by Richard | Mar 9, 2020 | Tell me about process
Stripping, machining, mechanical excavation. All describe the process of getting a machine to do the work for us. However, unlike job automation or the rise of sentient AI, machining aids our process – rather than threatens to replace us. Getting an operator in...
by Richard | Mar 5, 2020 | Bedtime reading
During the 2017-20 Australian Research Council project, Landscapes of Production and Punishment, we collated much information on the type of work that convicts were doing at places like Port Arthur. The following table gives you some idea about the very many trades...
by Richard | Mar 5, 2020 | Bedtime reading
The following is adapted from the cunningly-titled 2005 treatise Penitentiary Workshops: Historical Analysis (Greg Jackman, Richard Tuffin), PAHSMA. Available from no good bookstores. A series of maps have been included. If you want to know more about how the site...
by Richard | Mar 2, 2020 | March
Mechanical excavation of the site has finished, leaving behind a site that suddenly looks a lot larger than it did when it was safely covered with turf. Rain over the weekend has brought out the site nicely, showing up distinct deposits (former gravelled surfaces,...
by Richard | Feb 27, 2020 | February
It’s begun! Today the first sod of earth was turned. Well, a man in a machine scraped away the first bit of dry topsoil – but you get the picture. Over the years since the site was given up as a penal station in 1877, there has been a lot of activity...
