Tasmania Reads: Reading an Account of the Voyage of a Convict Transport (Part Two: The Answer and Historical Background)

The State Library and Archive Service 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

Your first challenge is to transcribe a passage from the account of the voyage of the Female Transport, Garland Grove (2) in 1842/1843:

Tasmanian Archives: Abraham Harvey, Reminiscences of a Voyage on the Female Convict Ship Garland Grove, p.4 (1842-43), NS816/1/1.  Abraham Harvey was the 2nd Officer on board the Garland Grove, which left England in August 1842 and arrived in Van Diemens Land in January 1843.

The Answer

…in that situation I witnessed many a heart-rending scene, poor old men and women some coming many miles to take a last farewell of their erring daughters, some so old and feeble they had to be lifted in and out of the Ship, they were so overpowered with grief, no doubt their unfortunate children – gave promise – of better things in early life, and now look back with shame and sorrow …

Historical Background: The ‘Erring daughters’

The “erring daughters” referred to by Abraham Harvey were among the 1350 female convicts transported to Van Diemens Land between 1803 and 1853. The number of men transported for the same period was five to six times that amount. These women were in high demand, as marriage partners for the younger transportees, and as domestic servants for the older or less genetically blessed.  Marriage, the authorities believed, encouraged stability, and had the added benefit of any children resulting from the union being future labourers and servants for the Colony.

Without women, the men of the Colony were in danger of partaking of “the dreadful crime … the importation of these young women meant the vengeance of Heaven [could be] averted.” (The Cornwall Chronicle, 28 Nov 1846, p.917)

Because of the gender imbalance in the Colony a young female convict had options. She could marry a convict still under sentence, a convict whose sentence had expired, a free born son of an ex-convict, or a free settler.   

Marrying a free settler was the best option.  For example, this was achieved by Ann Murphy a convict nursemaid who arrived in 1840 aged 16.

Tasmanian Archives: Ann Murphy, Description Lists of Female Convicts (1841), CON19/1/1, Image 78.

 A few years later in July 1844 she married Roger Pitt a free 21-year-old Coachmaker.   

Marrying a free man who had not been a convict and had a valuable trade was a step up for a convict woman.

But it was more likely that a woman would marry a man still under sentence or one who was emancipated, or a free born child with convict parents.   The man’s necessary qualifications were an ability to earn sufficient income to provide a home for a wife and any future children and to be able to demonstrate this to the Governor’s satisfaction.

The approval of the Governor was required before convicts could marry, with marriage regarded as an indulgence to be granted at the Governor’s discretion. The indulgence came via the Principal Superintendent and required character references attesting to the convict applicant being deserving and eligible.

Convicts soon realised if they wanted to be granted the privilege of marriage, they needed to have a good conduct record. It was not unusual for first applications to be denied and the applicants told to reapply after a period of consistent good behaviour.   

 Some of the early applications to marry include wonderfully informative letters from family back in England. These were kept with the Colonial Secretary’s records as news in the letters included statements about the death of a spouse, providing the proof that the recipient of the letter was free to marry. 

Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania: Thomas Bock, [Interior view with woman sewing and child at right], [Tasmania]: [T Bock], [Between 1841 and 1850]. Prior to marriage many women (both free and convict) worked as servants in Van Diemens Land. Not all behaved well, but some became highly prized, and were treated better than their English counterparts. The possible identity of the woman in this drawing is Mary Ann Cameron (nee Spencer), who was living with Thomas Bock in 1843, the year that their first baby was born. She married the artist, Thomas Bock, an ex-convict in 1850. Mary Spencer a 17-year-old nurse and housemaid from Middlesex had arrived in VDL aged 17 in 1831.  She was convicted of stealing two gowns and had no misdemeanours recorded against her in her conduct record.

