The Tin Ticket Part 7

For three years, the compa.s.sionate Nurse Tedder had cared for her little charges as if they were her grandchildren. Ludlow's record had not a single black mark. She took pride in a frequently heart-wrenching though rewarding a.s.signment. Shortly before the Liverpool Street quarters were shut down, Ludlow was privy to several incidents her conscience simply wouldn't allow her to condone. Convict worker Ann McCarty was housed in the nursery with her nine-month-old child, from whom she'd soon be separated. At this time, mothers were allowed to nurse their babies for nine months rather than six. In an effort to keep each prisoner productive and out of trouble, Mrs. Slea a.s.signed Ann the care of two children who'd been weaned and whose mothers had been returned to the Female Factory. One of Ludlow's mates from the Hindostan Hindostan , Mary Larney, reported Ann for abusing the two-year-old under her watch. , Mary Larney, reported Ann for abusing the two-year-old under her watch.

Bread and Water.

Nurse Ludlow found herself in an impossible predicament when called as a witness before the Hobart Town Lower Court. She was well aware that if she informed on a fellow prisoner, she'd be made to pay one way or another. However, if she lied for the woman who abused a child, she'd face Mr. Hutchinson's outrage and lose a plum a.s.signment that allowed occasional visits to Arabella. Mothers sent out to settlers at distant locations rarely saw their children while they lived in the Queen's Orphanage. Ludlow couldn't risk this.

Standing tall before the magistrate, Ludlow refused to lie for Ann McCarty. On June 14, 1842, she offered the following testimony: Mary Larney fetched me this morning stating that McCarthy [McCarty] had beaten a child in an improper manner. I went and saw the child. She had beaten it severely across the bottom and back, and it is about 2 years old. . . . She stated that the child had dirtied itself, she gave no other reason. There were marks of the hand across the back and bottom. I have never heard of her doing so before. . . . I also saw her take the child of Marg North out of bed and throw it on the floor not very violently.31 Ludlow was returned to Cascades, but not for punishment. Given her experience a.s.sisting Surgeon Superintendent McDonald and her fine work in the nursery, Superintendent Hutchinson saw fit to appoint her to work in the Female Factory hospital. Here babies were delivered, the mentally ill restrained, and prisoners with rheumatism and epilepsy admitted.

Ludlow hadn't spent much time inside the Female Factory since her arrival in Van Diemen's Land, but she knew that Ann McCarty was back in the Crime Cla.s.s, smoldering in anger over the widow who had spoken the truth in court. The levelheaded nurse walked a tightrope every time she strolled through the yards. Her survival (and Arabella's, too) depended on understanding what went on behind the stone walls and using it to her best advantage. She faced her first test within days of her return. Eliza Morgan, a patient missing a front tooth, persuaded the widow to do her a favor.32 She'd slip Ludlow a few coins in return for the nurse using her position to pick up a bundle in town. Unfortunately, Ludlow failed to realize she was helping a former s.h.i.+pmate of her nemesis, Ann McCarty. She'd slip Ludlow a few coins in return for the nurse using her position to pick up a bundle in town. Unfortunately, Ludlow failed to realize she was helping a former s.h.i.+pmate of her nemesis, Ann McCarty.

Seizing what appeared to be an opportunity for building the nest egg she'd need to retrieve Arabella and make a fresh start, Ludlow joined the underground subculture at Cascades. Although marriage allowed a woman early release from her sentence and was the fastest way to regain custody of Arabella, it seemed a far-fetched proposition for the forty-nine-year-old widow. Still, Ludlow dared to dream of her future. If she didn't pursue the matrimonial path, she'd have to be prepared. Once free, she'd need lots of money to prove she could provide for Arabella. Currency, in a corrupt and distant colony, bought just about anything, including a daughter. Whatever it took, that was her plan.

Many at the Female Factory surrendered to temptations that offered a lifeline in miserable waters. Convict maids learned the ropes by secretly shadowing their captors and listening for how deals were negotiated and sealed. With her position in the center of Hobart Town, Ludlow certainly understood the fine line that often separated criminal from official.

