sodden, when indoors it was reversed. Lempriere, Thomas, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land, Royal Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 1954: 5
Food and Drink: Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 28. Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 62.
‘Black Mary’: Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land. When Mary was captured, Howe had fired a shot towards her, but whether it was intended for Mary or the pursuing soldiers is unknown.
Michael Howe Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land.
Matthew Brady: Illustration based on James McCabe, Matthew Brady and Patrick Bryant, c1826, attributed to Thomas Bock, PH30/1/4144; Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27.
Musquito: Cox, Robert, Steps to the scaffold: the untold story of Tasmania’s black bushrangers, Cornhill Publishing, Pawleena, 2004.
Thomas Jeffries: Illustration based on Thomas Jeffries: on Trial for the Murder of / Mr Tibbs’ Infant, attributed to Thomas Bock, c1826, a933021h, Thomas Jefferies per Albion CON31/1/23; Account taken from an unpublished manuscript.
Martin Cash: Illustration based on Portrait of Martin Cash, c1870, J.W. Beattie, nla.pic-vn3290545; Martin Cash per Francis Freeling CON31/1/8, CON 35/1/1; Emberg, The Uncensored Story of Martin Cash.
Catherine Henrys: Catherine Henrys per Arab CON40/1/6, CON19/1/12; Grose, Francis, Williams, Alastair, ed., The vulgar tongue: buckish slang and pickpocket eloquence, Bantam, Sydney, 2004; Farmer, William, Henley, William, ed., Historical Dictionary of Slang. Three Hundred Years of Colloquial, Unorthodox and Vulgar English. Book 1. A-K. Book 2: L-Z, Wordsworth, Ware, 1987; Convict Lives: Women at Cascades Female Factory: 52 – 57.

CEMETERY

Illustration of the Isle of the Dead based on photographs and surveys conducted by Port Arthur Historic Site and Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife; Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood: 50; Hobart Town Gazette, and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 8 March 1823; Hobart Town Courier, 2 March 1838; Lord, Richard, The Isle of the Dead…1830-1877. Author, Hobart, 1985. Ross, L, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877. Honours thesis, University of Tasmania, 2005 Thomas Traherne, a convict who arrived sick in Van Diemen’s Land died in March 1804 and became the first person to be buried at the Risdon Cove camp. Tardif, Phillip, John Bowen’s Hobart: the beginning of European settlement in Tasmania, THRA, Hobart, 2003: 214. Under the provisions of the Church Act, a fee was charged for all burials and church wardens were instructed to record each convict’s name, transport ship, department of employment and date of burial for a reimbursement. Assigned convict’s burials were to be paid for by their master. Hobart Town Courier, 2 March 1838. Inquests were performed on any person who died in confinement to ascertain whether neglect was a contributing factor. Colonial Times, 3 April 1838. The most common verdict recorded at penal stations was ‘drowned’. Death from natural causes was attributed to ‘Visitation of God’. When Thomas Byrnes died at Sarah Island in February 1831, the cause of death was attributed to a ‘broken constitution’. Convict Deaths at Macquarie Harbour Penal Settlement, ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’; Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877. The Isle of the Dead was originally called Opossum Island, named in 1827 by Captain John Welsh who surveyed the Tasman Peninsula coastline aboard the Opossum. Lord, Richard, The Isle of the Dead…1830-1877. Author, Hobart, 1985. By 1836 a total of 43 graves were reported by the Hobart Town Courier. Hobart Town Courier, Friday 8 April 1836. In 1892, John Watt Beattie reported 1769, of which 180 were free persons. Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 31
Stonemasons: Thomas Pickering per Moffatt CON33/1/32 It is thought Thomas Pickering carved the triangular topped headstone that marks the grave of stonemason John Johnson.; Thomas Sanders arrived in Van Diemens’ Land in December 1844, per Sir Robert Peel CON33/1/63; Lord, Richard, The Isle of the Dead…1830-1877. Author, Hobart, 1985.
Gravediggers: Lord, Richard, The Isle of the Dead…1830-1877. Author, Hobart, 1985; Jeffrey, Mark, A Burglar’s Life. Or, the Stirring Adventures of the Great English Burglar, Mark Jeffrey… J. Walch & Sons, Hobart, 1920. First published in 1893. John Barron was charged with stealing clothes and arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in November 1852 per Rodney. CON33/1/113. Mark Jeffrey was charged with burglary and arrived in Van Diemen’s Land April 1853 per Eliza CON37/1/6.
Burying the Dead: Miller, Linus, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land, McKinstry , Fredonia, 1846: 347; Woden, John Leonard’s Narrative: 106. Weidenhofer, Maggie, Port Arthur: a place of misery, B. & M. Reid with Port Arthur Management Authority, Melbourne, 1990: 18-19. Convicts who died during the voyage out were sewn into their hammocks and, following a prayer, jettisoned overboard. Broxup, The Life of John Broxup: late convict of Van Diemen’s Land: 10
Henry Savery: Savery, Henry, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Hadgraft, Cecil.
Robert Knopwood: Illustration of based on Photograph – Grave and memorial of Robert Knopwood, AB713-1-11461; Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803 – 1838. Knopwood was a keen diarist but his valuable account of the colony’s growth remains overshadowed by comments concerning his health and dining engagements. Knopwood was also suspected of having a relationship with Margaret Watts, the wife of convict George Watts.
David Collins: Illustration of based on Governor Collins’ Tomb at Hobart, AUTAS001125643304; Currey, John, David Collins: A Colonial Life, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 2000. Collins’ funeral was attended by 600 mourners who were issued black clothing at a staggering cost of over £500. Alexander, Alison, Governors’ Ladies: the wives and mistresses of Van Diemen’s Land governors, THRA, Hobart, 1987: 29. Convict George Grove, convicted of forging English bank plates, is thought to have carved the silver plate affixed to Collins’ coffin. The monument bears an incorrect date and the exact location of the original tomb remains unknown.

CHAPEL

Illustration based on convict discipline and transportation: Correspondence on the subject of convict discipline and transportation. In continuation of the papers presented 16th February, 15th April, and 14th May, 1847. Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. London. 1848; Photographic reference supplied by Brian Rieusset and the author; Rieusset, Brian, A Brief History of the Penitentiary Chapel and Criminal Courts, Author, 1993; Brown, George, ed., The Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site. Cnr Brisbane & Campbell Sts, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, National Trust of Australia, Hobart, 2007. A chapel is defined as a place of secondary worship, being smaller and subordinate to a church. In August 1831, two absconders from Macquarie Harbour, who resorted to cannibalizing three of their comrades, were executed and the event left the colony reeling. Reverend William Bedford chose the 23rd verse of the sixth chapter of Romans ‘The wages of sin is death’ – to address the convict congregation at the chapel. They were said to have conducted themselves impeccably; a dozen sat at a large table on the pulpit and led the singing of psalms, with two of them playing flutes. The Hobart Town Courier, 6 & 13 August 1831
Religious Instruction: Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land: From 1824 to 1839; Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854:100; Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 54; Hilton, Phillip, Hood, Susan., Caught in the act : unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians, Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Port Arthur, 1996: 11. Superintendent James Purslowe commented that religious instruction was purely seen as a welcome break from hard labour. Bishop Francis Russell Nixon feared that many convicts abandoned faith the minute they acquired freedom. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 100
Inhumane and Unpleasant: Rieusset, Penitentiary Chapel, A Brief History of the Penitentiary Chapel and Criminal Courts; Brown, The Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site; Kerr, James, Design for convicts… Library of Australian History in association with the National Trust of Australia and the Australian Society for Historical Archaeology, Sydney 1984: 89. The height of the smallest cell measured just 5-foot-5-inches tall with an entrance just 27 inches high. Kerr, Design for convicts
: 89. Linus Miller did time in one of the chapel cells and claimed the floor was layered with 12 inches of filth, which took thirteen barrow loads to cart away. Miller, Linus, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land, McKinstry, Fredonia, 1846: 281
Chaplains: Palmer, Philip, Australian Dictionary of Biography. P.R. Hart; Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act: unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians: 11.
Marriage: Brown, The Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site; Bonwick, James, Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days, Sampson Low, Son & Marston, London, 1870: 282; Cowley, Trudy Mae, A drift of ‘Derwent ducks’: lives of the 200 female Irish convicts transported on the Australasia from Dublin to Hobart in 1849, Research Tasmania, New Town, 2005: 245 – 246. Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act : unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians: 18; West, John, The History of Tasmania, Angus and Robertson, London, 1981: 211. Hannah Yowband applied to marry four different men in the space of just four years. Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 1364. Initially women were permitted to marry after serving one year of their sentence, which was seen as too great an indulgence and the term was extended to three. Bonwick, Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days: 282. Many convicts left spouses behind and marriages were often considered annulled, allowing them to take a new partner. Bigamy, the crime of entering into a marriage while still legally married to another, was rarely upheld. In March 1841, Sarah Nichols, a free colonist, was charged with bigamy and sentenced to seven years transportation. The Judge remarked at the sentencing that it was the first time such a case had come before the court. The Courier, 5 March 1841. In the earlier years ‘wife sales’ were not unheard of and an unwanted spouse could fetch 50 ewes. The Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter, 19 October 1816. A husband could abandon his convict bride by departing the colony, as prisoners were not permitted to leave until the expiration of their sentence. This scenario is said to have resulted in ‘infinite vice and misery.’ West, The History of Tasmania: 211. A divorce act was introduced in 1859. Finlay, Henry, Companion to Tasmanian History, Marriage and Divorce.
William Derrincourt: Becke, Old Convict Days. Derrincourt used several aliases during his lifetime and his rousing adventures spanned several states of Australia and included time spent bushranging and gold panning. Whilst his memoirs reveal much on colonial life, Derrincourt’s own life remains obscure. It is thought he died at Bathurst in April 1897
The Clock: Brown, The Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site: 22.
Sinking Feeling: Hobart Town Courier, Friday 13 June 1834.

COAL MINE

Brand, Ian, The Port Arthur Coal Mines, 1833-1877, Regal Press, Launceston, 1993: 25.
Pillar and Stall: Becke, Old Convict Days: 55; Clark, Julia, ed., The Career of William Thompson, Convict. Port Arthur Historic Sites, Port Arthur, 2009: 78. A tally was kept for each hewer and inferior or light cartloads were returned to be refilled. Becke, Old Convict Days: 55. Those on the night shift set the timber in the stalls. Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 78
Light: Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 78. Becke, Old Convict Days: 55.
Beasts of Burden: Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 73, 77; Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 65.
Cart Rage: Colonial Times, 24 July 1844.
A Convict Colliery: Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 16-17, 44; Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines.
The Coalmines Barracks: Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines.
Axe to Grind: Colonial Times, 9 December 1845.
Windlass: Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 76. The Plunket Point windlass required eight men to operate it. Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 68. Large vertical two-manned wheels known as ‘flywheels’ also hauled coal, and a pump, operated by 24 men, drew water out of the mine in a similar manner. Becke, Old Convict Days: 53, 54. When descending into the mines, one man sat across a short iron bar and held onto a chain attached to the centre of the bar, and another man sat opposite, over the first man’s knees. On either end of the bar were hooks that attached to the cart. Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 76
Danger Below: Joseph Greaves per Georgiana CON31/1/15; Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 77; Edward Branner per Asia CON33/1; Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 65.
Landing and Running Out: Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 68, 73; Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines: 24.
Overseers: Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines: 17, 18, 86; Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 155; Colonial Times 5 June 1844. In 1837, Joseph Lacey, drunk, challenged the master of the Swan River Packet to a fight, verbally abused the local lieutenant and was subsequently removed to Hobart Town. After writing an apology and having his grog ration revoked, all was forgiven. He died in 1874. James Hurst died in June 1877. Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines, 1833-1877
William Thompson: Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict.
Unforgettable Horror: Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines: 55, 68, 72, 79.
Unnatural Crimes: Job Harris per Anson CON33/1/49; William Collier per Asia CON33/1/9; Colonial Times 9 December 1845.
Buried Alive: Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines: 6, 8. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 20.Each cell was just over 3 feet across. Convicts slept on a board just 16 inches wide. Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines: 6
Dirty Work: Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines, 1833-1877: 10.

COMMISSARIAT

Illustration based on Plan for the First Floor, Commissariat Store, 1827 AOT CSO 1/25/443; Commissariat Store Allotment, 1841 AOT PWD 266/1002; J.W. Wadsley, J.R. Hawkins, Paterson Barracks Conservation and Heritage Management Plan, Gutteridge Haskins & Davey, 2010. The first Van Diemonian commissariat was built in 1803. In 1869 it was transferred from the Crown to the Colonial Government and in 1977 it was converted into a museum. It remains Tasmania’s oldest public building.
Sneaking Suspicion: 
William Williams per Malabar CON31/1/45, October 1833; Thomas Lake per Eden CON33/1/22, January 1845.
The Launceston Commissariat: Wadsley & Hawkins, Paterson Barracks Conservation and Heritage Management Plan. In May 1825, Robert Waddington and John Sprunt were contracted to build the commissariat for £595 in cash or £300 and 900 acres of land. Following the addition of offices on the first floor a further £95 was tacked on to the bill. In 1948 it was officially named Paterson Barracks in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel William Paterson.
Under One Roof: The Courier, 10 July 1835, 31, March 1843 & 18 February 1853.
Van Diemonian Meat: Evans, George William, A geographical, historical, and topographical description of Van Diemen’s Land…&c. &c, Souter, London, 1822: 137; The Hobart Town Gazette, and Southern Reporter, 15 July 1820 and 29 July 1820; The Courier, 24 February 1843; Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 48. The first livestock arrived with colonists in 1803 and comprised one bull, nine cows, a horse, three rams, 20 ewes, nine lambs, eight goats and 38 swine. Tardif, John Bowen’s Hobart: 64. Meat for convicts and the military situated on the Tasman Peninsula arrived in the form of livestock, and was slaughtered at an abattoir known as The Sounds three times a week.
Tricks of the Trade: Mickleborough, Leonie, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land. Lieutenant-Governor 1817-1824. A Golden Age? Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 2004: 38, 39, 97. Boyce, James, Van Diemen’s Land, Black Inc, Melbourne, 2009: 108. Large contractors like Edward Lord could, in theory, hold the colony to ransom. The government calculated that considerable trouble and money could be saved by purchasing from fewer contractors, and in 1822 the Commissariat Department refused to accept tenders below 100 bushels of wheat and 2,000 pounds of meat. Smaller farmers were forced to sell low to larger suppliers and as a result many emancipated landholders were forced to the wall. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 151
Richard Dry: Teniswood, W.V., Australian Dictionary of Biography, Dry, Richard.
Weights and Measures: Hobart Town Gazette, 25 March 1826, 20 December 1833; Mercury, 20 March 1866; An Act for establishing standard weights and measures and for preventing the use of such as are false and deficient (4 Will IV, No 3); Hobart Town Courier, 7 October 1836, 14 July 1837. Due to limited resources the Act did not come into effect until 1834. Hobart Town Courier, 7 October 1836. The Act stipulated that weights were to be in denominations of 56 pounds, 28 pounds, 14 pounds, 7 pounds, 4 pounds, 2 pounds, 1 pound, half a pound, a quarter of a pound, 2 ounces, 1ounce, 8 drams, 4 drams, 2 drams and 1 dram. Capacity was measured in one bushel, half a bushel, 1 peck, 1 gallon, half a gallon, 1 quart, 1 pint, half a pint, 1 gill, half a gill, half a peck and a quarter of a peck. The system was upheld by regular police inspections. An inspector armed with a cart containing scales and the imperial standards performed spot checks. Mercury, 20 March 1866.

DISSIDENT

The most prominent groups included The Scottish Martyrs of Liberty in 1794, mutineers of the Royal Navy in 1797, Irish rebels in 1798, 1804 and 1848, the Cato Street Conspirators in 1820, Swing rioters and machine breakers in 1830, Tolpuddle Martyrs in 1834, Canadian Rebels in 1839, Chartists in 1842 and Maoris rebels in 1846.
William Smith O’Brien: O’Brien, William Smith, To Solitude Consigned: the Tasmanian journal of William Smith O’Brien, 1849-1853, Crossing Press, Sydney, 1995.

DOG

Dog-Line illustration based on engravings and paintings by Simpkinson de Wesselow, 1848, AG2067 TMAG; Owen Stanley, c1840s, AG1972.2 TMAG; Charles Staniforth Hext, c1840s, PIC U66 NK421/A-B; George Baden-Powell, 1872, AUTAS 001126075647; James Bickford, c1860s, Thompson, Probation in Paradise; Harden S. Melville, c1840s, Thompson, Probation in Paradise; Stephens, Geoffrey, Knopwood: A Biography, Author, Hobart, 1990: 71; Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803 – 1838: 122; West, The History of Tasmania: 104; The Courier, 10 June, 1845. Kangaroo dogs were said to resemble greyhounds but were larger and coarser. Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 4. Other popular breeds were bulldogs, spaniels and terriers. They were given names like Lady, Ponto, Laddie and Carlo. Davidson, Rosemary, Dog owners 1830: being a list of persons who have given descriptions of their dogs at the Police Office Hobart Town, New Town, 1993. Under the Dog Act, Police had the right to kill any unlicensed dog after 24 hours of being seized. Hobart Town Courier, 10 April 1830. In June 1844, Constable Alexander King was dismissed and sentenced to four months hard labour for shooting a dog and threatening to put the owner in the watchhouse. Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act: unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians

: 36. In order to secure the fines, some police resorted to entrapment. In December 1835, two constables, each leading a bitch on heat, walked the streets of Hobart Town and secured 13 dogs within 30 minutes. Petrow, Stefan, ‘Policing in a Penal Colony: Governor Arthur’s Police System in Van Diemen’s Land, 1826-1836,’ Law and History Review, 18, 2000: 351-395.
The Eaglehawk Neck Dog-Line: Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 11; Fletcher, Jane, A brief history of military station at Eaglehawk Neck 1830-1877, Mercury Press, Hobart, 1946: 4; Thompson, John, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857, Author, Hobart, 2007. The first dogs arrived in September 1832. Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 11. Each one was chained to within six inches of the next. The dog-line extended from Eaglehawk Bay to Pirates Bay and a second line of dogs was positioned along the beach of Eaglehawk Bay. The number of dogs increased throughout the years and 14 were reported to be at the Neck by 1850. In 1854, the dogs numbered 18 and five years later they totalled 20. John Peyton Jones of the 63rd Regiment who was in charge of the station devised the notion of placing guard dogs along the isthmus. In 1852 he petitioned for a land grant as a reward but his application was refused. Dictionary of Australian Artists, Design and Art Australia Online.
George Hunt and Thomas Walker: Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act: unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians

: 33. Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish. Hood, Susan, Pack of Thieves? : 52 Port Arthur Lives, Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Port Arthur, 2001: 74.
The Finer Things: Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 24, 25.
A Village: Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 21, 32; People & Port Arthur, Dept. of Education and the Arts, and Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Hobart, 1990: 61; Fletcher, A brief history of military station at Eaglehawk Neck 1830-1877: 4. The guard comprised one lieutenant, one sergeant, two corporals, 28 privates and a party of assigned convicts. Fletcher, A brief history of military station at Eaglehawk Neck 1830-1877: 4. Communication with Port Arthur or Hobart Town was by ship and the journey was long and perilous. In 1833 a track was cut which linked the station to East Bay Neck and eventually a semaphore was built. The station also had a 328-yard long jetty that allowed boats of up to 51 tons to be loaded and unloaded. Eventually, the number of guards was decreased as the buildings slowly fell into disrepair. By May 1873, the Neck was manned by just 12 constables and a dog feeder and was closed in November. Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 21, 32; People & Port Arthur, Dept. of Education and the Arts, and Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Hobart, 1990: 32
Lamps: Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 23. The lamps stood 4 feet off the ground and were fueled by whale oil. Occasionally the glass shattered in extreme winds and had to be quickly replaced. Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 23. The Police Act of 1833 stated that any person caught breaking or extinguishing a lamp had to pay for the repair and cop a fine of between 5s and £5. Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 1766.
Keeping a Look Out: Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Pack of Thieves: 58; Thomas Dickinson per Persian CON31/1/10, September 1839; Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 26.
Picturesque Pooches: Dictionary of Australian Artists, Design and Art Australia Online. Whilst at Port Arthur, Melville also completed an oil painting of the two kangaroo dogs that saved Commandant Booth’s life when he was lost in the wilderness. Dictionary of Australian Artists, Design and Art Australia Online. In 1852 Lieutenant Colonel Godfrey Mundy recounted in his best selling memoirs ‘Our Antipodes’ that one particularly ferocious dog enjoyed charging into the surf to engage in shark fighting. Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 25.
Rations: Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 23.
Pain in the Neck: Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 65; Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 29.
Sea Sentries: Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 23; Becke, Old Convict Days: 47.
Cash and Co. Emberg, The Uncensored Story of Martin Cash: 110 – 115: Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 28 – 29.
William Westwood: Hirst, Warwick, Great Escapes by Convicts in Colonial Australia, Simon & Schuster, East Roseville, 1999: 134; Westwood, William, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Rutledge, Martha.

EMANCIPIST

West, The History of Tasmania: 376.; Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 240, 242; Emancipated convicts were instrumental in populating Van Diemen’s Land and viewed as a valuable labour force. They also set a good example for serving convicts and the Colonial authorities encouraged them to become independently established. James Backhouse Walker estimated about 1 in 50 emancipists returned home. Alexander, Alison, Tasmania’s Convicts: how felons built a free society, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2010: 54. In 1837 it was estimated that there were about 3,000 emancipists scattered throughout Van Diemen’s Land. Clark, C.M.H., ed., Select documents in Australian history, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1950-1955: 138. Eight years later Linus Miller figured about 20,000. Alexander, Tasmania’s Convicts: 54.
Maria Lord: Lord, Maria, Australian Diction of Biography, Snowden, Dianne. It was rumoured that Lord selected Maria from a line-up of convicts at the Paramatta Female Factory.

