97

CHANGES AND CONTINUATIONS : THE POST-PENAL SETTLEMENT OF , 1877-1914

by Peter MacFie Port Arthur Conservation Project

The history of Tasman Peninsula during the initial post-penal period from 1877-1914 is presented and discussed. Settlement of the peninsula after the closure of Port Arthur prison resulted in two distinct communities - one providing recreation facilities and services to tourists and the other dependent on farming, orcharding, logging and fishing. During this period Tasmanians began to come to terms with the convict history represented by Port Arthur, with and Port Arthur becoming foci for the developing industry. Key Words: Tasman Peninsula, , Port Arthur, post-penal settlement, free settlers. From SMITH, S.J. (Ed.), 1989: IS HISTORY ENOUGH? PA S1: PRESENT AND FUTURE USE OF THE RESOURCES OF TA SMAN PENINSULA. Royal Society of Tasmania, : 97-106.

INTRODUCTION (3) the migration of free settlers from around the Derwent estuary to the northern Peninsula; 1877 is seen as a watershed in the history of Tasman (4) the concurrentdevelopment of free-settlement and Peninsula. Waterlocked land, retained as a prison since religious fundamentalism; 1830, was open to free settlers. No area better (5) a continuing and distinct personality for Port epitomises the quandary facing Tasmanians over their Arthur; past than Tasman Peninsula. In virgin forests of the (6) development of a long-realised commercial northwest and northeast, such reminders could be potential based on primary resources and building forgotten. The new settlers who arrived after the materials; closure of Port Arthur were faced with unavoidable (7) the gradual growth of tourism centres at Port reminders. Although the new arrivals brought new Arthur and Eaglehawk Neck; traditions, free occupants of the peninsula entered an (8) unacknowledged labour of workers existing and continuing administration, based on around Port Arthur, Koonya and ; and those officials of the Convict Department who chose (9) a confused reaction by occupant and Tasmanians to remain. The free occupants also inherited an generally to the stigma of the "hated stain". existing infrastructure of roads, buildings and jetties. In some areas, especially around the Probation Stations, land had been cleared by prison labour and COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL gardens established. The post-1877 settlement of Tasman Peninsula The scenery and the commercial value of Tasman resulted in two distinct communities; one, increasingly Peninsula were recognised attractions throughout the "cosmopolitan", was centred on Port Arthur, providing penal era. A reporter with a parliamentary delegation services for tourists and recreation; the other, centred in 1860 heard and saw the area's timber, fishing and around a series of communities on the northern coal mining potential ( 23 August 1860). coastline, relied on small-farming, orcharding, logging (The larger portion of the peninsula was, however, and fishing. The latter two continued near Port Arthur considered "worthless for agriculture".) At Port Arthur and Long Bay also. and Cascades (Koonya), wooden tramways carried Central features of the post-1877 settlement of timber from convict to mills to awaiting craft. Tasman Peninsula are: The 1860 Joint Report of the Tasmanian (1) the continuing administration of Convict Parliament on the desirability of opening up Tasman Department officials; Peninsula heard evidence from a number of wit­ (2) the inheritance of an infrastructure of roads, nesses who referred to the fishing and milling buildings, jetties and tramway; potential. Charles de Graves, shipbuilder, referred to !he " Cj�ss tjualilyof G-!over Paper:�� S\VDrnp GUlll and light S, In tirnher refernxl to his "",'h"'""�� '",'lanted_to occupy the Euglcha\vk !.lay,; housing. sought Peninsu las. Eaglehawk King had coa:)Ll.ine neck (C.,S.D, Chestenfiiln

his srnoked foresight� that fishe:rnlcn wo�.:dd "" c,''',"c,' of for themselves and families, Gourlay of alSf) believed that �\lnany' persons the Peninsula the sake of the finetimber" . Ballantine, former Superintendent of Probation Station, Although Tasman was "terra also believed that, if opened the public, "settlement in,:o:gnitll" until 1877, one district Oil the for sawing and splitting timber would open to private fi'om and had no doubt the land Coal Mines, SBJtwatcr River, because of "moral . The buildings, and economic" reasons, had been worked variolls enhance the of land on the peninsula, with lack success, lady at Saltwater River. Although 1867, the birth As obsepJ(;d by indicates miners were still active at the Mines in the early 1880s. Alfred Mansell Lord the peninsula was both farmer and rHiner in !879-82 (as was Martha excursion and were reported Annie Burdon), Rocks, the

