Tag Archives: history

Willow Court

08 Friday Jun 2018

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This is Willow Court. A three-sided building with verandah, surrounding a central quadrangle. It dates back to 1830.IMG_5429IMG_1973IMG_2003IMG_5424IMG_1993

Originally, it was a barracks for sick and infirm convicts. Other buildings were added to the site, 23 in total between 1830 and 1968.IMG_2542IMG_2048IMG_2007IMG_2095IMG_2005

Over the years, the name of the institution housed here changed … invalid depot … lunatic asylum … hospital for the insane … mental diseases hospital. These names reflected changes in the community and government attitude towards intellectual disability and mental illness.

In 2000 Willow Court closed its doors as patients were de-institutionalised and cared for within the community. Tasmania was the first state in Australia to adopt the “social model of care”.

Communities were left with large empty buildings and equally large maintenance bills, often too much for small municipal councils or state governments to bear through their rate payer/tax payer base. Theft, arson and vandalism all added to already growing problems of natural decay.

Today, some buildings have been renovated and re-purposed. A popular restaurant, a motel, antique shops, sets for film and tv filming, for art installations. There is talk of a museum. The Antique Shop is a fitting companion, linking items from the past to these historical buildings,

Other buildings continue to decay whilst new owners are sought.IMG_2100

Willow Court is of national significance as an asylum that was in continuous use for 170 years and as the first to close. It is still used in the education of students in disability, aged care and mental health.

Line of bricks

13 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in days out

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This is the Convict Brick Trail in Campbell Town, Tasmania. The bricks are dedicated to some of the convicts who were transported to Australia from 1788, for almost one hundred years.IMG_3937

The trail was a privately organised project, with bricks purchased and details provided by individuals or descendants of the convicts identified on the brick.

Each brick states the name and age of the person, the ship they arrived on, their crime and sentence. Also, some other piece of information, perhaps where they were from, who they married, where they died, their achievements (or otherwise) in their new land.IMG_3935

Even James Bond gets a mention!?!IMG_3933

Government House, Tasmania.

05 Sunday Nov 2017

Posted by in days out, weekly photo challenge

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This week’s photo challenge is to share a Peek of something, photos to pique our interest. The theme is perfect, for today was the annual “open day” at our Government House in Hobart. We had a peek at the building and gardens that are usual closed to the public.IMG_7291IMG_7265

We peeked in windows, over walls, through trees to get views of the house and views from the house. Tickets to go inside were sold out, unfortunately. We’ll save that for another day.

It is the home and official residence of the Governor of Tasmania, built in the 1850’s, on land that overlooks the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens and the River Derwent. It was built from sandstone that was quarried on site (the excavated holes were made into ornamental pools). Cedar and teak were recycled from an old ship, slate for the roof was imported from Wales and furniture was imported from London.IMG_7259 (1)IMG_7323

“Footsteps”

16 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by in creativity, remembering / musing

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A new bronze sculpture was unveiled in Hobart on Saturday.

Between 1803 and 1853, nearly 13,000 female convicts arrived in Tasmania, bringing with them about 2,500 children, many of whom were born on the long sea voyage from the UK.

Three life size women and a young boy represent those early Europeans who arrived on this exact spot in Hobart.IMG_6506

Each tells a different story of the hardship of life for women and children in the penal colony.

The first is of a young woman accused of stealing cattle, the second of an Irish famine victim, the third a housemaid who fell pregnant and the fourth a young boy separated from his mother.

The plinths list the ships that arrived over one hundred and fifty years ago. Others list the names of the women who arrived with their children. IMG_6507IMG_6508

We saw the sculptures earlier in the day, whilst still under wraps. They were unveiled by Tasmania’s Govenor, Kate Warner, and the Irish President, Michael Higgins.

… “These sculptures remind us also of the suffering of the migrants of our times…. that the trauma of displacement and forced exile, for many reasons, are not experiences confined to our past but are the lived experiences of millions today around the world, including many who now call Australia home.”