ESCAPE CRAFT

Tardif, John Bowen’s Hobart: 86–93, 167; Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 16 – 18; ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’; Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 109 – 110; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 179, 185, 193; Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 60, Hirst, Great Escapes by Convicts in Colonial Australia: 91; Hobart Town Courier, September 2, 1842. Joseph Druce and company strengthened their boat with sealskins. Escape crafts were of keen interest to officials. Two from Booth’s collection at Port Arthur, a ‘curious raft’ and a canoe cut from a hollow gum tree, were inspected by a bemused Lieutenant-Governor Franklin and his wife, Lady Jane, in March 1837. Alexander, Governors’ Ladies: 100. In 1842, autobiographer David Burn visited Port Arthur and reported seeing several confiscated coracles made from wattle boughs and covered in cotton shirts. Burn, David, An Excursion to Port Arthur in 1842, H.A. Evans & Son, Melbourne, 1972: 40. When James Woodward’s craft was found in June 1825 at the mouth of the Gordon River, it was deemed so perplexing it was shipped to Hobart Town and presented to Lieutenant-Governor Arthur. Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 51. In June 1826, Thomas Crawley, Richard Morris and John Newton stole their guard’s boat and rowed up the Gordon River. The three convicts were armed with muskets and carried several days’ worth of provisions but were never heard of again. They did, however, have the last word on the matter. Their boat was eventually found moored to a stump 12 miles upstream with the words ‘to be sold’ scrawled across its stern. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 31. Following the ill-fated escape attempt by Clay, Toole and Humpage, Commandant Butler felt the need to replace and secure such items to prevent a repeat attempt. To prevent wood being used to build rafts on Small Island in Macquarie Harbour, the barracks and all firewood comprised timber that wouldn’t float. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 24.
Building Canoes: Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act: unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians; Scipio Africanus per Marian Watson CON31/1/2, CON35/1. CON37/1, Misc papers 62-33-A1139-40, 7 Jan 1853 B. During the overland journey of the Franklins in 1842, their convict aids were ordered to construct two canoes, which were firmly bolted together to successfully cross the flooding Franklin River. Lady Jane later remarked that the 20 convicts could have easily overpowered the party and made off in the expedition’s schooner, the Breeze. As a result of the good beviour, three of the men were granted pardons. Courier, 27 May 1842; Binks, Explorers of Western Tasmania: 155.
James Goodwin and Thomas Connelly: Binks, Explorers of Western Tasmania: 32-37, 124. Goodwin spent about 12 days carving the canoe, away from prying eyes, and he claimed it was large enough to fit four men. Connelly disappeared without trace. Binks, Explorers of Western Tasmania: 32-37.
Maria Island Marauders: Illustration based on a stingybark canoe constructed by and Shayne Hughes, 2007, TMAG; Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 11 November 1825; Hobart Town Gazette, 12 November 1825 & 7 January 1826; Weidenhofer, Maggie, Maria Island: a Tasmanian Eden, Darlington Press. Melbourne, 1977: 22; George Bailey per Lord Hungerford Con31/1/1, January 1827. One of the gang, Richard Miller, had served as a cook and managed to make off with a supply of three day’s provisions for 24 men. Hobart Town Gazette, 12 November 1825.
Coracles: The term coracle is an adaptation of the Welsh ‘cwrwgl’ and Gaelic ‘currach’ and describes a small boat constructed from branches lashed together with bark and covered with skin, tar or canvas.
John Popjoy and Tom Morgan: Illustration based on a woodcut attributed to W.B. Gould, printed in The Hobart Town Courier 12 September 1829; Ingleton, Geoffrey Chapman, ed., True Patriots All, or News from Early Australia, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1952: 128; Hirst, Great Escapes by Convicts in Colonial Australia; Bell’s Weekly Messenger, No.1781, May 16, 1830.
Catamaran: Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 11; Launceston Examiner, 27 September 1843. The term catamaran originated in the Indian subcontinent and was commonly applied to all manner of escape craft by Van Diemonian authorities. It is, however, formally defined as a vessel with two hulls or floats held side by side on a frame.
Francis Jones and Robert Birch: Illustration based on Plan of a raft constructed by Overseers Birch and Jones for the purpose of making their escape from Point Puer, Port Arthur, 7 December 1836. SAO CSO 5/72/729; Francis Jones per Clyde CON31/1/24; Robert Birch per York CON31/1/5, 17 December 1836; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 268
Stowaways: Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 59, 110; Cornwall Chronicle, 24 July 1852, The convict were termed ‘Smoked Canaries’ due to the sulfur and the colour of their yellow uniforms. Thornley, William, Mills, John, ed., The adventures of an emigrant in Van Diemen’s Land Hale, London, 1974: 160. Stowaways who bribed the captain stood a better chance; one skipper charged £5 per man and concealed them behind a secret panel. Other men reportedly hid in crates marked ‘with care, this side uppermost’; another man was said to have sat upright in a barrel clutching a bucket, so his confederates could draw water to avert suspicion. Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 115 – 116. A large box shipped from Launceston, believed to have contained precious stuffed birds, was found abandoned at Port Philip along with leftover beef, gin and ladies clothes. Syme, Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land: 366. Captain Cumberland of the Agincourt offered to ferry John Mortlock to America free of charge but rather than risk it Mortlock declined the offer, which, he claimed, annoyed his would-be benefactor. Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 109-110.
Silent Oars: Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 193. Other convicts stationed in Macquarie Harbour reportedly constructed canoes purely to use for fishing, one of which was kept hidden on Phillip Island. Davey, The Travails of Jimmy Porter: A Memoir 1802-1842: 33. In October 1831, Charles McDonald and Mordecai Coen were found fishing in Farm Bay and were sentenced to 25 lashes each. Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 134.
The Death of Constable George Rex: Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 207- 211.)
Islands of Ill Repute: Over 50 islands are scattered throughout Bass Strait. Peter Aylward and William Webb were said to be part of a gang of straitmen. Having plundered the Hobart Town Commissariat they took off in a stolen boat to make their fortune sealing. After nearly starving to death they were shipped back to Hobart Town two months later. Both men were sent to Maria Island. Hobart Town Gazette, 12 November 1825. Following the mysterious disappearance of the Britomart in 1839, colonists pondered the possibilities of pirates and looters luring vessels into shore with false lights in order to scavenge the wreckage. Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, 6 March 1840.

FEMALE FACTORY

Illustration based on AOT PWD266/1/389-394 Plan-Cascade’s Factory, Architect, J Lee Archer, Engineer’s Office; Rayner, Tony, Female Factory: female convicts. Esperance Press, Dover, 2005. The five major female factories were the Cascades Female Factory, which took over from the Hobart Town facility, the Launceston Female Factory, the George Town Female Factory and the Ross Female Factory.
Classing the Convicts: Convict Lives: Women at Cascades Female Factory.
The Cascades Female Factory: Female Convicts Research Centre; Rayner, Female Factory: female convicts: 119, 144; Frost, Lucy, Footsteps and voices: a historical look into the Cascades Female Factory, Female Factory Historic Site, Hobart, 2004: 14, Colonial Times, 18 May 1841.
The Daily Routine: Female Convicts Research Centre; Hyland, Jeanette, Maids, masters and magistrates: twenty women of the convict ship New Grove: maidservants in Van Diemen’s Land, Clan Hogarth Publishing, Blackmans Bay, 2007: 30-31; Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 31; Rayner, Female Factory: female convicts: 170. Utmost cleanliness, the greatest quietness, perfect regularity and entire submission was expected of the inmates. Hobart Town Gazette 3 October 1829
Elizabeth Slater: Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 703-704.
Ellen Scott: Convict Lives: Women at Cascades Female Factory: 66-69. Ellen Scott per Eliza CON40/1/9.
The Flash Mob: Frost, Footsteps and voices: a historical look into the Cascades Female Factory: 22-23. The term ‘flash’ referred to general rebellious behaviour and was also applied to persons who dressed in a showy style. Hotten, John Camden, The slang dictionary, or, The vulgar words, street phrases, and “fast” expressions of high and low society… Author, London, 1865: 134
Superintendent and Matron: Rayner, Female Factory: female convicts: 129; Hobart Town Gazette 3 October 1829.
Arrival: Convict Lives: Women at Cascades Female Factory: 26. In 1842, gatekeeper John Cately was caught by his wife, Ann, in the act of cuddling a female convict. Upon confronting her husband, Ann was beaten and Cately moved out, taking all the furniture. He escaped prosecution and Ann retaliated by reporting his behaviour in the paper. The Courier, 17 June 1842.
Mothers and Babies: Frost, Footsteps and voices: a historical look into the Cascades Female Factory: 19; Mundy, Godfrey Charles, Our antipodes, or, Residence and rambles in the Australasian colonies… Richard Bentley, London, 1854: 223; Rayner, Female Factory: female convicts: 148.

GALLOWS

Gallows illustration based on photographs of the ‘Lincoln conspirators’ taken by Alexander Gardner at Fort McNair, Washington on July 7, 1865; ‘Execution box’ illustration based on the box held in the Old Melbourne Gaol; Brown, The Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site: 42; Launceston Examiner, 30 June 1870 & 18 August 1891. Traditionally there were thirteen coils as any fewer could result in strangulation, and as a typical gallows required 13 steps, the sequences have contributed to the belief that the number 13 is cursed.
Gallows Etiquette: Davis, Richard, The Tasmanian gallows: a study of capital punishment, Cat & Fiddle Press, Hobart, 1974: 15, 17, 19; Colonial Times, and Tasmanian Advertiser, 22 September 1826; Hobart Town Courier, 30 January 1830; Colonial Times, 27 June 1855, Colonial Times, 20 February 1856, Hobarton, 20 February 1856.
Researching Murderous Traits: Death mask illustrations based on casts of Robert Knopwood, Ned Kelly and Napoleon Bonaparte; Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, 11 June 1841; Convict Benjamin Waitt stated that convicts were placed in the ‘man box’ and carted to the ‘dead house’ for dissection. After dying of consumption within 48 hours of landing, Canadian convict Alexander McLeod was taken to the dead house. Five days later his companions were ordered to remove the dead for burial and were appalled to discover him laying in several pieces on a table, his entrails beside him. Waitt, Benjamin, Letters from Van Diemen’s Land: written during four years imprisonment for political offences in Upper Canada… A.W. Wilgus, Buffalo, 1843:127-128.
Executions in Van Diemen’s Land: Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 12; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 214-215; Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 25 February 1825; Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 168-169; Rayner, Female Factory: female convicts: 74; Brown, The Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site: 38, 40; Further information relayed in person by Brian Rieusset. Public hangings came to an end in 1855. In February 1856, bushrangers John Mellor and Thomas Rushton were executed at the Murray Street Gaol. As executions were no longer a public spectacle the gallows were lowered, fenced in and an 8-foot pit was dug beneath it, which also eliminated the need for steps. Climbing the steps to reach the top of the scaffold was considered particularly harrowing. Colonial Times, 20 February 1856. Soon after, the scaffold beams and trapdoor mechanism from the Murray Street Gaol were transferred to an execution yard located at the western wing of the Penitentiary Chapel. The first man to die in the new surrounds was Alexander Cullen in August 1857.
Gallows Humour: Grose, Francis, Williams, Alastair, ed., The vulgar tongue: buckish slang and pickpocket eloquence, Bantam, Sydney, 2004. First printed in 1785.The three convicts hanged at Macquarie Harbour were said to have cheered ‘goodbye’ to their companions and ‘goodbye, Jack’ to the commandant. Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 49. The name Jack may have alluded to Jack Ketch, an infamous English executioner from the 17th century whose name was to become a slang term applied to hangmen. Farmer, William, Henley, William, ed., Historical Dictionary of Slang. Three Hundred Years of Colloquial, Unorthodox and Vulgar English. Book 1. A-K. Book 2: L-Z, Wordsworth, Ware, 1987: 31.
A Slant: Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 67-68; Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 18; Hobart Town Courier, 7 March 1829. A reporter with a phrenological eye, commented that John Salmon’s ‘forehead was much contracted’ Hobart Town Courier, 7 March 1829.
Solomon Blay: Solomon Blay per Sarah CON/31/1/3; Brown, The Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site: 41-42; Colonial Times, 26 April 1842; Mercury, 19 August 1897. In 1853, Blay wed a convict named Mary Murphy at Oatlands. They are not known to have had any children. Brisbane Courier, 31 August 1897.
William Bedford: Bedford, William, Australian Dictionary of Biography; Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: a study of capital punishment: 20, 105. It was said that Bedford spent three days audaciously trying to elicit a much-lauded recipe for calf’s foot jelly from a condemned man. Boyes, G.T.W.B., Chapman, Peter, ed., The Diaries and Letters of G.T.W.B. Boyes. Volume I, 1820-1832. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1985: 430.

GAOL

Illustration based on photographs and measurements of the gaol and on AOT PWD266/1/1640 Plan – Richmond – Gaoler’s house; AOT PWD266/1/1639 Plan – Richmond – Gaol – proposed additions; Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter, 3 August, 8 March & 19 April; AOT CSO 24/87/1812:101-229. Report on the Gaols. Prepared by J. Burnett, Sheriff’s Office, Hobart Town, 1849. In 1829, John Lee Archer designed a new gaol for Hobart Town but it was never constructed and convicts were subsequently accommodated in the prisoners’ barracks and female factory. AOT PWD266/1/371 Plan-Gaol, Hobart-proposed for 284 prisoners. Architect, J. Lee. Archer Colonial Architect’s Office.
Richmond Gaol: Jones, Elizabeth, Richmond-Tasmania: a crossing place, Richmond Preservation and Development Trust, Richmond, 1973; Lennox, Geoff, Richmond Gaol: and Richmond police district, Dormaslen Publications, Rosetta, 1993. In 1823, approximately 127 Van Diemonians, 41 of who were emancipated convicts and their children, were living around the Coal River area some 16 miles north east of Hobart Town. Jones, Richmond-Tasmania: a crossing place: 27. The following year Governor Sorell visited the district supervised the laying out of the town centre and named it Richmond. Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 109. In 1848, a report on the gaol outlined the condition of the buildings and detailed 75 separate regulations to which the officers and inmates had to adhere to. AOT CSO 24/87/1812:101-229. Report on the Gaols. Prepared by J. Burnett, Sheriff’s Office, Hobart Town, 1849.
George Grover: Lennox, Richmond Gaol: and Richmond police district: 23; George Grover per Earl St. Vincent CON31/1/15. In 1831 Grover was suspected of assisting a man in the assault a young girl but no charges were laid. Hobart Town Courier, 2 July 1831. James Colman was tried for the murder of Grover but despite the prosecution calling 40 witnesses the jury found him not guilty. Colonial Times, 19 June 1832.
Keeping up with Gaol-keepers: AOT CSO 24/87/1812:101-229. Report on the Gaols. Prepared by J. Burnett, Sheriff’s Office, Hobart Town, 1849; Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 17 November 1826; Courier, 1 April 1842; Lennox, Richmond Gaol: and Richmond police district: 20-21; Further information supplied by Richmond Gaol Historic Site, Richmond, Tasmania.
William Pickthorne: Courier, 8 October 1845 & 31 October 1846. William Pickthorne per Gilmore CON31/1/35. Pickthorne’s record describes him as ‘bad’. Pickthorne’s mother and father were also transported convicts. At Port Arthur, Pickthorne was charged with singing an indecent song, having laces improperly in his possession and threatening his overseer. In May 1836, string was found attached to the bolt of his cell door and he was done for an escape attempt. William Pickthorne per Gilmore CON31/1/35.
Jane Skinner: Lennox, Richmond Gaol: and Richmond police district: 35; Courier, 18 June 1841 & 20 August 1841; Jane Skinner per New Grove CON40/1/9. Due to Skinner’s history of arson, Lieutenant-Governor Arthur ordered she be confined to the Cascades Female Factory for two years before assignment.
John Lee Archer: Archer, John Lee, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Smith, Roy. S. Aside from the chapel, other major architectural works attributed to Archer include Parliament House, Hobart, the Treasury and the Audit Department buildings in Hobart, the Ordnance Stores in Salamanca Place, several buildings at Anglesea Barracks; St John’s Church, New Town; the nave of St. George’s Church at Battery Point; St Luke’s Presbyterian Church at Bothwell, St Luke’s Church of England at Richmond; and parts of the Campbell Street Gaol, Hobart. Archer also designed other buildings that were never constructed.
Elizabeth McConchie: Elizabeth McConchie per Frances Charlotte CON40/1/1
Repairs: Lennox, Richmond Gaol: and Richmond police district: 16.

GHOST

Mercury, 22 August 1872; Hobart Town Courier, 30 May 1829. The Sarah Island sentry claimed to have seen Smith appear at the water’s edge but upon challenging him he received no answer. Too terrified to fire his weapon, he watched as Smith entered the boat crew hut before returning to the water to disappear once more. Thomas Lempriere reported that the eerie incident left the island in a state of panic and paranoia. ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’. At Port Arthur, Mark Jeffery claimed to have been visited by Satan whilst serving as gravedigger on the Isle of the Dead. Jeffrey demanded to be removed from the island and claimed that the ghostly visitations continued throughout the rest of his life. Jeffrey, A Burglar’s Life: xvi.

GIBBET

Gibbeting Van Diemonians: Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 5 June 1808; Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 43, 45; Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803 – 1838: 204, 206; Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter, 8 June 1816; Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 91-92; Courier, 26 July 1845; Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 55. C.H. Currey, Sir Francis Forbes: the First Chief Justice of New South Wales, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1968: 470. In January 1826, the Colonial Times suggested the body of loathed bushranger Thomas Jeffries be hung in chains off Iron Pot Island in Storm Bay. Colonial Times, and Tasmanian Advertiser, 27 January 1826.
The Murder of Joseph Edward Wilson: Hobart Town Courier, 5 May 1837; True Colonist, 5 & 12 May 1837; Cornwall Chronicle, 6 May 1837 Cornwall Chronicle, 6 May, 1837; Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 34-35.
Gibbeting John McKey: Hobart Town Courier, 19 May 1837; Oats, William Nicolle, Backhouse and Walker: a Quaker view of the Australian colonies, 1832-1838, Blubber Head Press in association with the Australian Yearly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends, Sandy Bay, 1981: 33; Button, Henry, Flotsam and Jetsam, Regal Press, Launceston, 1993. First printed in 1909: 43; Fysh, Hudson Sir, Henry Reed: Van Diemen’s Land pioneer, Cat & Fiddle Press, Hobart, 1973: 76; Emberg, The Uncensored Story of Martin Cash: 60-61; Cornwall Chronicle, 23 September 1837.
John Franklin: Franklin, Sir John, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. Under Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur, executions were frequent, averaging 19 a year, the highest of any Van Diemonian governor. John Franklin averaged six a year. Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 34.

GRAFFITI

Illustrations based on graffiti from locations stated within the text. Photographic reference supplied by Phil Barnard; Hobart Town Gazette, 13 December 1833; Courier, 18 December 1856.
William Bray: William Bray per Lady Raffles CON33/1/6, 22 February 1844. The Bothwell watch house walls are also adorned with ships, pugilists, soldiers, men, women and a man enjoying a pipe. The same motifs are recorded in convict tattoo descriptions.
Thomas Lake: Thomas Lake per Eden CON33/1/22
Richard Waters: Richard Waters per Lady Ridley CON31/1/45. Waters also left his mark on the clock in St David’s Church. His fondness for Father Time was well known; in January 1829, he was convicted of receiving a stolen silver watch. Hobart Town Courier, 7 February 1829. One year later he was suspected of the same crime and in May 1836, after narrowly avoiding a charge for obtaining a watch by fraudulent practices, he was ordered out of Hobart Town to toil in the Spring Hill Road Party for six months. Colonial Times, 3 May 1836. By 1839, Waters running his own shop, but in March he fled out the back door after being accused of stealing a watchmaker’s vice from another shop in Hobart Town. Hobart Town Courier, 8 March 1839 & Colonial Times, 5 March 1839. In November 1847, Waters was recommended for a conditional pardon. Colonial Times, 2 November 1847.
Words of Wisdom: The cells at Sarah Island were adorned with hangman scenes and the words ‘Daniel O’Connell Man of the People.’ Being reminded of the farcical hangings of 1825 and the revered Irish leader reportedly raised the convicts’ spirits. Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 95

HEALTH

Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877. Alexander, Tasmania’s Convicts: 40; Boyes, The Diaries and Letters of G.T.W.B. Boyes. Volume I, 1820-1832: 487-489. A scurvy epidemic in 1833 resulted in some 60 convicts being treated daily at Port Arthur. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 22. To ward off scurvy, Doctor James Scott recommended convicts at Macquarie Harbour be given a daily dose of 1 ounce of lime juice, 1 ½ ounces of spirits and half an ounce of sugar mixed with 3 ounces of water, along with pea soup three times a week and a weekly dose of vinegar. Fitzsymonds, Eustace., ed., A Looking-glass for Tasmania …1808-1845, Sullivan’s Cove, Adelaide, 1980: 24. Between 1830 and 1841 dysentery claimed the lives of 30 convicts at Port Arthur. Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877
Treatment That Sucks: Colonial Times, 4 April 1848 & 31 January 1851. An alternative method was ‘cupping’, which involved heating a glass cup and placing it onto the skin. As the air inside the cup cooled, it created a partial vacuum, which drew blood to that area. Medical practitioners commonly prescribed emetics such as salt or mustard mixed with water to induce vomiting. Purging could also be achieved by taking laxatives or performing an enema; flushing out the bowels by injecting water into the anus. Convict Charles Hogan was appointed as a leech gatherer. Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Susan, Pack of Thieves: 79
Quacks: Davis, Richard, ‘John Gibbons: from Tipperary pig stealer to Van Diemen’s Land quack doctor: the rewards and punishments of 19th century medical entrepreneurs’, Electronic Journal of Australian and New Zealand History, 2001. Van Diemonian newspapers were filled with advertisements for bizarre curatives such as Parr’s Life Pills, which claimed to cure both constipation and diarrhea. Medicine chests, although costly, were also readily available and could contain a wide array of odd powders and potions.

HOSPITAL

AOT CON 87/25-7. Henry Laing 1836, Register of Buildings at the Penal Settlement of Port Arthur and the Outstations on Tasman Peninsula V.D.L.; Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803 – 1838: 34, 111; Brown, Joan, Poverty is Not a Crime: the development of social services in Tasmania, 1803-1900, THRA, Hobart. 1972: 4, 17; Nicholas, Stephen, Convict workers: reinterpreting Australia’s past, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988: 192; Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 49. Probation station hospitals ranged from rough huts or barns to well-built brick buildings. In 1846 there were approximately 18 station hospitals. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854
Amputations: Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 191–192, 263. Following surgery, Howard declared himself a reformed man but in April 1844, he was charged with stealing and sentenced to life imprisonment. Launceston Examiner, 3 April 1844
Snake Oil: Charles Underwood per Lady Franklin CON31/1/71. Over the course of 14 years, Underwood conducted numerous experiments on birds, cats, dogs and even himself. They met with mixed results and the medical community was unable to come to a fixed conclusion. Courier, 11 April 1849, Hobart Town Daily Mercury, 3 June 1859. Newspaper reports recounted the survival stories of numerous snake-bitten citizens saved by the Underwood’s curative. Courier, 17 March, 23 November & 7 December 1858. Hobart Town Daily Mercury, 14 October 1858
Feigning Sickness: Becke, Old Convict Days: 50; Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 48; George Fredrick Hunniburn per Arab CON31/1/21.
The Port Arthur Hospital: Steele, Jody, Site Report Second Hospital Site Excavation, Port Arthur Historic Site, Port Arthur, 2005; Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 69; Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land: From 1824 to 1839. In one instance an instrument had to be carved from whalebone to treat a man with strictures; the term given to a constricted passage or duct within the body. Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 9
James Backhouse and George Washington Walker: Oats, Backhouse and Walker. Backhouse, James, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Trott, Bartram Mary; Walker, George Washington, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Trott, Bartram Mary.
Thomas Brownell: Courier, 29 July 1842; People & Port Arthur, Dept. of Education and the Arts, and Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Hobart, 1990: 8. Brownell’s duties included inspecting the sick every morning, detailing the dates when convicts were admitted and discharged and also receipts of expenditure and a daily diet table.
Head Wounds: Courier, 16 December 1842. Samuel Williams confessed to the murder in order bring about his own execution. James Harkness per David Lyon CON31/1/20
Cornelius Casey: Casey, Cornelius Gavin, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Green. F. C.
Kitchen: Philip Phillips per Countess of Harcourt CON31/1/34, June 12 1822.
Thomas Davis: Thomas Davis per Argyle CON31/1/10, May 21 1832. Davis was at large for seven days and made it all the way to Eaglehawk Neck. He received the 100 lashes for lobbing a stone at the magistrate.
George Fisher: Mercury, 7 November 1871. George Fisher per Stratheden CON33/1/73.
William Madams: Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 49; William Madams per Egyptian CON/31/1/32.
On Guard: A sentry box was positioned near the hospital. In February 1844, two soldiers of the 51st Regiment, Daniel Gilmore and Joseph Ashworth, died from fever and tuberculosis, commonly called consumption. Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur: Appendix 7.

