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Rajah
Contemporary Quilt Exhibition
A
second showing of the contemporary quilts created as part of
the Rajah Quilt Bicentenary Project was on display at
the Forestry Gallery, Melville St, Hobart in November 2005.
These quilts were made to complement the showing of the original
Rajah
Quilt in Tasmania in 2004.
This is an evocative and informative exhibition. Even
if you saw the quilts when displayed in 2004, seeing them in
this gallery provides further insight.
Also on display was the
Female Family Founders Database.
In 1841, 180
female convicts were transported on the Rajah.
Slipping Through the
Cracks ... (the art of disobedience)
This
play was a performance installation devised by
Lisa Morisset,
Jo Richardson and
Jody Kingston. It
re-embodied the voices and recorded histories and experiences
of the women who spent time in the factory – convicts whose
voices and experiences are conspicuously silent; overshadowed
by the male convict experience or rearticulated through government
records alone.
The performance was commissioned by the Female Factory Historic
Site Ltd and was created and workshopped over eight weeks and
performed over three nights in March 2001. in Yard 1.
Profiling local emerging artists and performers and working
with over sixty people, this community-based project used text,
film, music and movement in a site specific, hour and a half
installation.
While female convicts had surprisingly high literacy rates it
is extremely difficult to find first hand accounts of their
experiences. The performance attempted not to speak for them,
but to create a space for hearing what they may have spoken
– listening for the voices in the walls and the stories that
have slipped through the cracks.
The piece originated from a twenty-minute opera Whisper the
Bitter Blue by Lisa Morisset and Jody Kingston, which was
performed in 1999 at the Colonial Eye Conference at the Theatre
Royal and later workshopped through the Tasmanian Conservatorium
of Music’s Opera Program.
Profile
- Lisa Morisset
Lisa
Morisset
is
a Hobart based writer, director and performer. Her works
for music theatre have been performed in the IHOS Music Theatre
Laboratory, The Tasmanian New Music Festival, The Tasmanian
Conservatorium Education Unit, Colonial Eye Conference and Women
in Heritage Conference. Lisa has a particular interest
exploring historical interpretations and stories that have been
‘lost’ from our cultural heritage. In 2000 Lisa spent
two months on Maria Island as part of Arts Tasmania’s Wilderness
Residencies programme.
Profile - Jo Richardson
Jo Richardson is
currently completing a PhD in the School of English at the University
of Tasmania where she is editing the manuscript diaries of Mary Morton
Allport. Jo is interested in finding the places where historical women
are able to “speak”. Private diaries and journals present an
opportunity to find voices that were not necessarily intended for a
wide audience or publication. Jo has been involved in Hobart
theatre for the past ten years, predominantly as a performer.
Profile - Jody Kingston
Jody Kingston is
a Brisbane-based composer/sound artist and researcher currently
working on a PhD in sound/music and interdisciplinary
performance-making at QUT. Her practice focuses on the creation
of sound for live performance pieces or events that work with
fundamental performance elements of energy, presence and gesture.
This moving two-part
exhibition and art installation by Tasmanian artist
Christina Henri, although asking viewers to reflect on the
grief and loss suffered by all convict women in Van Diemen's Land,
speaks specifically of the many hundreds of babies, born to convict
women at the Female Factory Historic Site, and the hundreds of babies
and toddlers who died. It was particularly fitting in the
Tasmanian Bicentenary Year that their story was given recognition on
this site.
The exhibition was on
display in late 2003 in the
Matron's Cottage and the installation
in the shape of a huge cross made from 900 bonnets, hand-made to a
colonial pattern, was undertaken in Yard 1 in March 2004.
Two
songs have been written regarding the babies and their deaths.
In addition, two poems, a soliloquy and a haiku have been penned
in response to the artwork. A sensitive documentary film
has been made for release in America and Europe, while a book
depicting the poignant story of Departures and Arrivals
is currently being prepared for publication by an American author.