Both prison constables and their unpaid convict policemen took advantage of profiteering. For a fee, the supervisor turned his back when the convict on his force committed an offense that jeopardized his Ticket of Leave, the probationary period at the end of his sentence. Though the government relied heavily on the police to maintain order in the penal colony, "they used their brief of keeping close surveillance over convicts to cloak dubious and illegal practices that offended the rule of law."33 Some constables accepted hush money from sly-grog shops, took convicts off duty to chop their wood and clean their stables, and struck back at those who exposed their breach of public trust. During the year Agnes arrived, Colonial Times Colonial Times editors Henry Melville and Gilbert Robertson reported on the Political a.s.sociation, an organization that addressed police abuse at its first meeting. In retaliation, a police informant lured two of Melville's convict printers to a pub, got them drunk on illegal rum, and then turned them in. The two yokels were sentenced to four months on a chain gang. As expected, without his printers, Melville's ability to produce his newspaper was seriously undermined. editors Henry Melville and Gilbert Robertson reported on the Political a.s.sociation, an organization that addressed police abuse at its first meeting. In retaliation, a police informant lured two of Melville's convict printers to a pub, got them drunk on illegal rum, and then turned them in. The two yokels were sentenced to four months on a chain gang. As expected, without his printers, Melville's ability to produce his newspaper was seriously undermined.34 So widespread was this corruption, it sank to the ridiculous in a dog-nabbing racket, in which one dog was used to entrap another. Under the guise of enforcing leash laws, constables seeking a few extra coins found ready targets for extortion and immediate payment: In Hobart Town constables allegedly walked down the street, each with a b.i.t.c.h on a lead and a number of ropes with nooses, which they threw around the neck of any dogs that stopped to make acquaintance with the b.i.t.c.hes. After thirty minutes, the constables had caught thirteen dogs. Their owners preferred to pay the constables 1 or 2 rather than appear in court, where they could not prove their dogs had been "seduced" by the policemen's b.i.t.c.hes.35 Back at the Female Factory, few risked such blatant graft, but at nightfall the yards came alive with secret bargaining and trade. During daylight hours, boxes made of wood and tin lay safely stashed behind a loose brick or buried next to a washtub. Shortly after evening muster, the goods went up for auction. Tea, sugar, tobacco, pipes, spirits, and fried meat from the kitchen exchanged hands and were quickly consumed or hidden in the unseen corners of Cascades.

Bribing a convict turnkey was an easy transaction. More often than not, she ran an underground business of her own. She'd happily look the other way or leave a door unlatched in exchange for the currency of the day: tobacco, liquor, coins, and even b.u.t.tons taken from the laundry and prized because prison uniforms had none.36 Ludlow's new a.s.signment placed her inside "the nerve centre for illicit commerce."37 A glimpse into this subculture comes from Eliza Churchill, transported two years after Ludlow for stealing a cloak and a silk umbrella. She spent three weeks in the infirmary at the Launceston Female Factory and offered this testimony before the government's Inquiry into Female Convict Prison Discipline in 1841: "I have seen tobacco constantly brought in and given to the nurse who used to supply the crime cla.s.s with it. The nurse Mrs. Benson gets money from the prisoners and gives it to Mrs. Littler the sub-matron who gets tobacco & tea & sugar in the town and gives it to the nurse." A glimpse into this subculture comes from Eliza Churchill, transported two years after Ludlow for stealing a cloak and a silk umbrella. She spent three weeks in the infirmary at the Launceston Female Factory and offered this testimony before the government's Inquiry into Female Convict Prison Discipline in 1841: "I have seen tobacco constantly brought in and given to the nurse who used to supply the crime cla.s.s with it. The nurse Mrs. Benson gets money from the prisoners and gives it to Mrs. Littler the sub-matron who gets tobacco & tea & sugar in the town and gives it to the nurse."38 The thriving smuggling operation that Eliza observed from her hospital bed included creative techniques for transporting the illicit goods, like watching the submatron stuff tobacco inside her corset. Capitalizing on high illiteracy among her patients, the enterprising nurse also charged them for penning letters and even for the paper they used. The thriving smuggling operation that Eliza observed from her hospital bed included creative techniques for transporting the illicit goods, like watching the submatron stuff tobacco inside her corset. Capitalizing on high illiteracy among her patients, the enterprising nurse also charged them for penning letters and even for the paper they used.39 For an older convict with few options ahead, Ludlow took a gamble. Just as she never intended to steal silverware from Barrister Skinner, Widow Tedder now swam in a cesspool of corruption, making her choices as a matter of survival. Like the Catos' message-delivery-for-a-chicken scheme, the offer from patient Eliza Morgan seemed too good to resist. Because Mr. Hutchinson trusted Ludlow to procure hospital supplies in town, Eliza innocently asked her to pick up a few goods from a Mr. Smith on Elizabeth Street and smuggle them back into Cascades. In return, Ludlow would pocket a few pennies she could spend on soap for Arabella or save for their future.

