Friday, July 11, 2014

Hobart Convict Gaol: A family connection

James: From Chartist to Supervisor of the Treadmill

Remainder of the gaol still stands    

 

I recently took the opportunity to visit my brother - Keeper of the Family History - south of Hobart, spending a few inspiring days with him and his lovely wife.

We had to make the 40 km plus trip into Hobart and given that I have had little to do with much of the south of the state, was excited that we were going to visit the Old Convict Gaol where our Great, great-grandfather had been the supervisor of the treadmill.

It seems quite strange to me that, having been heavily involved as an organiser with the Chartist Movement in England - an act similar to today's terrorism that was punished by long prison terms or transportation to Australia - he was able to secure a position as Supervisor of the Treadmill in Hobart and then Launceston.


Hobart Convict Gaol Layout

Hobart Convict Gaol Layout - click to enlarge  

 

The Penitentiary Chapel and Criminal Courts are situated on a Hobart site occupied for penal uses from 1821 to 1983.

The complex, containing one of the most beautiful church towers in Australia, is of national importance.

By the late 1820s increasing numbers of convicts were placing stress on Hobart's convict accommodation, and a penitentiary, 'The Tench', was built (1827 /28) in Campbell Street - remains of which still stand today, along with some of the cottages across the road.


Penitentiary Chapel: Hobart

Penitentiary Chapel can be found at the Corner of Brisbane and Campbell Streets

Overcrowding also affected Hobart's only Anglican church, St David's, and Lt-Governor Arthur directed the Colonial Architect, John Lee Archer, to design a second place of worship.

Archer designed a building to serve both convicts and free citizens, with 36 solitary confinement cells underneath as an adjunct to the penitentiary.

His design was cruciform, without a sanctuary, but with a nave, while the east and west transepts had floors tiered or sloped towards a central pulpit, visible to all three wings.

This clever arrangement allowed the free citizens to use the nave for worship, hidden from 'the uncouth gaze' of the (640) prisoners in the wings.


A prisoner looks at convict behaviour in Church


 

It is from the 'educated writings' of Linus W. Miller, a twenty-two-year-old American lawyer who was transported to Van Diemen’s Land as a state prisoner from Canada after becoming involved in the 1838 Canadian rebellion that we can gain a first-hand insight into daily life of the convicts.

The following is just a small part of his description of convict attendance at Divine Service in the Penitentiary Chapel.

‘On looking about me, I could not discover more than twelve, among twelve hundred prisoners [sic], who appeared to be taking any notice of the service. Some were spinning yarns, some playing at pitch-and-toss, some gambling with cards; several were crawling about under the benches, selling candy, tobacco, &c., and one fellow carried a bottle of rum, which he was serving out in small quantities to those who had an English sixpence to give for a small wine-glass full. Disputes occasionally arose which ended in a blow or kick; but in these cases the constables, who were present to maintain order, generally felt called upon to interfere. If any resistance was offered to their authority, the culprit was seized by the arms and collar, dragged out of the church and thrust into the cells beneath.'

The Treadmill

 

The treadmill or 'everlasting staircase' was a penal appliance introduced in 1818 by the British engineer Sir William Cubitt (1785/61) as a means of usefully employing convicts.

The device was a wide hollow cylinder, usually composed of wooden steps built around a cylindrical iron frame.

My brother informs me that 'The Launceston Treadmill'  [where James also worked]  could accommodate up to eighteen men, who trod up and down on the spot, grinding wheat for the Government store. 

On the machine, the prisoners had to keep moving.  Every sixty seconds, a bell would signal the prisoner at the end of the line to break. When the bell rang again, he would rejoin the line at the other end for a further eighteen-minute’s treading.'

Friday, May 2, 2014

Gold, gold, gold! Fossicking at Lefroy

Lefroy: The six pub town


I have always found it rather interesting that the population and wealth of Australian historic mining areas seem to be always measured by the number of pubs (hotels) it had.

Lefroy sits around 15 km south-east of the cottage and 58 km north-east of Launceston. Originally known as Nine Mile Springs it was changed to Lefroy in 1881 after the visit by the Acting Governor, Sir Henry Lefroy.

It was a bustling town, which is said to have contained 5,000 people in its peak boom period of 1890-95. It was the fourth largest town in Tasmania,.