The
installation, following its launch at the Female Factory Historic
Site in March 2004, has toured extensively, appearing at the
Ross Female Factory, the George Town Female Factory for the
George Town Bicentennial celebrations, the Hobart and Launceston
State Libraries, Burnie Art Gallery, Highfield House at Stanley,
Port Arthur Historic Site and Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney.
| Examples of individual
bonnets. |
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Kate and Lynette with the
bonnets. |
| Christina and Kate with
the bonnets. |
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The installation on the
hill near the Policeman's Cottage, taken from the road to the Visitor
Information Centre.
(click image to view full size) |
Opening Day of Departures & Arrivals Exhibition at Port
Arthur Historic Site, 13 November 2005
Opened by the local Mayor, Roger Self.
Profile
- Christina Henri
Christina
Henri is a regular exhibitor at the Female Factory Historic
Site. She is a University Postgraduate student in Fine
Arts studying at the Tasmanian School of Art, Hobart.
At present her work is looking at various projects that reflect
the way convict women dealt with grief and loss.
Christina
currently has three projects underway (see below) with which
she requires assistance — can you help her? Christina
would like to hear from female descendents of convict women
who spent time in the Female Factory System in Van Diemen's
Land. For more information on Christina and her work, visit
her website.
This project involves the
practice of the hair cut from female convicts being used in the building
trade. Human hair has been discovered in colonial buildings
undergoing renovation. Apparently convict women’s hair was used as a
filler for the plaster used in wall structure.
Christina is designing a
glass wall that will lead into the proposed Garden of Remembrance in the
Matron's Cottage grounds, Female Factory Site, 16 Degraves
Street, South Hobart. Sandwiched between glass will be hair from
descendents of women who were kept on the site. The name of the
descendents ancestor/s will be sandblasted onto the glass. Visitors
to the site will walk through this ‘wall’ to enter the
Matron's Cottage garden and building. This artwork
requires a sample of hair (any length or colour), the descendant's name
and contact details, and the female convict ancestor’s name and known
information.
If
you are a female descendant and wish to participate in this
project, please contact Christina on 0407 575 018 or email her
at
cjhenri@iinet.net.au.
Continuing the Journey
– The Pupils
Another project Christina is
working on is based around the surviving children born to convict women —
that is, the children who survived the rigours of the Female Factory
System and were then moved on to the State Orphanage. Specifically,
Christina is looking at the children who were sent to the Queen's
Orphanage, New Town, although her work speaks of all children confined to
life in an orphanage.
Christina would be very
interested to hear from people who know of relatives of theirs who were
sent to these institutions in the 1800s, especially the Queen's Orphanage,
New Town. The Registrar of Births and Deaths refers to the children
who died within the Orphanage system as ‘the pupils’. Christina is
hoping to involve school children in this exhibition. Her aim is to
provide doll cut-out patterns to the children to colour in or draw images
on. Each doll will be individually labelled with the name of a child
who spent time in the State Orphanage. The end product will be all
the cut out dolls joined together and displayed as one.
If
you have ancestors who lived in a State Orphanage, please contact
Christina on 0407 575 018 or email her at
cjhenri@iinet.net.au.
Roses
from the Heart®
A tribute to women,
especially the approximately 25,000 convict women who were shipped to
‘parts unknown’ and became the backbone of contemporary Australian
society.
Christina
Henri plans to create four installations
to be exhibited on International Women's Day. Each installation
will be similar and will be placed at sites relevant to the
convict women’s departure from the United Kingdom and arrival
in Australia. For the bonnets installation possible
sites are being explored and at present it is anticipated Yard
1 at Cascades Female Factory, South Hobart will be the Tasmanian
site. A site in Parramatta is being investigated and sites
in London and Dublin will be pursued. International Women's
Day is celebrated on 8 March and therefore this date seemed
to be an appropriate time to reflect on the lives of the many
women who have been shrouded in ‘a veil of amnesia’ for
far too long.