The number of convict arrivals of both sexes peaked in the early 1840s, a period known as the Hungry Forties, when the Garland Grove (2) arrived. Many young people had been forced to leave their families in rural England and Ireland for the overcrowded cities in search of work. Low wages and lack of employment tempted many into crime. Opportunistic theft of items from their employers accounted for many transportees with 91% of convicts transported for petty theft. While many women were described as “on the town” (a euphemism for prostitution), it was for most a necessary part-time occupation to supplement a meagre income.

 Years of deprivation on the streets and in workhouses resulted in poor health for many of the convict women who were leaving on the Garland Grove (2).

The “poor old men and women” who came to wave their loved ones goodbye had cause for concern.   Those being transported were checked and deemed healthy enough to survive the voyage, but the reality was some came on board in such a debilitated state of health that they were not fit to sail and did not survive the voyage.

The long sea voyage was especially hard on frail mothers nursing children. Abraham Harvey counted 25 children on board with their mothers. The official records don’t mention them, except when they died, and then not by name.  

It was the 2nd of October 1842 when the Garland Grove (2) left Woolwich carrying its cargo of female convicts and their children. The voyage was to take 109 days, with a total of 179 women and some children arriving at Hobart Town. The voyage from Woolwich to Hobart must have been hellish for these women.  

A typed transcript of the  Abraham Harvey’s account of the entire voyage has been made available online by the Female Convicts Research Centre.  The Surgeon Superintendent on the voyage was Robert William Bland whose task was to look after the health of the women and children on board and to write a full report on any illnesses.

State Library of Tasmania: Australian joint copying project microfilm Reel 3196 Ref: Adm 101/29 .You can read the Surgeon Superintendent’s report on the voyage either in our Reading Room at 91 Murray Street, Hobart or by accessing a copy of AJCP Reel 3196 Ref: Adm 101/29 from your State or National library.

Unfortunately, within days of the ship leaving port women started to fall sick. For many it was sea sickness and they recovered, but others did not.  Eight women died on this voyage making this the second equal highest number of fatalities on a female convict transport, barring shipwrecks.   The highest number of fatalities was yet to come with seventeen on the East London in 1843, but the average number for the women over the entire period was two or less. In this regard the female transports fared slightly better than the men, but generally only a couple of deaths occurred on the voyage for either sex.  

Of the eight women who died five were still feeding their infants when they came on board. One mother died shortly after giving birth and her baby followed her after a few days.  As the mothers got sick and lost their milk other women, nursing mothers themselves, attempted to feed the babies of the sick. However, all the babies whose mothers died, also died making the real number of fatalities thirteen.

Surgeon Superintendent Bland wrote in his report, “it is almost impossible to keep one of this age [an infant] alive without milk and a good nurse when at sea in a ship.”  No nursing mother would give her milk to another baby at the expense of her own infant.

Bland is not sympathetic in his accounts of the some of the sick women, describing them as filthy and indolent, and having led desolate lives. Of Louisa Cogan he remarked she had a “peevish and troublesome temper” and suffered from “violent hysteria.” She was 26 when she died.  The cause of death was “hepatitis”.  He treated her “hysteria” by cutting her hair off and applying cold compresses regularly to her head. Misbehaviour was not to be tolerated even in the dying.

Ann Stanley had attempted suicide in prison, and “would not feed her [newborn] child.” Her head was shaved, and cold lotions applied constantly. She was 28 when she died of “apoplexia” [a stroke] following childbirth and her baby died a few days later. She had been complaining constantly of headaches. Surgeon Superintendent Bland writes contemptuously, “this woman for want of a stimulant drank vinegar pure.”

Second Officer Abraham Harvey’s account of Ann Stanley’s funeral shows he stills experienced some sympathy for the fate of the women although he doesn’t seem to know Ann’s name and corrects himself from calling her one of the ..convict women presumably.. to “a poor woman.” He writes:

Tasmanian Archives: Abraham Harvey, Reminiscences of a Voyage on the Female Convict Ship Garland Grove, p.10 (1842-43), NS816/1/1. 