HULK

Illustration based on AOT PWD266/1/679-683 Plans Ship Anson fitted out for a female convict ship. Architect, Chatham Yard, U.K.; Williams, Brad, The archaeological potential of colonial prison hulks: The Tasmanian case study, AIMA Bulletin, v.29, 2005: 77-86; Hobart Town Gazette, 27 August 1825; Colonial Times, 2 July 1830, 4 January 1845 & 11 February 1851; Courier, 30 June 1843; Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868, Brown, Son & Ferguson, Glasgow, 1985: 367; Launceston Examiner, 16 December 1846 & 16 November 1850. Discharging Anson probationers with little knowledge or experience of the colony could prove problematic; two men pretending to be constables reportedly swindled one ‘new chum’ out of 4s. Courier, 11 October 1845. Reoffenders were not permitted back onboard and were sent to the female factories. Many colonists supported the Anson experiment and it had even been termed a nunnery. Launceston Examiner, 22 September 1847 &16 November 1850. The Anson was broken up by crewmen from HMS Havannah, aided by convicts. One of the convicts, Alexander Penman, had the misfortune to be killed by a piece of falling timber. Colonial Times, 15 August 1851
Margaret Burke: Cowley, A drift of ‘Derwent ducks’: 37-39.
Security: Launceston Examiner, 16 December 1846 &16 November 1850; Cowley, A drift of ‘Derwent ducks’: 145 In order to suitably fit out the Anson, the Commissariat Department tendered for various supplies and provisions including five large stoves and the conversion was completed in a matter of weeks. Courier, 12 April 1844. Each ward accommodated around 50 women. Launceston Examiner, 16 December 1846. Hulked convicts were typically arranged according to their behaviour; the worst behaved being situated on the orlop deck, where less light and air could penetrate. For good behaviour they graduated to the lower deck and then the upper deck. The Anson came equipped with bunk beds to sleep four convicts. The bunks could also be unhooked and reassembled to form a pair of bench seats. In November 1846, it was reported that one of the Anson’s masts was fitted on HMS Caster and another was used on HMS Meander in 1850. Launceston Examiner, 21 November 1846; Williams, The archaeological potential of colonial prison hulks: 77-86. Goods were typically hoisted onboard hulks via a derrick, a kind of crane that consisted of tackle fixed to a boom that was hinged freely at the base of a pole.
The Daily Routine: The women laboured at washing, cooking, sewing, knitting and producing items like shirts, stockings, shoes, hats and doormats. Launceston Examiner, 26 April 1845. A nightwatchman was appointed in each ward, who reported to his respective officers the following morning. Launceston Examiner, 16 December 1846.
Recycled Timber: Mercury, 10 January 1870.The Anson’s figurehead depicted Lord George Anson, and was left to rot on the beach following her demolition.
Hard Labours: Cowley, A drift of ‘Derwent ducks’.
Hiring Depots: Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854.
Ruby Ring: Courier, 20 May 1848; Bridget Cashman per Waverly CON41/1/14, May 18 1848. Half of Cashman’s term was to be spent in a separate working cell.
Row Your Boat: Cowley, A drift of ‘Derwent ducks’: 135. A ride back to town cost up to 6s. It was suggested that the Anson be moored in New Town Bay to save on time and expense. Colonial Times, 4 January 1845.
Deaths on Board: Colonial Times, 28 May 1847; Courier, 26 June 1847; Launceston Examiner, 16 December 1846.
Matron and Superintendent: Bowden, Edmund, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Bateson, Charles; Launceston Examiner, 16 November 1850.

HUNTING

McFarlane, Ian, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Frontier Conflict. John Bisdee, the Hobart Town gaoler, ran a pack of imported beagles to hunt foxes shipped from Port Phillip. Courier, 18 July 1846. Bisdee also imported the first deer and with Samuel Blackwell, he organized hunts at Melton Mowbray complete with pink coats and obstacles to jump. Stoward, John, Tasmania 2000, Sporting Almanac and Book of Tassie Facts, Hobart 1999: 298
Kangaroos: Burt, Alison, ed., The Colonial Cook Book, The Recipes of a By-Gone Australia, Paul Hamlyn, Dee Why, 1970. First published in 1864; Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 217. In September 1804, Lieutenant-Governor Collins decreed kangaroo be hunted to resupply the dwindling commissariat provisions. Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 44.
Sealing: Illustration based on ‘Flinching a yearling, a young sea elephant, Tristan De Acunha, c1824 by Augustus Earle, NK12/ 9; Plomey Brian & Henley, Kristen Anne, The Sealers of Bass Strait and the Cape Barren Island Community, Papers and Proceedings, THRA, v.37, nos 2 and 3, 1990; Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/ In 1823, a convict named Alexander Miller stowed away onboard the sealer Caroline and was left marooned on the Macquarie Island. Miller survived for two years subsisting on penguins and seals. After being returned to Hobart Town he was given 50 lashes and sent to Maria Island. The Sealer’s Shanty. http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/ Alexander Miller per Elizabeth Henrietta CON31/1/29, October 13. 1825.
Thylacine: Illustration based on a ‘Tyger Trap’ sketch by Thomas Scott, c1823, Mitchel Library, NSW; Owen, David, Thylacine: the tragic tale of the Tasmanian Tiger, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2003.
A Variety of Fare: Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 72; Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 223. Even grubs were savored for their almond-like flavour.
Van Diemonian Emus: Illustration based on Emu and young / by Louisa A. Meredith, AUTAS001126076652; A colour lithograph by John Gerrard Keulemans from The Birds of Australia; Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 249; Dove, Henry Stuart, Notes on the Tasmanian Emu. Emu 23, 221-222. 1924 & Emu 3, 113-119. 1926.
Snakes: West, The History of Tasmania: 254.
Traps and Spring Guns: Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 18 October 1823; Hobart Town Courier, 1 May 1830; Courier, 20 January 1857.
Tegg: Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 20; Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 20 August 1824 & 8 April 1825; Cox, Steps to the scaffold: the untold story of Tasmania’s black bushrangers: 56, 58. Tegg is believed to have been born in 1807. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 20 August 1824.

HUT

Illustration of the Shannon Hut based on photographs and measurements supplied by Philip Barnard; Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 64-65; Curr, An Account of the Colony of Van Diemen’s Land Principally Designed for the Use of Emigrants: 8-9; Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 123; Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 49. Unassigned convicts and those on the public works were permitted to seek their own accommodation, paying about 5s per week in rent or battering the sum with labour. If the owner prospered, the skilling formed the back room of a more substantial dwelling. The authorities believed that the practice encouraged good behaviour. For bad behaviour, however, the indulgence was quickly revoked. In later years huts were used to classify convicts under the Probation System and they were frequently grouped within a high fence to form a stockade. Martin Cash’s hut at Mount Dromedary consisted of three large unassuming logs positioned to form a triangle. Emberg, Buck, The Uncensored Story of Martin Cash: 134
Construction: Burn, A Picture of Van Diemen’s Land: 112-113; Curr, An Account of the Colony of Van Diemen’s Land Principally Designed for the Use of Emigrants: 70. Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 92. James Ross stated that two saplings were bound at the top and anchored into the ground, being spread about three yards apart. After another pair was positioned a few yards off, a pole was laid along the top between them forming an A-frame, which was then blanketed with leafy branches. Ross, James, The Settler in Van Diemen’s Land, Melbourne, Marsh Walsh, 1975. First printed in 1836: 58. David Burn noted that thatching soon gave way to shingling to provide greater protection against aboriginal ‘fire-spears.’ Burn, Picture of Van Diemen’s Land: 113; Convict shingle splitters were expected to produce 1,000 on a daily basis, whilst carriers were given the task of shouldering 125-pound bundles. Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 124
The Shannon Hut: Sprod, Alexander Pearce of Macquarie Harbour: Convict, Bushranger, Cannibal: 87-90.
Strange Friends: Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 63.
Thomas Worrall: Sydney Herald, 25 February 1833. In January 1820, Worrall got into a drunken fight at Glenorchy and bit a man’s nose off. The prosecutor failed to show at the hearing and Worrall was discharged. Biting noses off was a permanently public display of retribution reserved for men deemed ‘dogs’, and the act was commonly termed ‘a mouthful of dog’s nose’. Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 78.
William Davis and Ralph Churton: Sprod, Alexander Pearce of Macquarie Harbour: Convict, Bushranger, Cannibal.
Sheep Stealing: Curr, An Account of the Colony of Van Diemen’s Land Principally Designed for the Use of Emigrants: 35- 39. Levy, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot: 271.
Skins: Hobart Town Courier, 2 May 1854. The wing cases of beetles were also sold for ornamenting ladies’ dresses.

INVALID STATION & INSANE ASYLUM

Illustration based on AOT PWD266/1/1432, Plan – New Norfolk – Invalid Hospital and Lunatic Asylum – proposed additions, 1829; Piper, A, Beyond the convict system: the aged poor and institutionalisation in colonial Tasmania, PhD thesis, University of Tasmania, 2003; Gowlland, Ralph, Troubled asylum: the history of the … Royal Derwent Hospital, Author, New Norfolk, 1981. vThe complex also housed locally assigned convicts and those employed on the Public Works.
Treatment at New Norfolk: Colonial Times, Friday 10 December 1847 & 14 June 1856; Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 40, 47. It was also reported that a certificate supplied from just one medical officer was all that was needed to incarcerate a troublesome spouse and unlike other penal establishments inmates were not permitted an appeal and visitations were strictly limited.
Population: Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 22, 26, 27, 43; Gowlland, Ralph, Some Van Diemens Land Affairs, Author, New Norfolk, 1980: 133-134.
Rations: Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 16.
Riots: Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 70-71.
Arson: Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 12; John Hopkins per Asia CON31/1/19 May 15 1835, December 10 1836, June 16 1837.
No Drinking: Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 7.
Problem Staff: Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 34, 70-71, Courier, 14 March 1849; Colonial Times, 20 March 1849; John Russell Dicker per Thames CON31/1/9. William Pahle, appointed in January 1831, stole wine and covered his tracks by replacing it with water mixed with wattle bark. He also made off with medicines and when finally caught was sent to Port Arthur for a two-year term. Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 11; William Pahle per Roslyn Castle CON31/1/34, December 6, 1831. John Dicker was reprimanded for turning a blind eye to inmates gambling and after being caught pilfering cash he too was dismissed. John Russell Dicker per Thames CON31/1/9 June 25 1835, February 21, 1837, Executed March 1849.
Richard Lewis: Courier, 7 May 1859. Richard Lewis per Manilus CON31/1/27, November 24, 1832; November 13, 1833.
Samuel Wade: Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 26; Courier, 10 December 1847.
Travelling to New Norfolk: Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 3, 18.
Tender Care: Euphemia Kinghorn per Lady of the Lake CON40/1/5, April 2 1834, April 5 1834.
Bolters: Courier, 29 July 1846.
Robert Officer: Illustration based on a photo by J.W. Beattie AUTAS001125647099; Australian Dictionary of Biography, Officer, Sir Robert.
Accommodating Invalids: Piper, Beyond the convict system; Gowlland, Troubled asylum: 178.
John Quigley: Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 15 April 1843; Minchin, Bob, Bolters for the Bush, Author, Hobart, 1996: 60-67.

JUVENILE

Illustration based on CON87/1/56 Plan/Drawing No. 179 – boys barracks Point Puer – plan, AOT PWD266/1/1846 Plan – Tasman Peninsula – Point Puer – new goal and settlement; Calculation based on information provided by the Founders and Survivors Project. Levy, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot: 160; Oats, Backhouse and Walker: 27; Brown, Poverty is Not a Crime: 24; Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land: From 1824 to 1839.
Walter Paisley: Courier, 10 March 1847; Hobart Town Daily Mercury, 21 October 1859; Walter Parsley per Isabella CON31/1/35.
Point Puer Boys’ Establishment: MacFie, Peter., Hargraves, Nigel.,’The Empire’s First Stolen Generation: The First Intake at Point Puer,1834 -39′, Exiles of Empire, THRA, Vol. 6, No 2, 1999, pp. 129-154; Brown, Poverty is Not a Crime: 62.The first boys were shipped to Port Arthur alongside adult male convicts. During the journey they broke into the ship’s hold and after drinking themselves senseless they received a stern lecture. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 19; In February 1839, Captain Cyrille Theodore Laplace, a visiting Frenchman, remarked that the boys were ragged, dirty and their innocence was lost to a ‘hard, emphatic and coarse’ demeanour. Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 50. At around the same time, however, Jules Dumont d’Urville, another French Explorer, described the boys as ‘fit and well’ and unlike the ‘pale and sickly’ children in the big cities. Dumont D’Urville, J.S.C., Rosenman, Helen, ed., An Account of Two Voyages to the South Seas. Volume I: Astrolabe, 1826-1829. Volume II: Astrolabe and Zélée, 1837-1840, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1987:518.
Good and Bad Behaviour: MacFie & Hargraves ‘The Empire’s First Stolen Generation: 145; John Hargreaves per John CON31/1/21; Hooper, Frederick, Prison boys of Port Arthur: a study of the Point Puer Boys’ Establishment, Van Diemen’s Land, 1834 to 1850, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1967: 12. In July 1843, two teenage boys, Henry Sparkes and George Campbell narrowly escaped a charge of murder after their overseer, Hugh McGuire, was bludgeoned to death. Hobart Town Advertiser, 25 & 28 July & 4 August 1843
Walter Randall: Walter Randall per Isabella CON31/1/37. In 1842, Overseer Bundoch spent three weeks in hospital after the boys extinguished the lamps and pelted him with bricks pulled from the chimneys. Hooper, Prison boys of Port Arthur: 15.
William Bowles: William Bowles per John Con31/1/5, September 5 1837, 12 December 1827.
Leisure: MacFie & Hargraves ‘The Empire’s First Stolen Generation’.
John Allen Manton: Pretyman, E.R, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Manton, John Allen.
Uniform: MacFie & Hargraves ‘The Empire’s First Stolen Generation’: 132; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 33.
Surveillance: Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 34.
The Daily Routine: MacFie & Hargraves ‘The Empire’s First Stolen Generation’: 132; Hooper, Prison boys of Port Arthur: 11 Boys appointed as monitors and assistant instructors were issued an extra third of an ounce of tea and half an ounce of sugar. Hooper, Prison boys of Port Arthur: 11; In 1843, the school hours were increased to two and a half hours daily and work to seven hours daily. Brown, Poverty is Not a Crime: 61-62.
Van Diemonian Orphanages: Brown, Poverty is Not a Crime: 22, 27, 69; The first orphanages were established in 1828. Boys were housed in a converted distillery on the New Town Rivulet and girls in a private house in Hobart Town. The first operators, Francis and James Chorley, were dismissed in 1828. Convict staff reported that starving children were scavenging in bins whilst their rations were being sold off for profit and even used as feed for the Chorley’s chooks. More scandal followed when Schoolmaster Robert Wilkins Giblin was dismissed for beating the boys, one of whom died. The King’s Orphanage was established in 1833. Brown, Poverty is Not a Crime: 27. A reaction to the increasing number of street children known as ‘city arabs’ resulted in training schools for young offenders and industrial schools for homeless, destitute, or orphan children being constructed in the north and south.

KILN

Kiln illustration based on a lime kiln in Lime Kiln Reach, Macquarie Harbour, photo reference and measurements supplied by Jody Steele, Heritage Programs Manager, Port Arthur Historic Site; Impressed brick illustrations based on bricks from the author’s collection; Dobson, Edward, A Rudimentary Treatise on the Manufacture of Bricks and Tiles: Containing an Outline of the Principles of Brickmaking, and Detailed Accounts of the Various Processes Employed in the Making of Bricks and Tiles in Different Parts of England, London 1850; Gemmell, Warwick, And so we graft from six to six: the brickmakers of New South Wales, Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, 1986: 19-20. Derrincourt roasted potatoes in a kiln at Salt Water River, he also stated that limekilns were used to dispose of bodies. Becke, Old Convict Days: 76; 78. Convicts would have also constructed charcoal kilns by piling billets of wood on their ends to form a large conical pile, which was then covered in turf or clay. After being ignited through a centre flue the wood slowly burned and reduced into charcoal.
Making Lime: Pearson, Simple Lime Burning Methods in Nineteenth Century New South Wales, Archeology in Oceania, Volume 16 (2): 112-115; Gemmell, And so we graft from six to six: 2; Becke, Old Convict Days: 46.
Lashes for Bricks: Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 10 May 1823.
Making Bricks: Gemmell, And so we graft from six to six: 17-18; Syme, Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land: 233.
Bricks and Pebbles: Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 220; Mercury, 26 October 1866; Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 152; Hobarton Mercury, 2 May 1855.

LAW

Castles, Alex, ‘The Vandemonian Spirit and the Law’ Papers and Proceedings THRA, v.38, no.3-4, 1991: 105-118; Petrow, Stefan, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Law.

LAWMAN

Javelin illustration based on a javelin held in the Supreme Court of Tasmania. Photo reference supplied by Brian Rieusset; Alarm rattle, truncheon, life preserve and handcuffs illustration based on objects from the author’s collection; Governor Davey’s [sic – actually Governor Arthur] Proclamation to the Aborigines, 1816 [sic actually c.1828-30], SAFE / R 247; Petrow, ‘Policing in a Penal Colony; Chappell, Duncan, Wilson, Paul., The police and the public in Australia and New Zealand ,University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia, 1969: 4, 7, 26; Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 173; Van Diemonian police were given the task of not only enforcing law and order, but also of acting as a licensing authority for public houses, weights and measures and butchers and bakers. In time their duties were increased to include preparing jury lists, gathering agricultural and stock statistics, collecting licence fees and assisting the Survey Department. Chappell & Wilson, The police and the public in Australia and New Zealand: 5. Free persons were generally not interested in police work due to the low pay. Convicts were also reluctant to act as government informants. Furthermore, colonists did not want to lose valuable assigned labourers. In order to fill the vacancies, convicts could be appointed as constables directly from their transport ship. It was therefore felt that the police were largely staffed by inexperienced undesirables who brandished contemptuous authority over free persons. Whilst the press ran rampant with reports of corruption the Detective Force that, in 1845, numbered just three men, two of who were convicts was, apparently, well regarded. Colonial Times, 17 & 18 November 1835. Due to a lack of official personnel, convicts were appointed as overseers and watchmen. They were generally selected from the oldest convicts of good character who had completed a suitable amount of their sentence. But as the postings could alternate daily, a convict of any character could be appointed. Duties included night watch, securing the wards, attending to those in solitary confinement, maintaining order at mess, conveying the sick to and from hospital and attending court trials. There was no guaranteed reward for their troubles and whilst some were cruel and oppressive others found themselves in trouble for unavoidable slip-ups. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 217-218
Traps: Bonwick, Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days: 275; Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 90; Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 18 May 1827. Police were paid an annual wage of £10. A weekly ration allowance was set at 5s 8d but water was not supplied and they purchased their own at an estimated £2 per year. Lodgings cost around £6 10s and due to infrequently issued slops, clothing was estimated at £5 10s per year. Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 18 May 1827. The constabulary was also armed, which allowed them to hunt game and sell the skins and meat for profit. Colonial Times, 21 July 1835.
Uniforms: Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter, 28 February 1818; Courier, 10 February 1853; Hobart Town Courier, 13 January 1837. Uniforms were in short supply and civil officers were mainly distinguishable by better quality civilian clothing, preferably blue in colour. In later years constables wore a red and white arm strap to indicate they were on duty. Cornwall Chronicle, 1 June 1844; Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 53. In inclement weather greatcoats and oiled cloth capes were worn. Courier, 28 June 1844.
Javelin Men: AOT CSO 24/87/1812:101-229. Report on the Gaols. Prepared by J. Burnett, Sheriff’s Office, Hobart Town, 1849.
Proclamation Board: Dent, Margret, National treasures from Australia’s great libraries, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2005: 34. It was Surveyor General George Frankland who suggested that reconciliation could possibly be communicated via pictographs.
Isaac Solomon: Sharman, R.C, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Solomon, Isaac.

