Duck trousers, straw bonnets, and bluey: the history of Tasmanian textiles and clothing is filled with colourful and unique garments, characters, and stories. Stories like that of Joseph Bidencope, a skilful tailor and milliner from Poland, whose popular hats made in Battery Point were exhibited to great success at the Philadelphia International Exhibition in 1876. Or the many stories of the female convicts housed in the factories at Cascades and Ross – some of whom were imprisoned for stealing aprons, bonnets, and jackets – who made, embroidered, and laundered clothing.
These stories- and many more- are at the heart of a new free exhibition Duck Trousers, straw bonnets, and Bluey: Stories of Fabrics and Clothing in Tasmania currently on display in the State Library of Tasmania and Tasmanian Archives Reading Room in Hobart. The exhibition has original records and heritage books from the Tasmanian Archive and State Library collection on display, along with information and images in our new exhibition space.
The exhibition tells five intertwined stories. The first story focuses on the history of the Tasmanian Bluey otherwise known as the Miner’s Bluey, a waterproof and durable coat fashioned for the Tasmanian climate. “A Tale of two Woollen Mills” examines a pivotal series of events in the development of the wool industry in Tasmania in the 1860s and 70s, and in particular how two competing woollen companies were established in the north and the south of the state. The techniques used in tanning for the production of leather (and in particular the unique Tasmanian bark used) and shoemaking in Tasmania is the focus of the third story wall, entitled “We all take our shoes very much for granted.” Another story focuses on “Bidencope’s: Hobart’s House of Quality”, telling the story of the tailor Joseph Bidencope and the renowned retail store that he founded on Murray Street. The final story is entitled “A very serious want of cloathing…” and focuses on convicts making and laundering a range of different clothing. It ends with an examination of a riot at the Launceston Female Factory in 1842, in which the women armed themselves with spindles.
State Library of Tasmania: With J. Bidencope’s compliments. [Hobart, Tasmania] : [J. Bidencope & Son], [between 1890 and 1899?]
Over the next few months, the State library and Archive Service team will publish a series of blogs that explore in greater depth some of the fascinating stories that we uncovered during our research. These blogs are designed to complement the exhibition, expanding some elements of the exhibition story walls to provide more context and other perspectives.
Whatever in the world are ‘Duck Trousers’?
No animals were harmed in the making of duck trousers! The name comes from the Dutch word for canvas, which is ‘Doek’. Duck trousers were essentially thick linen canvas trousers, not unlike Moleskins. Duck trousers were the most common type of trousers in the early colony of Hobart Town; they would have been worn by both convicts as well as free men and were prized for their durability.
In the exhibition, duck trousers feature on our convict wall, telling the story of how clothes were made by convicts on their way to Van Diemen’s Land. Our story focuses on the men on board the Pestonjee Bomangee, that arrived in Hobart Town in 1845. Amongst the Tasmanian Archive collection we have a list (CON121/1/1) of the various clothing items that were made during this journey, including a lot of duck trousers.
We are really excited to have on display in this exhibition many wonderful images from our Tasmanian Archive and State Library collections. Many of these images have been placed into a Duck Trousers, Straw Bonnets and Bluey Flickr Album for you to enjoy at anytime.
Duck Trousers, Straw Bonnets, and Bluey: Stories of fabrics and clothing in Tasmania will be on show until the end of August.
The State Library is issuing a challenge to Tasmanians to read five different examples of nineteenth century handwriting from our Heritage Collections, each featuring a different set of records held in the State Archives.
Just to recap:
Your Transcription Challenge
This final challenge is, for me, the most difficult to read both for its content and style. It is an application to the Colonial Secretary for the immediate admission of John Garrity to the newly opened orphanage at New Town. The orphan school catered for the children of convicts under sentence, as well as the children of the free when the parents were unable or unwilling to care for them.
Be so good as to direct that John Garritty 7 years of age, son of Charles Garritty formerly a soldier in the Staff Corps- be received into the Orphan School this day. – the Child is perfectly destitute, his cruel and unnatural Parent having total abandoned him.
To find out more about the family mentioned in the above memo I consulted the “Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee of Management for the Kings/Queens Orphan Schools” between 1825 and 1833 (SWD24/1/1) (p382+). This record contained a wealth of information about the parents and revealed that little John Garrity wasn’t the only child in the family who was received into the orphanage.
At the May 1832 meeting of the Orphan Management committee the chair, Reverend Bedford announced that there was a man in attendance by the name of Shepherd who had arrived on the convict ship Asia, with 3 children named Garrity who had been abandoned by their parents and left with him, but that he was unable to support them. As was reported:
Shepherd and the children were then called in and examined when the former informed the Committee that the Father had gone on a Whaling Voyage as Cooper at Eleven Pounds per month that the mother and Children lived in the Same House with him and that after the departure of the Father the mother cohabited with a man by the name of Bonsor a Shoemaker, who had since gone into the Interior & it is supposed the woman after him leaving the Children totally unprovided for.
