Hobart's History Comes Alive

Would you agree that life is serendipitous?  Would you also agree that it (life) only hands you some opportunities once and you have to grab them with both hands and run?  Read on!

Those of you who have been on Louisa’s Walk will know that the famous convict- made Rajah Quilt is an integral part of the story.  After Louisa’s Walk concludes at the top of the Cascade Gardens, we come out of character and we “connect the dots” to tell where the quilt is now and how it came to be found.  In fact, as we like to say, The Rajah Quilt is the reason we chose to tell Louisa’s story from the fifteen thousand others  we could have chosen.

The Rajah Quilt (as it has become known) was made by approximately thirty women on board the ship The Rajah on its voyage in 1841 to Van Diemens Land, with its cargo of 180 women and 10 children.  It was sewn from the two pound bags of patchwork pieces the convict women were given by the ladies of the convict ship committee, headed up by the Quaker prison reformer Elizabeth Fry.  The idea was to give the women something to do on the long months of the voyage, to give those without sewing skills some practice and to give those with good skills something to sell if they so wished.

The Quilt was finished before the ship docked in Hobart in July 1841 and was entrusted to Lady Jane Franklin who was to return it to England and present it to Elizabeth Fry as an expression of gratitude and appreciation of all she had done.  We know that the Quilt made it back to England.  We conjecture that Mrs Fry received it.  We know she died soon afterwards.

For around 145 years it is not known what happened to the Quilt.  However, in 1986 someone was looking through an attic in Scotland and found it in an old trunk!  Fairy stories do exist in real life!  The person who found it would have been stunned by its size, its beauty, its evident antiquity but, upon reading the embroidered inscription on the bottom square, the realisation that they had found something of huge historical importance.  Three years later it was acquired by The National Gallery for our bi-centenary celebrations.

It is normally housed in The National Gallery in Canberra and is only rarely brought out on public display for very limited periods of time.

Last Saturday, two of our audience members from Canberra told us that The Rajah Quilt is currently on display in an Irish exhibition at the National Museum in Canberra.  Now, and here is where the serendipity comes in, we had scheduled two days off in a row this Monday and Tuesday ( a busy season has meant we are tired and we rarely get more than one day off).  We had intended a visit to MONA on at least one of the days but, a chance to see The Rajah Quilt? God bless the internet!  An hour or two after returning home, I had airfares and accommodation for a flying (literally) visit to Canberra booked and paid for.

We spent an enjoyable day in Canberra seeing the sights but we left the best till last until, with mounting excitement we arrived at The National Museum.  We chatted to the friendly staff and met a guide called Trevor who, together with his wife Beth, is one of Australia’s top quilters.  He arranged to meet up with us at the Quilt in a few minutes.  Chris was the first to see it and led me over to the lit cabinet with something like reverence.  We both had tears in our eyes at its sheer magnificence, its size, the vibrancy of its colours.  But most of all because we, of all people, know intimately the story of the  women behind the stitches; we must have told it around two thousand times!

Photographs were not allowed but doing a bit of searching on the internet, has turned up either someone who disregarded the notices or who, more likely, obtained permission to take some which I reproduce here.

At last we have seen The Rajah Quilt! The fabric of Louisa’s story  has been enriched.   At the bottom of the quilt, you can just pick out a silk embroidered inscription worked in minute cross stitch:

“To the ladies of the convict ship committee, this quilt worked by the convicts of the ship Rajah during their voyage to Van Diemens Land is presented as a testimony of the gratitude with which they remember their exertions for their welfare while in England and during their passage and also as proof that they have not neglected the ladies kind admonitions of being industrious. June 1841.” ( actual size of quilt 325 x 337 cms)

We meet interesting people on Louisa’s Walk – no doubt about that.  It’s a quality experience and tends to attract those who are looking for something a little different.  We are part of Great Expeditions Top 4 Tours which means that Samuel McLennan from Great Expeditions will take you on the Top 4 things to do in Hobart.  This maybe considered subjective but, we think, Sam’s nailed it.  He will pick you up from your hotel or cruise ship wharf and take you out to the Bonorong Wildlife Park.  He will then take you to Richmond for lunch.  After lunch it’s up to the Cascades to experience  Louisa’s Walk and then up to Mount Wellington (where I believe he offers Tasmanian wine and cheeses – mmmm!).