These fishennen and owners of larger boals, CONTINUED ADMINISTRAflON with an intimate knowledge of the coast, were the firstto ferryexcurS IOnists the peninsula after ]877. A number of ex-officials llsed their know- Previously, they had oniy been aHowed permission of the peninsula to themselves. Thomas to shelter in the ports, By l879, these were in full remained fT om the old cOllvict administration use, report reveals fishermen, William as Sub-Inspector of Police to supervise new settlers, James Cowen (Tasman), George Massey (Parir), also land. Others included Government and Edward Fitzgerald (Alr>mwake), had helped "Smveyo[ Blackwood and Joseph Mawle, prevent the government from e()ming Port Arthur official and store-keeper, and his father­ around in a storm (Colonial Secretary's D1cp:artr!ll3111 in-Inw, A. W. Chatfield. Mawle had been in the Series Vo1.o; p:95, 26 August Service of the Convict Department for over 20 years. Archives of Tasmania (S.TA» . Chatfield had been similarly since the Ironicaliy, the fishcnnen v,!to ferried visitors ! 850s. Follmving closure Fnrt Althur, Chatfield were probably convic1s as, in 1864,Boyd, Port Arthur lived in the t�')ra nurnbcrof years. Together cormnandant� of "'the COD.:"taot presence they had considered a business al Port and other the �hores of the Arthm in the closing stage;;. Joseph SOfi, induces convicts to plan c,cape:, "AJf (H'elms, H'oaks and H'ashes)" Mawle, became of the persons working these boats old the familiar "authority" on Port Arthur during the who are the sake of it hribe 19203 194(k Thi;;hcgernonji was kept the family" of the pp.5 1-52, old administration, wilh Rlackw()od's son, IT, last decade before closure, timber man-ying Elizabeth BaHanje Im;rehants Henry Chesteml:m and Risby Bros had Department (FCG.D.), Births, Reel _Mawle and Ballanie� were local Deputy- Registrars of BaHanic was also in charge of the public buildings at Port Arthur. III addition, he acted Clerk the Court of General Sessions when Post-penal settlement 99 the public hearings began in the early 1880s, plus potential of the northern Peninsula were not. The birth Registrar, Bailiff, Deputy Clerk of Peace, and until records of the Registrar General's Department reveal 1886 was also Post-Master. that families moved quickly to occupy land and began Archibald Blackwood was the first official to a small baby boom. From 1879 to 1890, 165 children buy property at Port Arthur. He had reported on land were born. Births occurred at Impression Bay (37), on Tasman Peninsula in 1873, and conducted the Camarvon (36), Cascades (35), WedgeBa y (17), Long survey for alienation of Crown land in 1877 (C.S.D. Bay (13), (12), Saltwater River (9) and 10/48/996, 24 September 1877, S.T.A.). Like other Safety Cove (4) (R.G.D. 1877-1 900). During 1884, Church of Christ followers, Blackwood had settled the total population passed 600 (Tasmanian Mail originally at Long Bay, Middleton, on the 5 July 1884, State Library of Tasmania (S.L.T.» . D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Here his wife and family In 1884, a journalist visiting the Ragged Tiers, ran the farm while he surveyed the district. Scottish (from where many new settlers came) and bornand, according to relatives, of a hard disposition, the new settlements of the northern peninsula, Blackwood arrived with his family in Tasmania in commented on the large families. At Ragged Tiers 1853, working as Surveyor with the Royal Sappers were produced, he claimed (tongue-in-cheek), "6,000 and Miners (Blackwood 1987, pp.24-29). He acquired pigs and I forgot how many children yearly" the Medical Officer's House in 1879, from where his (Tasmanian Mail 28 June 1884, p.27). His (serious) daughter eventually operated the local postal and advice to his Ragged Tier friends applied equally telephone service. He also bought land at Garden well to those transferring to the peninsula urging them, Point (site of the old convict garden), while his sons in view of direct steamers to England, to "lay out at Alfred and John had property at Long Bay, later least two acres in fruit, small and large, and to keep Oakwood. their gardens in good order from the first. Those who John Evenden, the Official Caretaker for Port have good orchards are going to make money" (ibid.). Arthur after its closure, had been employed in the Missing from official records are the spiritual Convict Department for a number of years, being affiliations which bound families in their pioneering remembered by c. 1844. , During the adventures. Yet these are responsible for the mores, 1860s, Evenden "occupied" the government farm at attitudes, music, word and culture, plus personal Saltwater River, where 200 acres had been cleared characteristics, which create a community. The and grubbed by prisoners. Where 3000 sheep had conversion to the fundamentalist principles of the grazed, Evenden ran cattle and battled against the Church of Christ, by settlers moving to the northern 500 or 600 deer which were constantly destroying peninsula, is a distinctive feature of settlement his crops (Hobart To wn Advertiser 23 August 1860). post-1877. The contrast between here and Anglican Evenden and his family purchased property at Port Port Arthur was, until recently, still valid, with one Arthur, initially "garden" land and then a house (A.R. elderly descendant of Surveyor Blackwood jocularly 1880-8 1) while his son bought garden and land at describing to me the "Dippers" on the other side of Stinking Bay. the peninsula - i.e. practising total immersion In addition to the structures, new settlers, baptism. Within the last 15 years, the granting of a particularly at Port Arthur, inherited an existing liquor licence at caused controversy. The bureaucracy, also a labour force of an unknown bars of Port Arthur's hotels contrasted with this number of paupers (some of whom acted as Port teetotal viewpoint. Arthur guides) and bushworkers, probably The chief initiators of the Church of Christ in who returned to the peninsula. the peninsula were George Spaulding and his friend George Kingson. Prior to arriving at Impression Bay in 1882, Spaulding had moved farms on several FREE AND FUNDAMENTALIST occasions after his marriage in 1873. In 1876 he was FAMILIES at Peppermint Bay, Kettering, part of a Church of Christ group including George Kingston. These two Initial reaction to the sale of Crown Land was poor, families moved to the Ragged Tiers, Carlton River, with only five of the 75 town lots being sold in 1878 (Neville 1979). Early converts included (including the military barracks) and 23 of the 64 Samuel and Elizabeth Mundy who settled at Saltwater country lots. The eventual purchasers and residents River in 1879. of Port Arthur became, by 1890, a civilian reflection At first services were held in homes and then of the penal era. at the various chapels which, by 1885, were at If prospective residents of Port Arthur were Impression Bay, Oakwood (Long Bay) and Port hesitant, the men and women who perceived the Arthur. There services were held in the home of 100 p, MacFie

