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.
Showing posts with label World Heritage Site. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Heritage Site. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Sunny Sunday
On a glorious spring morning, in wonderful bright sunshine, we gathered at Woolmers Cottage, out in the beautiful courtyard, the weather being so perfect. This courtyard is soon to be paved with flagstones made of sandstone to match those used in the verandas around the front of the house. Woolmers Cottage, hardly a cottage, is more a large graceful Victorian mansion with stunning veiws over the fields and hedgerows of the Norfolk Plains towards Longford.
But, I digress. There we were gathered (fifty or sixty people, mostly members of Woolmers Foundation Inc) to hear Barry Jones AO give his take on events leading to the lengthy process of assessment for World heritage Listing (which includes five Tasmanian Convict Sites) at Brazilia in July. He's an entertainng speaker and mentioned Kevin Rudd (remember him? Barry said) at one point because Mr Rudd became fascinated with the convict history of Tas as a result of finding out that he has five convict ancestors in his family. Barry mentioned how very useful it might be if we could find other helpful contacts in Government who also have convict ancestors.
The point being that so many of the sites now listed (jointly) will need some form of financial asistance going forward - and 'going forward' is certainly our intention. It was interesting to hear of the behind-the-scences machinations leading to these World Heritage Listings and to find that the process has taken more than twenty years. Talk about lengthy and complicated!
But now begins the challenge of marketing and promoting this World Heritage Listing in order to tell the fascinating Convict Story to as many visitors as possible.
Should any of my readers (and I hope there are many!) wish to join Woolmers Foundation (which is a not-for-profit organisation run mainly by volunteers) please contact: enquiries@woolmers.com.au or access the website: www.woolmers.com.au or telephone: (03) 6391 2230.
A plea was also made on Sunday for volunteers who are urgently needed right now to weed in the National Rose Garden at Woolmers - please, please do volunteer, even a few hours a week would be wonderful - contact details are as above.
But, I digress. There we were gathered (fifty or sixty people, mostly members of Woolmers Foundation Inc) to hear Barry Jones AO give his take on events leading to the lengthy process of assessment for World heritage Listing (which includes five Tasmanian Convict Sites) at Brazilia in July. He's an entertainng speaker and mentioned Kevin Rudd (remember him? Barry said) at one point because Mr Rudd became fascinated with the convict history of Tas as a result of finding out that he has five convict ancestors in his family. Barry mentioned how very useful it might be if we could find other helpful contacts in Government who also have convict ancestors.
The point being that so many of the sites now listed (jointly) will need some form of financial asistance going forward - and 'going forward' is certainly our intention. It was interesting to hear of the behind-the-scences machinations leading to these World Heritage Listings and to find that the process has taken more than twenty years. Talk about lengthy and complicated!
But now begins the challenge of marketing and promoting this World Heritage Listing in order to tell the fascinating Convict Story to as many visitors as possible.
Should any of my readers (and I hope there are many!) wish to join Woolmers Foundation (which is a not-for-profit organisation run mainly by volunteers) please contact: enquiries@woolmers.com.au or access the website: www.woolmers.com.au or telephone: (03) 6391 2230.
A plea was also made on Sunday for volunteers who are urgently needed right now to weed in the National Rose Garden at Woolmers - please, please do volunteer, even a few hours a week would be wonderful - contact details are as above.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Our very own - "Living Treasure"!
We're in for a rare treat at Woolmers on 3rd October when Dr Barry Jones AO., who has been declared one of the National Trust's Australian Living Treasures, will be Guest Speaker at the AGM of Woolmers Foundation Inc. The talk will celebrate the Tasmanian Convict Sites being accorded World Heritage Status.
A former politician and renowned academic with a strong interest in education and civil liberties, Dr Jones has a string of letters after his name and is a prolific writer and passionate social activist. He is widely known because of his appearances on Television quiz shows and he's an accomplished and witty public speaker.
Named in 1988 as one of Australia's 'Great Minds', he is currently a Board member of the Victorian Opera and Chairman of the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority.
He is an eloquent advocate for Australia at the Brasilia meeting of UNESCO and very influential in gaining World Heritage status for eleven Australian Convict Sites, five of which are in Tasmania.
"It's just great to be able to celebrate this nomination, after the lengthy time it has been in the offing", says Woolmers CEO Damian Saunders, "And this is sure to be a fascinating talk, so do come along - the more the merrier!"
Starting at 10.30am on Sunday 3rd October, at Woolmers Cottage, and preceded by the AGM of Woolmers Foundation Inc., the talk by Barry Jones will commence at 11.00am.
Light lunch soup and sandwiches - $10 per person.