In consequence of the destitute helpless situation of the Children, the Committee recommends that they be admitted temporarily into the Orphan Schools that the Secretary address a Letter to the Chief Police Magistrate suggesting the desirability of instituting some enquiry to discover the Guilty Parties in order that the Colony may not be burdened with the Education and Support of these destitute helpless children.
Vid – John Garrity about 6 years Helen Garrity about 4 years William Garrity about 2 years
Tasmanian Archives: Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee of Management for the Kings/Queens Orphan Schools” between 1825 and 1833, SWD24/1/1, p.383.
At the following week’s meeting of the Committee, it was reported that:
that the two Youngest of the Garrity’s referred to on the last minutes had been received into the Female Orphan School but that the Eldest Boy had not made his appearance at the Male School. “
[He then] read a letter from the Chief Police magistrate dated the 9th where he wrote he had “caused the necessary enquiry to be made relative to the Parents Garrity who have abandoned their children and enclosing the result thereof.
Tasmanian Archives: Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee of Management for the Kings/Queens Orphan Schools” between 1825 and 1833, SWD24/1/1, p.383.
The Parents
Garrity was a soldier in the Royal Staff Corps whose wife had come with him to the NSW Colony on the Chapman in 1827.
A small contingent of the Royal Staff Corps was sent to Oatlands in early 1827 where they built some barracks and a gaol. (See note)
The Acting Secretary continued his report, “on the Corps being disbanded, he went as a Cooper in the “Hetty” Schooner leaving an order on the Owner.” (SWD24/1/1 page 384)
Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania: [Oatlands Gaol] , photographic print on card, [Tasmania : s.n. 18–?]
The Hobart Town Gazette reported on 3 March 1827 that, “Lieutenant Vachell (sic) with a party of the Staff-Corps and mechanics [was] proceeding to Oatlands to build a military barracks there. By November of that year the Tasmanian newspaper was reporting, “The Township of Oatlands under the superintendence of Lieutenant Wachell (sic) of the Royal Staffs is in a state of great forwardness. The stonework of the Officers’ Quarters and the Gaol is just about finished. This settlement is about five miles from the Tindish holes where Mr Bennett was lately killed by the Natives.” The gaol was finished December 1827.
Thomas Shepherd and James Bonsor knew each other as they were both convicted in Nottinghamshire and both arrived on the same convict ship the Asia 1, January 1824. They also spent time in jail together awaiting transportation. Bonsor was a young man of 20 when transported, Shepherd was old enough to be his father at 59 years of age. So, it’s not surprising that in 1831/2 when Bonsor found himself in trouble, he turned to his old friend at New Norfolk for a place to stay.
The Opportunity
I don’t know why the Garrety’s moved to New Norfolk, as it was only slightly larger than Oatlands, but it may have been that they thought its proximity to Hobart would allow Garrety more employment opportunities. He was unlucky as his skills, as a tradesman, that had been in demand and well paid until the late 1820s, had experienced a 50% decline since then. (Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land 1824-1839, Table 19)
This explains his motivation in gaining employment on a whaling vessel, which would be away for months at a time from his family.
By leaving his wife and children with Shepherd who was by then in his sixties I am sure that Garrity would have thought his wife safe from temptation and that Shepherd would not trouble her. But Garrity had no idea that a much younger man would also be residing at the house with his wife.
The Father’s Continuing Misfortune
Charles Garrity’s run of bad luck was not yet over.
Following his discovery of his wife with Bonsor, Charles Garrity set sail on another whaling voyage, this time on the Dragon. It set sail for the New Zealand whaling fisheries. (Nicholson, Part II, p10)
In May of 1833 it was reported in the papers that the entire crew of the Dragon, except for a young boy, had been killed and eaten by the New Zealand Māori and their ship burnt.
The report is as follows:
A letter has been received in Hobart Town, dated on board the brig Amity 2nd of April, when lying off Clark’s Reef. The brig had 100 barrels of oil on board and the Lindsay’s 370 barrels. The latter vessel had picked up in an open boat, at sea, a New Zealand lad, who had witnessed the capture, by the blacks, of the brig Dragon. He states the vessel was burnt, and all the crew were put to death and afterwards eaten. The attack first commenced when the crew of the whaler had made fast to a fish and had run it into a small islet where the numbers of the natives soon overpowered them, and the disastrous sequel too easily was affected.”
This news was not reported in the Hobart papers until May 1833 a year after the two youngest Garrety children had been admitted into the orphanage.
