Category: Grief

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Public art in Hobart tells the story of female convicts in Van Diemen’s Land

camdenhistorynotes

Hidden in the shadows

Public art has been used in Hobart to reveal stories of female convicts that have been hidden in the shadows for decades.

The silence of history has been broken, and the layers of history have been peeled back to reveal a story of resilience and agency in the face of misery and hardship.

The logo of the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site in South Hobart (CFFHS)

These stories have been commemorated in two sets of statues, one on the Hobart waterfront and one at the Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart, by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie.

Footsteps Towards Freedom (2017)

In 2017, the Footsteps Towards Freedom statues were installed on the Hobart waterfront and unveiled by the President of Ireland, Michael Higgins, and the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner.

The proposal was first mooted in 2015 when Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey, the Speaker of the House of Assembly Elise Archer and the Governor of Tasmania met to discuss the project.

Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie was commissioned to undertake the art installations. Dublin-based Gillespie is from a global community of bronze-casting sculptors and works from a foundry in County Clare in Ireland. He is one of the few who works on site-specific art installations and uses the lost wax casting process to portray human emotions where a metal sculpture is cast from an original.

Footsteps Towards Freedom art installation at Macquarie Wharf No 1 on the Hobart waterfront (I Willis 2024)

The four statues that make up Footsteps Towards Freedom are located on Macquarie Wharf No. 1, where the convict women were taken off the ships.

The women were then walked up Macquarie Street to the Female Factory to await assignment or to be kept there if they were considered unassignable.

The Monuments Australia website states that Footsteps Towards Freedom is:

 From 1803 to 1853, almost 13,000 convict women together with 2,000 children arrived in Van Diemen’s Land.

https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/landscape/settlement/display/112076-footsteps-towards-freedom

<pic 4 statues on Macquarie wharf Hobart>

The President of Ireland Michael Higgins said at the opening of the art installation:

These sculptures, let us remind ourselves, also make common cause with the suffering of migrants in our times. They should remind us that the trauma of displacement and forced exile are not experiences confined to our past, but are the lived experience of millions around the world today, including many who now call Australia home.

https://fromtheshadows.org.au

From the Shadows (2021)

Following on from the success of the Footsteps of Freedom project, the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner, launched the From the Shadows project at a reception at Government House in 2019.

In 2021, the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner, unveiled the first of two statues, one of a pregnant convict outside the Cascades Female Factory and the other in the factory yard.

The statues were designed and constructed by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie.

From the Shadows art installation at the Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart. This statue of a pregnant female convict, completed by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie, is located outside the grounds of the factory. (I Willis 2024)

The Governor of Tasmania Kate Warner said at the opening of the first statue in 2021

The narrative of the pregnant convict woman highlights that there is much more to a convict life than a crime, a trial and sentence. The statue of the pregnant convict woman is evocative and challenging, and is designed to make those viewing her ask: who is she? why is she here? what became of her baby?

https://www.govhouse.tas.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022-03/from_the_shadows_2021_.pdf
Statue of a female convict in the yard of the Cascades Female Factory that is part of the art installation From the Shadows by Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie. (I Willis 2024)

Cascades Female Factory

The Cascades Female Factory was one of a number of sites of reform and retribution of the British penal system in Van Diemen’s Land, where women could be hidden from their English masters.

Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart (CFFHS)

Women of Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent and working-class English women from the northern counties.

If the factory walls could speak, they would tell harrowing tales of depravity, immorality and corruption. Decadence, sinfulness, perversion, degenerate, evil and wickedness for the upright church-going middle-class of colonial Hobart.

The female factory was opened at the Cascades from 1828 to 1856 at a time when women had few legal rights. The story of the female factory is one of women’s agency, resilience and perseverance in the face of incredible adversity and hardship. Hundreds of descendants in Tasmania point to these stories.

Now rebuilt with a new interpretative information centre, the female factory allows these stories to be told. Women’s stories and experiences at the female factory have been re-interpreted. Stories of trauma, queerness, loss and dispossession of children, and loss of identity.