The Top 4 is proving popular (and why not?).  Last week Sam phoned to say that he would be bringing two Irish women called Anita and Birdie as part of The Top 4 on Louisa’s Walk.  I booked them in.  The next day I w as reading the Mercury (our Hobart daily newspaper) over breakfast and I noticed an article with a photograph about a play called Little Gem with a cast of three Irish women about to open at our lovely Theatre Royal for two nights.  Two of the names were Anita and Birdie!  This had to be too much of a coincidence?  Sure enough it was two of the actresses from the cast.  Now I don’t usually get nervous before performing Louisa’s Walk but, I tell you the pressure was on, knowing I was not only taking two Irish women but, two Irish actresses!

Anita and Birdie were lovely and it was a pleasure to share Louisa’s story with them.  They cried (and laughed) in all of the right places as good actors should!  Better still they offered to get us tickets for the show that Friday night!  We went along to our lovely Theatre Royal with Samuel from Great Expeditions last Friday and had a wonderful time.  Little Gem is the name of the play and it is aptly named because it was magnetic, with performances from all three of the women, that had us glued to our seats.  Little Gem is human,personal and entirely enthralling.  It’s going to Sydney next.  Catch it if you can!

Many schools enjoy hearing Louisa’s story and, if you read our School’s Page you will see that we offer a Primary School performance as well as The Old School which comes to you!  Last Thursday, Collegiate brought two of their grade five classes.  The girls had made a great effort to dress up and looked fantastic in mob caps, shawls and long skirts (I suspect Mum’s wardrobe had been raided!).  The weather was kind to us, buses arrived on time and we got off to a good start.

The girls were a delight and were totally engaged, they helped raise the sails, drop the anchor, do the patchwork and all of the interactive things we ask them to do which makes students feel a part of our Living History.  In Yard One itself, they lined up for the parade where one is chosen to be a servant (or not), they rang the bell in the Chapel and helped with the washing in the Kitchen Yard.  All the usual things we do to help engage their interest.

Afterwards, at question time, we talked about the Rajah Quilt and their teacher said the girls had made a paper quilt at school.  She said that the quilt showed their feelings on each square.  She had asked the girls to imagine what the women’s feelings would have been as they were being transported out here and the girls had depicted this in the middle of each square.  What a great idea.  Thanks for sending the photo, Angela!

Living History making our history come alive in an engaging way.

A Paper Quilt Made by Collegiate Students

Louisa’s Walk has been running for five and a half years. During that time Chris and I have been the sole performers. Having created this “baby” it’s been hard to acknowledge that perhaps other actors could portray Louisa’s story just as well. Sometimes we are forced into change by circumstances! During those five and a half years we have rarely been off sick and have hardly ever had to cancel because of ill health. However, over the New Year I got hit by a virus and Chris had an injury to his foot that necessitated no walking for a couple of weeks! Fortunately, we had started looking around for understudies and we were lucky to strike gold in Colin Dean. Colin is a multi-talented performer who has recently appeared in “Billy Elliot” and “Jekyll and Hyde” and is between engagements just now whilst waiting for rehearsals to start for his next mainland show.

When news of Chris’s foot injury hit, Colin had just five days to learn the huge part. His premier performance was just two week’s ago and did he do a good job! Now, two weeks into the role he is really rocking and he and Chris are interchangeable. Chris should be back on the job any day but now we have Colin to take over his role with expertise and flair whenever Chris needs a break. Louisa’s Walk is getting busier and busier and record numbers have shared her story during January. Being able to hand over the multi-roles that Chris normally handles, to Colin is just wonderful and to know that they are being performed with such expertise and passion. Now, all we need is an understudy for Louisa – any offers?