If only she had known it was a trap. On June 21, 1842, Ludlow's fate took an abrupt turn for the worse. Constable Goodwin caught her "obtaining goods under false pretenses."40 She had violated Article 9 of the Female Factory "Rules and Regulations," which stated: "No Officer or Servant of the Establishment shall supply any Female Convict with other provisions or comforts of any kind than those allowed by the Regulations. Neither is any clothing, She had violated Article 9 of the Female Factory "Rules and Regulations," which stated: "No Officer or Servant of the Establishment shall supply any Female Convict with other provisions or comforts of any kind than those allowed by the Regulations. Neither is any clothing, nor other articles whatever nor other articles whatever, to be delivered to any Convict in the House of Correction."41 Though the timing may have been coincidental, Eliza Morgan knew Ann McCarty well from spending nearly four months together aboard the Westmoreland Westmoreland. Eliza likely set up Ludlow as payback for testifying against her friend. The court had sentenced the pockmarked Ann to nine months' hard labor, extending the separation from her child. Surely, the two blamed Ludlow. Developing loyalty during their journey across the sea, women who huddled together belowdecks grew protective of their mates, and when push came to shove, they often relied on them for reinforcement inside the harsh Cascades prison.

Loyalty was important to Superintendent Hutchinson as well. He had a.s.signed the sympathetic widow to her second position of great responsibility. By 1842 he had little tolerance for anything that might further tarnish his record, particularly after the recent avalanche of well-publicized scandals involving infant deaths, the Catos' dismissal, and the nefarious Flash Mob. As revealed by testimony under the Inquiry into Female Convict Prison Discipline, the aging Hutchinson actively tried to avoid any contact with the prisoners, preferring his managerial distance.

Sentencing Ludlow to twelve months' hard labor in the solitary working cells, he imposed a punishment quite harsh for a first infraction. Seeing her misconduct as another black mark on his record, he decided to make an example of Ludlow and thereby protect his reputation. Recording his indignation in #151's conduct record, he "confirmed this female was placed in a situation of great trust under promised indulgence of the Princ.i.p.al Superintendent considering her to be a fit subject."42 The last person Agnes and Janet expected to see in Crime Cla.s.s was the crestfallen Ludlow, who walked through the crime yard that morning sporting an unfas.h.i.+onable prison s.h.i.+ft emblazoned with large yellow Cs. The remnants of newly shorn hair peeked from under her mob cap. After all she'd been through over forty-nine years, this minor indignity was the least of her worries.

The formerly impeccably behaved nurse had been thrown to the wolves. Certainly Ann McCarty indulged in spiteful satisfaction watching the widow trudge toward her cell. Like all prison women, Nurse Tedder surely had enemies, but she had also made friends during her time at Liverpool Street. Agnes and Janet knew Ann McCarty from the Westmoreland Westmoreland . They may have collaborated to protect Ludlow from further reprisals, but at Cascades they were all in it together, and it was going to be a long chilly winter. . They may have collaborated to protect Ludlow from further reprisals, but at Cascades they were all in it together, and it was going to be a long chilly winter.