In case there is any doubt that the unfortunate Charles Garrety was on board this ship this is quashed by the letter sent by his widow Ann two years later, on the 6th of May 1835 to the Colonial Secretary.
The Mother’s Appeal
In case there is any doubt that the unfortunate Charles Garrety was on board this ship is quashed by the letter sent by his widow Ann two years later, on the 6th of May 1835 to the Colonial Secretary. Her letter, written from New Plains, reads:
Ann, widow of the late Charles Garrety who arrived in this Colony per Chapman in 1827 begs that she may be informed if 100 acres of Land could be granted to her of behalf of her late husband who belonged to the Royal Staff Corps who was drowned, … “her Three Children Two Boys and a Girl have been by the kindness of his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor been placed in the Orphan School.
Tasmanian Archives: General Correspondence, Colonial Secretary’s Office: CSO1/1/803, File 17184)
Her request was denied.
The news that had been received in 1833 had meant Ann Garrety was free to marry again. Her application to the Colonial Secretary in May 1835 was no doubt prompted by her forthcoming marriage to Daniel Simms of New Plains.
Despite her remarriage it was not until five years later, in May of 1840, that her youngest child William Garrity who had been admitted at the age of two and listed in the orphan school records as “an orphan” was reunited with his mother. He was by then nine years old.
John and Helen Garretty – the two elder children
What happened to the other two children?
The orphan school records are very minimal in their detail and often only record when the child was admitted and when the child was discharged.
Joyce Purstcher writes in Children in Queen’s Orphanage, “when children turned 14 years of age they were apprenticed out. They had to work for no money until they were 18. They were at the mercy of their masters regarding food, clothing, and housing.”
John Garretty (sic) was discharged on the 7 July 1840, two months after his younger brother was returned to his mother and apprenticed to E.W Carter Esq. He was fourteen years old.
E.W Carter is most likely William Carter Esq, a merchant, who was appointed an officer of the Court in 1840 and who owned property in New Town, the suburb where the Orphan School was situated. He later became a member of the Legislative Council.
In 1840 William Carter was living at New Town, renting a farm, from G.W. Evans and complaining of stock damage to his crops due to the failure of the Government to erect a fence along New Town Road. It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that young John Garretty was apprenticed to either build a fence or watch over the stock.
Sadly, we have no further records for John Garretty. We hold no marriage records, no departure records nor a death record, so we don’t know what happened to him once he could earn his own way in the world. His sister Helen/ Ellen was discharged from the orphanage on the 12 July 1842, two years after her brothers had left the Orphan School. She was then fourteen years old. She was apprenticed to George Horne Esq, a solicitor and farmer in Launceston. Unfortunately, Helen also disappears after her apprenticeship. We don’t have a record of her marrying, or having children, leaving the state, or dying. Nor do we have records of either of the children.
Bibliography
Tasmanian Archive Sources
Tasmanian Archives, CON13-1-3, Convict Department, Assignment Lists and Various Papers, 1824-1826 page 15
HOBART TOWN, MARCH 3, 1827. (1827, March 3). The Hobart Town Gazette (Tas. : 1825 – 1833), p. 2. Retrieved February 7, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8791780
Natural history collections are not only useful to scientists. They also reflect the life of the collector, his or her family, their connections, and the worlds they inhabited – even the state of their digestion! Ruth Mollison’s story about Morton Allport’s shell collection is a piece of detective work, a personal history, and an insightful (and sometimes unnerving) exploration of how one Tasmanian family intertwined art, science, reputation and obsession.
Thomas Bock’s notes on photography, including Talbot’s calotype process and daguerreotypes – Ref: ALL34/1/1
Star of Tasmanian shipboard journal (1859-60) – Ref: NS7221/1/1
Journals of Separate Prison wardens, Tasman Peninsula (1860, 1863) – Ref CON91/1/2-3
Descriptive Lists of Male and Female Convicts to Be Embarked for Van Diemen’s Land from Various Prisons in the United Kingdom, (1839-50). Ref: CON114/1/1-8
Convict credit and gratuity books, Tasman Peninsula (1865-68). Ref: CON130/1/1-3
Register of Convicts for Whom Enquiries were Made (1850-68). Ref: GO121/1/1
Tasmanian Birth Registers (1921) – RGD33/2/5 to 8
Female Admissions, Royal Derwent Hospital (1898-1903) – Ref: AB365/1/13
Copies of Wills Recording Granting of Probate (1868-1874) – Ref: AD960/1/8, AD960/1/9
Daguerreotype and ambrotype portraits – Ref: NS5465/1/1-3
Launceston Collection of Photographs of Ships – Ref: LMSS761/1/1-490
Hobart Town by Ensign Kemp from behind my quarters / W.H. Kemp
Artworks by Knud Geelmuyden Bull
Mount Wellington from Bellerive, artist unknown
Mount Lyell mines map,1896
Glass plate negatives from AA Rollings Collection – Ref: NS1553/2/1 to 34
A single item, sitting on a library shelf, can be the thread of a story that weaves through locations and generations. This one is a ‘musical score’ – the sheets of music notes used for a performance – owned by a notable (but little known) Tasmanian woman.
