Or, an Unthinkable History
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The Dream – Or, An Unthinkable History Written in Memory of Women Transported to Botany Bay1787-1788 Joan Contessa Phillip PhD 2008 UNSW Supervisor: Dr Paul Dawson School of English, Media and Performing Arts Abstract Written in memory of the first women convicts transported to Botany Bay, this unthinkable history, a concept posed by the historian, Paul Carter, is an experiment in extending the boundaries of academic remembering, so that the complex lives of those resilient women might be given recognition. Researching the women’s lives required an ethnographic method, or ‘spatialized’ history, based on original archival research, together with research of rituals, art, literature, newspapers and music; and, importantly, the laws which circumscribed their behaviour. A research focus was thus the administration of criminal codes, including the development of the adversarial court and the characters of prominent judges, most especially the role and character of the Recorder of London. Theories of history based on the work of philosophers such as Heidegger, Benjamin, Deleuze, Guattari, Derrida, Foucault and the ethical philosophy of Wyschogrod, with her feminist perspective, have influenced narrative themes and tropes. This experimental hybridization of historical methods and the poetics of fiction might be classified as fictocritical historiography, where fictocritical functions as an epithet, not a polarity, as is the case with ficto-historiography and the coinage, faction. The semi-omniscient, intrusive voice of the narrator and dialogic placement of other ‘voices’, variously contrary, affirmative, informative or philosophical are ways in which the experiment enters debates about the relationship between history and fiction and the function of remembering. The incompleteness of records, their silences and partialities, the forensic reading required to contextualize them, the perspective from which the narrative is told, together with the metaphorical levels of all writing, are explicitly acknowledged. Fundamental to that acknowledgement is the narrative trope of simulacra: assemblages of surfaces and linkages drawn from multiple sources. The narrative figures are thus copies without originals; they are an acknowledgement of the absence which haunts memories, while avoiding scepticism or relativism. Simulacra are the innovative element in the grammar of this transgressive act of remembering with its footnotes and phantoms. Contents Acknowledgements i Illustrations iii Abbreviations iv Preface v 1 The Dream 1 2 Towards an Unthinkable History: Setting the Compass 10 3 Vignettes — Selected Introductions 36 4 Pilgrimage 50 5 Exploring London 2004: The Gordon Riots and the Enlightenment 68 6 31 December 1786: The Law in the Age of Reason 107 7 London July 2004: Seeking Elizabeth Needham 136 8 Elizabeth Needham 150 9 Of Jolly Damsels: Seeking Susannah Trippet 176 10 (H)Ánna(h) Mullens, An Irish Cailín: Encounters in Newgate, 1786 190 11 Uaigneas: Towards the Scaffold and Stake 224 12 From the Norfolk Broads 260 13 A Stourbridge Apprentice: Sarah Davis from Old Swinford 299 14 Sarah Bellamy of Belbroughton Parish: A Poor Prisoner Speaks With Her Own Breath 328 15 Martha Eaton and Newgate Mysteries 359 16 The Twelfth Day of Christmas, 1787: A Farewell Masque 373 Bibliography 393 Acknowledgements There are many people who have supported me during the processes of researching and writing this thesis, and to whom I shall always be indebted. In the first place, my thanks are due to my supervisor, Dr Paul Dawson. Paul’s theoretical breadth, his incisive comments at just the right time, his unerring eye for stylistic flaws, and the ways in which he has challenged my thinking, are deeply appreciated. My appreciation is also due to the Graduate Research School at the University of New South Wales for the opportunities extended to me, including a travel grant to further my research in England. To the School of English, as it was when I began this project, I could not be more grateful. The model of postgraduate collegiality fostered by the School is outstanding. The organization of seminars, review processes and the postgraduate colloquium, are some of the ways in which the School has facilitated my academic research. I shall always have fond memories of the depth and variety of the intellectual exchanges we shared at postgraduate seminars, and shall value the friendships which developed there. Thanks are also due to those who have been in the position of postgraduate co-ordinator, Professor Sue Kossew, Dr Anne Brewer and Dr Paul Dawson. A special thanks to my readers at the annual reviews, Professor Kossew, Professor Bill Ashcroft and Professor Peter Kuch. The balance between constructive criticism and encouragement was ideal. I am also grateful to Dr Suzanne Eggins for her advice and faith in me. The person to whom I owe special thanks is my husband, Rod Allan. His encouragement and unstinting devotion, through every hour of