One of the yards at the Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart (I Willis 2024)

The very fact of the isolation and desolation of the female factory did, in its own way, lead to enough remnants of the factory remaining on its original site to be able to resurrect the stories and experiences of the women experiences and stories.

Careful interpretation of the old and its remnants have produced a hauntingly real experience for visitors at a site of hardship and trauma for many women inmates.  

 The Cascades Female Factory website states that the

Cascades Female Factory Historic Site bears witness to the displacement, oppression and control of women in Tasmania. We honour their pain and loss, their courage and perseverance. 

 https://femalefactory.org.au/audioguide/
Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart in the late 19th century (CFFHS)

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An embroidered silk postcard for Millie at Christmas 1916

camdenhistorynotes

A postcard from Frederick for sister Millie

During the First World War, local soldier Frederick Kelloway sent his sister, Millie, an embroidered silk postcard to celebrate Christmas and New Year at home in 1916.

The front of the embroidered silk postcard that Frederick Kelloway sent his sister Millie in 1916. (KCordina 2023)

Millie’s great-granddaughter Kellee writes on Facebook that

Frederick was overseas serving his country in WWI. Sadly, by the time Millie received the Christmas wishes, Frederick had died in battle on 29th November 1916.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086479871666

In the early 20th century, postcards were a cheap and easy way for people to keep in touch with each other, and this especially applied in the First World War.

History of postcards

The postcard was an integral part of the global postal system.  

The Philatelic Team at Australia Post states that the first postcard appeared in Austria.

The world’s first postcard is recognised as being issued 150 years ago, by Austria in 1869. This was a simple, blank, light-brown card (8.5cm x 12cm), with an area for a message, the address and an officially imprinted stamp on the other side, which was half the cost of a normal letter.

An economics professor from Vienna had written an article in the newspaper suggesting that there must be a simpler, cheaper and more practical way to send a short message than a letter, and the Austrian postal authority answered his call.

https://australiapostcollectables.com.au/articles/150-years-of-the-postcard

The first Australian postcard was issued by postal authorities in New South Wales in 1875. Postcards had been approved by postal authorities in Great Britain in 1870 and the United States in 1873.

Australia Post states that the first postcards were Post Office monopolies and that private postcard makers had to submit blank cards to postal authorities to have a stamp image printed on the card.

Unstamped pictorial postcards from private makers were not allowed to be sold in Australia until 1895 when they were approved for use in Victoria. An adhesive stamp was placed on the card, and it had to ‘measure not less than l inch x 3 inches nor more than 5 ¼ x 3 ¼ inches’.

The first pictorial postcard was introduced in Tasmania in 1894 and by the New South Wales Post Office in 1898. It had scenes on the back and space for a short message. At the time, Post Office regulations stated that only the address could be on the front of the postcard.

Postage rates were 1d within Australia and 1½d overseas with a New South Wales stamp. The postcard trade boomed in Australia, especially between 1900 and 1910, after which the letter rate dropped to 1d in 1911.

 Postcards were a much easier way to contact someone than writing a letter, and they became souvenirs. Postcard collecting became popular.

Frederick Kelloway’s embroidered silk postcard

 Frederick Kelloway’s card is an embroidered silk postcard that was part of a thriving trade in France during the First World War.  

The Australian War Memorial has a collection of over 1000 woven, printed and embroidered silk postcards. The themes covered include

Australian Themes, woven and printed silk postcards, general greetings, greetings to relatives, silk postcards embroidered Wife / Darling or Mother, Sister, birthday greetings, Christmas and New Year, units and camps, flags, France and Belgium.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RC00688

The first embroidered silk postcards were made for the Paris Exposition in 1900, and their manufacture peaked during the First World War.

By 1915, France had a thriving cottage industry of outworkers, and around 10 million postcards were made by 1919.

The embroidery was done by French women, often at home, on a strip of silk mesh with around 25 to a strip. These were then sent to factories for cutting and mounting on postcards.