These sculptures were created by Irish artist, Rowan Gillespie, modelled by descendants of Tasmania’s convicts. IMG_6372

Tasmania – The Apple Isle

17 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by in one with nature

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Apples have been an important crop in Tasmania since European settlement. They were exported all over the world, particularly to Europe, with the industry at it’s peak during the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Although exports declined over the decades, when Britain joined the European Common Market in 1973, the export industry collapsed. Today, it is a $40 million industry, still growing a wide range of apple varieties.

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Tasmania, as an island, has a natural quarantine advantage, which is strictly enforced. If you buy Tasmania apples in Melbourne, you can not bring them back into Tassie, on a flight or on the ferry.

I took these photos at the side of the road, along the edge of an orchard, farmed by four generations of the same family. Their apples are delicious, organically grown since the 1990’s. They make good cider too.

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Weekly Photo Challenge – Atop

17 Friday Mar 2017

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“The Monument” commemorates the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is the worlds tallest free standing stone column.

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The column was also originally designed as a giant telescope, with lenses at the top and bottom and a trap door in the flaming urn at the top, to view the night sky.

This photo from http://www.themonument.org.uk shows the gold flame sculpture that sits above the viewing balcony.

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Atop

Weekly Photo Challenge – Against The Odds

18 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by in remembering / musing, weekly photo challenge

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Lighthouses seem to defy the odds, especially the old historic ones. It amazes me how they were built in the often rough remote locations, with the equipment of the day. And, of course, they did beat the odds, reducing the number of ship wrecks and groundings.

This is the Iron Pot Lighthouse at the entrance of the River Derwent and shipping lane to Hobart.

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It is the first lighthouse built in Tasmania, in 1833. This square lighthouse made of rubble was built within an earlier timber frame where the light apparatus was raised and lowered by hand.

It is the second oldest lighthouse ever built in Australia. The first built at Sydney Heads in 1818.

Iron Pot was the first to use locally manufactured optical apparatus and is believed to be the first Australia lighthouse to convert to solar power.

There is debate about the origin of it’s name, one story relates that since the early days of European settlement, whaler’s pots were left on the small island where the lighthouse is located.

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Against the Odds

Tall Ships

10 Friday Feb 2017

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Hobart is hosting the bi-annual Australian Wooden Boats Festival this weekend.

There was a spectacular show on the River Derwent this afternoon as the Tall Ships arrived and were escorted into the city waterfront by a couple of hundred smaller crafts.yiqa4118umnd9764ayus9068

I’m so glad that I took the afternoon off work to join the spectators before enjoying the view from our balcony. shps3427

I  then went to see the ships up close on the waterfront.wdev9618nedt7582twne7072mxef7216xnjd5116

Some of these ships spent ten days sailing from Sydney or Melbourne. It’s hard to imagine the months that the first Europeans spent at sea, as they journeyed to the far side of the world. This year celebrates 375 years since Abel Tasman visited this island that now bears his name.

What would you take?

08 Wednesday Feb 2017

Posted by in remembering / musing

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There is a fascinating exhibition as part of the commemorations for Black Tuesday about items that real families took when they left their homes, fleeing the bush fires.

There are stories of hidden jewellery, war medals later found in the rubble, precious items that survived heat that could melt a telephone. Furniture and possessions piled out in the front yard.

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One mother packed a small case filled with toys and cardigans for the children, nappies for the baby and the family photograph album.

As the drama unfolded for the adults, the children at Sorrell School were evacuated to open ground. A circus was in town and camped there. So the children remembered the excitement of seeing elephants wading at the water’s edge. One of their best school days ever. A total contrast to other memories of the day.

One unexpected item that many young women took with them was their contraceptive pills. It is something my generation and my daughter’s generation take for granted. We forget how revolutionary it was, how it gave women real control of their fertility for the first time in history. For women born in the 1930’s, forty percent had nine or more pregnancies. The Pill changed that. It was introduced in Australia in 1961, but was still controversial at the time of the fires. Many doctors would only prescribe it to married women, it was relatively difficult to obtain, so it was a precious possession.

What would you take?