"Brother and Sister Archie Blackwood" (ibid" Shropshire Downs" .- plus from 50 10 80 cattle A of democracy was apparent in the Burdens became adherents of Church of Christ. of the Church, with women, indicated, Thornas Perkins: and Herbert Snllth jointly being recognised as "sisters", and being elected as owned 3000 acres by purchase, leasing several "Deaconesses" ,- but not Elden;, This equality thousand rome on which fan 3000 sheep (the same retlceted the shared role of in a pioneer number on the sheep fann of the convict era)� cornmunity and contrasted with traditional division plus and "the usual strength of oxen and horses", of roles within the middle and upper-class Anglicans, Their homestead was the form'cT DepUly ­ The character of the Church of Christ Commandant's Quarters, where the negketed garden settlers, however, involved a degree of austerity both and surroundings, once refurbished, would provide in behaviour and social customs, One elderly resident "a nice country seat of it" (ibid,), told me of being refusedpen nission as a girl to attend dances and fairs, the Peninsula during the boom year of CASCADES: 1884, a commentator noticed how through the AND peninsula, settlers (timbermen) and families, number about 600 (Tasmanian Mail 28 June 1884, While the district around Impression Bay concentrated pp,27-28), At famls nearPlices and Impression Bays, and at Cascades ,md Taranna, large families occupied settlers' houses: employed men working for Ai Cascades, a "There are fmms in the early stage at bOlh these "number of cottages have been renovated and are [places] and also in the interior, It goes without occupied by employed in the timber saying that whenever there is a roof there are trade, Mr. Clark here in a superior house, children, Only 5 stared at me outside a house at with the usual garden plot in front." Brick buildings Prices Bay, and by sounds '" There was were down in direction, and men a reserve of anmher five if anything happened are at work on to Hobart" these." (Tasmanian Mail 28 June 1884, pp.27-28), (Tasmanian lUaii 28 I-Ie \-v as also with the seven children the period between of Constable J. at Saltwater River, whose occupancy, probation station sites were wife offered hospitality to passing visitors, M, J, Clark for materials, An elderly visitor recalled how, when had successfully tendered for alterations to the visiting Koonya in 1877 building for Police Quarters, at Saltwater River, then "The which were being raided by OC(,;ulJ!led by Constable Hanigan's family, Constable people hum the Sorell side, suffered stayed on the peninsula, becoming at one additional reverses. There were plenty of lead stage proprietor of the Taranna HoteL sheets on the roofs of the model Plison and the The former doctor's residence at Saltwater and severa! enterprising yachtsmen got River was occupied by Jacob Burden, Jacob Burden to work, and commandeered every (then J 1) and his brother Reuben (9), natives of ounce they could conveniently at, and (umed had left Southampton aboard the Kingston if into ballast. Two enthusiastic broke on 26 August ] 854 with their Wesleyan father John, the doors of the silent cells, and brought them up Aged 31, John was accompanied by his wife Edith to the city," (31), Jacob, Reuben and Isaac (7), Also on the voyage were Jacob's Uncle William (24) and wife,Avis (21), By hopeful contrast, on a later visit, he noted, (2) and an infant George (immigration Board, 'There are one or two of the old Imperial buildings CB 7/12, p,2, Nomina! Register of Immigrants extant, which are used for utilitarian purposes, Arrivals, ST/\,),They first settled near Valley Farm, There are some fine orchards and mixed fanns Impression Bay, Jacob Burden and his brolher Reuben observable, and the inhabitant;; of the district, if occupied the old Saltwater River Station area, they did nol have a cheque book hanging out of 720 acres freehold and leasing another 4000, "",WU!HIS their pockets, seemed well-to-,do, content, and land at Slopen Main (Tasmanian Mail 28 June [in J 915]." (Un-named newspaper cutting, pp,27-28), By 1884, Burden had been on his new author's collection), purchase 18 months, but on the peninsula for five years, being one of the first settlers to occupy the CascadesrK:oonya developed unique charac- north of the peninsula in ] R79 (ibid,), Burden grazed Cbesterman the old ] 300 shi,:ep -, "Merino and cross-breds, and few fJespite Post-penal se!tlernenf 101