The Imperial War Museum states:

The embroidered postcards were very popular with British soldiers who often sent them home. They were sold in thin paper envelopes but were seldom sent through the post in them.  They were too fragile and, more particularly, they represented quite an investment – they were not cheap souvenirs.  Usually, they were mailed with letters.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/embroidered-silk-postcards

Frederick Kelloway’s embroidered silk postcard does not have a stamp or address on the reverse of the card and would probably have been sent with a letter.

The back of the embroidered silk postcard that Frederick sent his sister Millie in 1916. There is no postage stamp or address on the postcard. Pointing to its cost and value to Frederick. The back of the card reads: ‘To my dear sister, From Fred. Wishing you a merry Xmas & a happy New Year.’ The mark at the bottom of the postcard is ‘Fabrication Francaise’, which means Made in France. On the bottom right-hand corner is the mark Modèle Déposé, which means Registered Design in French. (KCordina, 2023)

Frederick’s postcard to Millie has pansies and a four-leaf clover. The Australian War Memorial states that these have a particular meaning.

Typical images used were the swallow, the pansy (which was a very popular image in silk cards. Its popular meaning at the time was ‘you occupy my thoughts’), roses (love) and forget me nots (meaning true love, memories). Horseshoes and four-leaf clovers were also popular as symbols of good luck and remembrance.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2829356

The Australia Post Philatelic Team state

Pretty pastel-coloured flowers featured prominently – a stark contrast to the harsh conditions faced on the Western Front, as did butterflies, birthday or sentimental greetings and the flags of allied countries.

https://australiapostcollectables.com.au/articles/150-years-of-the-postcard
This embroidered silk postcard has a large pink rose with a smaller pink rosebud in the design’s bottom right-hand corner. (AWM, 2023)

The Australian soldiers were away from home and often thought of their families, including those from Camden NSW.

Killed in action in 1916

Tragically, Frederick Kelloway was killed in action in 1916 and never made it back home to Camden.

Frederick Kelloway was killed in action in 1916. His obituary is on Camden Remembers (2023)

These are the First World War Memorial Gates at Macarthur Park. This image is from a glass plate negative taken by Roy Dowle in 1920. Frederick Kelloway’s name is listed on the gates along with other Camden soldiers and nurses from the First World War. (Camden Images)

Updated 24 April 2024. Originally posted on 29 December 2023 as ‘An embroidered silk postcard for Millie at Christmas 1916’.

Bathtub effect · Cultural Heritage · Floods · Grief · Hawkesbury-Nepean river · Landscape · Living History · Local History · Local Studies · Macarthur · Memory · Nepean River · Place making · Trauma

Flooding in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Valley

camdenhistorynotes

The rain comes tumbling down, again

As heavy rain fell on my roof this morning, I pondered another forecast for heavy rain and possible flooding in the local area.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning that stated:

HEAVY RAINFALL For people in Metropolitan, Illawarra and parts of South Coast, Central Tablelands and Southern Tablelands Forecast Districts. (BOM, 2/7/22)

This brings back memories of early 2022 and the effect of local flooding. There is damage to property and people’s mental health.

Flood on Nepean River at Camden next to milk factory looking to Elderslie along Argyle Street in the early 20th century (CIPP)

People become worried about the unknown. So let’s help clear some of the fog.

What is unique about floods on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River?

 The ‘bathtub effect‘ of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River Valley

The Hawkesbury-Nepean River valley has unique landform features that make flooding in the local area perilous.

The river in flood does not behave like other valleys with wide-open flood plains that allow flood water to spread out and slow down.

The Hawkesbury-Nepean River valley has several pinch points constricting the flow and creating upstream localised flooding. This has been termed the ‘bathtub effect’ by engineering geologist Tom Hubble from the University of Sydney in 2021.

The 2019 H-N Valley Regional Flood Study describes the river valley this way:

 The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley consists of a sequence of floodplains interspersed with incised meanders in sandstone gorges. (ERM Mitchell McCotter, 1995).[p.6]  [ERM Mitchell McCotter, (1995). Proposed Warragamba Flood Mitigation Dam Environmental Impact Statement, Sydney Water, July 1995.]