The time leading up to Christmas is always a bit up and down but we have been very steady during December. Some people take a quick pre-Christmas holiday before heading home to what can be, a very busy family time. Perhaps they are pre-charging their batteries?
We’ve had a good week, Samuel McClellan from Great Expeditions brought two of his clients on Louisa’s Walk on Wednesday. They also had baby Akbar in a push chair. Samuel had asked us whether it was appropriate to bring a young child on Louisa’s Walk and we had responded, as we always do, with some reservations! You don’t expect to take a young child out with you to the theatre and Louisa’s Walk is a theatrical experience. So, we had said that baby Akbar could come but only if one of the parents was willing to take him out of earshot if he started to be a distraction. Fair enough?
Akbar lasted until the “Magistrate’s Bench” when he started to whimper. Quick as a flash Samuel wheeled him away and we hardly saw him for the rest of the show! His parents Jenny and Kharim were able to enjoy Louisa’s Walk thanks to Samuel’s baby sitting service which, apparently, he provided when they were down at Port Arthur too.

Is it any wonder that Great Expeditions is chasing us on the Must Do’s on the TripAdvisor web site? Samuel gives extraordinary service and deserves his placing. I feel very proud when I see excellent customer service like this. It is one hundred per-cent professional and walks the extra mile. This is why visitors should flock to Tasmania to sample this personalised service. Well done Samuel and thank you for enabling us to give a good performance for the rest of the group.

We had another example of good customer service today. We just had a small group of five (strange how relative things are, a year or two ago that would have been a normal sized group!). All five audience members were engaged in Louisa’s story and were a pleasure to take on our journey. We were just standing, chatting after the show when Barbara and Ann drove off. “Stop” Chris called “You have a flat tyre”. The ladies looked downcast (as I would have been, I know how to change a tyre in theory but where do you put the jack thing and how do you screw those wheel nuts off!). Chris and Pete, one of our other audience members, to the rescue, and the spare tyre was in place and the ladies driving off, all smiles, in record time. Small business, personal service it’s what Tasmania can offer. Happy Christmas!

As you will have seen if you’ve read my last two posts; we had a terrific time performing “The Old School” for the Kingston Primary School students. Our re-enactment of a 19th century classroom was the final event in what has been a big year for the school as they have celebrated their 150th anniversary. Recognising and acknowledging the passage of time is what we at “Live History” are all about.

I don’t know about you, but my early memories of being taught history at school were not the history teacher standing in front of the class during my grammar school years. Rather, they were my early primary years when I was lucky enough to live near the lovely city of York in the U.K. The father of one of my fellow pupils was the Curator of the Castle Museum in York and we were often visited by staff showing off interesting objects, spinning wheels, spindles and playground hoops spring to mind. One year, I was chosen to be one of the models and took part in a Victorian fashion display complete with off the shoulder dress and a fan. These look, feel and touch, tangible things are what I remember.

I feel sure that if my class had taken part in “The Old School” that too would have lived in my memory. I wonder, though if I would have written as good a poem as Ilona Hansson, a Grade One student at Kingston Primary School. Ilona won the Elaine Fazackerly Poetry Prize which was part of the School’s celebrations. She has given me permission to reproduce it on this site. I thought it was wonderful:

Hopscotch was played.
Ink pens were used.
Stories had black and white photographs.
Toys were different in the olden days.
Old teachers were very strict.
Rules were important.
You can see the past in artefacts.

by Ilona Hansson, age 7.

If you read my last post about re-creating a 19th century school room, you will know that “Live History Productions” has a new product ready to bring to schools. As on “Louisa’s Walk” our interactive approach to history engages children (and adults) in a way that other interpretations can’t possibly do.

Today, we delivered the rest of our commission to Kingston Primary School to help them to celebrate their 150th anniversary. The very first class of the day, a Prep/One, had gone to so much trouble to dress up; they looked wonderful! It was fortunate that a reporter/photographer from the Kingborough Chronicle arrived to photograph them as they were too good to miss – talk about photo-opportunities!