20 years in the convict era, timber from rhe Cascades River befoft� res!gt!ing in dispute over (A_. supplied for whmves al Dover, U.K, and South pers. comrn.). The son of .Rev. Geo. Africa the tum of the centuly. Cascades timber gn,g,HHm'll n1inisler and educator, (]arke was used in the vehicular ferryKangaroo. which moved to "LoHah" overlooking Wedge Bay in 18114, the Derwent between Kangaroo Poinl (Bellcrive) and vvhere he established orchards and briefly a Hobart from 1855 to 1926. eucalyptus··oi!extracting plane btcr becotning local Nine years later, .imncs Roxburgh McClymont magis!rate, J.P., coroner and ieading Congregalinnalist (M.A. Edinburgh) owner. McClymont flDdearli"r (A.R. ]884). settled at Koonya, calling properly (with deference Clarke's farm diary for 1892 descnbes to Henry Thoreau) "New Walden", from where he attendance at a Sunday service at home conduc'itd hy observed the bird-life of Tasman Peninsula. In 1887, Buiton. In the afternooll, Clarke killed lamh for Ihe Royal Society published his "A Pirst Li�t of the Moses a fellow (dimy 11S92, Birds of Ta:;man's Peninsula" , a unique list of 70 po§se�sion A. LOHah, T;)sman birds (McClymont 887). According to the Peninsula). This incident the difference introduction, the list was not by a scientific between the Anglicanism Port Arthur, and the ornithologist, but by "one who spent a good many Christianity of hours in the bush, an interested observer of the Clarke, who manners and customs of birds". The birds observed a lamb (with its were "within the radius of one mile of the symbolic eonnotations) on after ehmch. settlement . In ]894, McClymont donated from that attitude is a more ";';

Olher nOIl·confom1ist sects which established on the peninsula included Congregationalists. Between 1856 TOURISM and 1880, Rev. R E. Dear, Congregationalist preacher, regularly visited peninsula townships (Sharples 1977). The Convict Era Burial imd bap1ism gave an indication of religious allegiances. the 18805. Port Arthur and Tasman Peninsula as a scenic and conducted burials, while in the I tourist destination had attracted aHenrion of visitors clergy served the scattered the convict erR. The first excursionist to community. 1889. Bufton had charge of Port Hstarnp-of-approval'� on the peninsula Arthur. arId Carlton. In 1894, he oversaw venue was Sir \ViHiam Denison, who "9 preaching riding 20 miles on horseback and six days a to perform hisduties" (Sharples 1977, Pirates Bay, t'.�lYlI':hawK p.19). Neck in 1847, with nine children and three servants; In the early IS80R, George E. C13ske, it young a local soldier and his wif-: acted a, "cook, housemaid jackeroo, worked for Perkins and Smith at Saltwater and general factotum" The house was formerly the rnilitary offi(;cn/quarters CDenisoH lK70). 'The sanle "'HoneyrnoonH Cottage for newly officers. visitor,,,; Eaglehawk Neck "vasdescribe:d :'cxcecJingly the absence � picturesque ' by in 1. 85 L The first Hguidcs�j visitors 'vVno there consisted of the of the young party on a considerable aestrucljon to the abandoned scttiernenL

visit 10 the tViO natura! �,,<.; .• ,.;,; ••.,. steaTI"}er:; and the Blowhole" " /·�t Arthur tin.: visl10r irnar-lncd Port Arthurl exC!.. rr s�orHsts continued

he had "dropped into Paradis:; .n this bea�!!iful c�mer arrive Bay 0\84 called faranna). of the universe" (Mundy l(55). Viundy's jocular Whitehouse Bros small n ton 58. Fina/me, account contrasts with Quaker Frederick Mackie, who the "Pinny", parties the peninsula; one visited the pn&ons less than years latcr� �uch group the horses� con�/evances and talking to prisoners, and not carrying the saddles the north (jfthe Peninsda" Despite tHis, "half a dozen houles of champagne" that Mundy sorne visitors ""mill bad to come on f()of� (TasrnanuiYt for the subaltern and his wife Mail 21 April 1884, p.20). 'vVhiteholises illso owned While Mundy concentrated on Taranna's only accommodation, the Tasman Hotel, prisoners, well-fed and Mackie observed formerly the Commissariat S[(;re. By 1884, and symparhised with their (NichoUs 1973). Whitehouse's ,)yster fam] was in in Norfoik Jonrnalists, with and Bay (Tasmanian Mail 28 June I Beginning in parlialYlentary delegations continued to m:,p(�cted 1881, the S.S. Pinafo re left Hobart on Mondays :md peninsula through the 1860s and 1870s. Thursdays for Norfolk Bay , leaving Norfolk Bay on "l!.l>!.''''cu over the quandary involved in Tuesdays and Fridays. location of prisoners if the peninsula were Smaller craft mr'ln'�;m" opened up, and the of to deal with the and the fishing criminal elements aIe yet present in the social viSItors before system" (The Mercury7 October l869). As on oiher occasions, the "visitors" made a "!our of Ihe settle­ clothe, hanging on the OWi1ers ment" The visit by the official party ended with a having fallen overboard being rowed ashore in concert at the Commandant's, where plus a small boat; all swam safely ashore. Another fishing vocal and instrumental music resulted in a boat, the Surprise (owned by Watchom & feelillg of enjoyment". The visitors on return an-ived wiLh three visitors induding nl,oloo;ronh,M at the Neck to see "two of the most Anson, before for Maria . Not all spectacles probably ever seen by tourists". excursionists made from Neck A correspondent of Hr70 described the "very to Port Arthur, some the S.S. and S.S. panorama" presented by spot", Huon preferring to walk 10 the natural sites near (The Mercwy 24 March 1870), yet saw Pirates BHY. no contradiction in ridiculing the who �lso At Taranna, visitors were accommodated on travelled on the H.M. Harriet, him as board prior to the opening of the Taranna HoteL "low stature, very repul&ive looking, dressed in an Ollt to Woody (now Dart) Island, the old sparrow-tail coat", and whose "restlessness and visitor look a to de�paich some imbecility" gave the allthor the of a "wild yellow and black which animal" On arrival the corre,pondcnt inspected the -��. presumably from the days was part of the