Gold was known to exist in the hills around Lefroy in the 1840s, but exploration was discouraged because of a fear that the convicts would find out and rebel.

Though now only a sleepy rural town with no retail activity at all, Lefroy had a race track, rifle club, cricket club and brass band. There were six hotels, three churches, a state and private grammar school, a masonic lodge and mechanics institute. The town had several shops, two butchers and a cordial factory. In 1907 the headquarters of the George Town Municipality was located there, remaining there until the 1930s.

Gold Mining At Lefroy

Mining endeavours at Lefroy were a series of booms and busts. The alluvial gold lay in the creek gullies and under the basalt rock on the eastern side of the field. But most of the gold lay in scattered reefs in the quartz rock which formed the base of the area.

 In the upper levels the gold was quite rich, but it was quickly exhausted and as shafts were dug deeper, the amount of gold diminished. Extraction was expensive because of water seepage, which required pumps, and the quartz rock had to be crushed in batteries of stamping machines, and then washed in sluices to extract the gold from the crushed rock.

In all, the Lefroy mines yielded £750,000 in gold, making the gold field the second richest in Tasmania, after Beaconsfield.

 Gold Fossicking at Lefroy

A tailings dump we have been picking through  
 
Once commercial mining ceased, Lefroy slowly declined, its school and last church closing in 1954. Many of the houses were removed to George Town and Beaconsfield. Even so, prospectors continue to mine and fossick for gold in and around the old mine shafts, often finding enough to make it a profitable hobby.

My sons grew up in the Lefroy area and spent many hours picking through the tailings dumps and mine sites with limited, though exciting results including a number of smallish nuggets.

So What Did We Find?

With many hectares of scrub surrounding the mine and tens of thousands of tonnes of well worked tailings, finding gold is about as easy as striking a lottery win - a few small payouts but an extremely elusive jackpot.

From a material point of view, the total find during our four-hour search consisted of an tiny sliver of gold in a fissure in a chunk of basalt. Cash value - zero.

The real payout, however, comes with the health giving beauty of the silent embrace of the surrounding forest. Real Value -  priceless.

Be assured that the gold is there, and taking the time to have a look is well worth many hours of your time.


 The Rehabilitation of Abandoned Mining Lands
The capping on one of over fifty shafts in the region
 
The Rehabilitation of Abandoned Mining Lands Trust Fund commenced a
remediation program in the 2005/2006 budget period to address public safety risks posed by abandoned mine workings on Crown Land at Lefroy, north-east Tasmania.

Over fifty open shafts and two adits were either capped or fenced during
this time for an approximate cost of $140,000.

 The Chinese In Lefroy

Chinese miners first arrived at Lefroy in 1870, originally brought in to work the mines at Back Creek. 

At Lefroy they panned for alluvial gold, and later picked over the tailings from the crushing batteries. They also made money from the other diggers through their market gardens and gambling dens, where fan tan was the main game. 

They were slower but steadier workers and were tolerated by the other diggers. In 1877 they opened a Joss House in Little China Town, which was in Powell Street. It remained there until 1904, when it was dismantled and removed to an unknown location.

You may also be interested in two items I have published in my site, Dear Grandpa Pencil, including:

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

'MV Parsifal' visits the Tamar River

Giant delivers Tasrail's new locomotives

'MV Parsifal' the largest car carrier in the world and the largest ship ever to call into Bell Bay, today navigated the winding Tamar River delivering Tassie's new Locomotives.

The 265-metre long 'MV Parsifal' spans nine decks with a cargo deck area the size of eight soccer fields with a draught of nearly 9 metres.

Just 35 metres shorter than the Eiffel Tower, with a ramp that can handle the weight of 100 elephants she has an anchor that weighs 9.2 tonnes and  an engine which has the horsepower of 180 cars.

Despite her gigantic size, the Parsifal will actually use 15 to 20% less fuel per transported unit compared to her predecessors due to her optimised hull shape and other energy saving features like the streamlined rudder design and duck tail which make her one of the most environmentally friendly ships in operation today. In addition, electricity will be produced from the exhaust heat on board thanks to an advanced turbo generator which has been installed in the engine room.


'MV Parsifal


One of TasRail’s 17 new TR class locomotives

Unloading at Bell Bay

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Replica Of The 25 Ton Colonial Sloop Norfolk

Bass and Flinders prove Tasmania is an island
  
The Replica of the Norfolk in George Town

 

The 25 ton Colonial sloop Norfolk was built on Norfolk Island in 1798 and was constructed from Norfolk Island Pine.