“Hereabouts occurred our first funeral, it was that of [“one of the”  crossed out] a poor woman, who died the night before 6 o’clock in the evening the Ship was hove too, the body brought to the gangway placed on a grating in presence of most of the women, and the Ship’s Crew – covered with the Union Jack, for a pall it was a solemn and affecting sight the burial service was read by the Commander and I officiated as Clerk, when we came to ‘We therefore commit her body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, looking for the resurrection of the body, when the Son shall give up her dead, and the life of the world to come through our Lord Jesus Christ’, the body was launched into the deep, a universal shudder came over all present.”

Surgeon Superintendent Bland’s physical description of Ann as “a short fat figure with a very thick neck and small skull, and she is mentally weak,” suggests that she may have had Downs Syndrome. But no allowances were made for this in her treatment.

More deaths were to follow:  on the 26th of November, on the 9th of December, two on the 20th of December, one on Boxing Day, and the last on the 28th of December 1842.

Harvey does not mention the convict cargo again in his journal, except on the 9th of December: “shipping much water on M [Main] deck. The women had to go on to the poop and that would have given you a good idea of a slave ship of the old time. The difference being ours were huddled together on deck and theirs in the hold.”

This was the day that Ann Broadbent aged 22 died of dysenteria (sic). Her death is not recorded by Harvey.

State Library of Tasmania: Australian joint copying project microfilm Reel 3196 Ref: Adm 101/29

The Garland Grove anchored at Hobart Town at 9pm on the 20th January, ending what must have been a nightmarish journey, with four women dying within an eight day period over Christmas.  

However, the suffering wasn’t over for them yet. Many of the 179 women who landed at Hobart still had their children. Those with babies were able to keep them at the Female Factory until they were two years old and then, unless they could get a placement where they could take their child, the toddlers were placed in the orphanage.

Children off the ship over two years old were admitted to the Queens Orphan School within a few days of landing. It is notable that most of the women who had children with them were very well behaved on the voyage out.  One exception to this was Margaret Bouchier, who had another child within two years of arriving.

These are the names of some of those children and their mothers report cards from the Surgeon Superintendent:


Ester Howell aged 8, the daughter of Esther Howell. Surgeon’s report: very good and industrious
William Bouchier aged 4, the son of Margaret Bouchier. Surgeon’s report: bad temper

James Moore aged 8, the son of Ann Williams.
Louisa Moore aged 8, (twins?) the daughter of Ann Williams.  Surgeon’s report: assisted in the hospital
William Hunt aged 10, the son of Sarah Ann Hunt. Surgeon’s report: very kind to the sick
James Parker aged 5, the son of Jane Parker.  Surgeon’s report: very good

Mary Ann Tapp aged 14, the daughter of Ann Tapp. Surgeon’s report: good.
Elizabeth Tapp aged 7, the daughter of Ann Tapp

Ann Tapp had either two or three children, and was either married or single (both are written on her conduct record- but this could mean she was in a de facto relationship and perhaps only two of her three children came with her). She was convicted of stealing mutton. Her gaol report was “Bad”, and presumably she had her children with her in the gaol. Her conduct on board the Garland Grove was good. When she arrived, she stated she was 45 years old.

 A year after she arrived, she applied to marry Samuel Haynes who was free. Then her stated age was 34 and she said she was a widow. The marriage took place in May 1844, and in October 1844 the Haynes welcomed a baby boy, Samuel.  Ann has no transgressions recorded on her conduct record, nor do we know where she was living when she met Samuel.  As the marriage took place in New Town, it is most likely that they were both living there. The Orphan School was also located in New Town.

In February 1844, fifteen-year-old Mary Ann Tapp was apprenticed from the orphanage to G.F. Read Esquire of New Town and on the 6th October 1844 Elizabeth Tapp, now 8 years old was discharged to the care of her mother.  

At least for the Tapp family this sad voyage had a happy conclusion. 

Bibliography

We have too many resources to list them all here so please follow these links for further reading:

All Resources

Women Convicts (Tasmania)  and Convict Ships

Online (including eBooks)

Women Convicts (Tasmania )  and Convict Ships

Lending (hard copies) (for members of the State Library of Tasmania)

Women Convicts Tasmania

Tasmania Reads: Reading an Account of the Voyage of a Convict Transport (Part One: The Challenge)

The State Library and Archive Service 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.