"lions" �.�.�� prisoners -� a phrase Ilsed over 40 veal'S chain and a boat Cfew was located therr�c earlier by Commandant Booth. EXCUfSi(;nist:i Visitors also indulged fi,Jling. On another occasion, continued to visit POit /Hilmf during the uno�;. In the S.S. Pinafo re seen at Taranna 'Vvi1h her rigging ] l:l76, the S.S. Southern Cross can·jed visitors to ,he I.adenwit h rabhits ,hot by yachtsmen on site. 70--80 pleasure seekers and a number (Tasmanian Mail I May 1884). Being loaned a horse of Also on board was Mr Winter, the by Mr Ballanie, the more important visitor, photographer, who took views of the parsonage alld journalist, rode and to Port Ar,hur, taking th� settlement (The Mercury 25 July 1876). A waH tams with his brother. On other occasions a bullock was even then being demolished for (We in repairing was used to convey tourists from Taranna to the Cascade gaol, Hobmt. Port Arthur (Tasmanian 1 RS4). \\ledge of Coli for yacht;men and Ihefe 103 in �1ay 1884, dropped t:!1chor beside and the conv]ct days the .scenes Natural Coral, two yachts laden VJithexcursionists (TflcYn1aniar; lvlail 7 fvfay lX84). In rhe first large vessel built on the peninsula since work on the convict dockyards uJ Port Anhm ceased under construction. The Ta ranna built at Taf3nna by William for \Nhiiehouse Bros, and iaunched beautiful drIve and every �Lnention to

011 22 July 1 In 1888, she joined bIidly Pas�engersH ('l'asrnaniana Library� S,L ..) " the Koonya on the peninsula ;md in 1890, the S,S. Nubf'cna replaf'ed 1.he The Nubeena, like other ships, also worked the jetties of the Huon and Channel, weB as Koonya, "CARNi\RVON" COSI'viOPOLITl1.,N Saltwater River� Nubeena and� if necessary, Creek on Wedge Bay. If the old officials were uncertain about Port Arthur's Only three years after clos!!re, future, new generation of occup:mts from the mid book (Thomas 1880) dcscri.bed the 18805 gave the Settlement a {" , ,,n1(',,vl·'" Tasman Peninsula. men! character. These included recently British "Besides the eonnection (with) the great and errtigrarr!fi, Lt Col Albert Peel Garnett,Thomas Mason Mode! Prison at POIt Arthur, the J.B.W, Woolnough, much enjoyment to the tOlll1St ... There is good A retlred officer, fishing and excellent deer and kangaroos stalking Served with the Hussars, or Albert's Own ... Between trips of the steamers can he (HaJ�l 1870). A native of London, with his wife Ada readily made with the deep sea for (aged 30), he arrived aboardthe Sir Walter Raleigh in 1883, with their six children (Immigration Board, moderate sums, to take parties 10 either side of the Peninsula." CB 7/25, STA.). Shortly after arriving Oamett the Parsonage and Accountant's HOllse at (The deer hunted in the 1880, were introduced in the Port An.huL In 1884, hls servant, James penal era, giving their name to D'x�r Point, their last McArthur, while off behind the Parsonage, refugc.) can sed the church to be gutted by fire (The Mercury A later handbook (Anon. 1889) rders to 4 lV!.arch 1884). in Tasmania in 1884 was the rv'lason "Port Althur, the once dreaded and most vile spot family, led by and wife Fmmy, brother Francis of the , has undergone considerable and adult children Walter, Heather and iumie. of its being the exile home of "Clougha" (lhe House at Port pIisoners, hundreds of honest colonists are there Mason and became involved now, clearing the bush, the lands, in Carnarvon Town Board following its up ileat little cottages. establishment in 1889, The arrival of the Mason '-."".... a""'"', Impression Bay, Sahwaler River coincided fortuitously with the arrival of another ex­ the Coal Mines ... most of the old buildings and patriate Briton, batchelor potte!' James Price, A native into decay, so in the cour,e Staffordshire, Price apparently arrived in Tasmania of the will he The in lSg4 and land and building5 Oil the site great is \vant proper the Port Arthur. (The site induded the accommodation." recently restored beehive kiln.) By the ]8905, the value of Port .Arthur and Like lhe convicts at the Brickfields. ]3mes Price