LEG IRONS

Leg Irons illustration based on leg irons from the author’s collection; Gaiter illustration based on a reproduction produced by Peter Sinclair from an original held in New South Wales; Leppard, Chris, The Role of Convict Leg Irons, PhD thesis, University of Tasmania, 2007; Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 81; Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 71. Convicts were placed in leg irons prior to boarding their transport ship, though during the voyage out irons could be struck off or split. Splitting referred to the removal of the central ring, which enabled the lengths of chain to be fastened to each leg for greater movement and comfort. Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 122. Becke, Old Convict Days: 53. At times, leg irons were too restrictive; in order to shingle a roof at Bona Vista, John Richards was allowed to have his irons struck off. Hobarton Mercury, 21 December 1855. The first convicts on Sarah Island used their chains as tools to clear trees and scrub. Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 10. Mark Jeffrey claimed that heavy irons, termed ‘punishment irons’, were so restrictive that it was impossible to move. In later life, Jeffrey was reduced to walking with two canes as a result of so many years in irons. Jeffrey, A Burglar’s Life: 92. Conversely, convicts known as runners were fitted with light leg irons that were split enabling them to assist in pursuing runaways. John Leonard’s Narrative: 109. As the penal system evolved, ironing as a form of punishment decreased and in October 1849 the government offloaded 500 sets in a single auction. Hobart Town Courier 3 October 1849.
Gaiter: Becke, Old Convict Days: 28, 39.
Tackling: Tackling was also known as an ‘upper and downer’. Becke, Old Convict Days: 38. In March 1847, John Carr received two months hard labour in chains for stealing a fellow convict’s tackling. John Carr per Sir Robert Peel CON33/1/63. March 3 1847
Basil: At times only one basil was fitted. In March 1830, Joseph Lockett received 25 lashes and was ordered to have both legs placed in irons for being absent from muster. Joseph Lockett per Lady East CON31/1/27.
Sound Advice: Some convicts chose to use their irons as musical instruments to accompany singing and dancing. Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 136
Ovalling: Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 79.
Link: Leg ions connected by a single link were known as cock spurs. Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 134.. George Thomas Boyes overheard a convict state he’d rather be hanged than work in short chains. Boyes, The Diaries and Letters of G.T.W.B. Boyes. Volume I, 1820-1832: 487.
George Britton: Britton arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in December 1832 to serve seven years for stealing clothes. Over the next 28 years he committed an enormity of offences, resulting in two death sentences, over 600 days in solitary confinement and some 766 lashes. Britton also had a penchant for tampering with his leg irons. In May 1837 he defaced them, in April 1845 he ovalled them and one week later he broke them. Britton died in March 1861 whilst blasting in a quarry. He was buried on the Isle of the Dead. Lord, The Isle of the Dead…1830-1877:30-33
Bribing the Blacksmith: Information supplied by Alex Scheibner of Talerwin Forge; William Leonard per Commodore Hayes CON31/1/27, February 26 1834; Henry Scarlett per Strathfieldsay CON31/1/39; MacFie, Peter, Medbury, John, ‘Dobbers and Cobbers: informers and mateship among convicts, officials and settlers on the Grass Tree Hill Road, Tasmania 1830/1850’, Papers and Proceedings, THRA, v.35, no.3, 1988: 112-127
Log and Chain: Hobart Town Courier, 2 February 1838; Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 51; George Wiggins per Eden CON18/7. After absconding from Port Arthur, Martin Cash was fitted with a square wooden block at the end of a 3-foot chain. Emberg, The Uncensored Story of Martin Cash: 108-109. William Derrincourt towed a log on a 6 to 7-foot chain, which, of a night, he’d tuck under his head as a makeshift pillow. Becke, Old Convict Days: 51.

LEISURE

Convicts could be granted a holiday on the King’s Birthday, Good Friday and Christmas Day. ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’; Hindmarsh, Bruce, ‘Beer and Fighting: Some Aspects of Male Convict Leisure in Rural Van Diemen’s Land, 1820-40’, Journal of Australian Studies, Vol. 63, 1999: 150-156
Games of Chance: John Glanville per Susan CON33/1/24, 6 May 1844.
Singing and Dancing: Colonial Times, 7 July 1840; Dinah Baker per New Grove CON40/1/1, 30 June 1840. Ingleton, True Patriots All: 269. Singing prayers and hymns was encouraged. James Porter possessed such a fine voice that he was called upon to entertain the commandant’s guests on Sarah Island. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 248. When convicts at the station seized the Frederick it was Porter who distracted the guard by reciting ‘The Grand Conversation Lies Under the Rose’. Davey, The Travails of Jimmy Porter: 40.
Bareknuckle Boxing: Hobart Town Advertiser, 3 June 1842; Hobart Town Courier, 3 June 1842.
Blood Sports: John William per Woodman CON31/1/45, 8 August 1831. In 1857 the Licensing Act permitted bull baiting, cockfighting and dog fighting within public houses. Hobart Town Mercury, 26 October 1857.

LIQUOR

Hindmarsh, Beer and Fighting: 4; Bonwick, Curious Facts: 274; Rimon, Wendy, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Temperance. Ross, James, Statistical View of Van Diemen’s Land, the author, 1832: 133; Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land: From 1824 to 1839. Shortly after the arrival of rum in 1807, the reverend tried ten convicts for participating in a drunken riot, one of who was Thomas Salmon, his own servant. Salmon was sentenced to 200 lashes but after rum was smuggled into gaol he got so drunk that he was unable to walk and his punishment had to be postponed. Knopwood, however, had personally acquired 223 gallons and after cancelling church service several times he reportedly injured himself after stumbling down his front steps. Geoffrey, Knopwood: 67. By 1818 there were 11 pubs in Hobart Town and as the township was still without a prisoners’ barracks, preventing convicts from frequenting the taverns was extremely difficult. Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 137. To curb the drinking culture, licensing acts were introduced which publicised heavy fines. Colonial Times, 10 September 1833. Distillation was not permitted until 1822. Bonwick, Curious Facts: 275.
Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Davey: Illustration based on ‘Col. Thos. Davey, R.M. Lieut.-Governor,’ AUTAS001125646786; Burt, The Colonial Cookbook: 152; Eldershaw, P.R, Australian Dictionary of Biography. Thomas Davey.

LOVE TOKEN
Love token illustration from a private collection; Millett, Timothy, ed., Field, Michael., ed., Convict love tokens : the leaden hearts the convicts left behind, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, 1998. Other popular keepsakes and parting gifts of remembrance included scrimshaw, bobbins, snuffboxes and locks of hair. In July 1833, Joseph Budd was convicted of stealing a gun and sentenced to seven years transportation. Budd’s record states he was single so the inscription may have been written with his family in mind. After gaining his free certificate in July 1840, it is possible Budd returned to his family in England. Joseph Budd per John Barry CON31/1/5, CON18/1/11; Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, 3 July 1840.

MILITARY

Bolt, The Founding of Hobart 1803 – 1804: 296; Lennox, John, Wadsley, John, Barrack Hill: a history of Anglesea Barracks 1811-2011, Military Heritage Society of Tasmania, Hobart, 2011: 70; Stanley, Peter, Remote Garrison: The British Army in Australia 1788-1870, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1986: 25-28; Ring, Maree, Companion to Tasmanian History, Military Pensioners. In 1804 the 50 Van Diemonian military comprised a Captain Lieutenant, two lieutenants, three sergeants, four corporals, two drummers and 38 privates. The first detachment, soldiers of the New South Wales Corps, operated almost entirely independently, even threatening to become mutinous. Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 40-41. Lieutenant-Governor Collins was forced to ship them back to Sydney and the Royal Marines replaced them. Lennox & Wadsley, Barrack Hill: 205.
Barracks: Lennox & Wadsley, Barrack Hill: 205. Other barracks followed in towns such as Launceston, Ross, Richmond and Oatlands.
Brown Bess: Lennox & Wadsley, Barrack Hill: 19.
46th Regiment: Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 4 March 1814; Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 64; Stanley, Remote Garrison: 60, 64-64. Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter, 20 June 1818.
Paying the Price: Sargent, Clem, The colonial garrison 1817-1824: the 48th Foot… TCS Publications, Canberra, 1996: 154; Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 50.
Fur Coats: Burn, A Picture of Van Diemen’s Land: 67; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 160; Sargent, The colonial garrison 1817-1824: 80; Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 17 August 1822.
Lieutenant Colonel William Balfour: Pretyman, E.R, Australian Dictionary of Biography, William, Balfour.
48th Regiment: Sargent, The colonial garrison 1817-1824: 61, 63, 64, 70, 83, 91, 92. William Pugh known as Big Bill, was said to be a ‘bad dissipated character’ and after tumbling into a tub of boiling sassafras he died in agony in January 1823. Sargent, The colonial garrison 1817-1824: 66.
Roast Boot: Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 71. In February 1826, Lieutenant Frederick Ganning of the 40th Regiment, stationed on the River Clyde, issued out eight pairs of new boots to soldiers who had been forced to clamber through the bush in bare feet. As boots were so hard to come by he kept their battered old ones and sent for a shoemaker to mend them. Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 115
Court Martial: Sargent, The colonial garrison 1817-1824: 34, 56, 89.
40th Regiment: Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land: 164; McFarlane, Ian, Companion to Tasmanian History, Frontier Conflict; Colonial Times, 15 January 1830.

MONEY

One shilling sterling in the notes of the Bank of Van Diemen’s Land, AUTAS001136168788; McNeice, Roger V., Tasmanian Promissory Notes, Hawthorn Press, 1971. Hobart Town Gazette, March 1, 1817; Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 28; ‘Currency’ also found its way into convict vernacular; those born in the colony were known as ‘currency lads’ or ‘currency lasses’ as opposed to sterling; those born in Britain. Wilkes, Gerald, A dictionary of Australian colloquialisms, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 1996: 109
Thomas Bock: Bryden, William, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Thomas Bock.
Convict Wages: Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 63-65; Levy, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot: 141; Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 153, 172; Prior to Arthur establishing the Convict Savings Bank, boxes containing each convict’s valuables were held in trust at the commissariat. In June 1826, thieves made a hole in the Hobart Town Commissariat and made off with the booty. George Dudfield reportedly lost £200 in cash. Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 30 June 1826. Under the Probation System, First Class required the governor’s permission to accept any contract of service and received only half their wages. Second Class could engage in any service without approval, provided approval was sought and received two-thirds. Third Class received the entirety. Wages were deposited into the Savings Bank and held in trust until the convict graduated to the next class. Anyone who misbehaved could lose their pass and their savings. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854:19-20. John Mortlock earned 1s 9d per day as a policeman, 1s as a clerk, and one guinea a week as a barman. In order to keep his cash safe he made a leather belt that held his savings night and day. Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 89, 101, 122, 90. By the end of the transportation period the average yearly wage of a male convict was £12. House of Commons papers, Volume 82, Convict Discipline and transportation: 33. In August 1862, it was decided that skilled labourers at Port Arthur were entitled to 1s.3d. per week and unskilled got 9d. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 153-158.

NEWSPAPER

Bonwick, Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days: 296; Roe, Michael, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Newspapers; Sprod, Michael, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Publishing. The first document printed in Van Diemen’s Land is believed to have been a proclamation dated 20 February 1804. The London printing press had cost just over £17 and in 1810 it was used to print the first newspaper. Bolt, The Founding of Hobart 1803 – 1804: 93. In June 1838, William Ludley was sent to solitary for one week after refusing to work on account of wanting to read about convicts in the newspaper. He made page four news. Hobart Town Courier, 15 June 1838. In 1842 the Launceston Examiner was established, the Mercury followed in 1854 and the Advocate in 1890; the three daily papers remained the dominant publications.
Andrew Bent: Levy, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot: 327; Pretyman, E.R, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Andrew Bent.
Henry Melville: Flin, E, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Henry Melville.

OFFICE

Prisoners Barracks, Gaol, Hobart Town c1865, AUTAS001124851619; Photograph – Views of the exterior and interior of the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street, Hobart – demolished 1963, PH30-1-1164; Photograph – Views of the exterior and interior of the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street, Hobart – demolished 1963, PH30-1-1182; Photograph – Campbell Street Gaol, Hobart – Exterior view of prison buildings, NS2340-1-10; Convict discipline and transportation: Correspondence on the subject of convict discipline and transportation. In continuation of the papers presented 16th February, 15th April, and 14th May 1847. Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. London. 1848; Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 35; Guide to the Public Records of Tasmania. P.R. Eldershaw. The Colonial Office of Great Britain superintended the Convict Department. Within the Convict Department, Adolarius Humphrey, coroner, superintendent of police and chief magistrate, commenced an alphabetical register detailing each convict’s physical description, native place, trade, details of trial and sentence, appropriation and emancipation. Major Thomas Bell kept a similar register detailing new arrivals. When Governor Arthur arrived in May 1824, he instigated a more rigid system and sought to also record every single punishment and indulgence that each convict received until the point of his or her emancipation or death. In 1825, a Colonial Secretary and Private Secretary were appointed to assist. Two years later the office of the Muster Master was created. His exhaustive administrative duties commenced with boarding each transport ship to record each convict’s crime, physical description, history, family and connections. Other ample registers detailed absconders, marriages, deaths, pardons, confessions, offences, hulk reports and surgeons’ reports. Guide to the Public Records of Tasmania, P.R. Eldershaw. By 1856, the need for a Convict Department diminished and the remaining offices was transferred to the control of the Colonial Government. In 1951, the Black Books, as they were known, and numerous other records were transferred to the Tasmanian State Archives.
Signing Off: Hobart Town Courier, 3 March 1832 & 15 February 1833.
Office Gateway: All convicts entering the barracks had their details entered into the barrack registers. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 29 October 1824. The gates were also used to placard information on convicts for the benefit of the public. Colonial Times, 2 November 1831.
Gatekeeper: Courier, 13 December 1855. In April 1856, Cutmear retired on a pension of £48 after 21 years service. Accounts and papers of the House of Commons VOL XLIV, 1856: 32
Edward Cook: Guide to the Public Records of Tasmania. P.R. Eldershaw; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 156; Edward Cook per Sir Charles Forbes CON31/1/6.
Convict Clerks: Levy, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot: 150, Hobart Town Gazette, 17 March 1827; Douglas Gilchrist per Claudine CON31/1/15, 12 March 1827. Had the falsification transpired, Grass who arrived in March 1820, would have been released. He was, however, sent to labour on the Public Works. Furniss Grass per Coromandel CON31/1/15, 21 March 1827
Josiah Spode, Muster Master: Green, F.C, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Josiah Spode.

PENAL STATION

Illustration based on AOT PWD266/1/51 Plan-Commandant’s Premises, Macquarie Harbour c1828; AOT NS3210-1-36, Photograph-portrait of group (unidentified) possibly on Sarah Island, Macquarie Harbour; C.H.T. Costantini, Macquarie Harbour c1830, NLA 194102, PIC Drawer 3174 #R136; C.H.T. Costantini S. view of Macquarie Harbour VDL 1803-1851, AUTAS001124074394; T. Bock The settlement at Macquarie Harbour c1830, AUTAS001131827727; W.B Gould, A north east view of Macquarie Harbour, c1833, V6B/Mac H/2; Hobart town Almanack 1831 printed by James Ross; T. Lempriere, Sketchbook of drawings mainly of Macquarie Harbour c1828, AUTAS001136186467. Other images attributed to Lempriere also used as reference and obtained from Richard Davey. Julen, Hans, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour 1822-1833: an outline of its history, Regal Press, Launceston, 1998; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates. Brand, Ian, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 1822 – 1833 and 1846 – 1847, Regal Press, Launceston, 1990. Free persons convicted of crimes such as sheep theft or harboring bushrangers were also sent to the penal stations. Julen, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour: 45. Maria Island was formulated to be less severe than Sarah Island. Convicts toiled at timber cutting, tanning, shoe-making and producing cloth. Following security and disciplinary problems the station was closed down in 1832. Weidenhofer, Maria Island: a Tasmanian Eden.
Sarah Island: Julen, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates; Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements. Sarah Island was named after Sarah Birch, the wife of James Kelly’s employer. Kelly also discovered Huon pine in the harbour. Six months later, Dennis McCarty sailed to the harbour to obtain the precious lumber and discovered coal. In 1818 Lieutenant-Governor Sorrell proposed that the harbour be settled in order to exploit the valuable commodities. Furthermore, it was felt that it would be an ideal place of banishment for the most troublesome convicts of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. The plan was approved in 1821 and a party arrived at the island in early 1822. Ground was slowly cultivated not only on the island, but also nearby at what would become known as Farm Cove. Phillip Island, some six kilometers away, served as a farm and a piggery, which afforded the convicts occasional fresh meat and vegetables. Brick kilns were established to the south of the harbour and limekilns and charcoal kilns up the Gordon River. Sarah Island is approximately 15 acres in entirety. Julen, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates
A Long Hard Voyage: Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 10; Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 33; Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 9. The first groups of convicts left Hobart Town aboard the Prince Leopold and the Sophia in December 1821. The Sophia landed after 22 days at sea but the Prince Leopold took 67 days. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 7. After convicts seized the Cyprus in 1829, vessels were equipped with cells. Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 33. Hell’s Gates is just 74 metres wide. Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 9
Solitary for Two: George Miller per Elizabeth Henrietta CON31/1/29, 5 September 1824; Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 387.
Bad Weather: Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 6, 23. John Gough per Elizabeth Henrietta CON31/15, 6 May 1824.
Lashes: Benjamin Bowers per Maria CON31/1/1, 5 February 1825; Thomas Morrison per Arab CON31/1/29, 20 September 1827; Thomas Singleton Hawley per Richmond CON31/1/18, 7 July 1828; James Mason per Dromedary CON31/1/29, 22 November 1822.
Daily Routine: Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 16, 36.
Rations: Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 37. Mechanics and overseers received a further 7 pounds of flour weekly, which was at times partially substituted with potatoes. Julen, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour: 15. Convicts could also be rewarded with tea and sugar. Military and officers got first dibs on fresh meat and vegetables and also supplemented their diet by hunting local game. Goats supplied the island with milk. The water of Macquarie Harbour, stained brown from tannins, was undrinkable due to high levels of salt. Convicts were tasked with carting fresh water by boat to Sarah Island from a creek located at Rum Point. Julen, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour: 35. Macquarie Harbour was also abundant in a wide variety of fish, which the convict artist William Buelow Gould painted in detailed watercolour.
Thomas Day: Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Pack of Thieves: 52-54; Duffield, Ian, ‘Daylight on Convict Lived Experience; The History of a Pious Negro Servant’, Exiles of Empire, THRA, Vol. 6, No 2, 1999: 29-63; Pybus, Cassandra, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Black Convicts. Black convicts were commonly termed ‘of colour’ by officials and given the precursor of ‘Black’ by their convict contemporaries. Many had originated in British slave colonies.
Absconders: Julen, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour: 7, 55; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 198. The search party was armed with kangaroo dogs and muskets. The most successful absconders went by boat.
Staff at the Station: Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 22, 40.
Cemetery: Julen, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour: 36; Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 46; The Tasmanian Mail, 5 September 1912.
Convict Deaths: Julen, The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour: 35. Some 1,150 convicts served time at Macquarie Harbour, of which less than 30 were women. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 2
William Swallow and the Cyprus: Hirst, Warwick, Great Escapes by Convicts in Colonial Australia, Simon & Schuster, East Roseville, 1999: 65-86. William Walker per Malabar CON31/1/45; William Swallow per Georgia CON31/1/38.

PENITENTIARY

Illustration based on AOT NS3210-1-36, Photograph-portrait of group (unidentified) possibly on Sarah Island, Macquarie Harbour; AOT PH30-1-4056, Photograph – Ruins of the Penitentiary at Sarah Island; Photograph – Sarah Island, Macquarie Harbour with ruins of convict establishment AOT PH30-1-55; Photograph – Ruins of part of the convict establishment on Sarah Island, Macquarie Harbour, West Coast (Beattie 547B) AOT PH30-1-60; Ruins, Penitentiary, Settlement Island [interior] (Photograph) AUTAS001125643478. Mcllroy, James, Occasional Paper no. 18, Dept of Lands, Parks and Wildlife Hobart, Tasmania. A penitentiary derives it name from the term penance and can be distinguished from other sites of imprisonment and punishment by providing the inmates with a place to receive a religious and secular education.
Thwarted: The Hobart Town Courier Saturday 28 May 1831.
Royalty: In 1898, it was reported that collectors would pay £10 apiece for the carvings. ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’, Department of Primary Industry and Water.
Murder: ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’, Department of Primary Industry and Water; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 214; Robert Hesp per Richmond CON31/1/18.
Buried Booze: ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’, Department of Primary Industry and Water’. A few weeks after Butler’s discovery, William Argent was shot dead whilst robbing the store. Argent had broken in via a hole in the roof, in his pockets were found two bags, one fashioned from an eel skin and the other from a bullock’s bladder. It was calculated they could hold a gallon and a half of liquor.
William Buelow Gould: Illustration based on a portrait of Gould attributed to Thomas Bock. Darby, Garry, and William Buelow Gould: convict artist of Van Diemen’s Land, Copperfield, Sydney, 1980.
Charles Henry Theodore Costantini: Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Pack of Thieves: 95-96; Dictionary of Australian Artists, Design and Art Australia Online.
Thomas Lempriere: Ellis, W.F, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Thomas Lempriere.
William Schofield: Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 134-135; Schofield, William, Australian Diction of Biography, Lockley, G.L. In December 1827, the reverend attended the nine convicts who were executed in Hobart Town for the murder of George Rex. Two other convicts, however, William Phillips and George Holloway were sent to Hobart Town to serve at Government House as examples of religious transformation. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 218, 250
George Augustus Robinson: Illustration based on a Painting of George Augustus Robinson, PH30-1-442, and a photograph AUTAS001125883322. Robinson, George Augustus, Australian Dictionary of Biography.