There have been some recent enhancements to how you can search the Tasmanian Names Index.
We have added more fields to the search filters on the drop-down menu to the left of the search bar. Some of these have always been there (while some are new additions). Many of you might not have been aware of the drop-down menu at all, but it can be a useful tool for refining your searches in our ever-expanding database of Tasmanian life.
Here is a short guide to what those options mean and when it might be useful to use them.
Richard Simson Photographic Collection – Ref: NS6351/1/1-95
Albums of Gladys Midwood – Ref: NS6759/1/2-3
Photographic Albums by Margaret Smithies, Ernest George Record and the McDowell family
Tasmanian Government Railways
1920s aerial view of Hobart city block bounded by Murray, Harrington, Liverpool and Melville Street looking North from behind His Majesty’s Theatre and Hobart Rivulet – Ref: NS892/1/61
Artworks of Launceston
Emu Bay by Thomas Unwin
The Pests of the Prince by Henry Manly
TGR Williams glass plate negatives – Ref: NS1409/1/46-48
Judges notes on capital offences committed at Norfolk Island, 1846 – Ref: CSO20/1/449
Burial Plot Maps, Cornelian Bay Cemetery 1915-16 – Ref: AF86/1/1
Wills from AD960/1/5
1829 journal written from London to Van Diemans Land by John Owen Lord – Ref: NS301/1/2
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this post contains images and voices of deceased persons.
This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania. Each year, we place items online to help promote and preserve our rare and special collections. These images and films are just a tiny sample of an amazing treasure trove of Tasmania’s heritage. From colonial artwork to convict records, fragile glass plate negatives to rare films, private letters to government records, our collections (including the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts and the W L Crowther Collection) tell millions of stories from Tasmania and around the world.
Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue or visit us on Flickr and YouTube.
In this blog:
Peter Laurie Reid Carte-De-Visite Collection, c1860 – Ref: NS1442/1/1 to 53
Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 – Ref: NS6607/1/1 to 14
Stereoscopic Photographs of Emu Bay Burnie, c1890 – Ref: NS6664/1/1 to 5
Stereoscopic photographs taken by George Benjamin Davies for submission to the Postal Stereoscopic Society of Australia, c1921 – Ref: NS6538/1/1 to 33
Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau photographs – AA375
Photograph of Fanny Cochrane Smith and Horace Watson recording Tasmanian Aboriginal Songs: NS1553/1/1798
Illustrated Travelogue July 1919 – Ref: NS6853
Fountain in Governor’s garden, Port Arthur – Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts
Drawing of George Meredith, Senior – Ref: LMSS12/1/72
Photographs from the Trustees of the Tasmanian Public Library – Ref: SLT23
Wills Image Replacement Project: AD960/1/1
Diary of Police Duties kept by Charles H. Brown, District Constable, Coal Mines, Tasman Peninsula 1853 – Ref: CON129/1/1
Index to General Correspondence, 1836-7 – Ref: CSO4
This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania. Each year, we place items online to help promote and preserve our rare and special collections. These images and films are just a tiny sample of an amazing treasure trove of Tasmania’s heritage. From colonial artwork to convict records, from fragile glass plate negatives to rare films, from private letters to government records, our collections (including the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts and the W L Crowther Collection) tell literally millions of stories from Tasmania and around the world.
Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue or visit us on Flickr and YouTube.
In this blog:
Glass Plate Negatives of Sea Captains, c1920 – Ref: NS6192
Stereoscopic Views of the ‘Franklin Relics,’ 1860 – Ref: NS1155
Mt Biscoff Tin Mine Photographs – Ref: NS6719
Gentleman Jim, 1942 – Reference: Ref: NS4264/1/5
Hobart High School Photos – Ref: AG162/1/6
Charles Street School Register 1902-08 – Ref: AB753/1/1
Return of Convicts Embarked for Port Arthur by the Ships Tamar, Isabella, Shamrock, and Lady Franklin (1834-1855). Ref: CON126/1/1
Return of Money Forfeited by Prisoners at Port Arthur (1864). Ref: CON132/1/1
Letter from the Colonial Secretary to the Commandant, Port Arthur (1834). Ref: CON86/1/2
Film: Timber Makes News, 1947 – Ref: AC672/1/219
Film: Les Skelly talking about Tiger Hill, 1986-9 – Ref: NS1391/1/1