Tasman Peninsula as a tOUlist destination had been functional outdoor clayware -­ recognisf:d. Pori. Arthurwas a well-established lourist Im.;)f'rn,'.I, and urns. He also nJ,ade distinctive centre and described as ·'a J(r�/ely in its pottery of his vases ("lNhhtwo or [nOTe anns)� is ugly in its rnt:fnOfi(�sn (Tasrnaniml cups, cmcihles, mugs, plates and a child's Navig3.tion Co. 1887). pottery work attract.,d the interest the The posters of Whitehouse and Pltfield, Mason sisters, descril){�d by WaL1zcr (]976) as advertising the 5,5, Nubeena, to both the (with) an enthusiasm for art", �'Naturaj Scene.ryjj and ·�IIistori.ca] 1\4onurnents'� The lntt:mational Exhibit of latter included "The picturesque ivy-dad ruios of the and Art, hdd on the Queen's Domain, Church, the Prisons, with dark and silent cell, the exhibited hand-painled clayware. In the "Women's romantic Island of the Dead, and of old Industries" sec6on, Heather ]\1ason�s exhibits included 104 P. MacFie a "Portrait, Crests and candlesticks etc." (and a bas became a farmer in the district. At the time of the relief in clay modelling), while Annie Mason's was fire, G.R. Eldridge, house steward of the Tasmanian of "Port Arthur Pottery, Handpainted" (Exhibition Club, purchased the Guard Tower, and a brick and Catalogue, 1894-95, Tas. Coil.). Francis Mason died stone conjoined house (The Mercury4 January 1880). in 1897 (aged 49), and is buried at the "new" Port Two names still with Port Arthur connections Arthur cemetery. His death may have precipitated also arrived in the late 1880s. Johann Danker and the return of the Masons to England the same year Heinrich Frederick Frerk, who had arrived from (Port Arthur Cemetery Register c. 1906-22, Tasman Hamburg, Germany, in late 1885, occupied land Council Cambers, Nubeena). owned by Inspector Ballanie at Long Bay in 1887 The Establishment character of Port Arthur is (A.R. 1887). Both were joiners by trade, Danker, aged epitomised by the Rev. Joseph Boss William 27, being three years older than Frerk. They were Woolnough, "gentleman", entrepreneur, clergyman, probably friends, having arrived together aboard the and M.H.A. from Sorell. Educated at Oxford, he Procidea and Wa iapa. Danker's wife Maria, who at served in a number of English parishes before 39 was twelve years his senior, also travelled with emigrating to Tasmania in 1883 (Bennett & Bennett theirthree-year-old son Heinrich (Immigration Board, 1980). Woolnough used his organisational and 1885, CB 12/14, p.3, S.T.A.). A year later, their business skills within the Tasmanian Anglican Church, Christian names had been Australianised to "John" being Financial Secretary of Synod, Diocesan Danker and "Henry" Frerk (A.R. 1888). Following Inspector of Schools (1883-1900) and Defence Forces the destruction of the Asylum by the fires of 1897, Chaplain (1885-1906). In 1884, Woolnough Henry Frerk was the builder contracted by the purchased the Model Prison for £630, an association CarnarvonTown Board to renovate the burnt-outshell with two other Carnarvon residents being rumoured under Architect Fagg. Danker refitted part of the (The Mercury 13 March 1889). Shortly after, he was burnt-out Parsonage, including construction of the Chairman of the new Carnarvon Town Board in the precariously steep staircase (A. Briggs, pers. comm.). 1890s, plus its Licensing Bench and Road Trust, and "H.F.W. Frerk" was later proprietor of the Tasman the Tasmanian Tourist Association Committee. In Villa Hotel; after his death the establishment was 1894, he persuaded the Govemment to give custody continued by his wife. He was also a well-known of the Penitentiary to the Town Board of Carnarvon guide around Port Arthur in the 1920s. for "recreational purposes" (The Mercury 4 January Danker eventually purchased land on Point 1898). Keys for the complex had been (reluctantly) Puer. His opinions, written in exercise books, scoffed handed over only a matter of days before the great at the "horror and morbidity" of Port Arthur (un­ fire of 31 December 1898, which resulted in the named newspaper cutting, c. 1927, author's collec­ building's destruction. tion). His opinions are said to have strongly influenced Reverend Woolnough intended to upgrade the a young journalist, Coultrnan Smith in writing the Model Prison into a high class hotel and pleasure "soft"version of the penal system depicted in Shadow resort. At least one visitor was anxious for the future Over Tasmania (A. Briggs, pers. comm. 1986). of the pews and pulpit being removed from the Although the Carnarvon Town Board was not Chapel, which she vainly hoped would be put in the formed until 1889, the town already possessed a "archives of the nation " for future generations. Schools Board and a Cricket Club. In March 1884, Meanwhile in the Model Prison, Carnarvonand Wattle Hill Cricket Clubs met on the Bream Creek cricket ground with "the Camarvon men "the chapel has been turned into a billard room, victorious by 6 wickets" (Tasmanian Mail 15 March where the walls will resound with the voices of 1884, p . 19) . Secretary of the Carnarvon Cricket Club merrymakers who seek to kill time and care. The was W. A. Downie, teacher at the Cascade and partitions separating the cells will be tom away, Impression Bay schools. and spacious bedrooms with soft beds and downy The first elected Trustees of the Town Board pillows will invite the weary pilgrims to rest in were Thomas Mason (Chairman), Archibald this spot made sacred by the 'hand of Blackwood (Treasurer), Rev. G. B. W. Woolnough, Oppression'." (Ackerman 1896.) J. C. Cowan and Albert McGuiness. Shortly after the Messrs Mason and Woolnough were Trustees first meeting, on 28 August 1889, the Board received of the derelict Anglican Church and apparently the keys fromthe Government to their future offices, responsible for the petition to Queen Victoria seeking the Asylum Buildings. The Board shared the building funds for its restoration (A.R. 1886). with the State School, a relationship which existed Laurence Reynolds, Bench Clerk, Hobart, with the until well into this century. bought Government Cottage (destroyed by fire) and Resolving that the complex be known as "The Public Post-penal settlement 105

