Women of the Cascades and Men of the Tenny – Convicts All

Hobart, Tasmania

In the eighty years of convict transportation to Australia, between 1788-1868, some 162,000 people (including children) were transported. Only 24,000 of these were women and a half of these women were sent to Van Diemen’s Land. It was a male dominated population most certainly. Hobart in Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) received approx. 65,000 men and women transportee’s sent out from Britain, Ireland and several other English colonies. Many of their crimes were crimes of poverty and the brutal consequence of the industrial revolution, famine, as well as political crimes. 

What Became of Van Diemen’s Land’s Youngest Convict Lads?

One of the highlights of our visit to Tasmania was our venture into the convict punishment precinct of Port Arthur, stretched out as it is on the Tasman Peninsula at the very southern end of Aus’. A penal settlement, isolated by the cold antarctic winds and separated from the main Tasmanian island by the savage dog line across the isthmus of the peninsula which kept the convicts in, and the good society of Van Diemen’s Land out. The Dog Line was accompanied by a guards hut where guards and their families lived and this was as close as polite society came.

Our YaYa Adventures into Hobart & Ratho

Hobart Harbour, Tasmania

Two hundred years ago two young sisters (children really) stepped off the “Castle Forbes” which had just docked into the new settlement of Hobart in Tasmania. Ann and Margaret Honeyman were just 11 & 10 years old. They had been newly indentured to the Reid family as maids to the Reids two babes. They had left their mother and two younger brothers aboard the Castle Forbes to travel onto Sydney Town having just received news that their convict father, who they hoped to join up with in Sydney Town, had died. These two girls, new arrivals to the penal settlement of Hobart, a town settled just 18yrs prior, were Scottish emigrants now bound for the colonial outpost along the Clyde River in the highlands near to what was to become the township of Bothwell on the Central Tasmanian High Country. 

Australia’s First Slaves & Servants

Two hundred years ago this year, a branch of my family arrived into Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).  It was a penal outpost then, one envisioned by those in authority of the day, to take in the tens of thousands of convicts over the next seventy years.

These were people expelled from the British Isles as the “Upper Crust” attempted to deal with those living in poverty, the destitute. Those often starving lower class and the disenfranchised. People who were mostly a product of the industrial revolution of the day, that was being experienced in their own country that of the British Isles.

Mon Repos, Bundaberg – Turtles and Taking to the Skies

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The opportunity to spend time in the beautiful backwater of Bargara in Central Qld Coast, on the Bundy shoreline, is something not to be passed up. What draws us to the region is the nesting of the turtles. Mon Repos, is a precious mainland turtle rookery, active between November and March. This is truly something special that we enjoy visiting when we can. From the labouring of the mums… to the hatching of the clutches, sprinkled up and down the beach at the National Parks Turtle centre near Bundaberg in Qld.

The Tamar Valley – Launceston

At the end of our stretch of the Heritage Highway we planned to camp up for a good week, cleaning, organizing and restocking. Launceston was the obvious choice, but not a lover of crowds we decided to stretch our toes instead at the very mouth of the Tamar River, at Low Heads near George Town.

Van Diemans Land and the Bushmen

Hobart and districts, which sprawl up the shoreline of the Derwent River, hold a wonderful history and is one of the major draws to visiting Tasmania. It is a history that the Government tried to loose back in 1856 when they renamed the southern Island of Australia, Tasmania.

Cruising Sydney : Parramatta River

Being in Sydney for a stint, while we wait for the motor upgrade on our cruiser we have been forced to take advantage of public transport. Now, we are both retired and had arranged for the local ‘Opal’ transport cards. As pensioners and seniors we have our own class of card and what a gem these ‘Opal’ cards are… And what a wonderful fraternity of senior concessions NSW has, this specifically in the Sydney region for golden oldies to enjoy. Wake up Queensland… the Go-card’s barely cut it in comparison. Both these cards, as within other States, have been designed to facilitate the use of public transport with ‘tap on, tap off’ technology and I LOVE our NSW ‘Opal’ Cards.

Women Within Traditional Aussie Culture

I’m working on a novel at the moment as I do in our travels and one of the best thing I find about travelling my country are the experiences you have, the knowledge and the memories you gain which all become part of the story within my writing. The book I am working on presently is the third book in the Spirit Children Series and having very much enjoyed the process of the storyline in previous books, this third novel offers a number of enjoyable challenges as the characters follow in the wake of our own travels. The story is that of an ancient Lore and its survival in a contemporary world.

Australia Day – A Peoples Celebration!

Free E-book, available for download from Amazon.com for a short time to celebrate Australia Day and its true meaning.

“Out on the Never Never” is a true Australian adventure in traveling our land. One celebrating the love of our Land as two Grannies, two pups in a ‘Bitch Box’ set out to cross the continent in their little caravan… join them on their journey to discover modern-day Australia.

Celebrating our love of the Land and our Freedom. This is the original meaning of the peoples celebration known as Australia Day, the 26^th January.

Down through the history of Australia many groups, factions and Governors have tried to hijack what is and always was the “peoples” celebration, this to their own cause but it is truly time we reclaimed what rightfully belongs to the people.