Flinders had been doing some exploring on his own and believed that he could prove that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was an island.


Bass and Flinders convinced Governor Hunter that another expedition should be set up with a bigger boat and more men.


The Circumnavigation


Governor Hunter quickly put the Norfolk under the command of Matthew Flinders to be used
as a survey vessel.

From the Bass and Flinders Centre
In 1798, Bass and Flinders sailed the Norfolk through Bass Strait and round Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), proving that it was an island.
 
They sailed with a crew of 8  right into the Tamar River and anchored off what is now George Town.

This was to be their last voyage together as Bass disappeared mysteriously in the Pacific Ocean.

Flinders also took the Norfolk north to chart Cook’s Morton’s Bay (now Moreton Bay) and Hervey’s Bay (Hervey Bay).

The Norfolk was then used to supply produce from the Windsor Area to Port Jackson, until 1800 when she was seized by convicts, at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River.

Intending to sail her to the Mollucas (A group of islands of eastern Indonesia between Sulawesi and New Guinea), the convicts ran her aground at Stockton on the northern side of the mouth to the Hunter River.


History on show

The Bass and Flinders Centre

 

In 1998-99 Bern Cuthbertson from Sandy Bay, Tasmania, re-enacted all of the Norfolk's journeys in a replica of the Norfolk, constructed of Tasmanian Huon and Celery Top pines.

The magnificent replica Norfolk is now on display at The Bass and Flinders Centre in George Town.

The Bass and Flinders Centre is at 8 Elizabeth Street, George Town TAS 7253 

Monday, January 27, 2014

Some Tasmanian Tree Sculptures

Is There Life After Death?

Tree sculpture at East Beach 

 

If the George Town/Low Head area is anything to go by, there certainly is.

This is my second Australia Day back in Northern Tasmania and as I enjoyed the experience at the Low Head Pilot Station last year, I decided to do it again.

Sadly, despite the weather being near perfect, the event fell far short of last year's, in almost every respect. I did one quick circuit of the precinct and left - the problem was probably the result of the present depressed nature of the region.


Discovering East Beach

East  Beach overlooking the Low Head Lighthouse

 

Rather than waste an outing, even though it is only a few kilometre drive, I took a left turn on the way home to look at a beach.

I can be a bit slack and although it is only a longish walk from the Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage, I had not seen it.

The beach sweeps east, from the point that houses the Low Head Lighthouse, in a 1.5 km crescent fronting the Bass Straight.

The quite attractive beach is backed by a narrow strip of scrub, then the road and is served by a reasonable toilet block.

In 1869 a submarine telegraph cable ran from Low Head, Tasmania to Western Port, Victoria and the foundations of its wooden test house lies beside the short track from the road to the beach.


New life for these dead trees

The café and sculpture





 

Driving a little further, I came across this amazing sight in front of a café.

Six old pine trees had been beautifully converted to this tree sculptured, nautical scene.

Sailors join a whale, dolphin, sword-fish, a surfer, a lighthouse and birds in a seriously attention grabbing display.

I really should pop back and try out their coffee and fish & chips soon.


More life from death

The Eddie Freeman sculpture in George Town

 

As I was looking at the sculpture, I remembered that I had not checked on the progress of the work in George Town lately, so I headed off to have a look.

With a chainsaw and chisel, Tasmanian sculptor, Eddie Freeman, has breathed new life into an ageing Macrocarpa Pine Tree on the site of the old Cable House for the Tasmania to Victoria telegraph link.

The sculpture features a mother whale and her baby, five penguins and cable men pulling in the telegraph cable.


The telegraph cable

The artist's credit

 

A telegraph line connecting Hobart and Launceston was completed in 1857 in 1869 a submarine telegraph cable ran from Low Head, Tasmania to Western Port, Victoria.

The key to future growth in trade and commerce was a connection to the other state capitals.

There were 117 miles of cable at a final contract cost of £53,000 laid and made operational. Unfortunately the cable was constantly out of service due to faults undersea and by January 1861 it was abandoned.

An enduring cable link was established between Cape Otway on the Victorian mid-south coast, through to King Island and, ultimately, Launceston, Tasmania, the £70000 cost paid fully by the Tasmanian Government and it was opened in 1869.