PRISONERS’ BARRACKS

Illustration based on Plan of Hobart Gaol, Public Works Department, Tasmania, 1909, No. 4844, supplied by Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site; Photograph – Interior, Hobart Gaol, AUTAS001124851627; Photograph – Views of the exterior and interior of the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street, Hobart – demolished 1963, PH30-1-1158, PH30-1-1160, PH30-1-1162, PH30-1-1169, PH30-1-1159, PH30-1-1164, PH30-1-1166. Convict discipline and transportation: Correspondence on the subject of convict discipline and transportation. In continuation of the papers presented 16th February, 15th April, and 14th May 1847. Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. London. 1848. Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 63; Hobart Town Gazette, 12 August 1826. The initial barracks at Hobart Town comprised two rooms with fifty beds. Lieutenant-Governor Sorrel proposed a larger more secure barracks be built in Campbell Street, which would also aid in classifying and disciplining the increasing amount of convicts. Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 57, 65. On May 4, 1822, the barracks was officially opened with room for 100 Public Works labourers. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 27 April 1822. In 1826, the barracks were renovated in order to accommodate up to 500 men. Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 1 September 1826. In February 1830, Van Diemonian sites of confinement unified under the Houses of Correction Act, which outlined stricter penalties for offences, including mismanagement. Colonial Times, 26 February 1830. In 1845, the barrack populace numbered approximately 1045, who lodged in 23 wards and 70 solitary cells. An extra 500 could be squeezed into the attics but the barracks was said to only comfortably hold 816 men. The Sessional Papers, House of Lords. 1847, Vol. III, Convict Discipline, Criminal Offenders. Five years later an extra 109 separate apartments were built. Other additions included improved water works, a fire engine, folding cell beds that doubled as seats, window shutters and a receiving room with eight baths and hot water. Accounts and Papers, Convict Discipline and Transportation, 4 February – 8 August, VOL XLV, Great Britain House of Commons. In 1852, inmates amounted to approximately 550. The Superintendent and his family lived on site in a two-storey house that faced onto Melville Street. In May 1857, Charles Edinborough was accused of audaciously burgling the property and when the Superintendent’s missing jewellery was found in his coat pocket, he was arrested and sentenced to six years. Hobart Town Mercury, 19 June 1857. In 1860, the barracks was proclaimed a gaol and house of correction and in 1877 the remaining convicts from the Cascades Female Factory and Port Arthur were transferred to the site, which became known as The Campbell Street Gaol. Evans, Caroline, A pink palace? : Risdon Prison, 1960-2004, Department of Justice, Hobart, 2004: 7; The Mercury, 18 April 1877 & 14 June 1879. By the beginning of the next century, the complex had been divided into male and female divisions with a criminal court and police court along with a myriad of sheds, offices, workshops, dormitories and solitary cells. Following numerous Royal Commissions into the deplorable and ineffectual state of the gaol it was decided to demolish it and construct a prison at Risdon Vale, not far from where Van Diemen’s Land was first colonised. The new prison was touted as ‘the most modern in the world’. Male prisoners were relocated in 1960 and female prisoners in 1963. Later that year, the Campbell Street Gaol was demolished, bringing and end to, as one newspaper reported, ‘an important chapter in Hobart’s historic and turbulent past’. Evans, A pink palace?: 22, 27.
Arrivals: Broxup, The Life of John Broxup: late convict of Van Diemen’s Land: 12; Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 52, 53 Parker, Henry Walter, The rise, progress, and present state of Van Diemen’s Land with advice to emigrants, J. Cross, London, 1834- 1835: 44,45. As the journey was made in low light some convicts went ‘moon blind’, a form of blindness attributed to a lack of vitamin A. Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 11; Their possessions were confiscated, labelled and stored in a box awaiting their release. Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 262-262. The principal superintendent of convicts called out each man’s name and trade along with whom they were to be assigned to and as they stepped forth they were personally reviewed as the surgeon superintendent detailed their conduct during the voyage out. Backhouse, James, The life and labours of George Washington Walker: of Hobart Town, Tasmania, By James Backhouse, London: A.W. Bennett, 1862: 40. Probationary convicts were met with a similar experience but directed to their station via a trip to the superintendent’s office. Miller, Linus, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 275.
George Barrel: George Barrel per Dromedary CON23/1/1, CON31/1/1. In September 1828, a Liquour Act was passed that stated anyone caught selling liquor within the barracks or any other penal establishment would be fined between 20s and 100s. Anyone caught with liquor would be fined from 10s to 50s. The Hobart Town Courier, 20 September 1828.
Bakery: James Deakin per Woodford CON31/1/9, 12 December 1829, 29 12 December 1829.The bakehouse, consisting of two large ovens, remained operational for over 100 years. Bread was issued out each morning and if it wasn’t eaten right away convicts had to carry it about or risk it being stolen. Superintendent Boyd remedied the situation by having it issued three times daily. Convict discipline and transportation: Correspondence on the subject of convict discipline and transportation. In continuation of the papers presented 16th February, 15th April, and 14th May 1847. Deakin was also charged with stealing the two sacks containing the wheat. Hobart Town Courier, 20 February 1830; James Deakin per Woodford CON31/1/9. James Taylor, a watchman, was dismissed after seven years service stealing flour to feed his pigs. Colonial Times, 23 October 1829.
Walled In: Hobart Town Gazette, 13 January 1827; Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 19 January, 6 July 1827 & 24, 31 August 1827; John Little per Caledonia CON31/1/27, 23 October 1822; Hobart Town Daily Mercury, 15 December 1858; John Hare per Prince Regent CON31/1/19, 3 April 1833.
Classing the Convicts: Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 63; Hobart Town Gazette, 12 August 1826.
Staff at the Barracks: Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854, Enclosure No.1.
The Daily Routine: Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 263; Correspondence on the subject of convict discipline and transportation. In continuation of the papers presented 16th February, 15th April, and 14th May 1847. Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. London. 1848.
William Gunn: Illustration based on a photograph of Gunn taken by J.W. Beattie, AUTAS001125645325. Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 84; Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 286; Launceston Examiner, 13 June 1868; Read, K.L, Australian Dictionary of Biography, William Gunn.
Conditions: Convict discipline and transportation: Correspondence on the subject of convict discipline and transportation. In continuation of the papers presented 16th February, 15th April, and 14th May 1847. Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 262.
Linus Miller: Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land; Pybus, Cassandra, Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, American Citizens, British Slaves: Yankee political prisoners in an Australian prison colony 1839-1850, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2002.
Thomas Griffiths Wainewright: Illustration based on a self-portrait of Wainewright, widely reproduced. Crossland, Robert, Wainewright in Tasmania, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1954; Hodgman, V.W., Australian Dictionary of Biography, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright.
Competitive Walking: Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 19 January 1827; Levy, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot: 292. Kirkham was rumoured to have out run a mail coach in England. Physical feats, commonly performed for a wager, were termed ‘pedestrianism’.
A Strong Bladder: Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Pack of Thieves: 80; William Collins per Georgina CON31/1/6, 10 August 1831.
A Bad Tip: Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 262; John Hough per Lady Montagu CON33/1/110, 31 March 1853.
The Spirit of Giving: Hobart Town Courier, 20 February 1830; John Stothers per Medina CON31/1/38, 30 December 1831.
The Interior: John Murphy per William Miles CON31/1/29, 17 May 1830.

PROBATION STATION

Illustration based on Salt Water River, DL MSS ADD 564/202 c1843. Detail also taken from sketches produced in 1847 by F.G. Simpkinson de Wesselow. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854.
Salt Water River Probation Station: Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 15; Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 97, 98, 154, 164.
Life and Limb: Charles Moss per David Malcolm CON33/1/80
Time for Trouble: William Glave per David Malcolm CON33/1/80, 17 January 1848.
The Daily Routine: Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 97.
Robbery: Courier, Saturday 5 & 30 September 1846. Michael Roach per Asia CON33/1/9, CON27/1/9.
John Eardley Wilmot: Illustration based on a portrait of Wilmot photographed by J.W Beattie, AUTAS001125646828. Roe, Michael, Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Eardley Wilmot.
Matthew Forster: Shaw, A.G.L, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Matthew Forster.
John Edwin Evendon: Illustration based on Photograph – The Guard, Port Arthur? NS1013-1-1805. Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 163; Glover, Margaret, Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Edwin Evenden.
Staff at the Station: Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 16. James Pringle, appointed as the first Superintendent, was instrumental in developing the station but after a drop in efficiency he was investigated by the Convict Department in 1846. The attending medical officer, Patrick Black, was asked to submit a report detailing the Superintendent’s fitness for duty. Black stated Pringle was suffering ‘delirium tremors,’ which he attributed to heavy drinking. Commandant Champ, Pringle’s superior, disputed the allegations but Pringle was dismissed in 1847. He was, however, reappointed to the Cascades Probation Station and Doctor Black was, within a few days of his findings, also dismissed after a drunken fling with a female convict. R Tuffin, Saltwater River’s Convict Occupation 1841-1877, Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Port Arthur, 2006: 11. The Probation System stipulated that free men be appointed as overseers rather than convicts but finding men willing to work in remote locations, in poor conditions for little money proved impossible. In 1868, an ex-convict named Cornelius Kellaher worked as a constable and pensioner at the station. Kellaher received 14.s per week, wood, water, lodgings, a convict servant and a pension of 9d per day. He left behind a destitute wife, Bridget, and two children in Hobart Town. His wife was forced to move in with her family and details of her sorry plight were published in the Mercury. The following week, Kellaher ran an ad warning people not to credit his wife for he would not be picking up the tab. Mercury, Saturday 1, 4 February 1868

PROSTITUTION

Bonwick, Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days: 282; Smith, James Montagu, Cuffley, Peter, ed., Send the boy to sea: the memoirs of a sailor on the goldfields, Five Mile Press, Noble Park, 2001: 48; Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 7. According to Reverend John West, prostitution was standard practice as soon as female convicts departed Britain; early transports commonly bunked both sexes in together and officers, sailors and the military were said to have selected companions for the voyage out. West, The History of Tasmania: 112. Female convicts were without a formal barracks until the 1820s. As the male populace far outweighed the female, free women were also transported out at the Crown’s expense. The vast majority, however, were destitute and one woman who voyaged with 228 others claimed that over 200 of her companions had been ‘driven to the most wretched and loathsome debauchery’. The only immediate result of the emigration push, it was claimed, was a ‘vast increase of prostitution in the streets of Hobart Town’. Bonwick, Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days: 271-272. In an attempt to keep women off the streets, Lady Denison initiated a refuge in 1848, but due to inadequate funding the doors closed just two years later. Alexander, Governors’ Ladies: the wives and mistresses of Van Diemen’s Land governors: 137. It was not until the 1880’s that prostitution began to markedly decrease. The Royal Navy initiated the Contagious Diseases Act, which allowed police to examine and confine prostitutes suffering venereal diseases to hospital, and rescue work conducted by churches and other groups provided women with other alternatives. Alexander, Alison, The Companion to Tasmanian History, Prostitution. Prostitution, however, was not limited to women. When devoid of all resources any convict could be reduced to bartering their body to improve their circumstances. John Harris, the convict servant of Superintendent Thomas Warton at Macquarie Harbour, was said to have joined his master in bed where their ‘practices’ could be heard through the hut wall. ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’, Department of Primary Industry and Water. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 133.
Eliza Smith: Eliza Smith per Hector CON19/1/13; CON40/1/9.

PUNISHMENT

P.R. Eldershaw, Guide to the Public Records of Tasmania. Extended sentences of transportation were usually from 18 months to two years and probation sentences generally not by more than six months. Time doing hard labour was usually from between two to 18 months in chains or one to six months out of chains. The lengthier sentences required the ruling of two magistrates but one magistrate could rule on shorter periods and corporal punishment. Convicts had the right to petition the governor regarding their circumstances and could bring charges against their superiors. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 219; Australian Convict Sites, World Heritage Nomination, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra, 2008: 216.
Iron Collar: Illustration based on description by Bonwick, Curious Facts of Old Colonial Days Goodridge; Charles Medyett, Narrative of a voyage to the South Seas: with the shipwreck of the Princess of Wales cutter on one of the Crozets, uninhabited islands; with an account of a two years’ residence on them by the crew, and their delivery by an American schooner: to which is added, a further narrative of near eight years’ residence in Van Diemen’s Land, London, 1832: 173. Alice Blackstone, a married convict, was banished to Launceston for having an affair with the principal superintendent of convicts at George Town. In September 1819, she walked from Launceston to George Town, carrying their baby daughter in her arms. She was caught, arrested, fitted with a 6-¼ pound collar by the local blacksmith and ordered to march 35 miles back to Launceston still clutching their child. Castles, Alex, ‘The Vandemonian Spirit and the Law’: 118; McCoull, Lesley, Alice Blackstone: ‘A Woman of Infamous Character’, Launceston Historical Society.
Breaking Stone: Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, 11 June 1841; Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 55. The stone-breaking yard at Port Arthur was 12 feet wide by 105 feet long. During the probation era convicts were chained to individual stalls. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 127. In 1842, convict stonebreakers were tasked with producing between three quartes of a cubic yard of hard stone or one and two thirds of a cubic yard of freestone on a daily basis, each piece being no bigger than three quartes of an inch or two and a quarter inches respectively. Syme, Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land: 232.
Gag: Illustration based on examples in TMAG; Female Convicts Research Centre, Gagging, (TAHO, AC480/1/1); West, The History of Tasmania: 104. It was rumoured that male convicts were gagged and tethered with their limbs splayed on a wooden frame called a ‘spreadeagle’, or chained to ring bolts in a punishment termed ‘ringbolting’. Colonial Times, 6 December 1850. O’Brien, To Solitude Consigned: 192. After being gagged in court for hurling abuse at the witness, James White still managed to mumble ‘to hell with her’. The Mercury, 20 December 1867.
Hair Cropping: Fitzsymonds, ed., A Looking-glass for Tasmania: 102-104; Australian Convict Sites: 215.
Stocks: Illustration based on images in Stone, Carolyn, Tyson, Pamela, Old Hobart Town and Environs 1802-1855, Pioneer Design Studio, Lilydale, 1978: 91 & Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways: 29; The Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, Friday 7 1840; Hobart Town Courier, 17 November 1837; House of Commons papers, Volume 42, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Under Lieutenant-Governor Collin’s rule, lawbreakers could also be secured by the head and hands to stand in a similar device known as a pillory. Castles, ‘The Vandemonian Spirit and the Law’: 109. The Hobart Town stocks were situated at the lower end of Macquarie Street. In September 1832, they were vandalised and a few weeks later someone scribbled ‘stocks for sale apply to Captain Fortser’ across the remains. They were then erected in the market place. Colonial Times, 4 August 1832 & 9 October 1832.
The Black Box: Illustration based on the black box held in TMAG; Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 307; McMahon, Anne, Convicts at Sea: the voyages of the Irish convict transports to Van Diemen’s Land, 1840-1853, Author, Canberra, 2011; Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 52; Montagu Smith stated that when the Sir Robert Seppings returned from Norfolk Island several male convicts suspected of committing ‘unnatural crimes’ also did stints in the box. Smith, Send the boy to sea: the memoir: 39; Colonial Times, 22 October 1852. Convicts were, at times, forced to endure the box horizontally and lay down. A black box measured approximately 29 inches by 26 inches and was 6-feet-5-inches high. Calculation based on black box held in TMAG.
Flogging: Illustration based on a photograph of a Pakistani man being flogged, taken by Zahid Hussein in 1980. My thanks to Zahid for his support and generosity. Scott, George, The history of corporal punishment… Torchstream Books, London, 1954: 56; Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood: 7; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 80, 195; Robert Hansler per Coromandel CON31/1/18, 8 December 1827; Daniels, Kay, Convict Women, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, 1998: 106; Colonial Times, 16 June 1835; McMahon, Convicts at Sea: 66; Tuffin, Richard, The Companion to Tasmanian History; Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 61. Flogging was first authorised by the British Army in 1689. Scott, George, The history of corporal punishment: 82. For stealing liquor, Robert Earle was sentenced to 500 lashes. Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood: 82. Over time the sentences were reduced. In 1843, convicts found guilty of crimes such as larceny, embezzling or indecent exposure could receive up to 100 lashes and for lesser crimes such as drunkenness and misconduct no more than 36. House of Commons papers, Volume 42 Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Mark Jeffrey likened some convicts’ backs to ‘raw beef’. Jeffrey, A Burglar’s Life: 92. Doctor Thomas Wilson reported that it was not unheard of for the constable in charge, flagellator and victim to feign the procedure before reporting the job as done and retiring to share a drink. Boyes, The Diaries and Letters of G.T.W.B. Boyes: 351; Inflicting 100 lashes could take in excess of an hour. Maxwell-Stewart, Memoranda by Convict Davis. Some convicts refused to utter a sound and bit on rope, wood or lead musket balls. Such indomitability was referred to as ‘meeting it’. Pybus & Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: 110; Convicts under the command of Lieutenant Edward Barclay were so frequently flogged that they were known as Barclay’s Tigers due to the stripes on their backs. Brand, Penal Peninsula: 60. Of the estimated 15,000 convicts residing in Van Diemen’s Land in 1835, 15,000 offences were recorded, which resulted in some 50,000 lashes. By 1845, flogging had decreased and a total of 22,722 lashes were inflicted on 516 of the 24,148 convicts in Van Diemen’s Land. THE SESSIONAL PAPERS PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, Vol 8, 1847:127 Return number 10: 156.
The Flagellator: Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 60; Pybus & Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: 109; Colonial Times, 6 May 1834 & 10 May 1836. In 1825, the Hobart Town flagellator’s expenses were set at £5 3s 9d per annum. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 29 April 1825. The commissariat regularly tendered for large amounts of whipcord. The Hobart Town Courier, 27 February 1835. Fraser employed three different cats, one for the middle of the back and one for each shoulder. Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 60. William Flaherty refused to flog a mate and was sent to solitary. Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 94; John Flynn was a flagellator at Sarah Island for over four years. His position earned him better conditions, an early release and bitter contempt. When he returned to Hobart Town, William Hopper called upon the barrack inmates to exact revenge and for leading the onslaught Hopper was sent to the chain gang for three months. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 107-108. William Hopper per Phoenix CON31/1/18, 18 May 1827. William Wilson asked Flagellator William Carlow to go lightly on him. For refusing, Carlow was stabbed in the throat. He survived and Wilson was executed. Colonial Times, 10 December 1830; Hobart Town Courier, 25 December 1830; William Carlow per Woodford CON31/1/6. In March 1855, Benjamin Marsh was fined £2 for assaulting James Mason after he falsely called him as a flagellator. Hobarton Mercury, 7 March 1855.
The Triangle: Illustration based on measurements and photos supplied taken from the triangle on display in Hyde Park Barracks, NSW; Pybus & Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: 108; Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 90. Later flogging frames were fitted with pulleys, padded cross bars and adjustable straps and victims were fitted with a leather belt and collar to protect their throat and kidneys.
Cat o’ Nine Tails: Illustration based on cat in author’s collection; Maxwell-Stewart, Memoranda by Convict Davis; Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 79; Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 12; West, The History of Tasmania: 457; Griffin, Richard, ed., Convict Discipline 1833, A facsimile of the rare Colonial circular No. 33-48 and other related documents, Gryphon Books, Burwood, 1977. Fresh cats could be issued during a flogging – when a cat was clotted with blood the severity increased. John Leonard claimed four flagellators were issued upwards of 30 pairs to punish the one carrying gang. Woden, John Leonard’s Narrative. In October 1828, Charles Wellings, a flagellator, robbed the Field Police supply hut at Oatlands and burned all the cat o’ nine tails. He was sent to the chain gang for 12 months. Charles Wellings per Commodore Hayes CON31/1/45, 4 October 1848.
Bearing Witness: Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 23 March 1827; William Williams per Pegasus CON31/1/45; Maxwell-Stewart, Memoranda by Convict Davis; Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 12; Broxup, The Life of John Broxup: late convict of Van Diemen’s Land: 17; Colonial Times, 8 April 1834; Colonist, 3 June 1834. Overseers, soldiers and convicts were assembled to watch each flogging. It was expected that the painful degradation would remodel the victim and deter any other would-be offenders. The presiding lieutenant-governor could revoke a flogging. An official read out the warrant and oversaw each flogging. Pybus & Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: 108. When Willem Hartzenberg stripped off for the triangles he bolted and even out ran Commandant Booth. After nearly being shot he was retaken and copped 100 lashes. Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 185-186; At Sarah Island, Lieutenant Cuthbertson chose to have each third step punctuated by a stroke as he strode for fifty yards along the wharf. Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 23

QUARRY

Illustration based on the Ross quarry, Tasmania; Luckman,J.S., The Warmth of Sandstone, How Our Early Buildings Were Made By Hand, Graphic Plus, Hobart, 1997.
John Morgan: John Morgan per Moffat CON31/1/31, 29 December 1834.
Winning Stone: Luckman,The Warmth of Sandstone.
Racketeering: Dillon, MC, Convict Labour and Colonial Society in the Campbell Town Police District: 1820-1839. PhD thesis, University of Tasmania, 2008 Christopher Bassett, Richard Davis and James Merrett were paid 9d per piece of roughly cut stone by convict stonemasons James Newton, John Walsh and John Winks. After the stone was dressed it was sold for up to 10s per piece. Following an inquiry the three gangsmen were given between 25 to 50 lashes but the stonemasons who instigated the deal were ordered to labour for 2-3 months in chains. The punishments meted out reflected the authorities preference in corporally punishing unskilled convicts. Severing lucrative racketeering ties was extremely difficult. Constable Edward Freestone who was ordered to break up the racket at Ross was threatened, beaten, framed for a crime he didn’t commit and dismissed. Informants also risked reprisals; after betraying his mates Joseph Boden absconded from the gang fearing for his safety. Regulating the quantity of output labourers were expected to produce was one way to prevent trafficking. By the 1840s, convict quarrymen were tasked with quarrying 8 to 10 square feet, one foot in depth from between 10 to 14 inches thick from the rock bed on a daily basis. Passholders were expected to quarry 8 feet square. Stonemasons were assigned the task of cutting and dressing 12 feet of ashlar pieces and passholders were expected to produce 10 feet. Setting task work also enabled the authorities to monitor an individual’s output to prevent shirking. Dillon, Convict Labour and Colonial Society in the Campbell Town Police District: 154, 163; Syme, Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land: 233, 234.
Broaching: Luckman, The Warmth of Sandstone.
Bridgewater Causeway: Boyes, The Diaries and Letters of G.T.W.B. Boyes. Volume I, 1820-1832: 486; Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways: 108. In 1830, a chain gang commenced carting stone to the river’s edge and dumping it in to form foundations. It was not until April 1849 that the causeway was officially opened.
Fully Charged: Hobart Town Courier, 17 March 1837; Luke Roberts per Woodford CON31/1/34, 25 October 1830, 18 July 1832 & 11 February 1837. The judge remarked that the hefty sentence was to discourage theft from building sites and other exposed areas. Roberts was also frequently charged with being absent from work, being idle and labouring for himself during government hours.
Blasting: Luckman, The Warmth of Sandstone; Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 24 November 1821. John Burgan, a convict lime burner and waterman, was admonished on a charge of refusing to blast stones. John Burgan per Lord Lyndoch CON27/1/2, 3 January 1837
Dressing: Luckman, The Warmth of Sandstone; Becke, Old Convict Days: 55. A standard block, known as an ashlar, measured about 12 inches deep, 8 inches thick and 18 inches long.

RAILWAY

Illustration based on Convict tramway on stone by W. L. Walton, from a sketch by Coll. Mundy, Hullmandel & Walton, 1853, 49358460; ‘Tongataboo Hill, Tram Road Port Arthur, Long Bay’, DG A64f.39; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 57. The route was carefully mapped out to avoid large obstacles. Small bridges were laid over creeks and hollows. Constabulary huts were situated at Norfolk Bay and Long Bay and between the two a Halfway Station provided a rest stop. Other railways were laid across Ralph’s Bay Neck and East Bay Neck and further line was approved for Eaglehawk Neck and between the coalmines and Slopen Main. Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 63, 66, 68. In 1847, a gang of 54 worked the railway under the command of one overseer. Within ten years upkeep and supervision proved too problematic and the railway ceased operation. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 183.
Man Trams: Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 66; Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 63; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 57. Captain Cyrille Pierre Theodore Laplace, a Frenchman, took immense pleasure in riding the rail and likened the experience to the Montagues Russes, a Parisian rollercoaster. Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 64. At times the trams ran right off the rails but accidents were unusual. Each tram was equipped with a wheel brake. Bayley, W.A., Port Arthur Railway Across Tasman Peninsula, Australia Publications, Sydney, 1971: 3
Rail Woes: Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 193, 200. Mercury, 7 November 1871. John Newby per Eliza CON37/1/6/1978. John O’Brien per Lord Auckland CON94/1. One month of each man’s term was to be spent in solitary and 12 months at the Separate Prison.
Back Breaking: Mercury, 12 May 1877. Marshall died in 1883 at the age of 60 in the New Town Pauper Establishment. The cause of death was attributed to ‘an old injury to the spine.’ Barnard, Edwin, Exiled: the Port Arthur convict photographs, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2010.
Posting: Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 39.
Nails and Rails: Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 63; Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 67.
Charles O’Hara Booth: Illustration of booth and his dog is based on a portrait of Booth attributed to Thomas Lempriere, AUTAS001125882183; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement; Hooper, Frederic C., Australian Dictionary of Biography, Charles O’Hara Booth. In May 1838, Booth nearly perished after fours days lost in the bush and it was is faithful hounds, Daphne, Sandy and Young Spring, who saved his life by alerting a search party. Later that year he wed Elizabeth Charlotte and together they had two daughters. In 1840, his jurisdiction was reduced to Port Arthur and Point Puer and by 1844 he had left the ranks of the military and was appointed to run the Queen’s Orphan School at New Town. Booth died in August 1851.

