Woolmers Annual General Meeting is on Sunday October 9th 2011 at 10.30am at (the newly renovated) Woolmers Cottage

The Annual General Meeting of Woolmers Foundation will be held followed by two fascinating speakers.

This event is open to the general public, please do join us and bring along family and friends to enjoy the occasion. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear two fascinating speakers; to view the renovation work undertaken on this lovely old building, and to enjoy a sociable lunch - and you are invited to take out Woolmers Foundation membership or (better yet!) Life Membership!

The Launch of 'Making their Mark(R)' by Christina Henri will take place at 11.30 am.

Christina says: "Making their Mark has set up a series of individual bonnet tributes to convict women on sites (including Woolmers Estate) that relate to time spent in England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales as they awaited transportation, or during their sentence served out in Australia - in female factories, gaols and private establishments."

Christina is a conceptual artist from Hobart, Tasmania. Her approach towards unveiling convict heritage through the creation of unique installations, images and paintings, positions her as an international centrepiece in the cultural heritage of understanding that will bind the tattered fabric of convict history as we know it today. Her Roses from the Heart(R) installation has already atracted 20,066 bonnet tributes. The Memorial requires 25,566 bonnets to represent the lives of all the women sentenced to transportation to Australia as convicts (1788-1853).

Lunch will be served at 12.00 and at 12.45 pm:

Associate Professor Hamish Maxwell-Steward will speak on the intriguing "Founders and Survivors"

This is a partnership that is seeking to record and study the founding population of 73,000 men, women and children who were transported to Tasmania. Hamish has placed a particular emphasis recently on the convicts assigned to Woolmers and Brickendon Estates and he will provide an insight into how this rich convict material can be used to create highly memorable visitor experiences at the two Estates.

Hamish is a gifted and very popular speaker who described himself as follows in acknowledgements for the Skulduggery games:

"Dr Maxwell-Steward was transported to Van Diemen's land from Glasgow in 1996. He currently teaches history at the University of Tasmania where he eagerly awaits news of his conditional pardon."

For seating and catering purposes, please RSVP by Wednesday October 5th indicating if you would like to join us for a light lunch at $20.

RSVP to enquiries@woolmers.com.au or phone 6391 2230/

CHEERY CHERRY BLOSSOM

There's a spectacular signt to see right now at Woolmers near Longford - the cherry blossom is out! Every bit as wonderful as those emotive pictures we see of Japanese gardens at cherry blossom time, and this is on our own doorstep.

There's a long row of Prunus 'Mount Fuji' trees which have now reached their full six meters high maturity and they present a truly delightful vista. The flowers are semi-double, pale pink and have a lovely fragrance.

Visit Woolmers purely and simply to take in this aromatic, sadly all too short-lived sight, but of course there ism much, much more to see and do while you're there.

The cherry blossom is a cheerful signal that spring has truly arrived and we can look forward to warmer things to come!

A NEW HEAD GARDENER FOR WOOLMERS ROSE GARDEN

PASSIONATE gardener and horticulturist SUSAN GIBBONS has reently taken over the reins as Head Gardener at Woolmers Rose Garden.

Clearly filled with enthusiasm and excited about her work, Susan explained how she would like to make this such a breath-taking and inspiring garden that people would be just knocked out by its perfection. And she's working methodically (and extremely hard) to make that happen and is not at all afraid of getting her hands dirtly in the process.

At this time of year major pruning has been completed as well as feeding the roses and improving the quality of the soil. And Susan is certainly making a difference already; it's easy to see where she's been in the garden.

Luckily for Woolmers and the Rose Garden Susan is very motivated to improve everthing including the soil quality. She speaks highly of David Duggan who runs "Soil First', the supplier of soil and compost for the garden.

David is apparently just as passionate about compost as Susan is about roses!

Visit the National Rose Garden Website.

RECEPTION AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE

Lucky, lucky me! Invited this week to a reception at Gov House - by the Gov and his Missus! This exciting event was arranged specially to mark the inscription of the Aust. Convict Sites World Heritage Listings.

Such a grand house and set on the harbour in Hobart's premier possie. It was all very formal of course, starting with the gardens, so that even walking in after parking the car is a pleasant experience. Inside, the wonderful ballroom was a surprise to me with its spectacularly decorative ceiling and great acoustics.

And I was quiety concious of the honour (along with several others) of being there representing Woolmers Estate.

As if this were not enough, we were then entertained at a much more informal function (well dinner really) and fascinating tour of the Penitentiary Chapel and Criminal courts, which I had never seen before. We were even taken to see the hanging yard - rather ghoulish and not to my taste at all.

Althogether a great evening and a wonderful oppportunity to meet and greet other key people working in the heritage sector.