The
rose installation was created in Yard 1 at
Cascades Female Factory on 8 March 2006. It took the form of
the symbol of women with the cross at the base of the circle
being slightly larger than normal. This gave emphasis
to the cross, a symbol normally placed above a grave that was
denied many convict women at burial. A mass of roses were
placed to form this symbol.
Photo
Gallery
For
the bonnets installation to be shown on 8 March
2008, Christina would like 25,000 women to make a woman’s cloth
bonnet decorated with hearts and roses. These bonnets
will be displayed as part of the exhibition in each of the four
venues. Sewers of bonnets can incorporate convict women’s
names on their work, especially female convict ancestors.
She would be very grateful if bonnet makers who have female
convict ancestry would send information relating to their relatives
to me.
The 1860’s bonnet which
Christina has
taken the pattern from was made of muslin. It is from a collection
of colonial clothes held on site at Narryna Historic Home in Hampden Road,
Battery Point, Tasmania. This bonnet will be on display at Narryna
after September 2005 if people wish to view it. Christina has taken a
photogram of the bonnet.
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Adult female bonnet,
pattern taken from 1860s colonial bonnet (muslin)
View and print a pdf
version of the image.
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Bonnet in memory of Margaret Abbott
per Duchess of Northumberland, unknown seamstress, donated at
Blessing of the Bonnets Ceremony, St James' Church, Cygnet, 5
October 2005 |
Participants
who do not have female convict ancestry can adopt a convict.
This website provides
lists of convict women who lived in Tasmania—those listed
in the Female Family
Founders Database. Also Phillip Tardiff’s book
Notorious Strumpets and Dangerous Girls (also available
on a CD) is full of details of convict women. Check
local libraries or bookshops for this and other works to find
a convict to ‘adopt’. A list of some relevant books is provided
on this website.
Female convicts transported to New South Wales can also be adopted
for this project.
The
work will be displayed in perspex boxes equalling the number
of ships the women were sent out on. Each perspex box
will have a ship’s name and contain the number of bonnets representing
the number of women sent out in that vessel. The names
on the bonnets will not necessarily correspond to the exact
names of the women on the ship. Christina's aim is to
use the bonnets to accent how vast a number is 25,000 women.
She is hoping to attract the involvement of 25,000 women globally
in this project.
Christina
would appreciate any documentation of the bonnet-making, whether
this is as a group or on an individual basis. It would
be very special if she could have a photograph (digital if at
all possible) of the completed bonnet being worn by the maker.
Christina
would appreciate hearing from anyone who:
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is interested to make a
bonnet/bonnets; |
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who has access to roses
or knows others who may be able to help in this regard; |
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who can suggest possible
sponsors - either in-kind or financially. |
If
you wish to participate in this project, please contact Christina
on 0407 575 018 or email her at
cjhenri@iinet.net.au.
A
pattern for the bonnet is provided below.
Roses
from the Heart® Events
Roses from the Heart®,
Memorial of the Bonnets ceremony.
St John's Cathedral, Paramatta 10th April, 2008 2.00pm
The image of the 'Memorial of
the Bonnets' at St. John's Cathedral, Parramatta. NSW. With
the harpist (background) and singer in the foreground, gives
an insight into the participants who made the Event such a success.
The harpist is Angela Sciberras
and the vocalist is Naomi Johns who sang 'The Rose'.
The 'Memorial of the Bonnets
Event' at St.John's Cathedral, Parramatta 10th April, 2008 saw
over 600 people attend and present over 3,000 bonnets in commemoration
of our female convict grandmothers. The service was most moving
and there wouldn't have been a dry eye during the rendition
of 'Put a Little Love in your Heart' performed by students from
the Royal Institute of the Deaf and Blind, Parramatta.