RATIONS

Illustration of boiler, jug and bowls based on examples from the author’s collection. The mug is based on a mug held by the Port Arthur Historic Site; Tardif, John Bowen’s Hobart: 49; Jonathon Smith per Lord Hungerford CON31/1/38, 12 September 1825; Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 1752; Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 47; Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 24; Nicholas, Convict workers: 183-187. Overseers at Port Arthur were also granted one-eighth of an ounce of tea and 1 and two-sevenths of an ounce of sugar. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 24. Extra rations or luxuries were issued as a reward, to skilled convicts and those in positions of seniority. Vegetables were doled out when they were available and at times convicts were also permitted to fish. The day before Christmas in 1833, Commandant Booth permitted convicts to fish for a good cheer supper. The eager anglers gathered a cartload of abalone and netted such a vast amount of salmon that they were unable to haul it all into their boat. Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 166. Such events were unusual and insufficient and inferior rations were amongst the most common complaints made by convicts. According to Linus Miller, scanty rations accounted for half of all offences committed. Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 282. By the 1860’s, standard rations at Port Arthur had improved and included items like fresh meat, sugar, tea, various vegetables and salt and pepper. Rules and regulations for the penal settlement on Tasman’s Peninsula, Tasmania, Convict Department, Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Port Arthur, 1991: 56.
Dinner is Served: Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 86, 88; Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 55. Convicts frequently had to do without utensils or share one between many. Standard items were a bowl, pannikin and wooden spoon. Items could be marked with a convict’s police number or the Board of Ordnance seal to prevent theft. Rules and regulations for the penal settlement on Tasman’s Peninsula, Tasmania. Knives were used in the presence of an overseer before returned to be locked away. AOT CSO 24/87/1812:101-229. Report on the Gaols. Food was cooked in communal cast-iron pots capable of holding around 100 gallons, which were fixed in place within cookhouses or used informally outdoors for gangsmen. Measurements taken from a boiler at Hyde Park barracks NSW and one in the author’s possession. Food was served out at ‘mess’; a term derived from the French word ‘mes’ meaning a portion of food. The delegate was appointed to cut up the rations as evenly as possible in plain view of his messmates, who then turned their backs as the food was distributed into bowls. The delegate then selected a bowl and called out ‘who will have this?’ to which a man answered ‘I will’ before turning around to collect his meal. Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 86, 88. Rations were frequently used as currency to trade or barter for goods. Upon arriving at the Hobart Town Prisoners’ Barracks, Linus Miller was in desperate need of trousers and traded a week’s rations, excluding skilly, for a pair of old breeches. Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 264.

ROAD

Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways. In 1807, a road was commenced at New Town, which was funded by colonists – the government supplied bullocks. In 1813, a road maker was paid one cow in lieu of a £30 fee to lay a road between Norfolk Plains and Launceston. In 1814, Dennis McCarty, an emancipist, was arrested for smuggling and whilst in New South Wales to face charges, bushrangers raided his farm. As recompense for his losses, estimated at £546, he was contracted to construct a road from New Norfolk to Hobart Town. In 1819 he claimed the job was done but a government survey stated another four months work for 16 men was required. Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways: 23, 28, 36.
Ganged Convicts: Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 66. The June muster of 1805 reported that the town gang comprised 13 convicts, whilst the gaol gang numbered six. Land Musters and Stock Returns and Lists, 1803 – 1822, List 3: lb – Quarterly Employment for the Month of June, 1805. Generally speaking, gangs comprised 40 convicts who laboured under the watch of an overseer. Report from the Select Committee on Transportation. Ordered by the House of Commons. 14 July 1837. Gangs laboured under synonymous titles such as: ‘clearing gang’, ‘carrying gang’ and ‘road gang’.
Carrying Gangs: Illustration based on the sketch – Gentlemen convicts at work and the convict ‘centiped’ Port Arthur, Tasmania, photograph attributed to J.W. Beattie, vn4272968; Laugesen, Amanda, Convict words: language in early colonial Australia, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2002: 32; Pybus & Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: 157. The average height of a convict was about 5 feet, 5 inches. A misplaced step could cause a serious accident and those who refused orders were punished; in May 1845, Samuel Wade received two months hard labour in chains for throwing timber from his shoulders. Samuel Wade per Louisa CON35/1/2. Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, The Rise and Fall of John Longworth… Exiles of Empire, THRA, Vol. 6, No 2, 1999, pp. 96-114
Portable Huts: Illustration based on – ‘Sketch of a portable wooden house to contain twenty iron’d ganged convicts’, V* / Conv / 2; James Backhouse felt that convicts subjected to portable huts suffered considerably. Portable huts measured approximately 7.5 feet by 14 feet. Kerr, Design for convicts: 63. Moveable stations comprised five huts that could be disassembled and transported by cart. Four of the huts housed 32 convicts who slept in bunk beds, whilst the fifth accommodated an overseer. When they were erected a mess area was positioned between the huts, which was sheltered by a tarpaulin. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 201.
Chain Gang: Clark, C.M.H., ed., Select documents in Australian history, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1950-1955: 140. Van Diemonian Chain gangs were first systemised in 1826; the Number One chain gang was formed to break stones and the Number Two chain gang worked at levelling, draining and macadamizing the roads of Hobart Town. By 1834, chain gangs were spread as far as Launceston, Grass Tree Hill and Bridgewater and contained a total of 720 convicts. Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways: 134-135.
Road Construction: Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways. Burgoyne, John, Remarks on the maintenance of macadamised roads, W. Hanson, Government Printer, Sydney, 1857; Launceston Examiner, 20 January 1849. The road between Hobart Town and Launceston varied in width. In the 1840s’ it was recommended to be 24 feet wide with a three feet wide footpath on either side. Ditches also ran along each side at a depth of about two feet. The excavated earth was used to curve the road surface to facilitate the drainage. Keeping the roadway dry was essential. Burgoyne, Remarks on the maintenance of macadamised roads.
Robert Nottman: Free Arrivals index: Robert Notman: Arrived per Shelton 1822; AOT CSO 50/7(1832) AOT; Pioneers Index Marriages 36/3717/1837; Pybus & Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: 132.
Biding His Time: John Allen per Sir Godfrey Webster CON31/1/1, 15 June 1829.
Van Diemonian Horses: Evans, A geographical, historical, and topographical description of Van Diemen’s Land: 137; West, The History of Tasmania: 97; Information on Peter Haley supplied by Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site. Horses were given names such Browny, Chevey, Sally and Rocky. Hobart Town Gazette, and Southern Reporter, October 2, 1819. A roaming horse incurred a fine of £5. Hobart Town Gazette, and Southern Reporter, 20 February 1819. The first race day, at Ross, was celebrated with a gala dinner but the celebrations turned sour when the waiter was blindfolded and the pudding stolen.
Tools of the Trade: Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways: 320.
Earning His Stripes: Hobart Town Courier, 26 May 1832; William Dorton per Clyde CON31/1/10, 2, 21, May, 8 September & 2 October 1832.
William Sorell: Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 9-11. Reynolds, John, Australian Dictionary of Biography, William Sorell.
Thomas Bell: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Thomas Bell.
Mates: Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 108, 131.
John Mortlock: Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict.

ROAD STATION

Illustration based on a survey of the Grass Tree Hill Road Station produced in 1837 by James Calder and reworked by John Medbury and staff at the Tasmanian Lands Department. Consultation and photographic reference supplied by Peter MacFie; Kerr, Design for convicts: 63; Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 87-88.
An Uphill Battle: MacFie, Dobbers and Cobbers: 114. Grass Tree Hill rises on a steep incline of between 30 to 45 degrees and convicts were given the task of clearing a path 50 feet wide to encompass a 30 feet wide roadway. To prevent the road being washed away the surface width had to be angled at 9 inches and a trench dug along the entire length of the upper side. The water troughs were built for what was deemed a ‘trifling expense’ Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways: 112; calculations provided by Phil Barnard.
False Message: Colonial Times, 30 May 1837. It eventually transpired that Kirby was, in fact, a convict from the Grass Tree Hill serving 18 months for embezzlement. He was sentenced to 12 months hard labour in the Bridgewater chain gang. Henry Kirby per John CON31/1/26, 23 May 1837; CON18/1/11
Deck of Cards: Edward Desmond per Morley CON31/1/9, 9 November 1833, 21 December 1833; CON23/1/1. Edward Desmond was dismissed from the police for neglect of duty and sent to Grass Tree Hill for 12 months. Two weeks later he was caught with the playing cards.
Getting the Boot: MacFie, Dobbers and Cobbers: 117. In March the following year, Tuck absconded from Grass Tree Hill and as way of punishment his sentence was extended by three years. Bewley Tuck per Lotus CON31/1/43, 14 July 1834; CON18/1/13.
The Grass Tree Hill Road Station: Colonial Times, 16 August 1836; MacFie, Dobbers and Cobbers: 116, 117, 124, 121, Woden, John Leonard’s Narrative: 99; Newitt, Convicts and Carriageways: 113; Colonial Times, 15 July 1845. Adequately supervising convicts in remote areas was difficult. Locals lodged complaints – Thomas George Gregson claimed up to 80 unsupervised gangsmen were wandering the area and working for themselves. MacFie, Dobbers and Cobbers: 115.
Road to Ruin: Mercury, Saturday 7 March 1863; Minchin, Bolters for the Bush: 80-86.

SAWPIT

Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Pack of Thieves: 25; In 1834 there were 64 cases of eye inflammation, termed Ophthalmia, at Port Arthur – Commandant Booth reported that he could only count on nine out of 12 pairs of sawyers working at any one time due to injuries. Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land: From 1824 to 1839; Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 53. Working with heavy timber and sharp tools was very dangerous.
Logging Rafts: Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 37-40, 263; Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 178. When a large tree was felled a sawpit could be dug nearby or directly underneath it. The timber was then cut to the desired size or into smaller pieces to be carried back to the nearest sawpits for further processing. Logs were also transported along the railway and via snigging tracks and timber lined trenches termed log slides.
‘Logs’: Morris, Edward, Morris’s Dictionary of Australian Words, Names and Phrases, Viking O’Neil, Melbourne, 1988: 272; MacFie, Dobbers and Cobbers: 119; Arthur Campbell per Marmion CON31/1/6, 11 November 1833.
Quotas: Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Pack of Thieves: 71; John Hartley per Morley CON31/1/18, 31 March 1826, 14 May 1828, 5 December 1831. Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 115; ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’ Arthur Credit entitled convicts to luxuries like sugar, tea and tobacco.
Straight Planks: Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Pack of Thieves: 97; John Salmon per Commodore Hayes CON31/1/38, 4 February 1828 In December 1832, John Keegan was sentenced to labour one month in irons for destroying a skid in the Port Arthur sawpits. John Keegan per Royal George CON31/1/26, 17 December 1832. In 1851 a plank measuring 141 feet that was hewn by convicts from a tree nearly 270 feet tall was shipped to England and proudly displayed at the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 100.
Escape Craft: Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 179; Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 52. The raft was over 13 feet long and 2 feet across and constructed from three Huon pine boards wrapped in canvas and sealed with pitch and grease.
Pitsaw: In October 1833, Phillip Phillips was charged with receiving a stolen pitsaw worth £1 belonging to another convict named Jonathon Crabtree. Phillips received a 14-year term. Tasmanian, 16 August, 4 October 1833, Colonist, 8 October 1833.

SCHOOL

Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 216-217. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 12 October 1822. Convict teachers were known as ‘monitors’. The school at Point Puer was large enough to accommodate 850 people including officers and their families. Burn, An Excursion to Port Arthur in 1842: 45. Children belonging to officers and military posted at penal establishments were also tutored, often by a convict. Orphan schools, the first of which was built in 1828, accepted destitute children. Convicts were also expected to educate their own children; Richard Luck nearly had his ticket-of-leave revoked for neglecting to give his children a decent education. Colonial Times, 29 April 1831. Schools were also established at penal stations for adult convicts, where attendance was mostly voluntary. Despite mandatory schooling under the Probation System, not every probation station was equipped with a schoolroom. Half of each gang of convicts attended school daily, which worked out to be about three day’s instruction weekly. The comptroller-general received a monthly report from all the probation stations detailing daily attendance and learning progress along with any suggestions for improvement. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 211, 240-241.
Teachers and Equipment: Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 216-217; ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’, Department of Primary Industry and Water. In October 1822, two Wesleyan ministers, newly arrived in Hobart Town, were so shocked by the lack of books throughout the colony that they organized to ship some in from England. In the same month the first school was established for convicts at the Hobart Town Prisoners’ Barracks. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 12 October 1822. William Kerby, convicted of embezzling, was commended for serving as a schoolmaster onboard the convict transport Lord Hungerford during the voyage out. Calder, Brady, McCabe… and their associates. Bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land 1824-27: 20
Alfred Collins: Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act: unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians

: 20. John Hughes was also similarly punished. In April 1837, the 15-year-old copped 48 hours solitary confinement after being caught spelling obscene words. Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act: unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians

: 32.

SHIP

Illustration based on a model produced by ‘Ace_Poly’ combined with photographic reference of HMS Surprise and consultation with John Laing; Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868. Transports were managed by the commissioners of His Majesty’s Transport Service. In 1817 the Navy Board assumed control before being superseded by the Admiralty in 1832. During times of war the Navy was unable to spare ships and personnel for transportation, which led to the practice of placing private vessels under contract. Contractors were paid a sum of money to feed and clothe each convict, which meant that those who died during the journey out enabled a saving on supplies and equipment. The scheme was therefore adjusted to include bonuses and a final payment for every convict landed in good health. The system eventually incorporated payment based on tonnage to encourage lager vessels to make the voyage, which enabled more convicts, colonists and supplies to be exported. Vessels had to be to be in good, seaworthy condition and fitted out with masts, sails, yards, anchors, cables, ropes, cords, apparel, furniture, wood, coal, cooking and cleaning equipment and utensils for the convicts and their guard. Vessels were fitted out at Deptford, London, within a period of 30 working days, while 20 days were allowed for disembarkation. All convicts were required to have a medical certificate issued by the shore authorities declaring their fitness for the voyage. The surgeon superintendent could refuse any he deemed too old or infirm. Preventing outbreaks of disease during transit was extremely important, however, the authorities often encouraged or even threatened convicts to appear well to alleviate congested gaols and hulks. The convicts also conspired to mislead the surgeon in order to escape appalling conditions. Common diseases were scurvy, dysentery and typhoid fever. The hospital was separated from the convicts by a bulkhead at the forepart of the ship and contractors supplied medical instruments. The surgeon was paid a bonus for each convict landed in good health and it was in his best interests to land them quickly to avoid a ‘dead loss’. Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 59, 60
Daily Routine: Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 80.
Mutiny: Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 290. In 1825, 15 convicts aboard the Lady East were flogged when it was discovered that they had filed through their leg irons. During the voyage of the Brothers several female convicts attacked Surgeon Superintendent James Hall after he sought to suppress prostitution onboard. Hall claimed that the attack was instigated by the equally disgruntled chief mate, James Thompson Meach. Six women were confined to the coalhole for a week and Meach was suspended from duty. Matthew Burnside, surgeon superintendent of the female transport Providence, was dismissed for cohabiting with a female convict and inviting male convicts to his cabin for drinks. Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 225-226, 227
Conditions for the Convicts: Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868 To reach their transport ship, male convicts commonly travelled on foot and women arrived by cart. Friends and family were permitted onboard to bid their loved ones a fond farewell. The convicts were then washed, issued with clothes and briefly inspected. When confronted by the cramped, intense hustle and bustle of shipboard life, some convicts, especially those accustomed to solitary confinement, suffered fits or went into shock. Convicts were issued with a wool mattress, two blankets and a thin rug before being assigned to a berth. Sleeping berths containing four bunks were positioned on either side of the middle deck, also known as ‘tween decks’. In the mid 1840s, the bunks were modified to be dismantled into tables and seats, which also facilitated cleaning. Post 1817, the prison deck was divided into three sections with iron railings or wooden stanchions to segregate male and female convicts and juveniles. It also provided better air circulation. Within the first few weeks of sail, outbreaks of seasickness resulted in chronic vomiting creating foul smelling air and a dangerously slippery deck. Those who didn’t fall ill were required to tend to the sick. Seasickness was also common during rough weather when the air scuttles were battened down, resulting in very little air reaching the convicts. Ships were often damp leaving the inhabitants soaked, as water seeped through the seams. In the tropics the temperature could soar to 100° overnight. If the ship was becalmed in such conditions, scolding hot pitch could melt from the seams and insistences of disease and fever increased. Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 58, 59, 70, 71, 72, 78. Waitt, Letters from Van Diemen’s Land: 123.
Voyaging to Van Diemen’s Land: Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 175-176, 241, 359. When the Emu set sail in November 1812 with 49 female convicts onboard, she was seized by an American privateer, becoming the only transport to ever be lost to enemy action. The convicts were landed on the island of St Vincent in the Caribbean the following January. Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 191-192.
Ship Shape: Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 68.
Shipwrecks: The George III departed Woolwich with a crew of 308, 220 of who were male convicts. When nearing the equator a fire broke out, which threatened to ignite a store of gunpowder. Two convicts, William Nelson and David Jones, were badly burnt whilst bravely retrieving the powder kegs before the fire was extinguished. Following an outbreak of scurvy 16 convicts died and whilst proceeding up the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, the ship was wrecked on a reef. In keeping the panicked convicts at bay two were allegedly shot dead whilst others drowned. The total loss of life was 133, 128 of who were convicts. William Nelson and David Jones, however, survived. Whilst sailing to Sydney with 150 female convicts the following year, the Neva was wrecked in Bass Strait and 224 men, women and children perished. It became one of the worst wrecks in Australian history. Broxam, Graeme, Nash, Michael, Tasmanian Shipwrecks, Volume I: 1797-1899, Navarine, Hobart, 2013: 28-32.
Rations: Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 72. Convicts were divided into mess groups comprising six to eight. One member retrieved the rations from the galley in a bucket known as a kid. Rations varied over the years, in the 1840s dinner consisted of 4 ounces of salt beef and 3 ounces of pudding alternated with 3 ounces of pork and a pint of pea soup. Biscuit and skilly was issued each morning and tea or cocoa of a night. Port and limejuice were issued at midday and alternated daily to ward off scurvy. Water for the voyage was taken from the Thames during a suitable tide and required filtering by an Osbridge’s machine but remained pungent with black sediment, so that many masters stocked up elsewhere. Fresh water, meat and vegetables were served out at ports of call where it was also possible for convicts to purchase items. Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 48; Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 67, 68, 72; Waitt, Letters from Van Diemen’s Land: 123; Becke, Old Convict Days: 34.
Punishment: Troublesome female convicts could be confined to berths separated by bars. They also had their hair shaved and were occasionally flogged or caned. Both male and female convicts were subjected to confinement in the coalhole or black box. Male convicts were also flogged and clapped in handcuffs or leg irons. At times they were chained to each other or various parts of the ship and even confined to long boats. Mutiny was considered particularly heinous and could warrant a death sentence. Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 73, 74, 76.
In Charge: Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 3, 14, 26, 35, 41, 123. The surgeon superintendent was crucial in maintaining the good health of all onboard but due to low pay, demanding work and less than appealing conditions they were commonly said to be of low character and lacking experience. The ship’s master detailed the weather, location, steering orders and other occurrences such as births, deaths, sickness, the behaviour of each convict and the daily expenditure of provisions. Upon arrival one logbook was presented to the lieutenant-governor and the other was sent back to England and lodged at the Transport Office. The surgeon also kept a diary in duplicate detailing all particulars relating to the health and welfare of the convicts. Commanding roles frequently overlapped which could result in petty squabbling. Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868.
Woman Overboard: Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 361; Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 1660.
Inspection: The convicts were mustered on deck at the forecastle and were read the rules and regulations before being called forth to be interviewed and stripped for a thorough physical examination. As the superintendent had already been furnished with each man’s particulars by the surgeon superintendent, his questions were designed to catch the convicts out to glean as much personal information as possible. Convicts were permitted to lodge complaints regarding their treatment during the journey but as the interview process was so humiliating and intimidating complaints were not frequently forthcoming. Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868: 18. Frost, Lucy, ed., Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, ed., Chain Letters: Narrating Convict Lives, Melbourne University Press, Carlton South, 2001: 120; Broxup, The Life of John Broxup: late convict of Van Diemen’s Land: 11. Prieur, Francois Xavier, Mackaness, George, ed., Notes of a Convict of 1838, Dubbo, 1976, first published in 1838: 81.

SHIPYARD

Illustration based on plans detailing HMS Bounty produced by John M.cKay. McKay, John, The armed transport Bounty, Conway Maritime Press Ltd, 1989. Further detail based on consultation with John Laing; Dodds, James, Moore, James, Building the Wooden Fighting Ship, Hutchinson, London, 1984. Nash, Michael, ‘Convict shipbuilding in Tasmania’, Papers and Proceedings THRA, v.50, no.2, 2003, pp. 83-106. Constructing and repairing vessels was essential for both commercial and official use. Shipbuilding can be considered Van Diemen’s Land’s first major industry. In 1812, the Henrietta Packet became the first mercantile vessel to be built in the colony. The 40-ton schooner was also one of the first vessels to ship Huon pine from Macquarie Harbour. O’May, Harry, Wooden hookers of Hobart town; and, Whalers out of Van Diemen’s Land, T.J. Hughes, Government Printer, Hobart, 1978: 21. Whilst timber could be procured locally for the Sarah Island Shipyard, anchors, canvas, chain, copper, cordage, iron, lead, paint, pitch, rope, tallow and turpentine had to be shipped in, which could delay production. Aside from slipways, jetties and docks to facilitate shipbuilding at the station, there was also a lumberyard, sawpit shed, boatbuilding shed, blacksmith, nail maker’s shed, and quarters for the boat crew and master shipwright. The Port Arthur Shipyard comprised a slip, boat ramp, guardhouse, rigging house, shipwright’s quarters, three work sheds, overseer’s hut, blacksmith, two sawpits and two steamers for bending and shaping timber. Vessels built at Port Arthur included barques, brigs, cutters, schooners, steamers, launches and whaleboats. Nash, ‘Convict shipbuilding in Tasmania’.
Timber and Tools: O’May, Wooden hookers of Hobart town: 26. Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 48, 42; Dodds & Moore, Building the Wooden Fighting Ship: 43. In 1827, 2,869 Huon pine logs were exported. Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 38.
David Hoy: People & Port Arthur: 18-19. Hoy, a 35-year-old Scottish shipwright, arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in July 1824. Hoy served as master shipwright at Sarah Island and also Port Arthur. He was well regarded by the convicts and when marooned by the Frederick buccaneers they left him clothes, wine and bandages for his bad back.
Constructing the Hull: Dodds & Moore, Building the Wooden Fighting Ship: 58, 61, 66, 60. Sarah Island shipwrights took great pride in their work, chalking up the name and date of vessels completed along a beam in one of the boatsheds. ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’.
Shipped Off: William Thompson per Juliana CSO31/1/42, 5 January 1822. Walter Simpson was a boat builder who was sent to Macquarie Harbour for forgery. In May 1824, he was charged with taking a boat without permission and spent three days in solitary. Walter Simpson per Surrey CON31/1/38, 5 January 1822, 4 May 1824.
Launching: Dodds & Moore, Building the Wooden Fighting Ship: 109-111.
James Porter and the Frederick: Nash, ‘Convict shipbuilding in Tasmania’: 102; Frost & Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, Chain Letters: 72; Hirst, Great Escapes by Convicts in Colonial Australia.