The scripts are selected to give you insights into some of the key strengths of our collection and we hope they will pique your interest to explore further.

As the week progresses, the challenge will get a bit more difficult, as you become more familiar with reading script. 

Each challenge will consist of two blogs. The morning blog will contain your transcription challenge, while the afternoon blog will provide the answer, as well as historical background to the events discussed in the challenge task. There will also be recommendations of other resources held in the Libraries Tasmania collections on the topic for you to explore.

Your Transcription Challenge

Your first challenge is to transcribe a passage from the account of the voyage of the Female Transport, Garland Grove (2) in 1842/1843:

Tasmanian Archives: Abraham Harvey, Reminiscences of a Voyage on the Female Convict Ship Garland Grove, p.4 (1842-43), NS816/1/1.  Abraham Harvey was the 2nd Officer on board the Garland Grove, which left England in August 1842 and arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in January 1843.

The Answer …

will be published in our blog this afternoon. Stay tuned!

91 Stories: Cabinet of Curiosities

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.   

Continue reading “91 Stories: Cabinet of Curiosities”

Recently Digitised Material: January-June 2022

This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania heritage collections.

Read on to find out about new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue and Tasmanian Names Index or visit us on FlickrYouTube and Instagram.

In this blog:

  • 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
Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material: January-June 2022”

The Art of Mapping Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington

Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington is an integral part of the Hobart landscape. For the Muwinina people it is a place of cultural and spiritual significance, and a place of creation. Since the European settlement of Lutruwita/ Tasmania, the mountain has commonly appeared in visual and written descriptions of Hobart, providing a sweeping backdrop that frames the small town nestled along the river below. However, Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington is more than simply an iconic background; it has long been a source of resources for the town itself, including ice, timber and mining, amongst other things. Moreover, the mountain has long been regarded as a place of recreation and leisure, with picnics at the Springs and walks to its many waterfalls amongst its most popular activities. In 1935, Jack Thwaites (1902-1986) – a renowned Tasmanian photographer and conservationist- provided a wonderful description of Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington watching over Hobart, and alludes to the many ways in which the mountain draws people in:

Old Mount Wellington always calls us back with a lure all of her own … Winter or summer, many days can be spent exploring Hobart’s sentinel background; miles and miles of tracks (and now a wonderful scenic road to the Pinnacle nearing completion), leading in every direction, and exploring all the best scenic attractions.

J.B. Thwaites, ‘Mt Wellington’, Tasmanian Tramp 4 (1935: Dec), p.30.

The Tasmanian Tramp was published annually by the Hobart Walking Club from 1933 to 1949, although there was a break in publication between 1936 and 1944. Since 1951, the Tasmanian Tramp has been published biennially. The 1935 edition focused on the extensive network of trails on Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington Park. This included descriptions of the primary walks with notes and a beautifully-presented map of the mountain drawn by renowned Tasmanian artist, Vernon Hodgman (1909-1984).

State Library of Tasmania: V.W. Hodgman, Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935)

The Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935) map is important within the history of Lutruwita/ Tasmania, and is a significant item within the Libraries Tasmania historical collection; as such, the map was singled out as a treasure for the 91 Stories campaign. It is easy to see why: the map is a visual feast, bright and artistic in its design, while at the same time practical.

The map’s main purpose was to highlight the main access points to the mountain, and in so doing, to encourage its exploration, particularly for recreation. The depiction of the bushwalkers in the top right-hand corner and a skier at the bottom left point to the main target audience for this map.