In addition to our last week’s classroom decorations, our Union Jack had arrived and we hung it on a small pole in one of the windows. We also started the day with “God Save Our Gracious Queen” which the children had been taught by their teachers back in “real” school. Another slight change to the morning’s activities was that, as I could hear the new classes coming down from their modern campus, I hurried out onto the road and rung the bell at the entrance to the path (passing motorists did a double take as they were taken back in time!). Once again, the children were so quiet and attentive – a few chatty ones in Grades 5/6 had to be threatened with Mr Oldfield’s office but, in general, they were totally engrossed in the experience of being a 19th century student.

If you visit our School’s Page you will see that I have added “The Old School” to our product range. The advantage over the Primary School’s performance of “Louisa’s Walk” is, of course, there are no transport costs involved – we come to you! We are so aware of the budgets that most schools are limited by and we always try to make our performances affordable. We are really excited by this new product in our range and we wonder who will be the next school to request a visit from Mr Oldfield and Miss Thorne?

A 19th Century Old School Classroom

As you know, if you follow this blog, our business “Live History” of which “Louisa’s Walk” is our flagship, has a number of other products which bring the past to life. We can be commissioned to find, research, script and perform the stories of the past to re-create any aspect of Tasmania’s history. Sometimes we do this employing other actors and, at other times it’s just the two of us, as on “Louisa’s Walk”.

Recently, we were contacted by the Kingston Primary School and asked to help them celebrate their 150th anniversary. They had the great idea of asking us to re-create a 19th century classroom in the old school building just down the road from the current campus. Built in the early 20th century and used up until the 1970′s, the old buildings are now used for Adult Education classes and there are many residents of Kingston and surrounds who went there as children, or who taught there as teachers, who remember it well.

The plan was for us to research and script, a fifteen minute, typical class session, in the 19th century classroom. Our approach to theatre on ” Louisa’s Walk ” is minimalist; in a building we could have a few more props! However, it just wasn’t possible to source enough old school desks and general old school paraphernalia and, even if we could, it is all too valuable now to be easily accessible. We made do with what we had and, by purchasing some coloured cloth to hide the plastic tables and with a few knick- knacks brought from home, we were able to create a very pleasing effect. The old-fashioned room itself, with its fireplace and small paned windows, supplied plenty of ambience. We even had a rosy red apple for the teacher!

Thanks to the Channel Historic Museum, Kingston school had been loaned an authentic school bell and also some copy books which they had photocopied, one for each child. The Headmaster, “Mr Oldfield” was played by Chris – who, together with his wife, started the first Kingston school at Browns River in the mid-19th century. God bless the internet which provided us with a copy of a reproduction early Australian explorer’s map. A quick trip down to Paul at “Noble Ink” in Kingston (our guru whenever we want anything reproduced) who enlarged and printed it out for us on quality paper, and we had a map. “Mr Oldfield” pays a visit to the class telling them that the historic 1860, Burke and Wills expedition has just started and he needs a map to show the children the intended route.

On the blackboard, pre-set the previous day, we had the “Memory Verse” for the day (from the Bible), the date “November 19th 1860″ and some examples of copperplate writing (I had to dig into my memory bank to reproduce this and I’m not at all sure it was very authentic!

Our day started with “The Lord’s Prayer” and our “Memory Verse”. We then went into copy-book work and our times tables. Then, the visit from “Mr Oldfield” after which he suggested that, as the children were so well behaved, they should be rewarded by being allowed to sing him a song. “The Class” just happens to be in rehearsal for the end of year concert and their song “Ten Green Bottles” complete with a wall with ten green bottles all ready to go (made by our “groundsman”). A child who had excelled in their copy-book work was chosen to come and flick the bottles off the wall as they “accidentally fall”. This proved a real success. Alas, Ten Green Bottles has to be interrupted by a fire drill and, it’s farewell children.