SIGNAL STATION

Illustration of the flag staff and semaphore are based on ‘Explanation of a view of Hobart Town, exhibiting at the Panorama, Strand’ produced by Robert Burford, which was based on a water colour by Augustus Earle, c. 1831, AUTAS001124071168 and also DGD 14; Semaphore Tree illustration is based on a water colour – Telegraphen-Baum zu Port Arthur, V.D.L., Tasman’s Peninsula, 1851, by Ludwig Becker, H30897. The flag illustrations are based on images in the Van Diemen’s Land Annual and Hobart-Town Almanack 1832, 1833, 1834 by James Ross; O’Neill, Richard, Patrick O’Brian’s Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey’s World, Running Press, Philadelphia, 2003: 119-120. The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 11 January 1812; Hobart Town Gazette, 1 August 1818. In November 1803, Revered Knopwood recorded that the British flag was flown for the first time in the newly formed colony. One month later the flagstaff was erected near the reverend’s marquee. Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood: 119, 120. A dwelling for the signalman was built at Battery Point, as it became known, and several cannon were removed from government house as a precaution against a possible invasion by the French, who were at war with England at the time. The battery was described as a ‘poor, pitiful mud fort’. Rowntree, Amy, Battery Point: today and yesterday, Education Department, Hobart, 1951: 24.
Raise a Red Flag: Brasch, R & L, How Did It Begin? The Origin of Our Curious Customs and Superstitions, MJF Books, 2011: 194. Van Diemen’s Land annual and Hobart-Town Almanack.
Ormby Irwin: www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~rcowan/genealogy/Irvine_detail.html
The Semaphore System: Masters, W. E., The semaphore telegraph system of Van Diemen’s Land, Cat & Fiddle Press, Hobart, 1973: 23; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 24. The word semaphore is derived from the ancient Greek words ‘sêma’ meaning sign and ‘phoros’ meaning bearer. The first semaphores consisted of a mast with two revolving arms centered one above the other, which could be positioned to represent numbers. The numbers could then be decoded into words or a message, which greatly increased the amount of words that could be conveyed from only using flags. The semaphore was introduced into Van Diemen’s Land in 1829. Hobart Town Courier, 28 March 1829.
When Your Number Comes Up: Becke, Old Convict Days: 63; Ross, Van Diemen’s Land annual and Hobart-Town Almanack for the year 1832.
Semaphore No More: Masters, The semaphore telegraph system of Van Diemen’s Land: 6, 36, 39. At the height of operation 19 large semaphores and 11 smaller ones were in use. Thompson, Probation in Paradise: 53-53. By 1871, only 11 were situated on the Port Arthur line, requiring the services of eight convict signalmen, who were categorised into three classes. History of the Semaphore, Port Arthur Historical Site: 10, 11.
Sending Messages: Masters, The semaphore telegraph system of Van Diemen’s Land: 15; Van Diemen’s Land Almanack for the year 1829.
Semaphore Flags: Semaphores also incorporated flags to increase the message count. Semaphore were used to represent every conceivable thing from boats and bedding to weight and weather. Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 25; Masters, The semaphore telegraph system of Van Diemen’s Land: 16-17.
Semaphore Tree: History of the Semaphore, Port Arthur Historical Site: 8. Author William Elliston described climbing the lofty stairs to enjoy a view that encompassed nearly the whole of the peninsula. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 41.
Code Book: Illustration of the codebook is based on an original that was displayed in Narryna Heritage Museum, Battery Point, Hobart; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 25. In 1842, Commandant Booth increased the codes and the notation extended to 11,300. Heard,The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 25. Codes were also published in periodicals throughout the colony to inform the public. In September 1834, the Hobart Town Courier advertised a coloured board detailing signals for the Battery Point Station was available for 2s 6d. A more durable varnished board cost 3s. Hobart Town Courier, 5 September 1834.
Henry Miller: Henry Miller per Enchantress CON31/1/30, Port Arthur musters.
The Life of a Signalman: History of the Semaphore, Port Arthur Historical Site: 9. Masters, The semaphore telegraph system of Van Diemen’s Land: 30, 33. Soldiers were not permitted to man semaphore. To ensure convict signalmen could not aid absconders they were placed on rotation. History of the Semaphore, Port Arthur Historical Site: 9 The signalman worked from dawn until 9pm. Masters, The semaphore telegraph system of Van Diemen’s Land: 23, 33. In March 1830, the Colonial Times published their suspicions that the Battery Point signalman had over-indulged on St Patrick’s Day after failing to report the signals in a timely fashion. Colonial Times, 9 June 1840.
In the Line of Duty: Hobart Town Advertiser, 5 June 1840; True Colonist, 5 June 1840; Hobart Town Courier, 12 June 1840; Hobart Town Advertiser, 12 June 1840.

SKILLS

Nicholas, Convict workers: 161-162. Both classes laboured for the government and for colonists and, at times, for themselves. Men often laboured in The King’s Yard, a large industrial area of land near the end of Murray Street on the Hobart Town foreshore. Labour was frequently regulated as task work or piecework, which referred to a quota of work that had to be completed within as set time and in order to ensure a quality control items could be marked so they could be traced back to whomever made it. Skilled convicts were in high demand and some tried to conceal their skills in order to avoid working for the authorities so they could make money privately.

SOLITARY

Illustration based on measurements and photographic reference taken of the Separate Prison, Port Arthur Historic Site; AOT PWD266/1/1822; Illustrations of various items including bible, hand bell, bowl and isolation mask have been reproduced from original examples in the author’s collection. The Separate Prison bell-pull illustration was based on advice and photographs of an original held by Port Arthur, taken by Michael Smith, Conservation Project Officer, Port Arthur Historic Site; Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 133-134. Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 49. Australian Convict Sites, World Heritage Nomination. James Montague Smith grimly claimed that a meager diet of bread and water helped him to stay sane; by concentrating on his hunger it lessened the anxiety. Smith & Cuffley, Send the boy to sea: 47. Boys at Point Puer called short stints in solitary ‘a coil’ as they coiled themselves up to sleep and pass the time imperviously. Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 97. In 1845, ‘working cells’ were introduced to the Cascades Female Factory. Their unique design incorporated two rooms within the cell, one for sleeping and one for working at carding, spinning or sewing. Frost, Footsteps and voices: a historical look into the Cascades Female Factory: 21. At Port Arthur’s Separate Prison, male convicts made shoes, mats, brooms and tailored items of clothing. Brand, Ian, The ‘Separate’ Or ‘Model’ Prison, Port Arthur, Regal Press, Launceston, 1990: 19.
In the Dark: Brand, The ‘Separate’ Or ‘Model’ Prison, Port Arthur: 17; Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 76. Solitary cell windows could be fitted with opaque or fluted glass to prevent a view out. Cell windows at the Separate Prison required no bars because they were so narrow. In July 1858, George Neal was sent to a dark cell for smashing out the windowpanes. Dumb cells at Port Arthur had walls 3 feet thick and were fitted with four consecutive doors to ensure no light or sound could penetrate. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 144.
Locked in Tight: Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 92. Hinges were embedded into the masonry to prevent them being tampered with, and doors usually opened inward to prevent prisoners pushing their way out. Observation holes were small on the exterior of the door but widened on the interior, ensuring official personnel a good view of the cell whilst preventing convicts from peeping out.
Maimed Convicts: Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act: unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians: 11; Piper, Beyond the convict system. Due to injuries sustained in the line of duty one-legged serviceman were not uncommon and many went on to become cooks to remain gainfully employed. James Cock was a one-legged ex-soldier who served as a cook at Sarah Island. Joseph Harrison also spent time in various chain gangs, which must have given him, and the blacksmith, considerable trouble.
Night Tubs: Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 252-253. Communal lavatories could contain as many as 15 privies and seven urinal blocks. PAHSMA, ‘Penitentiary Workshops Archaeological Site Report’ nd: 36, 31. Whilst convicts were appointed to clean lavatories and night tubs on a daily basis they remained notoriously abhorrent. Night soil was collected between 10pm and 5am. Hobart Town Courier, 15 November 1833.
Separate System: Brand, The ‘Separate’ Or ‘Model’ Prison, Port Arthur. The term ‘separate system’ also referred to the prisons designed to facilitate the system, the first of which was constructed in Philadelphia in the United States in 1829. Cells radiated from a central control area like spokes on a cartwheel. Some 300 prisons worldwide were to copy the design, one of which was Pentonville in England, completed in 1842. The first inmates were required to serve 18 months of their sentence before being transported to a penal colony to embark on a fresh start. A model convict could receive a ticket-of-leave upon arrival in Van Diemen’s Land, others could be sent to Port Arthur. The separate prison at Port Arthur was known as the ‘model prison’, having been modeled on Pentonville. A further 18 cells were added by 1855 and over the years the complex went through several other changes. The fires of 1895 gutted the complex and in 2008 it went through a stage of conservation and remodeling. It remains a tourist destination. Brand, The ‘Separate’ Or ‘Model’ Prison, Port Arthur.
Silence and Isolation: Brand, The ‘Separate’ Or ‘Model’ Prison, Port Arthur. Each convict’s number and block letter was printed on a cell-badge that hung from a button on their jacket breast.
Tight Spaces: AOT PWD266/1/1822; Boyes, The Diaries and Letters of G.T.W.B. Boyes. Volume I, 1820-1832: 487. AOT PWD266/1/389; Hooper, Prison boys of Port Arthur: 12; Further information supplied by Port Arthur Historic Site. Solitary cells at the Hobart Town Prisoners’ Barracks were 7, 4 inches by 3 feet, 6 inches. Plan of stone cells, Appendix B, Ground plan of the prisoners’ barracks and trinity chapel, Hobart Town. Cells on the Anson Prison Hulk were located at the bow of the ship on the lower and orlop decks and triangular in shape, each one was approximately 10 feet, 4 inches by 12 feet, by 6 feet, 4 inches. AOT PWD266/1/679-683. Richmond Gaol cells were 8 feet, 6 inches by 3 feet, 7 inches. Lennox, Richmond Gaol: and Richmond police district: 13. Cells at Sarah Island measured 3 feet by 6 feet, 11 inches. ‘Ian Brand’s Macquarie Harbour Historical Research’. The New Norfolk Insane Asylum cells measured approximately 9 feet by 7 feet. AOT PWD266/1/1432.
Dennis Doherty: Transcription of Dennis Doherty’s conduct records (CON 16/1; CON31/12; CON 35/1) including extracts from the journal of the warder at the Separate Prison and biographical summery supplied by Port Arthur Historic Site. Whilst the official record states that Doherty was convicted of army desertion it has been suggested that he was transported without trial or conviction for attempting to infiltrate the 16th Irish Guard. Doherty’s received a total of 1875 lashes in Van Diemen’s Land.
Separate Prison Furnishings: Brand, The ‘Separate’ Or ‘Model’ Prison, Port Arthur. Breakfast consisted of three-quarters of a pound of bread with a pint of gruel. Lunch comprised three-quarters of a pound of meat, three-quarters of a pound of vegetables, half a pound of bread and a pint of soup. Dinner was a repeat of breakfast.

SUICIDE

Hilton & Hood, Caught in the act: unusual offences of convicted Vandemonians: 38; William Mulhall per Elizabeth & Henry CON33/1/65, 14 March 1851; Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 58-59. Port Arthur People, Port Arthur Historic Site digital resource: 14; Dennis Collins per Emperor Alexander CON31/1/7; Petrow, Stefan, ‘Drawing lots: murder at the Port Arthur penal settlement in 1835’,Papers and Proceedings THRA, v.45, no.3, 1998:186-188; Hobart Town Courier, 15 February 1833. Mulhall’s charge of misconduct was dismissed. He was returned to government service and recommended to the medical officer for an examination. Suicide cases could be posthumously punished by being buried without a funeral service and, prior to 1821, in unhallowed grounds with a stake through the heart to prevent the ghost from wandering. Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 58-59. Convicts determined to escape penal servitude no matter what the cost were termed an ‘out and outer’. Maxwell-Stewart, Closing Hell’s Gates: 218. Dennis Collins lost his left leg during the Napoleonic Wars and was awarded a pension for services rendered to his country. Some years later it was revoked without explanation. After petitioning King William IV to no avail, Collins sought recompense. In July 1832, he dressed in his naval uniform, attended the Ascot races and positioned himself close to the Royal Enclosure. When King William arrived, Collins threw a stone and knocked off his hat. Collins was arrested, charged with high treason, and ordered to be hanged, drawn and quartered. He avoided a butchering, however, and was sent to the Greenwich Hospital. After being expelled for misconduct he resorted to begging on the streets before being condemned to life transportation. At Port Arthur, Collins refused to do the ‘King’s work’ or eat the ‘King’s bread’, which garnered two offences for refusing to work and he was subsequently placed in solitary confinement. Within a few weeks he became extremely weak and died in November 1833, at the Port Arthur Hospital.

TATTOO

Illustrations based on 19th century naive art and tattooed skin specimens held by Kings College, London. Photographic reference supplied by William Edwards, curator of the Gordon Museum; Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, Bradley, James, ‘Behold the Man’: Power, Observation and the Tattooed Convict, Australian Studies, 12, (1) 1997: 71-97.Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, ‘Collecting by Numbers’, Siglo: Journal for the Arts, 10, 1998: 45-49; George Hall (not Holland) per Norfolk CON18/1/18; Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 61.
Francis Fitzmaurice: www.chestnut-blue.com; Maxwell-Stewart, ‘Collecting by Numbers’.

TICKET OF LEAVE

Australian Convict Sites: 50; Courier, 3 September 1841. Ticket holders were known colloquially as paper-men. Laugesen, Convict words: 146. Ticket holders could also live where they liked but had to remain within the one district, attend a monthly muster and if they lived within two miles of a chapel, attend Sunday muster and divine service. Over the time the system was modified. In 1820, assigned convicts were permitted to apply for a ticket after three years’ good behaviour with a recommendation from their master and a magistrate. Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 63. In 1829, men transported for seven years were permitted to apply after serving four, for 14 years after serving six, and for a life term after serving eight. Women sentenced to seven years could apply after serving two, for 14 years after three, and for a life term after four. Clark, Select documents in Australian history: 133-135. By the end of 1829, approximately 10% of male convicts and 2% of female convicts were ticket holders. Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land: From 1824 to 1839. As of 1841, Convicts serving seven years were allowed to apply after completing four, those serving 14 years after six, and lifers after eight years. In 1843, convicts who had completed their time in a probation gang could receive a probation pass for good conduct, which enabled them to work for wages. To be eligible for a ticket convicts had to serve at least half of their sentence, those on a life sentence were required to serve 24 years and had to have been issued a probation pass. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 19-20; Colonial Times, 7 November 1843. Convicts recommended for a pardon were permitted freedom until news finally arrived. A conditional pardon could restrict the recipient to Van Diemen’s Land, the Australian Colonies and New Zealand or for all other countries excluding Great Britain and Ireland. Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 33. In 1841, applications for pardons were only permitted if convicts doing a seven-year sentence had held a ticket-of-leave for one-year, those doing 14 years for two, and lifers after three. Courier, 3 September 1841. As of March 1847, applicants for a ticket-of-leave or a conditional pardon were charged a 1s6d fee. Courier, 13 February 1847. In 1854, the Convict Department declared that ticket-of-leave and probation pass holders were required to serve only half the previously specified terms. Furthermore, pass holders who had committed no offences were awarded a further deduction of one quarter the remaining time served. Courier, 25 July 1854.

TOBACCO

Becke, Old Convict Days: 56; Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 264; Elizabeth Smith per Morley CON40/1/9, 4 November 1830; Courier, 24 March 1847, Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 55; Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 31-32; Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803 – 1838: 101; Morgan, Sharon, Land settlement in early Tasmania: creating an antipodean England, Cambridge University Press, 2003: 87; Rules and regulations for the penal settlement on Tasman’s Peninsula, Tasmania. Colonists also treated tobacco as currency; John James Moring was paid £1’s worth by Richard Holmes in lieu of wages. Hobart Town Gazette 12 August 1825. Some convicts, desperate for a smoke, traded all their possessions only to discover they’d been had with ingeniously twisted seaweed. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 215. Tobacco related offences were some of the most common committed by convicts. In June 1837, George Moss was sentenced to three years in the Port Arthur chain gang for stealing a case containing 188 pounds. His very next offence was for being found with tobacco contrary to orders. George Moss per Argyle CON31/1/30, 23 June 1827, 5 May 1838.
Puffing, Chewing and Swallowing: Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 180; Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, 11 June 1841; Hobart Town Advertiser, 8 June 1841; Colonial Times, 31 August 1849.

TRAFFICKING

Becke, Old Convict Days: 44-45; Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 86-87, 100; Syme, Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land: 239. William Derrincourt stated that those unloading goods managed to ‘screw off’ with meat, flour and vegetables. Becke, Old Convict Days: 59. At Sarah Island, James Hampton, a gardener, traded trafficked items for produce. His cunning was so highly regarded that Commandant Butler preferred to punish him with an extended 12-month sentence and to endure his wicked ways rather than unleash him on colonists. Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 63. Two pairs of parti-coloured trousers could be unstitched and re-sewn to make one pair of yellow and one pair of grey. The yellow set was made saleable by applying dye procured from organic material found in the bush and after a strip of red purloined from a military coatee was sewn down the side, soldiers happily purchased the grey set. Clark, The Career of William Thompson, Convict: 86.

TREADMILL

Illustration based on Convict Discipline and Transportation: Correspondence on the subject of convict discipline and transportation. In continuation of the papers presented 16th February, 15th April, and 14th May, 1847. Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. London. 1848; AOT CO 280/ 316. Sir William Cubitt, an English engineer, invented the treadmill in 1819 as a way to punish and employ idle prisoners. They were also termed a stepper, roundabout and a never-ending staircase. Laugesen, Convict words: 199; Colonial Times, 16 September 1834; Launceston Examiner, 3 July 1897.
Productive Punishment: Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 12 December 1825. In April 1823, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser detailed William Cubitt’s invention and by August the first Australian treadmill was under construction at Carter’s Barracks. Governor Brisbane was most impressed with the prospect of saving money on wheat contracts whilst punishing recidivist convicts in the process and by November 1824, he’d requested machinery for several more. Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 21 August 1823; Kerr, Design for Convicts: 54
Leg Irons: John Cole per Lady East CON23/1/1, CON31/1/6, 13 December 1832; James Croft per Lord Auckland CON33/1/61, 17 January 1847. The length of chain connecting the two basils was generally just over one and a half feet. For stealing seven fruit trees in July 1828, John Rawlings spent a whole month on the treadmill in chains. John Rawlings per Princess Charlotte CON31/1/34.
Van Diemonian Treadmills: Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 2 February 1827; Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 320; Hobart Town Courier, 16 February 1828; Green, Anne, A model municipality: places of management, mentoring & medicine in Launceston, Launceston City Council, Launceston, 2007: 36; Weidenhofer, Port Arthur: a place of misery: 69; Courier, 2 March 1859. A single Overseer was placed in charge and in the mid 1840’s his yearly wage was fixed at £100. Colonial Times, 3 September 1844. Three doors, with the eastern door leading out into the barracks’ yard, provided access. As work on the wheel often commenced before sunrise six large windows provided light and some fresh air.
The Dreaded Treadmill: Convict Discipline and Transportation Each resting stall was fitted with a hook for jackets and caps, a seat, a pannikin and a bible or lesson book. An observation hole in the door ensured constant supervision and each stall was supplied with a numbered tablet that could be passed through a slot in the door to summon an overseer. At about this time, James Montague Smith noted that convicts worked one and a half hour shifts, with a man being replaced every three minutes. However, when there was a shortage of prisoners, resting time was dictated by the amount of men required to turn the wheel. For refusing to work under the grueling conditions Smith and his mates copped seven days solitary. Smith also stated that a misplaced step resulted in a painful rap across one’s shins. Smith & Cuffley, Send the boy to sea: 34, 44, 46.
Crime and Punishment: Hobart Town Advertiser, October 1843; Hobart Town Courier, 27 October 1843. Driscoll was caught with a half-crown hidden in his mouth.
Bribery and Generosity: Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Diemen’s Land: 320, 322; Launceston Advertiser, 2 November 1844; Jeremiah Pether per David Lyon CON31/1/35, 11 November 1844. For trying to sneak cash into the treadmill room, John Hinkin copped 25 lashes. John Hinkin per Earl St. Vincent CON31/1/19, 3 October 1829.
James Lovett: Cornwall Chronicle, 20 July 1839.