The first thing many people notice when viewing the map is the extensive network of red lines marking out the walking trails and roads on the mountain. The Fingerpost Track and the Old Hobartian Track are just some of the many trails that are plotted, as is Pillingers Drive and the main access roads such as Strickland Avenue leading up from Hobart. Black lines mark the main geological and natural features; the Organ Pipes and main rocky outcrops at the summit are usefully marked out using half-circles with intersecting lines to show gradient; these look like a series of fluttering eyelashes, and have the lovely effect of personifying the mountain. Other natural features include Crocodile Rock, the Octopus Tree, as well as the many rivulets and waterfalls, such as Gentle Annie Falls. Black is also used to mark out the many huts and log cabins that are dotted all over the mountain, and other points of interest too, such as the historic Rocky Whelan’s cave. At the summit of Kunayni/ Mount Wellington, the ski fields on Mount Arthur and the front ski drift near the Pinnacle are marked to show the direction of the ski run (see the image ‘close up of the “unfinished part of road”’ below for these ski fields).

For its cartography, the Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935) drew upon the prior work of J.A.B. Forster, who in November 1931 produced a map of the tracks and main features of Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington. However, Vernon Hodgman’s artistry and creativity marks this map as extraordinary: it is not only practical, but artistic in its design, and creative; the cartographic information is presented in a circle framed by a border, with the images of the walkers and skier around the outside. The circular design is not unlike the mappa mundi produced in Medieval Europe in terms of its circular arrangement and people drawn in the border, such as the renowned Hereford Mappa Mundi from around the year 1300.

State Library of Tasmania: V.W. Hodgman, Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935), close up of the skier

When the Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935) was drawn, the map’s creator, Vernon Hodgman, worked as a commercial artist and industrial designer at Cadbury’s Claremont. Currently, in the State Library and Tasmanian Archive Reading Room (on the second floor of the Hobart Libraries Tasmania building) we have a display entitled ‘By Mountain and Sea: 100 years of Cadbury’s at Claremont’. This display includes original mock-ups and sketches by Vernon Hodgman, and includes the original sketch of the skier and the two bushwalkers from the map.

From the private collection of the Hodgman Family: original mock-up of bushwalkers and skiers for the The Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks map (c. 1930-1941)

Access to Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington

Tasmanian Archives: Photograph – Group of walkers on mountain track (Mt. Wellington) (1890), NS1013-1-2039

Within wider historical contexts, the Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935) is important within the history of the Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington park, and the various ways in which people have interacted with this landscape over time. The map provides a snapshot in time of the infrastructure and significant points of intertest as they existed in 1935, at a time when there had been a flurry of track construction. From the 1870s, maps and descriptions of how to access the mountain appeared in a range of guidebooks (Buckman, Mt Wellington: its history, walks and facilities, p.11); visitors would traverse the mountain via a series of very rough tracks, with the Springs a popular destination. It was in the 1920s and 1930s when a majority of the tracks were constructed, and many of the existing tracks were upgraded. As Maria Grist has explored, there were, for instance, improvements made to the Zig-Zag Track in 1927. The Old Hobartian track, which starts at Lenah Valley, was constructed between 1932 and 1934 by the Old Hobartian Association, who raised money to finance its completion. (Grist, A timeline for the track network of Kunanyi/Mount Wellington, p.56).

State Library of Tasmania: V.W. Hodgman, Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935), close up of the “Unfinished part of road”

When the map was published in 1935, the road to the pinnacle had been started but was another two years off completion (it was opened on the 23rd January 1937), and so the unfinished road and its future projection is plotted on the map. In the early 1930s, Pillingers Drive went as far as the Springs, and this was expanded in the 1930s through a depression works program instigated by the Tasmanian Premier Albert Ogilvie, to provide employment. (Grist, A timeline for Pillinger Drive and Pinnacle Road : Kunanyi/Mount Wellington, Tasmania, pp.14-25)

Tasmanian Archives: Photograph – Building the Pinnacle Road, Mt. Wellington, with Premier A. G. Ogilvie and Mayor J. J. Wignall, Sharland, Box 2, (from box 48) (1930), NS4023/1/51.

In many ways, the Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935) is not only about detailing the tracks and roads to enable access to the mountain, but is also a celebration of achievements – the building of the road to the Pinnacle and many of the tracks were constructed during a really difficult economic time around the world. These tracks and the roads allowed for more recreation and leisure, a luxury for many at this time.