In all we took 8 classes – whilst one class was in with us, a retired teacher, Elaine Fazackerly, was out in the playground introducing the children to some 19th century games: hopscotch, marbles and knuckles.

The morning was a huge success and “Live History” has a new product, ready and waiting, to bring to schools who want to introduce children to school life in the 19th century.

Mr Oldfield at The Old school

We buy The Age newspaper everyday except Sunday (Chris likes its political leanings and is addicted to the word games!) Fortunately for us, a sharp-eyed employee from the Cascade Brewery spotted the article on convict history in the Travel section last Sunday November 7th. He mentioned it to Chris and we were able to access the article online. Go to The Age and hit Travel. There is a wonderful piece written by Julie Miller, who came as a guest of Virgin Blue Airlines and Tourism Tasmania. It is an article which packages three convict/ history experiences which can be found within a thirty minute radius of Hobart. The best bit is that one of of them is Louisa’s Walk!
From time-to-time the Visiting Journalist Program (V.J.P.) run by Tourism Tasmania sends journalists from overseas or interstate to experience Louisa’s Walk. We have been showcased in newspapers in many parts of the world. It was very thrilling when one of Chris’s brothers rang and told us that we were in the Sunday Telegraph in the U.K. (yes we do keep quite a bulging “brag book”).

Julie Miller came some time ago – often these writers come and by the time their article goes to print, we have forgotten who they are! However, Julie’s article is exceptionally well written, in my opinion, not least because it encompasses a subject close to my heart; that of packaging experiences. Together with the rest of Australia, the high dollar is costing our tourism operators dearly as tourists flock overseas, ignoring what can be found at home – we’re doing it hard!

Tourism operators have been asked recently to give Tourism organisations some feedback as to how we can dig ourselves out of this hole. Anybody who reads these blogs or who has come on Louisa’s Walk will know that we are passionate about Tasmania and what it can offer to the discerning tourist. I would love to see Tasmania promoted as a place where the convict story can be told as we do it at Louisa’s Walk; using the skills of our actors and writers! The iconic spots of this amazing island state could be packaged into a wonderful convict-story journey beginning at Hunter Island and Warren Glover’s Historic Walk with the Henry Jones Hotel and taking in Richmond with Miriam Cooper’s, Turn The Key of Time. The Penitentiary in central Hobart, Louisa’s Walk of course which tells the story of the Cascades Female Factory. Naturally, Port Arthur, Ross with its wonderful remnants of its Female Factory and all the attractions up north. It could be done, a trail laid, combined perhaps with historic B.& B’s and food and wine hot spots. Surely all it’s going to take is a creative approach?

We took a large group of Tasmanian Travel and Information staff from the various regional Visitor Centres on Louisa’s Walk today. Three new staff members from the Hobart Centre also joined us plus a couple of bona fide tourists from Queensland. We are always particularly pleased to give our gatekeepers, working at the coal face of tourism, a Louisa’s Walk experience. This is partly because we are very proud of what we do and we know we have something to showcase but, more importantly, people need to do Louisa’s Walk to be able to sell it. We have tried all manner of descriptive paragraphs to attempt to encapsulate what we do but we so often hear ” We didn’t really know what to expect”. I suspect this is partially because Louisa’s Walk is very unique and to our knowledge no-one else is doing what we do in Australia. “Strolling Theatre” is on our brochures (designed by my son, Sam Smee – thanks Sam!). Chris suggested the other day that perhaps “Guided Play” is a better descriptor. Where does it stop being a play and become a guided tour, for it has elements of both? See what I mean – it’s very hard to categorise or describe. This is why we need staff, who are going to sell us, to come and experience what we do because only then can they tell others. This morning’s group were great they laughed a lot (in all the right places) and they cried – even one or two who had been before and knew what to expect. We are proud to tell you that of all the Hobart attractions the Visitor Centre’s staff could do, the one they unanimously elected was Louisa’s Walk – Yay!