Building, Carnarvon", the Trustees felt a "high sense proceedings can reveal the extent of their labour. The of importance of the charge committed to their trust" labour of wives and children is even less documented. (Minutes, Carnarvon TownBo ard (C.T.B.), 7 January In 1881, Caretaker Evenden reports that, as at 1890, Council Chambers, Nubeena). Eaglehawk Neck and Koonya, a number of cottages In addition the C.T.B. shared the building with at Carnarvon were occupied by splitters working for a theatrical group, and leased one wing as a Mr H. Chesterman (C.S.D. 13/23/257, 21 April 1881, gymnasium (that section later demolished) to the S.T.A.). Johann Wocannawitch was logging black­ CarnarvonAthletic Club (ibid. 21 June 1890). In 1892, wood behind Impression Bay, and using bullocks to the Sports Committee gained approval to hold a supply "cut piles" to Oates the jetty builder in 1885. competition on the Reserve on Boxing Day - John Best, splitter of Carnarvon, was in debt to Mr (provided no intoxicating liquor was offered). Chesterman's account (for trousers, 10 yards flannel, In 1885 a Court of General Sessions was 10 yards calico and 1 pair of women's boots - plus empowered to act at Carnarvon. Its first two resident one bag of flour, 40 lb; beef, 20 lb; sugar and 2 lb chairmen were Col A.P. Garnett and Thomas Mason. tea (but could not remember six boxes of sardines» . These English gentlemen, hearing disagreements In defence, Best had drawn the goods because he and concerning the value of timber cut and split, of his mate (Williams) had to repair the old (convict) livestock and goods, must have suffered somewhat road before cutting 9000 7'/2-ftpalings (at 4/6d. per from culture shock. 100) and 2100 7-ft palings (at 3/0d. per 100). As well as catering for divine service and Best was indignant that he had been lowered lectures, the public chambers were used for fund­ to mere roadmaking - "I was 8 days mending the raising. In February 1894, a "Bazaar and Dance" were old road ... I was not to make the road - it is not the held to raise funds for a public hall at Koonya custom for a bushman to cut the roads" (Carnarvon (Minutes, C.T.B. 14 February 1894). Mr Mason - Court Records(C.C.R.), 2 November 1885, Council possibly because of his house being nearby - Chambers, Nubeena). complained politely, of dances occasionally The collection of pre-cut firewood by "continuing in the Public Buildings until the morning "craftsmen" (small inshore boat-operators) from along hours". Destruction by fire of the Asylum in January the northern foreshore for use in Hobart began early. 1895 dampened the early optimism of the Board. The "Taranna Wood Company" was contracted to Fortunately insured for £500, the buildings were cut timber by 1885. Samuel Crisp, bushman of the restored, while the Board met temporarily at the Cascades, sought recompense for mistaken collection Carnarvon Hotel. of wood from off the foreshore. Verbal contractual agreements caused conflict. David Harris, splitter between Carnarvon and Wedge Bay, agreed to supply TIMBER WORKERS: THE CONVICT Albert McGuinness with 10 000 6-ft palings at 9/6d. CONNECTION per 100 delivered to town (i.e. Hobart). "The conversation took place at the paling shack the week Concentration on property and ownership gives an after I took the order." Splitter Harris had drawn gqods unbalanced view of activity on the Peninsula. People on McGuinness's account at Trenham's store, Port without property leave no record for a materialistic Arthur - paying Harris' splitting licence. On another society to easily trace. Such a group were the occasion conflict arose over a stack of box palings bushworkers - timber splitters and log haulers. Most sent to . The incident reveals that agree­ were apparently itinerant workers, who were to ments were often made casually - in this case in the Tasmania what the shearers were to pastoral bar of the Carnarvon Hotel on Boxing Day 1894. but without the latters' organisational strength. Only The severity of treatment for defaulters, is those who remained to become farmers on the indicated by the case of Joseph McGuiness, splitter peninsula, such as George and Thomas Harris and of Carnarvon. In ill health, and out of work for ten George Seabourne, are listed as splitters at Carnarvon weeks with three children, he relied on the eldest boy in 1890. Johann Danker recalled living with four of "16 or 17". "Between us we only earned 12/- per convicts who "had been employed in paling splitting week at splitting." McGuiness was given one month in the bush since their release" (Tasmanian Mail to pay or a months gaol in default. cutting c. 1938, author's collection). As the journalist Unaffected by Victorian morality, George from the Ta smanian Mail noted, the settlers were Seaborne, bushman and splitter, cohabited with Anne also "timbermen". In both cases - the itinerant and Lawless at the Cascades. Her son Elwin Read, living the farmer settlers - records are scattered, often held with his mother "and Seaborne", gave evidence in privately_ Local government records including court his favour over 40 staves freighted to Hobart by 106 P. MacFie