Ludlow had just begun her year of labor inside a solitary working cell. She sat in twilight on her little stool, day after day, pulling apart old rope fibers, with temperatures dipping into the forties. Winter brought long bouts of chilling rain, but the grey days gradually faded away into the lengthening sunlight of early spring.

By the end of August, the two Glasgow maids bid the Female Factory good riddance. Placed back on a.s.signment, they held high aspirations for staying out of trouble. In less than a year, they'd be eligible for Certificates of Freedom. Ludlow received no such reprieve, and her callus-ridden hands continued to work on piles of rope. Summer dragged along like a lazy lizard sunning on a stone. A parade of unfamiliar faces watched the widow wearing large yellow Cs report without fail to morning muster. Nearly nine months into her punishment, Ludlow heard the sound of a familiar Scottish brogue. As she turned around, her eyes met those of another convict with an impish grin, looking back from across the yard and wearing the same drab s.h.i.+ft emblazoned with the familiar C. February 22, 1843, the dauntless #253 was back at the washtubs for another three months' hard labor. So close to the end of her term, if Agnes could avoid a major offense, she'd soon be free.

Ludlow's future was less certain, but at least she'd soon see Arabella. Over the course of her dark-hued isolation, reduced rations of bread and water caused Ludlow's grey uniform to fall farther from her frame. At last, the turnkey unbolted the locks on her cage. Ludlow strode proudly from the half-light of the two-story ward and was summoned to the reception room, where paperwork was already completed for her next a.s.signment. A still-perturbed Mr. Hutchinson would allow just one visit to the Queen's Orphanage, where Arabella, now fourteen, knew nothing of what had happened to her mother and why the Sunday visits stopped so abruptly. Auspiciously, her girlhood chum Catherine Mullins also remained at the orphanage and kept Arabella in good company.

After an all-too-brief visit to the orphanage, Ludlow was transferred by open cart one hundred twenty miles north to the Launceston Female Factory, a new facility constructed in 1834. Although the unusual octagonal configuration looked quite distinct from Cascades' rectangular shapes, little was different inside the prison.

Beginning in 1840, New South Wales would accept no more female convicts. Now all were transported to Van Diemen's Land by order of the Crown. As a result, both Cascades and the Launceston Female Factory were packed beyond capacity. Following the riots and disturbances that plagued 1842, superintendents tried to use the two locations to separate known collaborators, especially Flash Mob members, all to no avail.

Two months after Ludlow's admission, the Crime Cla.s.s women in Launceston locked out the constables and barricaded themselves inside the prison for more than twenty-four hours. "Only after about 30 prisoners from the men's gaol next door were fetched to a.s.sist the constables, was the siege broken."43 Five months later, simultaneous riots occurred at both female factories, attributable to either remarkable coincidence or crafty planning by the Flash Mob. Five months later, simultaneous riots occurred at both female factories, attributable to either remarkable coincidence or crafty planning by the Flash Mob.44 Ludlow, however, returned to model conduct. Quietly biding her time, she picked oak.u.m and sometimes scrubbed laundry at the washtubs. Under the Ticket of Leave policy, well-behaved prisoners were released on probation after completing at least four years of their sentence. Under watchful surveillance by local constables, convicts were allowed to work and to marry while serving the rest of their time.

Her excellent behavior yielded a harvest of good news for Widow Tedder in autumn 1844. Launceston Superintendent James Fraser submitted the paperwork for her Ticket of Leave, and Ludlow immediately sent for her daughter. Wasting not a moment, Ludlow must have pa.s.sed Mr. Fraser every coin she had tucked away from underground trade, first on the Hindostan Hindostan and later in the female factories. Her carefully managed stash paid stagecoach fare from the Queen's Orphanage. and later in the female factories. Her carefully managed stash paid stagecoach fare from the Queen's Orphanage.45 On a crisp April evening in Launceston's center, a dusty stagecoach door flew open, and fifteen-year-old Arabella ran into her mother's open arms. Overhead, black c.o.c.katoos squawked a greeting of their own. The reunited pair spoke barely a word as they walked arm in arm along the banks of the Tamar, dotted with wharves, gardens, and lush farmland.