the day, were exceptional. He has made my study possible, sustaining my sometimes shaky progress, intellectually, emotionally and practically. His knowledge of, and commitment to, historical research, education, literature and social justice, inspires and nourishes ideas. I thank him for being the best of companions, and for all the time he has given to reading my drafts; for spending a day of his holiday in England at the British Library seeking elusive magazine and newspaper references; and for visiting sites at Belbroughton and meeting with the local Belbroughton historian, Madge Gibson-Jones. I shall always be indebted to my mentor and guide in the West Midlands, Dora Stephens, for her great interest in my endeavours, and for her generous gifts of books and clippings. Appreciation is also due to Dora’s daughter, Mary Jordan, for her delight in my research, for her loving hospitality, for driving me around villages to familiarize me with the landscapes, and for taking photographs of churches and inns. To the extended Stephens family I am also grateful. During my research in England, Catharine Parkes and my niece Genevieve Phillip-Towzell, and their families, also offered hospitality and support which I deeply appreciate. I also appreciate the generosity of the researchers, such as Richard Clark, Gillian Nott and David Fisher, who have made their work available on the internet, kindly answered a stranger’s queries and gave permission to reproduce their images. Special thanks also to Dr Raingard Esser of the University of West of England and Simon Carter, Director, Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, who also extended help to a stranger. i My admiration and thanks are also warmly extended to Dr Anne Beaumont, for her long and loyal friendship, and for the shining example of her adventurous and brave research. I am also grateful to Dr. Samantha Holland, another adventurous researcher, for her warm encouragement during the critical weeks prior thesis submission; and to my dear friend and archivist, Dr Louise Atherton, at the National Archives, Kew. Also many thanks to my dear Bathurst friends, of whom I shall mention just a few: Jan Woolley and Judith Parker, for their abiding friendship, integrity and intellectual wisdom, and for the opportunities Judith gave me when she was my Head of School; Professor Bob Meyenn, who also gave me many educational opportunities and encouraged challenging endeavours; Dr Barbara Hill, for blazing the way and for her intelligent humour and optimism; Dr Ruth Bacchus for her faith in me and the subtlety of her thinking; Professor Bill Green for his academic knowledge, for his insightful advice, for recommending references, and sending me the gift of an article or a book at just the right time; Dr Michael Gard for his probing questions and faith in me; Judy Taylor for her vivacious intelligence; Ian Kirkby for all his patient technical help and maintenance of my computer; Dr Joy Wallace, for her erudition and research companionship; and Deb Lee for her supportive interest. I extend many thanks to my other Bathurst friends, who have been my university and teaching colleagues and who always offer me the comforts of family: Denise and Warwick Franks, John and Denise Payne, Val and Bob Nimmo, and Dr Ron Sinclair and Gillian Baldwin, all of whom have nurtured my aspirations. I also extend warm thanks to Paula Clifford for introducing me to the Irish language and for wading into a river to gather rushes to demonstrate the making of a St Brigid’s Cross. There are, of course, many others who have shaped my social and intellectual life, and who have been enthusiastic about this research project including, Dr Julie Martello, Professor John Carroll, Professor Jo-Anne Reid; and Shona and Jack Thomson, a great role model who gave me my first academic opportunities. Appreciation is due to my extended family, including my sons, Andrew and Jonathan and their families; my stepsons and their families; the Boulter-Metcalf family; my cousins and grandchildren; my mother-in-law, Coral Allan; and my brother-in-law Robert Phillip, all of whom have been willing me onwards, and were ever gracious about my reduced participation in family activities. In addition, I offer special thanks to Carrie-Anne Boulter for the time she devoted to final proof-reading before the work was delivered to be bound; and special thanks to my sister-in-law, Dr Ann Stephenson, who accompanied me to significant convict sites in England, during the early stages of my interest in the First Fleet women. Lastly, I wish to acknowledge the creative benefit of a Masterclass at Varuna, The Writers’ House, at Katoomba, offered by Varuna’s Director, Peter Bishop. The Masterclass was a week of writing and reflection, nurtured by Peter’s careful readings and insightful comments, and by discussions with a small group of writers of the most varied interests. During the week we were joined by Charlotte Wood, who responded sympathetically to our writing and in shared her experiences as a writer and novelist.