Tasmanian Archives: Photograph – Building the Pinnacle Road, Mt. Wellington, Sharland, Box 2, (from box 48) (1930), NS4023-1-52

The Hobart Walking Club

The Hobart Walking Club was founded in November 1929, making it contemporary to the flurry of track-building activity on Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington. Organisation of the club was led by E.T. Emmett, Director of the State Tourism Board (who served as the club’s first president), along with Jack Thwaites, who was the Secretary of the Scenery Preservation Board. The aim of the Hobart Walking Club was ‘to encourage walking, skiing and similar outdoor activities, and to promote an interest in the preservation of flora, fauna and natural scenery” (Kearsley ed., Hobart Walking Club Inc: a record of eighty-one years, p.3). Not just limited to Hobart and surrounds, club members participated in outdoor activities all over Tasmania, with organised excursions, picnics and multiple day hikes. For instance, in 1930, nine members of the Hobart Walking Club led by Jack Thwaites, hiked along the Linda Track from Derwent Bridge to the West Coast (Kearsley ed., Hobart Walking Club Inc: a record of eighty-one years, pp.6-7).  

The Hobart Walking Club was at the forefront of both the promotion of walking as a recreational pastime in Tasmania, and in the conservation of wilderness areas. The Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935) is an important heritage item both within the context of the early history of the Hobart Walking Club, and the expansion of bushwalking and the opening of walking trails in wilderness areas in Tasmania more broadly.

Tasmanian Archives: Photograph – Mt Wellington – Hobart Walking Club Working Bee on New Town and Hunters Tracks (1952), NS3195/1/950

Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington was a key place for the Hobart Walking Club, with members participating in regular busy-bees to look after the tracks. There were also regular weekend visits to Mount Wellington to walk or to ski (Kearsley ed., Hobart Walking Club Inc: a record of eighty-one years, p.9), with many of the early members of the Hobart Walking Club interested in skiing. Two separate ski runs are plotted on the Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935), one at Mt Arthur and another to the south-west of the pinnacle, called the ‘Front Ski Drift’. In the Tasmanian Archive collection are many photographs and negatives taken by Jack Thwaites, several of them capturing his family or members of the Hobart Walking Club skiing on Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington. 

Tasmanian Archives, Jack Thwaites Collection: Photograph – On Mt Wellington – Cecilie skiing (1938), NS3195/2/1982

Vernon Hodgman’s Art and Cadbury’s

Tasmanian Archives, Jack Thwaites Collection: Photograph – At Mulga Mick’s hut – Mt Wellington, during construction of the road to pinnacle – LR: Vern Hodgman (sitting), person obscured, person unknown, Jimmie Bradshaw, Rhona Warren, David W. Wilson, Mulga Mick, Lauris Hodgman and Cecilie Thwaites (1936), NS3251/1/1172.

Amongst the group in the photograph above (with Jack Thwaites most likely behind the lens), is Vernon Hodgman, taken in 1936 one year after his Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935) was published. Vernon was involved in the Hobart Walking Club from its early days, and was a keen and skilled skier, serving in the A. I. F. in the Second World War as a ski instructor in the mountains of Lebanon.

Vernon Hodgman was a noted Tasmanian artist and the Keeper of the Art Gallery at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG). Born in Burnie, he attended Burnie High School and then Trinity Grammar Kew in Victoria. He received his training in art at the Hobart Technical College, where he studied with Lucien Dechaineux and Mildred Lovett. Vernon Hodgman taught art at the Hobart Technical College, and then the Launceston Technical College as Head teacher between 1947 and 1960.

Vernon Hodgman’s early career was spent at Cadbury Fry Pascall Pty Ltd at Claremont. He worked as a commercial artist and industrial designer here between 1928 and 1940, and in 1945 became the Head of the Design Studio. He designed the advertising and packaging for a range of products, including Old Jamaica and Energy chocolates, several of which are currently in the ‘By Mountain and Sea: 100 years of Cadbury’s at Claremont’ display that is on in the State Library and Tasmanian Archive Reading Room.