Within weeks of the joyful reunion, Ludlow held her Ticket of Leave. She read aloud the words that justified her early release: "Nearly two thirds of her term of transportation having expired and there being only one offence on record against her."46 She'd served five years. Though the official doc.u.ment recorded her ten-year conviction delivered at the Old Bailey, the reference to "two thirds" applied more accurately to the seven-year sentence imposed on most transports. She'd served five years. Though the official doc.u.ment recorded her ten-year conviction delivered at the Old Bailey, the reference to "two thirds" applied more accurately to the seven-year sentence imposed on most transports.

On May 15, 1844, the fresh scent of freedom wafted over a relieved mother and daughter, who began to chart a course for their future. The ever-practical Ludlow Tedder began her search for a new mate. To survive in the colony, she'd need a partner. Taking full advantage of the nine-to-one ratio of men to women in Van Diemen's Land, she set out to find a healthy younger man. In the end, she had Ann McCarty to thank for this turn of fate. Had she not been punished for helping Eliza Morgan and sent to Launceston, Ludlow wouldn't have met the free settler who captured her heart.

Widower William Manley Chambers managed a farm just outside town and made a good living raising potatoes and sheep. Like Ludlow, he was literate, and seemed not to mind their difference in years. Though well beyond the bloom of maidenhood, Ludlow looked quite young for her age, and surely her wit and wisdom only made her more attractive. Besides, a woman with experience in cooking, housekeeping, and nursing was highly prized in a remote colony. With Ludlow's blessing, William applied for permission to marry Widow Tedder. Astute woman that she was, Ludlow lied about her age on their marriage application, declaring herself forty years old. She was, in fact, fifty-one when she married the thirty-four-year-old farmer on July 29, 1844.

Eight weeks after she walked out of prison, Ludlow donned a simple cotton frock and held William's arm before the altar in Launceston's Holy Trinity Anglican Church. Arabella stood by her mother's side, wearing winter-white magnolias in her hair and holding back tears of happiness and relief.

9.

Flames of Love Sleeping Beauty.

The year 1844 began like a fairy tale for the trio of convict maids. Their lives were woven together by the Fates, as they pa.s.sed through Liverpool Street and slaved behind the cold stone walls at Cascades. Now they were free and ready to express themselves on a new canvas prepared for hope and promise. The future was surely about to call them in different directions. Though they might never meet again, the women who walked away from Cascades were to be steadfast mates for the rest of their lives.

Ludlow Tedder Chambers, the oldest and still vibrant at fifty-one, contentedly adapted to life around a rustic farm cottage outside Launceston and introduced Arabella to the country roots she'd known as a young la.s.s in Southminster, England. Now freed from her sentence at the Female Factory, Janet Houston escaped her recent painful past in the company of a tall, handsome emancipist. And the spirited Agnes McMillan, the youngest of the three, had fallen madly in love with a mysteriously scarred renegade who caught her attention charging through Oatlands on a runaway horse.

Agnes, twenty-three at the time of her release, had certainly scoffed at rules before. She had no trouble dismissing what the Colonial Times Colonial Times considered the "Rules and Regulations for Young Ladies" contemplating matrimony: considered the "Rules and Regulations for Young Ladies" contemplating matrimony: At twenty.-Consider yourself in some danger of remaining single, and suit your conduct to your circ.u.mstances.

At twenty-one.-Be less particular than heretofore, for time begins to wane.

At twenty-two.-Think seriously of paying a visit to some friend at Madras or Calcutta.

