An odd name and a bit confusing, but its one of the few former all female convict sites in Australia, not a place for manufacturing women. This one in Hobart was apparently particularly harsh, partly due to the institution conditions, and partly due to the severe seasonal weather.
It was like a workhouse set up only it this was a prison. I’m not sure what would have been worse; being sentenced and transported for a trivial crime, but eventually getting out, assuming you survived, or being put in the workhouse for you own good because you were poor or had no prospects, and never having any hope of freedom. Both must have been terrible and are hard to put into persective today, out of context of both what it was like back then, and the views on crime and punishment.
Ironically, after the place shut down, it went through several incarnations as a winery, a distillery and finally tennis courts before it became derelict. It was only relatively recently however that somebody said ‘ hang on a minute, this place is important for women’s history’. And that’s when the preservation started.
Unfortunately, most of the buildings had already gone, but history was researched and what was left was shored up and marked out to fit what had been discovered.
We took the walking theatre tour round it, - called ‘herstory’ as opposed to ‘history‘ and it was excellent.
Two actors enacting the part of a woman prisoner and the cruel supervisor/ doctor. That put things in perspective and brought it all to life.
We ate lunch at the nearby Cascade Brewery before spending the afternoon in Hobart, doing jobs, so just a quick blog today.
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