State Library of Tasmania: V.W. Hodgman, Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935), close up of bushwalkers
State Library of TasmaniaBy mountain and Sea: Claremont Tasmania, [Claremont, Tasmania] : [Cadbury-Fry-Pascall Pty. Ltd.], [between 1930 and 1939?]
Museums Victoria: Chocolate Box – Cadbury’s Energy Chocolate

It was during Vernon Hodgman’s time at Cadbury’s that he created the Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935). The bushwalker motif located in the top right-hand corner of the map is echoed through imagery on other items held within the State Library collection. The two bushwalkers appear on the label of the Cadbury Energy Bar, although their positions are reversed. Advertising for the Cadbury Energy Bar appears in the many pamphlets on Cadbury’s held within the State Library collection, and also in the Tasmanian Tramp publications. In a similar fashion, a bushwalker with a backpack and a staff appears on the cover of Hobart Walking Club publications, with the name ‘V.W. Hodgman’ located on the bottom right. However, this time it is a lone bushwalker.

State Library of Tasmania: Front Cover, Hobart Walking Club : a publication devoted to matters of interest to the Hobart Walking Club (1939)

Vernon Hodgman’s Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935) is a fascinating item within the Libraries Tasmania collection. It maps a landscape of tremendous cultural and natural significance, and does so in a beautiful and artistic way. The map is itself an important artwork by an eminent Tasmanian artist, Vernon Hodgman. Moreover, analysis of other contemporary artwork produced by Vernon Hodgman, such as that produced during his time at Cadbury’s, add another dimension of understanding to the art motifs in the Mt. Wellington Park, map of roads tracks (1935). The map’s significance is further highlighted when considered within the context of the histories of human engagement with Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington, as well as the history of the Hobart Walking Club, and recreation in Tasmania more generally, particularly walking and skiing.

Bibliography

My sincere thanks to the Hodgman family for their generosity in sharing stories of Vernon Hodgman, and for loaning Items to Libraries Tasmania that are currently on display in the ‘By Mountain and Sea: 100 years of Cadbury’s at Claremont’.

Tasmanian Archive Sources

NG667                 Hobart Walking Club (1929-2007)

NG1155               Jack Thwaites and Family

TA27      Scenery Preservation Board (1915-1971)

State Library Sources

Greg Buckman, Mt Wellington: its history, walks and facilities [South Hobart, Tas.] : G. Buckman, 2000.

Hobart Walking Club : a publication devoted to matters of interest to the Hobart Walking Club (1939)

Maria Grist A time line for the track network of Kunanyi/Mount Wellington, ( [Hobart, Tasmania] : [Maria Grist], 2017)

John and Maria Grist, The Romance of Mount Wellington ([North Hobart, Tas.]: Wellington Bridge Press, 2011.

Brian Kearsley (ed.), Hobart Walking Club Inc: a record of eighty-one years 1929 to 2010, [Hobart, Tasmania] : Hobart Walking Club Inc., 2010.

Emily Stoddart, The Mountain: A people’s Perspective (Hobart, Tas. : Hobart City Council, 2004)

The Tasmanian tramp : magazine of the Hobart Walking Club (1933-)

Isn’t it good, Taswegian Wood: Experiments in Growing Cricket Bat Willow Trees and a Wooden Cricket Pitch

In the 1930s and 40s cricket bats were a precious thing. Around the world, bats were in short supply, largely due to an increase in demand for English willow (Salix alba var. caerulea) for use in a range of items both during and after the Second World War. As was noted in correspondence between J. M. Crockett and The Commissioner of the Australian Council of Agriculture in July 1940:

every available tree of this type has been taken over in Gt Britain for War Purposes, the chief item being aircraft construction, the timber being the best substitute for spruce, which is all tied up now in countries occupied by the enemy … The other uses for this willow is artificial limbs for which no other timber is suitable, and recently has [been found to have] the quickest, and most powerful detonation as a component in high explosive fuses for shells … So you can see that none of the tree is not of high commercial value.