At twenty-three.-Marry any body that is not downright intolerable.1 At the end of 1839, when Superintendent Hutchinson banished the grey-eyed rebel to the most remote outpost accepting convicts, he inadvertently arranged her introduction to William Watson Roberts. William was a sc.r.a.ppy lad from Manchester, with dark brown eyes and a bit of larceny in his soul. As a young man, he tried his hand at pickpocketing, but had little skill. In 1827, he was arrested for stealing one s.h.i.+lling and sixpence, and three halfpence. Because this was the twenty-two-year-old's second offense, the judge imposed a sentence of fourteen years' transportation to parts beyond the seas. While awaiting exile, William spent eight months aboard the Dolphin Dolphin, a decommissioned wars.h.i.+p turned floating prison hulk.

Stripped bare and scrubbed with a stiff brush, the male prisoners were outfitted in coa.r.s.e grey s.h.i.+rts and breeches and shackled by heavy rings secured by a steel rivet around both ankles. The rings were joined together by heavy chains, making it virtually impossible for a man to run, flee, or swim. Four hundred men ploddingly marched ash.o.r.e under the watch of guards armed with whips. Now called by their number at five A.M. muster, the convicts, dragging iron b.a.l.l.s at their feet, cleaned sewers, dug ditches, and dredged the River Thames. Returned to the s.h.i.+p at dusk, they were fed gruel and meat, then ordered by their task-masters to clean the old decaying battles.h.i.+p that was their home. The s.h.i.+p slept four men to a bunk in a s.p.a.ce seven feet square, and epidemics ravaged the hulks constantly and caused many a man's bones to be dumped in the swampy marshland following a death during the night.

William Roberts managed to survive his stay on the Dolphin Dolphin, but he wouldn't escape unscathed. One of many rampant outbreaks of tuberculosis left a permanent mark. Bearing a bluish-purple ma.s.s under his chin, he suffered from scrofula, or "king's evil," a name tied to the medieval belief that a royal's touch offered the cure. His clear complexion was further transformed by another plague common to life on the hulks. Hundreds of angry men in chains, packed together like animals, bred gang warfare, especially terrorizing the youngest boys, some barely twelve. Five feet, five inches tall and never one to back down from a fight, William was quickly rewarded with several deep scars across his forehead "protecting himself from the murderous intentions of low-life troublemakers on board."2 The rough-and-ready son of a Manchester coach maker was transferred on March 11, 1828, from the hulk to the transport s.h.i.+p William Miles William Miles. En route to Van Diemen's Land, seven prisoners died among the 492 on board. Finally, on July 29, 1828, the s.h.i.+p dropped anchor in Sullivans Cove and deposited the brown-eyed Roberts and the rest of the rowdy rabble on the colony's distant sh.o.r.e.

Less than a month after his arrival, William walked off a convict labor crew. He was punished with two days on the tread wheel, a device dubbed "the everlasting staircase" and the "c.o.c.k-chafer" because "the stiff prison clothes sc.r.a.ped one's groin raw after a few hours on it."3 Steadying himself against the handrail, he lifted his leg and placed his feet on the rotating steps of the large wheel used to grind wheat. Left, right, left, right, the weight of his footfall caused the creaking mill to slowly revolve while his ankle irons clinked the cadence of his steady, rhythmic pace. Step by heavy step, he worked off his punishment, ten minutes on and five minutes off for up to ten hours each day. Steadying himself against the handrail, he lifted his leg and placed his feet on the rotating steps of the large wheel used to grind wheat. Left, right, left, right, the weight of his footfall caused the creaking mill to slowly revolve while his ankle irons clinked the cadence of his steady, rhythmic pace. Step by heavy step, he worked off his punishment, ten minutes on and five minutes off for up to ten hours each day.

Six weeks later, the strong-willed transport from a gritty industrial town skipped mandatory church muster and was punished with two more days on the giant circular tread wheel in the Hobart Town penitentiary. Colonial society relied heavily on fear to pave the path toward redemption. These devils were to be reformed by the word of G.o.d or the kiss of the lash. Extremes of all dimensions ruled an expanding populace caught between medieval practices involving subjugation and torture and rising emancipist sentiments favoring suffrage and freedom.

