by Richard | Feb 11, 2021 | Bedtime reading
For the last week I have been belaboured by a lurgy. Struck down in my prime and driven to my bed, where I watched endless Parks and Recreation until my eyes bled. I think I have found a new role model in the form of one Ron Swanson. Every meal shall now be steak,...
by Richard | Jan 22, 2021 | Bedtime reading
Convicts wore clothes. A shocking fact I know. Sometimes they wore clothes that had been imported from other places (such as the British Isles). Sometimes they wore clothes that had been manufactured locally. Most of the time they wore a uniform. Occasionally a poor...
by Richard | Dec 7, 2020 | Bedtime reading
When historians and other pointy-headed folk talk about the Australian convict period they generally divide it into two main phases: the assignment period (1814-1839) and the probation period (1839-53). Prior to 1814 all was chaos, starvation and downright anarchy....
by Richard | Nov 24, 2020 | Bedtime reading
I used to temper the clay and wheel it to the table, and as he moulded the bricks he placed them on the board of my barrow, and I wheeled them to the drying ground. These bricks were used for building a long row of cells for separate treatment. (1) If you visit...
by Richard | Nov 16, 2020 | Bedtime reading
Port Arthur – like many convict stations – was built through the exploitation of the landscape’s raw materials. Timber, shell (for lime mortar), dolerite, coal, clay, even seawater (for salt) was extracted, transported and processed to feed the penal...
by Richard | Nov 6, 2020 | Bedtime reading
A recent question from avid reader Johnathon got me thinking about dolerite. This iron-hard stone is a familiar sight in Tasmania – particularly the south-east where its columnar formations fringe much of the coastline. Dolerite formed about 200 million years...