As a cricket bat manufacturer, J. M. Crockett (Jim) had obvious motives in writing to the Commissioner and highlighting both the current global willow shortages and the value of willow timber more broadly; he wanted to propose the planting of willow trees as a viable and profitable agricultural activity in Australia. As Jim Crockett continues in his letter, ‘in normal times Australia’s requirements alone is 100,000 cricket bats annually, for which 4,500 mature trees would be required to produce the same.’ Kashmiri willow, which today is a major source of cricket bat willow, had not yet been fully developed as an industry outside of India, and so the bat-making industry was having to look further afield to other sources of willow. Australia, and most particularly the cooler and wetter climate of Tasmania, was certainly a strong option worth exploring. Over the next few years Jim Crockett made several visits to Tasmania, noting the ‘climatic conditions ideal’ for willow bat propagation. Indeed, he went so far as to state that ‘not only could Tasmania make Australia self-sufficient, but an export trade to the empire’s cricketing Dominions was extremely likely.’

Continue reading “Isn’t it good, Taswegian Wood: Experiments in Growing Cricket Bat Willow Trees and a Wooden Cricket Pitch”

Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2021

This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania.

Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue and Tasmanian Names Index or visit us on FlickrYouTube and Instagram.

In this blog:

  • Photographs of Tasmanian Cricket Teams – Ref: PH40/1/3625-27
  • Photographs of Launceston and Perth– Ref: NS7193/1/5-8
  • Artwork of Launceston Mechanics Institute – Ref: LPIC41/1/1
  • Artwork of Hobart Town, on the River Derwent, Van Diemen’s Land by W.J. Huggins (Allport)
  • Photograph of Twin Ferry Kangaroo, Hobart – Ref: PH30/1/3269
  • Advertisement for Weaver and Co, Wellington Bridge Hobart by T Midwood – Ref: NS6760/1/7
  • Glass Plate Negatives by A Rollings of Sorell Area – Ref: NS1553/1/1010-1099
  • Register of Convicts B, M-Z 1835-47 – Ref: CON22/1/4
  • Register of payment of salaries to officers of the police, 1855-57 – Ref: AUD45/1/1-3
  • Journal of a voyage from Liverpool to VDL, 1833 – Ref: NS5739/1/1
  • Copies of Wills Recording Granting of Probate – Ref: AD960/1/6, AD960/1/7
  • Film of opening of Launceston library after refit – Ref: AG279/1/2
  • Film of the Launceston children’s library – Ref: AG279/1/1
Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2021”

Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2020

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

Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2020”

Recently Digitised Material

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
  • Film: Burnie Mill, 1956 – Ref: AC672/1/1

Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material”

Esther’s Story, Part Three: The Cascades Female Factory and Brickfields Invalid Depot, 1870-1877

In 1870, a horrific assault took place at the Cascades Female Factory. At eight o’clock in the morning on the 13th of July, a woman named Eliza Osborne beat an elderly woman named Ellen Conway with the iron dinner bell. She hit her in the head so hard that the bell cracked. Ellen Conway was a 73 year old ex-convict who had been sent to the depot for begging. One of the people who rushed to her side to help her was the nurse, Mrs Cecilia Eliza Paul. A few kilometers away (about 25 minutes’ walk), the nurse’s daughter ten year old Esther Mary Paul was also a witness – to her uncle George’s marriage at the family home at Cross Street, Sandy Bay.

This week in Esther’s story, we break away from the whaling logbook where we first found her as a five year old girl. Now we’ll trace her and her parents through two institutions which housed the most vulnerable people in Hobart in the 1870s – the Brickfields Invalid Depot and the Cascades Establishment. To piece that story together, we have to jump forward and backward in time a little bit, but I promise it is worth the journey!

Continue reading “Esther’s Story, Part Three: The Cascades Female Factory and Brickfields Invalid Depot, 1870-1877”