Great Britain sent prisoners to Botany Bay, Australia, beginning with the First Fleet in 1788. When William arrived forty years later, the ten thousand convicts in Van Diemen's Land were expected to cower and submit to the rule of the master, just as those before them had done. This mission supported the goal of a docile labor cla.s.s serving at the whim of the wealthy. The cheeky Manchester transport was twice punished with a whipping by leather cat-o'-nine-tails. The first time he'd returned to the barracks one hour late, twelve lashes shredded his bare back that night.

A year later, while working in a road gang, William was taken aside and punished with twenty-five strokes for insolence toward Mr. James Calder, the Surveyor General for Bruny Island. Nine knotted leather strips with lead weights fastened to the end were deliberately designed to rip and tear into the skin, thus prolonging his suffering. Salt, rubbed into the wounds to prevent infection, heightened the pain and the punishment.

His back still b.l.o.o.d.y from deep lacerations, William was immediately returned to felling huge trees and cutting tracks through dense scrub, as the land was cleared for new roads and settlements. Despite a run-in with Surveyor General Calder, the now experienced ax-man was chosen for a ten-day exploratory trip up the Huon River and its heavily forested, undeveloped, and yet untamed sh.o.r.es.

For the next two years, William's transgressions were minor until he disobeyed direct orders and was sentenced to spend twelve months on a road gang outside the tiny settlement of Oatlands, breaking rocks and hauling them from the quarry. Marked for the Crime Cla.s.s, he was made to wear the convict arrow of shame. The "pheon," or broad arrow, found its roots in seventeenth-century markings on British property labeled to prevent theft. Petty thieves like William were considered property of the Crown and forced to wear coa.r.s.e black-and-mustard-yellow "magpie" uniforms. Reinforcing public humiliation with no semblance of subtlety, one trouser leg was yellow and the other black, each emblazoned with three large arrows. His captors had cut back his shoes low on the sides, right at the point where irons would bruise and sc.r.a.pe his s.h.i.+ns.

William's sentence dragged on under the threat of the lash and the press of the pulpit. In unwavering attempts to reform convicts through religion, Oatlands' chief magistrate required even Ticket of Leave holders' attendance at church, posting this notice: Chief Police Magistrate.

POLICE OFFICE, OATLANDS.

District of Oatlands Tickets-of-Leave.

ALL male prisoners holding the above indulgence, and residing within two miles from the Court-house, are ordered to attend church muster in future every Sunday.

Also those residing upwards of two miles, and not exceeding five miles, are ordered to attend church muster, the first Sunday in every month.4.

Benefiting from its location midway between the island's chief ports because of its growing wool trade, Oatlands in 1835 had a free population of 598, plus 695 convicts. It had expanded from twenty dwellings to more than two hundred over the past eight years.5 Still, Oatlands remained an outpost marked by contradictory components. The construction of convict-crafted Georgian homes and tree-lined avenues conveyed the superficial appearance of a civilized society. Yet the fringes of town defined its true outlaw flavor. Wide-open country offered fertile ground for marauding bandits who rustled cattle, robbed travelers on the lonely roads between Hobart Town and Launceston, and battled one another in the brutal fas.h.i.+on from which many legends were born.