Convict lass Tessa spoke of life
as it was in the 1800's ending her narration by saying she was
the directly related to the convict lass whose character she
had been portraying. Whilst the bonnets were being presented
Alex Walsh read aloud the names of the convict women who had
been transported to NSW. Bonnets made by students from 'Our
Lady Of Mercy College' were included in the presentation and
the Service concluded with the school choir singing 'I Still
Call Australia Home'.
The event was followed by a dinner
at Lachlan's restaurant, Old Government House, Parramatta. This
dinner was organised for Christina Henri by Galanta Productions
and the professionalism of this Events Management Company shone
through. All attending enjoyed a very special evening. The Lord
Mayor of Parramatta gave a welcome address. Mary Reibey's direct
descendents Genevieve Gregor and Susan Robinson attended and
Susan spoke in-depth about the extraordinary life of Mary.
Associate Professor Carol Liston
spoke animatedly about female convicts, with special reference
to those who were transported to Parramatta.
Roses from the Heart®,
Memorial of the Bonnets ceremony.
Waterside Pavilion, Mawson Place, Hobart, 9th May, 2008
On the 9th May '1000 Bonnets' display
was opened at the Waterside Pavilion, Mawson Place, Hobart Wharf.
This scaled down exhibition provided an opportunity for participants
to meet and speak with artist Christina Henri.
Plans for a more involved display were cancelled due to an unexpected
accident that saw Christina taking time out to recover.
Amongst the bonnets included
were some recently created by Danish women and exhibited in
Copenhagen as part of International Women's Day. There were
also many bonnets from women in South Carolina, members of the
Daughters of the American Revolution Family History Association.
Hundreds of bonnets were also included that had been sewn by
students at the Granton Highschool, NSW.
Christina has received 10,000 bonnets and is inviting the public
to continue supporting her project Roses from the Heart®
that requires 25,566 bonnets for completion. When the full quota
of bonnets have been received the work will become a permanent
public art installation commemorating the Nation's female convict
grandmothers.
Roses from the Heart®,
'Festival of the Quilts'
Birmingham, UK , 20–23 August
2009
The Roses
from the Heart® stand saw the 1500 bonnet patterns
all distributed; many people taking part in the Memorial to
ALL convict women transported tio Australia; over 40,000 people
attended the 4-day event and Roses from the Heart®
was one of the most well attended amongst the stands. Next year
Christina Henri will hold a 13,000 bonnet exhibition at the
'Festival of Quilts', Birmingham.
Roses from the Heart®
Jersey Museum, Channel Isles, England, September 2009–January
2010
Bonnet Pattern
This
bonnet pattern is from an 1860s colonial bonnet made of muslin,
lace-trimmed with embroidery over top of bonnet.
Christina's
suggestion for materials to be used in the making of the bonnet
would be muslin, or calico, or homespun or cotton or linen such
as old linen sheets. The bonnets can be plain or fancy.
If embroidery is used it could be candlewick stitching or other
work from the period or it can be more contemporary. Christina
would prefer the bonnet material to be cream or white but any
decoration on the bonnets is up to the individual. Appliqué
would be appropriate.
Christina
would like the name of the maker/s to be written on an inside
hem of the bonnet. Bonnets can be made individually or
collaboratively. The convict woman's name on the outside
of the bonnet can be written on with craft pen, stitched, outlined
with ribbon or buttons ... whatever the maker desires.
The bonnets are a celebration of the convict women’s lives and
contribution to contemporary society.
There
are three parts to the bonnet pattern and two pages to the instructions.
You will need to download all five files. They are in
pdf format.
Simplified Bonnet Pattern
OR
Bonnet Pattern Part 1
Bonnet Pattern Part 2
Bonnet Pattern Part 3
Instructions Page 1
Instructions Page 2
If
you have any difficulty downloading these images,
contact Christina.
When
you have completed your bonnet(s), please post to Christina
Henri, PO Box 1020, Sandy Bay TAS 7006, with your
details and information about your convict ancestor(s) or adopted
convict included.
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