The Geography Teachers Association has produced an excellent teaching resource about the river valley, and it states:

The unique geomorphic features of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley make it particularly vulnerable to dangerous, fast-rising floods.

An aerial view of the Camden township in the 1974 flood event. The Nepean River is behind the town centre and flows from R-L. (SMH)

The NSW SES says:

The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley has a long history of dangerous and damaging floods. Since records began in the 1790s, there have been over 130 moderate to major floods in the valley, including 6 major and 21 other serious floods since Warragamba Dam was completed in 1960.

So local people have a right to be worried when the BOM issues flood warnings,

Flood trauma is real.

Floods cause a considerable amount of anxiety in the local area.

The New South Wales Governments website Emotional and trauma support after flood states:

Natural disasters, cleaning up and recovery can take a toll on your mental and physical health. It’s vital people seek support and look after their own and their loved ones’ wellbeing. 

Flooding at the Cowpastures Bridge Camden in 2022 (I Willis)

The Black Dog Institute states that after flooding:

We anticipate that Australians living in areas affected by the current New South Wales and Queensland floods are likely to experience psychological distress. While some level of distress is a normal and understandable response to these events, we know from previous disasters that for many this may lead to more chronic mental health problems.

Royal Life Saving Australia says there is grief and trauma after the flooding. It maintains:

Looking after yourself during and following a flood event is an important part of the flood recovery process. If you have lost someone during a recent flooding event, or been rescued, it is especially important to check in with your support network and identify steps to help you get the additional support you may need. Everyone processes grief differently, and there is no one ‘right’ way to grieve, but we all need help in difficult times.

For the nerds

There is a lot of nerdy technical stuff around flooding in the river valley.

Technical details

There is an excellent study called the 2015 Nepean River Flood Study for technically minded people.

The study defines the Upper Nepean as the river upstream of the confluence of the Nepean River with the Warragamba River and is around 1800 square kilometres (p1).

For those who want to read a broader study about flooding across the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, I suggest looking at the 2019 Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley Regional Flood Study.

A keen beekeeper and stalwart of the community garden, Steve rescues his hives from flooding in April 2022 (S Cooper)

One local sage, community gardener and flood watcher, Steve, commented on Facebook:

There has been some discussion about the possible rain event on its way [1/7/22]. Happy to report that all upstream dams are below capacity as per the Bureau of Meteorology. The [community] gardens are not affected till 8.5 metres, upstream inflows will be monitored and in the event of water reaching 8 metres livestock will be moved to higher ground within the garden where applicable or externally if required under the guidance of any relevant authorities. Note that the lagoon fills slowly from the river via the old creek line. However, if the river reaches 11 metres Macquarie Road floods over. Flooding has typically peaked in Camden 9 hours after Avon Dam Road peaked and 3 hours after Menangle. The last floods #3 peaked @ 20 metres at Avon Dam Road. The previous #2 at close to 17 metres. Note the last flood 12.2 metres in Camden occurred after all dams were also full.

This information comes from the BOM rain and river data site.

Steve was disappointed in his predictions about the size of the weather event affecting the New South Wales East Coast.

The rainfall at Robertson is a good indicator of what might happen in the Upper Nepean River river valley. Up to 9.00am today (3/7/22), Robertson had received 258mm of rainfall; at Menangle Bridge, there had been 185mm of rain. The Upper Nepean River valley is saturated and partly explains the behaviour of the Nepean River at Camden.

This view shows the Nepean River at Camden from the Elderslie side of the river on the right bank. This image was taken at 10.00am today (3/7/22), and the river was rising then. By 3.00pm, the water had risen to the height of the telegraph pole. (2022, I Willis, 3/7/22)

Historic river heights at the Cowpasture Bridge, Camden.

The historical records of flood heights at the Cowpasture Bridge provide an interesting comparison of the present flood. The records are contained in the 2016 Camden Local Flood Plan.

Historic river heights at the Cowpastures Bridge (2016 Camden Local Flood Plan)

Updated 19 May 2023. First posted on 2 July 2022 and called ‘The rain comes tumbling down, again’