UNIFORM

Illustrations based on a cap in the author’s collection and also QVM 2003.H.0573 -79; QVM 2003.H.0582; QVM 2003.H.0584-89 and a replica uniform produced by William Lincoln of Corps Sutler and a replica cap and tackling produced by Peter Sinclair; Laugesen, Convict words: 180; Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 234; Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 1751 In 1803, men were issued a jacket, waistcoat, shirt, trousers, stockings, breeches, shoes and a flannel cap. Tardif, John Bowen’s Hobart: 141. Clothing for the voyage out ranged from thin cloth slops in the early years to woolen underclothes and overalls cut from sailcloth in later years. Bateson, The Convict Ships: 64. Despite uniforms remaining government property, Thomas Lempriere noted that convicts altered, dyed and did what they pleased with them. Lempriere, The Penal Settlements of Early Van Diemen’s Land: 48. Uniforms were typically made from duffel, a coarse woolen cloth. Other materials included muslin; lightweight cloth, moleskin; a strong cotton fabric, duck; more durable cotton or canvas fabric and twilled fabrics like serge and fustian. In 1817 material was in such short supply that Governor Sorell had new uniforms cut from bed ticking. Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 64. In April 1840, Francis McCallum was sent to solitary for ten days for making a suit from another convict’s bedding. Francis McCallum per Minerva CON31/1/8, 4 April 1840. In June 1836, convicts from Grass Tree Hill were spotted stealing sheep. Benjamin Morrill was dressed in a straw hat, duck trousers and a magpie jacket whilst John Morris wore a black hat, duck trousers and duck frock. MacFie, Dobbers and Cobbers: 115. A frock was a loose overall with long sleeves. Skilled convicts and those on a ticket-of-leave were permitted to wear their own attire. Due to the scarcity of material and haphazard issuing practices convicts were frequently dressed in whatever was available and clothing was anything but ‘uniform’.
Hats and Caps: Pybus & Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: 112, Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 152; Tasmanian, 26 October 1832; Hobart Town Courier, 26 October 1832; Tasmanian, 2 November 1832. When Daniel Liscombe fell asleep on watch other convicts stole his messmate’s dough ration, which they smuggled out under their hats. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 56. In September 1838, George Jackson drowned whilst trying to retrieve his cap at the coalmines. Ross, Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877: 50. George Jackson per Enchantress CON31/1/24, 27 September 1831. Female convicts were also supplied with various hats including stiff straw bonnets. Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 1751. Anson probationers produced bonnets by ingeniously carving the necessary tools out of their leftover beef bones. Launceston Examiner, 16 November 1850.
Dress Code: Maynard, Margaret, Fashioned from penury: dress as cultural practice in colonial Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994: 16, 18; Penal clothing was not only designed to punish and humiliate convicts but to also categorise and distinguish them free persons. Male convicts could also be identified by the style of their dress. Jackets were kept short and worn above the hips to contrast with other more fashionable cuts and pockets were not provided. In 1817, Lieutenant-Governor Sorell ordered the Hobart Town gaol gang be dressed solely in parti-coloured clothing. Mickleborough, William Sorell in Van Diemen’s Land: 64. In 1839, Port Arthur ordered 10,000 parti-coloured uniforms, yellow uniforms and grey uniforms. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 45. Generally speaking, recidivists and convicts serving a life sentence wore parti-colour, whilst those on a short sentence wore a yellow suit. After serving a third of their term and if they had been well behaved they were entitled to wear grey. In 1847 convicts produced 950 suits of moleskin and fustian in order to supply ticket-of-leave men and passholders with more respectable attire. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 85. It was also possible for convicts to purchase and make their own clothing, which enabled them to blend into civilian life.
Footwear: Clark, The Career of William Thompson: 87; Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, 30 December 1825; Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 52, 56. A shoemaker’s shop was a staple addition to a penal station. Leather was initially imported from England but local hides produced in tanneries proved cheaper and superior. In 1827 convicts at Sarah Island produced 562 pairs of shoes and repaired 1,759. Brand, Sarah Island Penal Settlements: 27. Footwear was also sold to offset running costs. In 1846, 3000 pairs were shipped from Port Arthur to Hobart Town. Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 88.
Reduced to Rags: MacFie, Dobbers and Cobbers: 117; John Patching per Gilmore CON31/1/35. In November 1835, Patching was charged with destroying his jacket and being caught with government hemp. Hemp was used in sewing and when unpicked from garments it could be utilised for fishing or other illicit activities like picking locks. In February 1838, Patching was charged with stealing several articles of clothing from Thomas Sanders and for his continuous disobedience he was sentenced to three year’s hard labour in irons. When in need some convicts were pushed to the extreme. In February 1831, Elizabeth Smith was found in an indecent situation with a man in her master’s garden. Smith claimed that she was driven to prostitution to obtain clothing, as her mistress would not give her any. She was punished with six days in a cell on bread and water before being shipped off to the interior. Alexander, Convict Lives: Women at Cascades Female Factory: 32-35.
Numbers and Letters: Maynard, Fashioned from penury: 21; Rules and regulations for the penal settlement on Tasman’s Peninsula, Tasmania. Maxwell-Stewart & Hood, Pack of Thieves: 35; Syme, Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land: 289; Tardiff, Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls: 1751; Frost, Footsteps and voices: a historical look into the Cascades Female Factory: 11. The British Penal Act of 1779 introduced the application of marks, badges or numbers onto convict clothing. Convicts at the Hobart Town Prisoners’ Barracks wore clothing stamped P.B. Port Arthur signified their dominion with the abbreviation P.A. Maynard, Fashioned from penury: 21. In July 1842, Thomas Shaw was suspected of murdering his overseer, Richard Bickley, after he was found to be wearing a shirt marked with Bickley’s issue number. Hobart Town Courier, 22 July 1842; Courier, 22 July 1842.
Nicknames: Like convicts, soldiers prided themselves on not flinching during a flogging; those that cried out were known as ‘nightingales’. Grose, The vulgar tongue: 229.
The Broad Arrow: In 1597 the Board of Ordnance was established as the source of all government equipment and the broad arrow was adopted as an emblem. The initials B.O., along with the broad arrow, also known as ‘the King’s Arrow’, ‘the broad R’, ‘pheon’ or ‘crow foot’ were subsequently stamped on items to mark them as Crown property. When some leather stamped B.O. was found stashed in a drain at Hobart Town in May 1857, it was promptly returned to the prisoner’s barracks. The Hobart Town Mercury, 27 May 1857.
Flash is the New Black: Maynard, Fashioned from penury: 24. Imposing a uniform on female convicts proved to be quite tricky. Whilst they were banned from styling their hair and wearing any finery, such as jewellery, they were said to have constantly resisted conforming to drab government slops and ‘always found the means to dress better.’ Female convicts were not subjected to parti-colour and clothing was commonly brown or grey, Anson probationers were distinguished by their blue uniforms Maynard, Fashioned from penury: 24, 25. Female Convicts Research Centre, Female Factory Clothing. Troublemakers could be made to suffer a form of punishment dress that is thought to have been entirely black. Convict Lives: Women at Cascades Female Factory: 150.
Cleanliness: Rules and regulations for the penal settlement on Tasman’s Peninsula, Tasmania. By the late 1860s, convicts at Port Arthur were issued clean bedding once every four months. a clean shirt twice a week in Summer and once a week in Winter. Rules and regulations for the penal settlement on Tasman’s Peninsula, Tasmania. Female convicts, for the most part, received clean linen weekly. Hobart Town Gazette, 3 October 1829. James Littleton served as a barber at the Broad Marsh Probation Station where John Colley claimed to have been shaved very roughly. Henry Sayton had an even closer shave when James attacked him with an axe. Sayton survived and Littleton was executed in December 1842. Courier, 9 December 1842.
Making and Mending: Weidenhofer, Maria Island: a Tasmanian Eden: 20; Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 128. Maria Island incorpoarted a weaving shop, a spinning shop, a fulling mill, carding and pressing rooms, a turner and carpenters’ shop and a dye house The female factories supplied yarn and between April and November 1830 over 4,082 yards of cloth and 296 blankets were shipped to Hobart Town. Weidenhofer, Maria Island: a Tasmanian Eden: 20. Convicts were allocated time to mend their clothes. At the Cascades Female Factory convicts also repaired and made clothes for the general public; shirts and ladies’ garments cost 10s per dozen and jackets and trousers were 1s each. Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854: 251.
Underwear: Mortlock, Experiences of a Convict: 111; Hobarton Mercury, 30 May 1855.

UNNATRUAL CRIME

Jupp, James, The Australian people: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people and their origin, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001: 23; Convict discipline and transportation: Correspondence on the subject of convict discipline and transportation. In continuation of the papers presented 16th February, 15th April, and 14th May 1847. Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. London. 1848; Brand, The Port Arthur Coal Mines: 67; Robert Dutchess per Clyde CON31/1/10, 30 November 1832, 5 January 1833.

VAN DIEMEN’S LAND

Road Station locations sourced from Colonial Times, 28 October 1845; Hobart Town Courier, 19 January 1838, 11 October 1839; Observer, 31 October 1845; Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, 30 August 1839, 11 October 1839; Watch House locations sourced from Hobart Town Gazette, 20 August 1825; Colonial Times, 26 September 1843, 13 August 1844, 18 September 1846, 24 August 1847, 14 September 1849; Observer, 5, 12 September 1845; Launceston Courier, 1 March 1841; Courier, 8 April 1842; Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, 27 March, 10 April, 18 September 1840; Tardif, John Bowen’s Hobart; Boyce, Van Diemen’s Land; Brand, The Convict Probation System, Van Diemen’s Land 1839-1854. Signal Stations sourced from a map attributed John Woodley, 1984, Port Arthur Historic Site; Thompson, Probation in Paradise… 1841-1857: 88-91. Map of Hobart Town / drawn and engraved by R. Jarman, 1858, AUTAS001131821787; Plan of the city of Hobart Town compiled partly from Frankland’s map, & partly from recent surveys, 1854, AUTAS001139586747; Van Diemen’s Land by Sidney Hall, 1828, AUTAS001139592182; Van Diemen’s Land byDower & Higgibs. 1832, David Rumsey Map Collection, www.daviddrumsey.com Chart of Van Diemen’s Land by Thomas Scott, 1824, AUTAS139593842j2K; Tasmania. Map of Forestier and Tasman Peninsulas, showing roads, convict settlements and police stations, 1854, MPG 1/537/1; Nash, Michael, The bay whalers: Tasmania’s shore-based whaling industry, Navarine, Woden, 2003. Some 18 other Europeans voyaged to Van Diemen’s Land before Matthew Flinders and George Bass circumnavigated it between 1798 and 1799, proving that it was an island. During the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, poverty and crime increased. By the turn of 19th century, Britain had developed a penal code with over 200 offences that were punishable by death. Transporting criminals came to be seen as a more compassionate alternative. Furthermore, shipping off captive workers facilitated infrastructure, and standard terms of transportation (seven, 14 years or life) ensured most convicts settled upon release. In 1803, Van Diemen’s Land was established as a penal colony. Lieutenant John Bowen led the colonisation party numbering 48, which also prevented the possibility of the French laying claim to the island. The Risdon Cove site, however, was soon abandoned in favour of Sullivan’s Cove on the opposite side of the Derwent River in 1804. The colony became known as Hobart Town or Hobarton in honour of the British Colonial Secretary Lord Robert Hobart. Within two years supplies were exhausted, crops dwindled and colonists struggled bitterly. In consequence, they resorted to hunting native game, which resulted in conflict with Aborigines defending their hunting grounds. It also led to the decampment of convicts and the formulation of the first bushrangers. By the 1830s, colonists were estimated to number about 24,000 and wheat and wool production was seeing a good return. The Aboriginal populace known as the Palawa, however, once estimated to number between 2,000 to 8,000 was reduced to approximately 200. The survivors were relocated to Wybalenna on Flinders Island. By 1847, only 47 Palawa remained. Trugernanner, also referred to as Truganini, died in 1876 and is considered, arguably, to be the last of the full-blooded Palawa.
The End of Transportation: Australian Convict Sites. Bateson, The Convict Ships 1787 – 1868. Between 1819 and 1821, Commissioner John Thomas Bigge headed a British inquiry to investigate complaints that transportation was no longer an effective form of punishment to deter criminal behaviour. The Bigge Report, as it was known, resulted in harsher punishments, stricter surveillance and the establishment of penal stations such as Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour. The report also resulted in Van Diemen’s Land being established as an independent colony with its own criminal court, which strengthened the powers of the residing Lieutenant Governor. In 1837, the British Government established the Select Committee on Transportation to investigate the process of transportation and punishment. William Molesworth chaired the committee and the subsequent Molesworth Report denounced assignment as slavery which resulted in unequal treatment and moral decay. The failure of the successive Probation System combined with the Molesworth Report and the increased amount of colonists emigrating brought about a strong opposition to the transportation of convicts. It was argued that they cheated honest free labourers out of work and were the source of all society’s evils. A severe economic depression in the 1840s led to a brief cessation of transportation in 1846. The Australasian Anti-Transportation League was headed by the Reverend John West. The last 207 convicts arrived in May 1853, aboard the St Vincent.
The Jubilee Medal: Illustration based on a medal in the author’s collection and other photograph reference; Cornwall Chronicle, 13 August 1853.

WATCH HOUSE

Illustration based on Bothwell Watch House and Police Buildings AOT PWD266-1-1153-62. Further information supplied by owner/occupiers John and Roslyn Hill; photographic reference supplied by Phil Barnard. Kerr, Design for convicts: 81. See Van Diemen’s Land endnotes for Watch House calculation.
Cliff Fall: Rainsford lingered for three days later. He left three children orphaned. The government was called upon to abandon the site for a safer location but the pleas went unheeded. Courier, 26 December 1854.
Writing is on the Wall: William Langley per William Glen Anderson CON31/1/28, 7 December 1841.
Cash For Booze: Hobart Town Mercury, 8 April 1857.
Gaol Break: Hobart Town Mercury, 5 August 1857.
Red Handed: Mercury, 22 July 1862.
Cut Throat: Courier, 30 January 1858. Prior to eloping, Brown had been nearly crushed to death by a runaway cart.
The Bothwell Watch House: Conservation study of Bothwell, Tasmania for the Bothwell Municipal Council, Bush Parkes Shugg and Moon, Hobart, 1975; Courier, 12 January 1857. List of constables employed in the Bothwell District as at the 1 Jan 1857, taken from the Legislative Council records of Tasmania. Supplied by Tasmanian Gen Web. In 1832, a building was completed at Bothwell that served as a military barracks and gaol. It was converted into a watch house in 1849 at a cost of £140. AOT CSO24/1/2370. In 1857, Bothwell was reported to be characteristically cold and bleak with frequent snow and hailstorms and severe summer frosts. Courier, 12 January 1857. Aside from general patrolling, escorting and supervision duties, constables also faced any immediate crisis. When Henry Colbeck was stabbed in April 1857, no medical man was within 20 miles and the chief constable was forced to dress his wounds. Hobart Town Mercury, 8 April 1857. In September 1856, the watch house and constables’ barracks were proclaimed a gaol and house of correction under the Prison Regulation Act. Colonial Times, 3 September 1856. In 1981, it was restored with the intention of being used as a museum. Due to a lack of finance it passed into private hands.
Pilfered Pork: Courier, 30 January 1858; Colonial Times, 23 August 1842; Samuel Hockey per Sir Charles Forbes CON31/1/20, 4 August 1842.
Christmas Fray: Courier, 26 April 1855.The mob overpowered the constabulary, broke down the door and released the woman. The police magistrate, John Whitefoord, resorted to appointing locals as ‘special constables’ in order to quell the mob and round up the ringleaders. Colonial Times, 26 April 1855.
Bushrangers at Bothwell: Hobart Town Daily Mercury, 1 May 1858; Courier, 20 September 1858, 12 October, 14, 16 February 1859; Davis, The Tasmanian gallows: 63. The men were known as Wingy, Flowers, Sydney Jim and Black Peter. In March 1858, Chief District Constable Richard Propsting and his family were traveling by cart when the gang bailed them up outside of Ross. Several shots were fired but the party escaped unharmed and raised the alarm at Tunbridge. For firing upon Constable Propsting the surviving members were sentenced to death. In their defense they claimed to have only shot at the horse, in order to stop the cart. Constable Propsting also signed the petition. At the time of their execution, Stewart refused to shake hands with the reverend, declaring their innocence. Ferns bid the crowd farewell and asked Haley for his hand.
Howell in Despair: Hobart Town Courier, 3 January 1834; Petrow, ‘Policing in a Penal Colony; Howell Howell per Andromeda CON31/1/19.
Frederick Fuse: Fredrick Fuse per Sir Charles Forbes CON31/1/14.
William Westwood: Courier, 23 August 1845.
Rats and Cats: Grose, The vulgar tongue: 234; Hobart Town Gazette, 30 November 1816; Boyce, Van Diemens’ Land: 215. In order to cull their numbers the Hobart Town Gazette published a recipe for poison: six drops of rhodium oil, five drops of aniseed oil, four drops of clove oil, seven drops of caraway oil, a tablespoon of tea, half an ounce of arsenic and nux vomica. The concoction was mixed with oatmeal, molded into small enticing egg-shaped balls and were said to have a devastating effect. Hobart Town Gazette, 14 December, 1816. Cats were being bred as early as 1806. Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803 – 1838: 119.

WATER

Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 23; Mary Ann Furze per Princess Charlotte CON40/1/3, 9 September 1824; Margaret Mason-Cox, Companion to Tasmanian History, Water; Lloyd, Bernard, The water-getters: how Hobart quenched its thirst. Glenorchy, 2008; Colonial Times, 18 April 1837. At Maria Island, several dams and a millrace were established in order to meet the penal station’s numerous requirements. Extensive water works were also required at Port Arthur and, whilst Probation Stations were located near creeks or rivers wherever possible, many had no immediate supply. Availability was also problematic in the rapidly expanding towns. By the time the Hobart Town Rivulet reached residents it had been syphoned off at various works sites along the way and was often no more than ‘a trickle.’ Furthermore, it was said to have received ‘three quarters of the whole filth of the population’ including daily deposits of the Cascade Female Factory night soil becoming a ‘common sewer’. Contaminated water was a serious health risk and resulted in regular outbreaks of disease and ill health. Levy, Governor George Arthur: a colonial benevolent despot: 253. Subsequently, the government went to great lengths to establish viable water works, which were regulated by Water Acts, the first of which was introduced in 1835.

WHALING

Lawrence, Susan, Whalers and Free Men: Life on Tasmania’s Colonial Whaling Stations, Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, 2006: 16; Colonial Times, 28 April 1840; Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen’s Land Gazette, 2 October 1840; Nash, The bay whalers: 12, 112; O’May, Wooden hookers of Hobart town: 32; In the event of convict transports whaling, all convicts were clapped in irons and confined below decks. Nash, The bay whalers: 35. The evolution of the Van Diemonian whaling industry was to remain hindered by the presence of convicts. In 1806, orders were issued to minimise stowaways escaping on foreign vessels. The following year, Joseph Raphael and John Edwards were caught trying to stow away onboard the whaler Sarah. Nash, The bay whalers: 35. Nicholls, The Diary of The Reverend Robert Knopwood 1803 – 1838: 145. Britain placed duties on whale oil produced within the colonies to ensure a vested interest in her own state revenue. British whalers paid less than 9s per tun, whilst Van Diemonian whalers were charged a rate of up to £8 6s 3d per tun of Right Whale oil and £28 8s 9d per tun of Sperm Whale oil. Following the Bigge Report, the potential of the whaling industry was realised as a way to advance the colony and the duties were revised, which resulted in the construction of the first two whaling stations at Slopen Island and the Freycinet Peninsula in 1824. In July, a party of four convicts absconded from the peninsula station. Lawrence, Susan, Whalers and Free Men: 7; Nash, The bay whalers: 6. Whaler Alexander Imlay became the target of an official inquiry after rival whalers claimed that he employed 10 convicts on his boats. Nash, The bay whalers: 102. In November 1838, four convicts under his employ were accused of stealing a whale belonging to James Kelly. Hobart Town Courier, 30 November 1838; Colonial Times, 4 December 1838. Some whalers felt that convicts were a threat to their safety and livelihood and in the same year a harpooner named William Davis lodged an official complaint about the employment of convicts on whaling stations. Lawrence, Whalers and Free Men: 40; Local interest quickly spread to the coastline of Victoria, South Australia and even as far as New Zealand. The competition for hunting grounds, station locations, supplies and even individual whales became fierce and the authorities passed Acts to try to resolve the issues.
Hunting the Right Whale: Rope passed from the harpoon and sat coiled on the forward platform having passed over the thwarts (seats) and around the loggerhead from the large tub.
Life and Limb: O’May, Wooden hookers of Hobart town: 11; Hobart Town Gazette, 15 September 1827; Colonial Times, 20 August 1839; Mercury, 22 August 1863.
Flensing: Nash, The bay whalers: 22
Baleen: Baleen was typically hacked off with an axe. It was the cleaned and bundled together to be sold. In 1837 it was fetching £150 a ton. Nash, The bay whalers: 24. The whale’s fins and flukes were also lopped off to streamline the carcass for easier towing. They too were valuable items and fins could fetch as much as £9 10s a ton. Hobart Town Gazette, 3 March 1827.
Whale Oil: Nash, The bay whalers: 24 The cauldrons were known as ‘try pots’. Some could hold as much as 250 gallons. Quality barrels to ship the oil were in great demand and to ensure a steady supply, coopers were employed on and off stations at great expense. Nash, The bay whalers: 24.
Whales at Port Arthur: Nash, The bay whalers: 101; Heard, The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth, Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement: 157; Thomas Earle arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in July 1829 to serve out seven years for stealing cloth. In January 1833, he was sent to Port Arthur and had six moths added to his term for insubordination, neglect of duty and insolence. After he gained his freedom in 1834, he came third in the waterman’s race at the Hobart Regatta of 1839. Earle was a waterman by trade and remained one until his death in December 1860. Broxam, Graeme, Pride of the port: the watermen of Hobart Town, Navarine, Hobart, 2009: 30
Profit Share: Nash, The bay whalers: 76

X

Brasch, How Did It Begin: 31. When the Howe Bushranging Gang penned a threatening letter to Lieutenant-Governor Davey in November 1816, six of the gang signed their names with an X. Minchin, The First; the Worst? Michael Howe and associated bushrangers in Van Diemen’s Land: 59, 104.

YOKE

Illustration based on ‘Major William de Gillern at Rocky Hills Probation Station. C1840s. Artist unknown. Pybus & Maxwell-Stewart, American Citizens, British Slaves: 100; Emberg, The Uncensored Story of Martin Cash: 70; Brand, Penal Peninsula. Port Arthur and its outstations 1827-1898: 159. Gates stated that the carts measured 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep, and were fitted with crossbars in order to be pushed. Cash claimed to have never seen convicts subjected to yokes in New South Wales. In 1842, the carting of earth, metal, sand and stone was regulated. Ten gangsmen were supplied with two carts and expected to load and wheel their wagons a distance of between 150 to 200 yards on a daily basis. Syme, Nine Years in Van Diemen’s Land: 233-232,234.
No Yoking Matter: Colonial Times, 11 & 27 January 1855.

ZANYISM

Davey, The Sarah Island Conspiracies: 50; William Sylvester per Gilbratar CON33/1/89, 3 may 1824; Colonial Times, 7 April 1853; Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 22 February & 28 March 1812; Mercury, 29 October 1874. McHugo was described as tall, dignified and handsome. When harbour master Henry Robinson boarded his ship he found McHugo on deck surrounded by officers, reclining on an Indian settee. Robinson signalled ahead that a dignitary was fast approaching and the people of Launceston gathered ‘round to receive ‘General McHugo.’ McHugo stated that he had travelled from India to take command of the town and any person who doubted the validity of his commission would be gaoled to await execution, including Major Gordon of the 73rd Regiment. The timely arrival of Lieutenant Lyttleton from a hunting trip interrupted the proceedings and with the help of several soldiers he rescued his commander and shipped McHugo off to New South Wales. McHugo was to pay dearly for his ruse; he was decreed a lunatic and his ship and property were requisitioned before he was sent back to India in March. The people of Launceston were left humiliated and the disgraced Major Gordon was ordered back to Sydney.