Thomas Spaulding, master of the Gazelle (C.C.R. 7 least PortArthur was the one place where the convict April 1890). past was confronted (if superficially) and adapted by a community. At the Port Arthur Sports, chopping matches were held in the convict-era sawpits, while CHARACTER ESTABLISHED the locals looked down at the "gladiators" (A. McGuiness, pers. comm.). By the 1900s, the communities on the northem coast One possible explanation for our island's social had distinctive routines. Annual sports based on schizophrenia is in the impact of the convict "stain", running, woodchopping and sawing, were run by which made Ta smanians "cringe" more than other committees - for many new men probably the first Australians and disregard the past that shaped us, encounter with public office. With the development even in our denial. This denial of self, which of the fruit industry, case-making became a form of continued for nearly 100 years - four generations competition on the sports days. Orcharding resulted - allowed buildings to be pillaged, tombstones to in the first public body, the Tasman Peninsula Fruit be smashed and relatives forgotten. Despite the Board, being established in 1888. Meeting at the adulation of Tasmanians for Queen Victoria and Koonya State School, Messrs J. T. Blackwood, J. H. "British" qualities, an urge to be known and to know Cowen, G. Manning, Reuben Burden, James Noye kept intact folk memories and memorabilia which and Captain David Melville (Chairman) formed the enthusiast and specialist are both rediscovering. Codlin Moth Board, with T. F. Locke as Collector Perhaps in another generation Tasmanians and and Secretary (Minutes, C.T.B., 1888). Peninsularites will be at ease with their past - or A Board of Agriculture based at Koonya has the denial shaped us too permanently? developed the Koonya Show. Orcharding, fishing and logging provided chief employment. The families iIt the district just becoming established are the names REFERENCES e who f ature on the World War I memorials, an event ACKERMAN, J., 1896: THE WORLD THROUGH A which changed the community irreversibly. With its WOMAN'S EYES. Chicago: 92-98. Rifle Clubs and British patriotism, the peninsula was ANON., 1889: PICTURESQUE TASMANIA , HANDY ready for the demands of 1914-18. Not all were GUIDE FOR VISITORS. Hobart: 60-61. swayed; even the peninsula had its conscientious BENNETT, S. & BENNETT, B., 1980: BIO­ objectors. The exploitation of the peninsula and GEOGRAPHICAL REGISTER OF TASMANIAN 1851-1 960 Tasmania as a colony continued, despite Federation PARUAMENT, 171. - and arguably, still continues, with timber (for BLACKWOOD, G., 1987: Archibald Balckwood. The Tasman Peninsula Chronicle. No.2: 24-29. woodchipping) still a major employer. DENlSON, W., 1870: VARIETIES OF VICE REGAL UFE. VoLl. London: 317. HART, H. G., 1870: THE NEW ANNUAL ARMY UST. THE HATED STAIN AND TA SMAN London: 153. PENINSULA McCLYMONT, J.R., 1887: A first list of the birds of Tasman's Peninsula. Pap. Proc. R. Soc. Tasm.:110-113. Port Arthur and Tasman Peninsula provoke questions MUNDY, G.C., 1855: OUR ANTIPODES. Vol.II1. London: about the common themes of Australian history - 198-223. such as mateship and attitudes to bureaucracy. In NEVILLE, e.e., 1979: CHURCH OF CHRIST, TA SMAN particular, Tasman Peninsula demands explanation of PENINSULA CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS, 1878-1979. 18 its own, and Australian, conservatism. Why, in such Hobart: pp. NICHOLLS, M. (Ed.), 1973: TRAVELLER UNDER a provocative natural and human landscape, did a CONCERN. The Quaker Journals of Frederick Mackie typically cautious community develop? Why did Port on his Tour of Colonies, 1852-3. Hobart: Arthur become a showpiece for the macabre? Why 158-172. were basic questions about Australian society never PIKE, D. (Ed.), 1974: THE AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY asked - such as what has this experience done to OF BIOGRAPHY. Vol.3. Melbourne. us, both ex-prisoner and ex-guard? SHARPLES, E., 1977: CONGREGATIONAUSM IN At Port Arthur, the experience of prisoners was TASMANIA , 1830-77. Hobart. first told to visitors by paupers and the few officials TASMANIANSTEAM NAVIGATION CO., 1887: GUIDE FOR VISITORS TO TASMANIA , OR HOW TO SPEND remaining. The next generation of guides who retold MY HOUDAY. Hobart. these experiences were either sons of officials (Alf THOMAS, H., 1880: TOURISTS GUIDE TO TASMANIA . Mawle) or sons of European emigrants (Harry Fretk). Melbourne: 144. These people were living outside the tradition and WALKER, P.B., 1976: ALL THA T WE INHERIT. Hobart: therefore comfortable in their exaggerations. But at 28.