One of our most frequently asked questions on Louisa’s Walk is, “Did Louisa ever see her three boys again?”. We answer that we honestly don’t know. Another favourite question is, “Did she and William ever have any more children?” and again, we don’t know. One of the major reasons for this is that records of the female convicts were meticulously kept whilst the women were in the Female Factories. Once they were emancipated however, (i.e. they were free and no longer on ticket – of – leave or, as we would say today, “on probation”) records all but became non-existent. If names had kept the same spelling, it may be possible to trace their death notice but that is about all. So, we like to counter these questions with a, “This is a make your own ending story”.
Louisa’s three boys were left behind to fend for themselves on the streets of London after her arrest. This was fairly common as Van Diemens Land wanted women, they had more than enough males, had they been daughters, it might have been a different story. It is fairly likely they had to turn to a life of crime in order to survive. Given this, it may be that they ended up being transported themselves but the likelihood of their finding Louisa would have been slim. These were not days of Missing Persons Bureaus, the internet or telephones. Also, Louisa’s chances of returning to England to find them (where she would have faced impossible odds given the lack of technology) were slim. Emancipated convicts had to re-pay the government the sum of fifteen guineas for the privilege of being shipped out here! This was an enormous sum and to find that, plus a fare back home, beyond the means of most. So, our story remains an open ended one and our audience members free to exercise their imaginations!
Just recently we took a delightful family out on Louisa’s Walk.The Taylor Family are travelling around Australia in a caravan, they have been on the road for ten months. During this time the three little Taylor girls: Amee, Hannah and Jordan, are being home-schooled by their parents. In common with most children the two older girls (eight and six) loved Louisa’s Walk. At just four, Jordan was a little young but she still took in a lot of the story. The girls were delightful as they flitted among the group in their identical dresses. They reminded me of bright butterflies! Afterwards, their mother, Nadia said they would send us a thank you card. This duly arrived together with some wonderful drawings from Hannah. But Amee had let her imagination fly and below is her ending to Louisa’s Story.

Diary of Louisa Reagan.
November 1845.
The day my master came for me, was a really great day. Right away I could see how handsome and kind he was, I could not believe that he had chosen me and I picked up his handkerchief. He took me to his house where I was to work.

December 1845.
Another hot Christmas, I wish that it would snow like it does in Ireland. It is good to have a day off from all the work but I am worried about all the work I have to catch up on. William is a very kind master to give me a day off. This morning when I woke I got dressed in my normal work clothes but when I came into the kitchen, William held me by the hand and told me to put my good clothes on. William asked me to marry him and I said yes.

March 1846.
William went off to work this morning. I asked the doctor to come because I was worried about my tummy and he checked it out. I am happy to say that I am having a baby. We will be celebrating tonight.

September 1846.
My stomach is so big and sore. I worry that my baby will not survive. The doctor came late in the afternoon and helped me with our baby. A beautiful baby girl she was so beautiful and healthy. We named her Alice. It was sad to think of the baby I had lost and of the children I had left behind in England.

December 1849.

Time has gone so fast, Alice is now three. Mostly I am happy but think of my boys, are they still alive? During our Christmas lunch there was a knock at the door. Alice went to open the door. She did not know the three men standing there. I went to the door and they asked if I was Louisa, yes I am I cried. We are your boys they said as they hugged me. My boys are so big now and have done so well to have paid to get to Van Diemens Land. With tears in my eyes I took them inside and together with Alice and William we ate our Christmas lunch and had a brilliant Christmas. I could not be any happier.

The End – written by Amee Taylor 8 years old.

I haven’t heard an official temperature for Hobart today. It was forecast to be 35 degrees. We are not long back from performing Louisa’s Walk and it hasn’t cooled down much. Judging from the way I felt in the Crime Yard it was at least 40 degrees in there but hey – we survived. Our audience were all armed with big shady umbrellas but, as with the rain, we can’t perform under umbrellas (it’s hard to “emote” when your hands are otherwise engaged – even without Italian lineage). So, no shelter for us.

We were a small group of four (four others had sensibly cancelled because of the extreme heat). However, this audience was composed of an American from California, a German girl (surely not used to the heat but young enough to be undeterred by it) and a couple from Perth who didn’t find it particularly hot! I must admit that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be sick or pass out but I saved the drama for Louisa’s story and spared everybody either option. Chris who seems to be much more stoic about extremes of temperature, took it all in his stride and wondered what I was fussing about – men!

However, once again Louisa’s Walk worked its magic and our audience were transported from the 21st Century to the 19th. Laughter and tears along the way is part of the course.

There’s a big notice up at The Cascades Female Factory saying they are closed over Christmas and New Year. Louisa’s Walk is open all over the New Year and we have access to the Yard so, if you are looking for something special to do in Hobart over the New Year period give us a ring and make a booking to hear Louisa’s story. You won’t be disappointed.