For catering purposes please RSVP by September 29th to enquiries@woolmers.com.au or telephone: 6391 2230
A former politician and renowned academic with a strong interest in education and civil liberties, Dr Jones has a string of letters after his name and is a prolific writer and passionate social activist. He is widely known because of his appearances on Television quiz shows and he's an accomplished and witty public speaker.
Named in 1988 as one of Australia's 'Great Minds', he is currently a Board member of the Victorian Opera and Chairman of the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority.
He is an eloquent advocate for Australia at the Brasilia meeting of UNESCO and very influential in gaining World Heritage status for eleven Australian Convict Sites, five of which are in Tasmania.
"It's just great to be able to celebrate this nomination, after the lengthy time it has been in the offing", says Woolmers CEO Damian Saunders, "And this is sure to be a fascinating talk, so do come along - the more the merrier!"
Starting at 10.30am on Sunday 3rd October, at Woolmers Cottage, and preceded by the AGM of Woolmers Foundation Inc., the talk by Barry Jones will commence at 11.00am.
Light lunch soup and sandwiches - $10 per person.
For catering purposes please RSVP by September 29th to enquiries@woolmers.com.au or telephone: 6391 2230
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
More about World Heritage
Another word about that UNESCO World Heritage listing of Woolmers and Brickendon Estates near Longford - and the word, or rather words, I give you are quoted from the actual nomination of the two properties. In other words these are the reasons behind that listing.
"The Estates are representative of the use of penal transportation to expand Britain's geopolitical spheres of influence, and to rehabilitate criminals and integrate them into a distant penal colony." And they (the two properties) are associated with "global developments in the punishment of crime in the 19th century."
That all sounds a long winded way of saying the Brits sent their excess crims to Tas (or Van Diemen's Land as it was then called) because their jails were hopelessly overcrowded. Transportation (which was automatically for life) was also held up as a threat and, supposedly, prevented people in Britain from becoming criminals - though clearly it didn't work that well!
Many so-called 'crimes' were no more than the result of extreme poverty and today would not be considered crimes at all.
There are many fascinating convict stories associated with Woolmers and Brickndon and research is being done to uncover some of their stories. Male convicts lived and worked mainly at Brickendon while the females lived at Woolmers and the two were separated by the Macquarie River (not that the river was a deterrent to them forming 'attachments'!)
Woolmers and Brickendon Estates represent the 'good' or the more positive side of the convict system, because many convicts were able to work toward their eventual freedon. For this reason there are no chains or prison cells to be seen at either estate, though the convict workers were sometimes punished or more frequently simply sent back to the 'factory' if they were disobedient or attempted to escape.
Of course, convicts were a wonderful source of free labour for settlers and thus all the buildings you can see today at both Woolmers and Brickendon (along with many other pastoral properties in Tasmania) were actually built by convict labour.
Port Arthur and other penal settlements are associated with the terrible cruelty that characterised the system - chains and narrow cells giving today's visitors a 'frisson' of horror!
But the fact is only a very small proportion of convicts (less than 10%) were ever sent to Port Arthur, the majority being assigned to work throughout the new colony.
The whole penal system was a complicated one and there were many ideas associated with the system that we find convoluted and often pretty bizarre today.
For example female convicts were considered automatically morally bad as a class and it was regarded as a crime for a female convict to become pregnant. They were then regarded as 'fallen women' and 'useless', though the morals of men were never judged in this way (how, I wonder, did they think women got pregnant in the first place?)
Contradictorily, producing children was seen as a good thing (but preferably only ater marriage) and a way of providing more labour for the new colony.
Amazingly, it was also thought that if payment for work was withheld, this would cause workers to hope for a better life - imagine trying to make that one work today!
"The Estates are representative of the use of penal transportation to expand Britain's geopolitical spheres of influence, and to rehabilitate criminals and integrate them into a distant penal colony." And they (the two properties) are associated with "global developments in the punishment of crime in the 19th century."
That all sounds a long winded way of saying the Brits sent their excess crims to Tas (or Van Diemen's Land as it was then called) because their jails were hopelessly overcrowded. Transportation (which was automatically for life) was also held up as a threat and, supposedly, prevented people in Britain from becoming criminals - though clearly it didn't work that well!
Many so-called 'crimes' were no more than the result of extreme poverty and today would not be considered crimes at all.
There are many fascinating convict stories associated with Woolmers and Brickndon and research is being done to uncover some of their stories. Male convicts lived and worked mainly at Brickendon while the females lived at Woolmers and the two were separated by the Macquarie River (not that the river was a deterrent to them forming 'attachments'!)
Woolmers and Brickendon Estates represent the 'good' or the more positive side of the convict system, because many convicts were able to work toward their eventual freedon. For this reason there are no chains or prison cells to be seen at either estate, though the convict workers were sometimes punished or more frequently simply sent back to the 'factory' if they were disobedient or attempted to escape.
