Convicts and Jam
I love history and I was keen to go to the Convict Penitentiary in Hobart – so glad I did and so glad that it was saved from the eradication of the “convict stain” in the 1960’s.
National Trust are doing fantastic work. I am a member and being a member means that you pay a reduced entry fee of $10 to see this amazing site. There are times when you can be grateful that a state was not so flush with funds to build new court buildings – because in this case, the Supreme Court and Magistrates Court continuing to sit in this building saved what remains today.
The convicts, and I know that they did wrong but some was really minor in the scheme of what we see today, really did endure horrid conditions. There was slavery – we just didn’t call it that. The buildings that comprised the Penitentiary included 5m walls of sandstone quarried from the site not far from the penitentiary (stretching for a couple of miles down that road) – not sporting some pretty lovely houses and wild growing vines.
The clocktower on site had a spiral staircase and the set up was originally a big church where the free settlers and the convicts attended, the convicts being screened from the free settles but you have to take extraordinary efforts to stop the smell wafting across and I doubt that occurred. There were so may squeezed into such a limited space…
The tunnels underground hold the holding cells which had absolutely no light. They spent 23 hours a day in those cells where at least they could stand up. One chap spent over a decade there in the cells, working the day and coming back at night. The last man hanged had his execution brought forward by 2 hours because of the protests against hanging – apparently he was a really bad dude in any event.
The Supreme Court sat in this building until the 1980’s and you can see the worn carpet from where the Judge’s feet obviously ground on the carpet. There is the dock and the stairs down to the cells and the tunnels. There are the pews in the chapel and the changes for the subsequent years when prisoners were moved through. What is fabulous is the 30 minute film – a brilliantly compiled piece of work moving through stories and history and explanations. Nearly half of all the convicts shipped to Australia from not just the UK, came to Tasmania.
There is the story of Solomon Blay, the hangman – I bought the book – who was an outcast for most of his life not just because of where he started life but because of what he did when he came to this godforsaken place.
Having thoroughly enjoyed this journey through time, I moseyed to Salamanca via Franklin Square and St David’s Park. I stop to have a look at the statue of one of the early Premiers – a statue which is to be removed because of his heinous acts. We should not re-write history, diluting the past and putting a further interpretation on it but we can learn from it, hopefully not to do the same things again.
I find my way through to Hampden Road and note to return to Narryna. I stop in to Jackman & McRoss Bakery – worthwhile whether for something sweet or savoury. Wandering on, as the weather decides to provide some showery accompaniment, I wander down Kelly Street and find the stairs back down to Salamanca and on to Retro Café. I had tried Pilgrim Coffee earlier and both are good and the coffee break welcome as the weather re-thinks what it is doing.
There are so many lovely little nooks and places to have a look at in Salamanca and around Hobart – I have not explored a great deal and there is always something yet to be seen and put on the “to look at” list.
It is back to the hotel for a little reading time until 4.00pm when it is time for Art and History at the Henry Jones Art Hotel – and well worth that commitment of time and $20 for those not staying at the hotel.
IXL Jam factory was a staple here for a long time and thanks to some negligent hippies who had a fire, the building was ultimately saved and turned into this fabulous statement. It is quite something that the opening night of the hotel, those in one of the suites thought something untoward was happening yet it was the old timbers, opening up in the warmth, and letting out some of the 100+ years of jam steam that had been inhaled by those timbers. All rather spooky for the guests in a suite now used for other purposes. The building had its own way of telling a story. It was the home of Mr Jones until I think child number 6 of 7 came along and Mrs Jones got tired of living over the factory. The staircase is wonderfully imposing and intimidating and the timbers are simply beautiful. The 500+ pieces of art of generally for sale and the Hotel has a full-time curator. The Glover Art Prize is one of their sponsorships as is the Henry Jones Art Prize. The works are available and the artists have such amazing imaginations and use of various media in their works.
What a day – simply dinner of microwaved frittata and local Riesling served for dinner – a day well enjoyed with lots of learning and contemplation, a good night’s sleep had and preparation and readiness for the purpose of this trip which was 3 days of learning (when one doesn’t skip skool). Hobart and those who came before, you are a pretty cool place, with some beautiful buildings that have a warmth and texture to them separate from the history that those buildings hold.