There would be few tourists to Tasmania who miss visiting Port Arthur, yet many still don’t even know of the existence of the Female Factories. Port Arthur is indeed a must see, not only is the site itself beautiful but the infrastructure that still exists, fascinating and well preserved. The site too is well interpreted and, at this time of year, they too present plays which help to bring the male convict history to life.
However, significant as Port Arthur is, there were more women imprisoned in the Cascades Female Factory (at any one time) than there were ever men (at any one time) at Port Arthur. At its peak in the early 1850’s, there were between nine hundred and a thousand women incarcerated in the Cascades Female Factory, compared to around eight hundred men at Port Arthur. Why is it then that Port Arthur has a much higher profile than our Female Factories? Perhaps a blog post is not the place to debate such a complex question! However, if anyone reading this wants to contribute please, go ahead.

There were four Female Factories in Van Diemens Land: George Town, Launceston, Ross and The Cascades. There is virtually nothing left at George Town. What is left at Launceston has been swallowed up by the Launceston College; in its foyer you can see the old well where the women would haul water from the Cataract Gorge to provide water for the Factory. There is also the remains of one of the surrounding walls within the college complex. The Factory at Ross is one of my favourite sites, evoking as it does the desolation of the Midlands. A walk up to the old cemetery is well worth it and, if you are like me and enjoy reading old headstones, makes a fascinating hour or so. Which brings us to the Cascades Female Factory with its three remaining Yards available for public inspection, Matron’s cottage and high stone walls. The site has been nominated for World Heritage status and has received quite a face lift as a result. Building works are still in progress which necessitates Louisa’s Walk audiences gaining access to Yard One (where our story is enacted) through Yard Three at the side. Gabion walls have been really effective in representing the original ones. The steel structure in Yard One has proved a brilliant solution to the bowing out of the stone walls, providing as it does, not only a bracing but a representation of the size of the buildings within the walls.

Many people ask us why they were called Female Factories? We are not able to offer a definitive answer. We feel it reflects a certain euphemistic tendency (in the 19th century) to clothe anything to do with women in a veil of propriety. It was also, genuinely, a place where the women worked and produced goods, surely the definition of “factory”?

Whatever your thoughts, be sure not to miss Louisa’s Walk, a graphic and memorable way of bringing Tasmania’s female convict history to life.

There was a cruise ship in Hobart today. We already had four booked on Louisa’s Walk this morning but by the time I came back from church Chris had booked on another eight! Part of the reason for this big jump in numbers ( at a time when most of the town is quite quiet) was apparent as we drove down the Southern Outlet to see a cruise ship moored at the wharf. Normally cruise ships don’t affect our business that much. Those who have bothered to do some research, and find out for themselves, what excellent things there are to do in Hobart via the internet, may have discovered and booked us before they arrive but, generally, cruise ship passengers are whisked off, on coaches, to other surrounding Hobart destinations.

As we set off, there was a gentle drizzle, I handed out umbrellas but some of our audience were clothed in floor length ponchos (or “slickers’ as one of our American guests dubbed them) what a good idea! Maybe we should stock up on some for Louisa’s Walk? However, the rain was very kind and before too long it had slowed to almost nothing. We decided we would take the audience up to what we call “the top deck” which is where we imagine we are on the top deck of the ship “The Rajah”. The park, at this point, is shaped very like a boat and it enables us to descend down some steps into the stinking “orlop deck”. ” Louisa’s Walk” is all about using our imaginations and, utilising these natural features of the environment, is what we do! However, the top deck is a bit tricky when everyone is holding umbrellas!

Bill, one of our cruise ship Americans wouldn’t play ball with me when I asked him for sympathy so I turned to Seamus (yes, a genuine Irishman) who was much more sympathetic. Interaction with audience members is very much part of what we do on “Louisa’s Walk” and it means that we, as actors, have to be prepared with whatever our audience members throw at us and adjust our responses accordingly! Seamus and partner, Lucia, came in very handy later when I asked them to identify the shamrock, “Some people call it a clover and I have to smack them around a bit!” This audience was fantastic! They were mesmerised from start to finish. The utter silence in the nursery yard as I told of the fate of Eliza, the smattering of applause as I finished ” Abide With Me”, these are things that we feed off. Yes, we need to earn a living but it’s the approbation of our audiences that are our real meat-and-drink!

It was too wet; the rain came over again as I had sent the audience back into “the nineteenth-century”, to bring out “Louisa’s Larder” jams and chutneys and the Guest Book. We had to disperse quickly and get everyone back into the warm and the dry. However, it was music to our ears to hear that, once more, we had taken our audience back in time; “We were really there” you said. “I will remember this for a long time to come” you said. “We heard about you through a friend – he said it was a must- do” you said.

The muse that is ” Louisa’s Walk” is alive and well. She is unique. She is original. She is memorable. If you are looking for something different, “Louisa’s Walk” is for you.