Of course, convicts were a wonderful source of free labour for settlers and thus all the buildings you can see today at both Woolmers and Brickendon (along with many other pastoral properties in Tasmania) were actually built by convict labour.
Port Arthur and other penal settlements are associated with the terrible cruelty that characterised the system - chains and narrow cells giving today's visitors a 'frisson' of horror!
But the fact is only a very small proportion of convicts (less than 10%) were ever sent to Port Arthur, the majority being assigned to work throughout the new colony.
The whole penal system was a complicated one and there were many ideas associated with the system that we find convoluted and often pretty bizarre today.
For example female convicts were considered automatically morally bad as a class and it was regarded as a crime for a female convict to become pregnant. They were then regarded as 'fallen women' and 'useless', though the morals of men were never judged in this way (how, I wonder, did they think women got pregnant in the first place?)
Contradictorily, producing children was seen as a good thing (but preferably only ater marriage) and a way of providing more labour for the new colony.
Amazingly, it was also thought that if payment for work was withheld, this would cause workers to hope for a better life - imagine trying to make that one work today!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
'POSTCARDS' the TV Show
On a glorious day - one of the very first glorious days of spring - I sat in the sun at Woolmers waiting to welcome a Television film crew from WIN Channel 7.
They came to film both Woolmers and neighbouring Brickendon for the TV program 'Postcards'. It's a half hour travel show which is normally screened late on a Sunday afternoon.
While filming took - well hours really - the actual segment will probably last only minutes when it finally goes to air. Such is Television land.....
So lucky that the weather had turned out great for us and everyone was excited that we had this wonderful opportunity to showcase our World Heritage status to the rest of Australia.
Woopee! Is what I say and I just hope the rest of Australia is watching for the show!
They came to film both Woolmers and neighbouring Brickendon for the TV program 'Postcards'. It's a half hour travel show which is normally screened late on a Sunday afternoon.
While filming took - well hours really - the actual segment will probably last only minutes when it finally goes to air. Such is Television land.....
So lucky that the weather had turned out great for us and everyone was excited that we had this wonderful opportunity to showcase our World Heritage status to the rest of Australia.
Woopee! Is what I say and I just hope the rest of Australia is watching for the show!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Woolmers Estate World Heritage Listing
A total of eleven built sites (as opposed to significant natural areas of National Parks), in Australia have this week-end been declared by UNESCO to be World Heritage Convict Sites and five of those chosen are in Tasmania.
All are important places where the British Empire sent some 166,000 of its convicts over a period of eighty years from 1787 to 1868. British transportation of convicts to Australia was the first-ever attempt to use the labour of convicts to build a whole new society.
And - in the fullness of time - it worked! They could not possibly nave imagined back then how amazingly well it would all turn out.
The eleven sites spread accross Australia are listed so you can see just how important the ones chosen in Tassie really are, joining such places as the Sydney Opera House on the World Heritage list.
On the mainland the historic convict sites are Norfolk Island; Old Government House at Parramatta; Hyde Park Barracks in central Sydney; Old Great North Road NSW; Cockatoo Island Convict Site NSW; and Freemantle Prison in WA.
The five important Tasmanian Convict Sites are:
- Cascades Female Factory in Hobart
- Port Arthur Historic Site
- Coal Mines on the Tasman Peninsular
- Maria Island Darlington Probation Station
- And last by by no means least - Woolmers and adjoining Brickendon Estates which have been listed as one historic precinct. It's fantastic to get this international recognition of the importance of both properties.
These two beautiful 19th century estates, near Longford in the Northern Midlands, illustrate the 'good' side of the convict story, where convicts could be assigned to work out their sentence, eventually obtaining their freedom.
Port Arthur (which is now Government owned) and the Coal Mines Historic Site represent the opposite extreme of the penal system, in all its misguided cruelty.
Strangely, this cruel severity seems to hold the most fascination for visitors, Port Arthur attracting by far the biggest numbers.
Just to avoid misunderstandings, (of which I know there are some) Brickendon is still owned and operated by the Archer family as it has been since earliest settlement. Woolmers Estate, on the other hand, originally also an Archer property, is now owned and operated by a non-for-profit Foundation and is administered by a Board of Management, all of whom are volunteers.
Woolmers is open all year and it's well worth visiting to take the tour of the house and property. If you have not yet visited these beautiful and significant historic World Heritage Estates - it's surely time to do so!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Woolmers Estate
Here is the place to read all about Woolmers Estate in Longford, Tasmania, Australia.
Woolmers finds out at the end of this month about the World Heritage Status.
Exciting times ahead! Stay tuned!
Woolmers finds out at the end of this month about the World Heritage Status.
Exciting times ahead! Stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)