It is a cliche to say that the world is a small place but last Monday’s Louisa’s Walk proved it to be true (yet again). We had just finished Louisa’s Walk and, as usual were enjoying getting to know one another, out of character, at the top of the beautiful Cascade Gardens. Most of our visitors were from Hong Kong with a couple of Australians and an Englishman. Being English ourselves, we like to discover whereabouts in England people come from. “Oxford” was the reply. “That’s my home town” I said. Right, down to the nitty gritty of exactly where – “Well not Oxford itself but a little village between Oxford and Banbury.”
“Keep going” came the reply.
“North Aston” I said.
“Me too” said our Englishman!
North Aston is a tiny little village which is part of a group of “Astons”: “Middle” , “Steeple” and “North”. it is delightfully feudal and much of its housing is still owned by the equivalent of the Lord of the Manor. My Father was the Vicar there for a number of years in the 1960’s. Despite moving away in the mid-seventies, my family is still very attached to the place, so much so that my Father has a memorial attached to the lytch gate (built by my brother John) and my mother’s ashes were interred there.
Our visitor’s name was Phil and his parents still live in North Aston (they had moved there some time after I had moved away). We bandied around names that we both knew and I caught up with quite a bit of local goss!!
It astounded me that someone who is now based in Hong Kong who had moved away from England over twenty years ago should come from this same tiny village which holds such a place in my heart. We meet such interesting people on Louisa’s Walk!

We often receive queries from families asking whether Louisa’s Walk is suitable for children? We answer with a resounding YES, if your children are at least six or seven. Trawling through some of our wonderful TripAdvisor reviews today, I was struck by the number of comments, from parents, saying how wonderful their children had found the experience of Louisa’s Walk to be. In my opinion, the ideal age would be ten or eleven upwards but, it’s amazing how even quite young children can access the story, especially if someone does some simple explaining, as the story unfolds, & a certain amount of background is given before we start.

I remember, as a child, attending a school, near York, in the UK where we were fortunate enough to have a pupil whose father was the curator of the Castle Museum. Those who are familiar with the Castle Museum, will know it has a wonderful Victorian Street, complete with carriage, rows of shops and cobblestones. I loved that street! On one occasion, I was lucky enough to be chosen to take part in a period fashion parade, where we paraded down the catwalk wearing precious Victorian dresses – a little girl’s dream! This was history come alive! My secondary school experience was less vivid, I recall long boring history lessons, dictations and complete BLAAAH! I never dreamed that I would end up interpreting the history of Australia’s most infamous Female Factory using my acting skills (after secondary school I headed off to a London Drama College!).

So, I can imagine how I would have reacted to Louisa’s Walk as a child. I would have loved it! It seems that most of the older kids and teenagers who come to experience Louisa’s story feel the same.

We are getting quite excited here at Live History! Considering it’s still early in the season, “Louisa’s Walk” is doing really well, quite good numbers most days and rarely a day with no bookings (our days off!). Apart from that, we are off to the Oatlands Spring Festival this coming Sunday October 18th. We have been commissioned by their council’s tourism department to write a play about Oatland’s history. They already have an excellent book called “Skullduggery – Forgery for Fools” which incorporates Midland history with a great game and Chris was able to use this as his main resource for our play.

The result is “Wild Oatsland” a saucy romp about a young convict woman called Selina Turner (played by Jane Binning) in reluctant cahoots with the forbidding Mrs Dudfield (played by me) taking on, the rather thick, Constable James (played by James Casey) with Chris taking any linking roles. Apparently, the ancient art of forgery was rampant in Oatsland during that time and the play will largely focus on these “queer rags”, as the pound notes were colloquially known. Selina will arrive (unless there is an emergency, necessitating the presence of the local police car, elsewhere) in the local police car. ( “Romps” are allowed a lot of dramatic license! ) Audience interaction is expected and required and our experience in “Louisa’s Walk” street theatre, where anything can be thrown at us, will no doubt carry us through.

We will be performing “Wild Oatsland” twice at the Festival at 10.30 a.m. and 2 p.m. If you are planning on attending the Festival (and if you are not – why not?) don’t miss one of our performances.

Here, at Louisa’s Walk;we are immensely proud of being rated as the top thing to do on the “TripAdvisor” site. A couple of years ago, one of our audience members asked us if we had seen the “TripAdvisor” site recently? “What’s “TripAdvisor”? ” we asked. We were told that it’s one of the major travel advice sites and that this particular client didn’t do anything without consulting “TripAdvisor”. Okay, we thought, let’s go home & have a look! Well, were we in for an ego-boost! “TripAdvisor” visitors were saying incredibly complimentary things about Louisa’s Walk!!

Since finding out what clients are saying about us, it’s made us a bit coy! There is such a thing as expectations and having to live up to them you know! However, the tall poppy syndrome is something that all success stories have to live up (or down!) to. Yes, people who have done their research and have found out all about us, expect a quality experience but, we believe this is what we deliver at Louisa’s Walk. It is personal and memorable. It is not unusual for us to receive emails some weeks later, from people who have experienced Louisa’s story, telling us how much they have thought about it and the plight of convict women. These emails really get us excited! This is what we are about! To think that we deliver something that is beyond your average tourism experience, something that stays with you & leaves you thinking.