Notorious bushranger Richard Lemon defined the settlement's early history before its link to other towns, encouraged after a visit by the governor of New South Wales in 1811. Exploring the northern jungles of Van Diemen's Land on horseback, Governor Macquarie proposed a road linking Hobart Town to the settlement he named Oatlands because it looked similar to an area that grew oat crops in his native Scotland.6 Until then, Richard Lemon, the leader of the first well-known bushranger gang, had terrorized the area. Between 1806 and 1808, Lemon ran wild and was the namesake for Oatlands' Lemon Springs and Lemon Hill. Living his mocking creed "a short life and a merry one," the ferocious murderer hid in a bark hut along the sh.o.r.es of Lake Tiberias until another ex-convict delivered his head in a sack and collected a bounty from the island's Governor Collins.7 Following Lemon's marauding lead, escaped convicts held hostage large tracts of the island's interior, still largely untamed and teeming with indigenous wildlife. Local herdsmen battled with carnivorous marsupials stealing from their flock, including the nocturnal Tasmanian devil and the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), nicknamed for its stripes.8 A different form of wildlife congregated on the fringes of the settlement, outside the order and control of the wardens and the church. Sly-grog shops, "notorious haunts of vice and immorality," opened in secluded shacks and barns in the bush.9 Inside these treasured haunts, convict women and men re-created the working-cla.s.s entertainment of their homeland, as they swapped tall tales, smoked tobacco, drank rum, played cards, gambled, and danced with reckless abandon. A lifeline to personal ident.i.ty and good old-fas.h.i.+oned fun defined the after-dusk subculture from which convict solidarity prospered and dissidence brewed. In remote, predominantly male outposts like Oatlands, bare-knuckle boxing matches and c.o.c.kfighting also filled the dark recesses of popular underground entertainment, which may have also filled the dark holes in many a lonely heart. Inside these treasured haunts, convict women and men re-created the working-cla.s.s entertainment of their homeland, as they swapped tall tales, smoked tobacco, drank rum, played cards, gambled, and danced with reckless abandon. A lifeline to personal ident.i.ty and good old-fas.h.i.+oned fun defined the after-dusk subculture from which convict solidarity prospered and dissidence brewed. In remote, predominantly male outposts like Oatlands, bare-knuckle boxing matches and c.o.c.kfighting also filled the dark recesses of popular underground entertainment, which may have also filled the dark holes in many a lonely heart.10 The pet.i.te renegade named Agnes McMillan had no trouble adapting to this rustic lifestyle, though she never forgave Superintendent Hutchinson for a.s.signing her to the middle of nowhere. Despite the occasional gunshots and bushranger sightings, it was a rather boring town, with more sheep than settlers. The former street urchin, accustomed to big-city bustle and excitement, found little amus.e.m.e.nt in this dreary outpost until a certain William Roberts crossed her path.

Twelve years into his sentence, at age thirty-six, after a long day laboring in the summer heat, #510 celebrated his probationary Ticket of Leave in a secret Oatlands grog shop. As he waved the parchment marked January 22, 1840, in front of his mates, beer after beer was pa.s.sed through his gleeful hands. Perhaps on a dare or merely a celebratory whim, William jumped atop a horse, hooting and hollering his way through the midlands town for all to see. The sleepy citizens who lived securely inside the village's neat orange-brick homes were not in the least amused.

An Oatlands constable pulled the completely inebriated Englishman from his horse and dragged him down Barrack Street through the arched entrance to the old stone gaol. Staggering up the stairs, William stared down at the porous stone steps stained deeply red from blood running down the legs of men who'd been whipped earlier that day.11 Now that he'd been released from convict status, his sentence was lighter this time, a mere fourteen days in a solitary cell and a fine of five s.h.i.+llings. And the news was about to get better. Now that he'd been released from convict status, his sentence was lighter this time, a mere fourteen days in a solitary cell and a fine of five s.h.i.+llings. And the news was about to get better.

On this very night, a spirited Scottish la.s.s must have had a good laugh as she peeked through her master's curtained window and took notice of a dark prince riding wildly through the streets in the bright moonlight. His behavior was comical when compared to the antics of the bushrangers and fugitives who lived in the surrounding woods, where outlaw justice ruled. In this midlands community, a rather clumsy and unexpected courts.h.i.+p ignited between the spirited Agnes and a Ticket of Leave holder with a roguish smile and a wink cast her way.

Fifteen years her senior, William was not the handsome prince of fairy tales. His face featured high, square temples and prominent lips. His unruly black eyebrows nearly met in the center, and he bore the heavy blue mark of the "king's evil" (tuberculosis) on his neck.12 He had endured the gauntlet of imprisonment, and it was time to settle down and start a family. Nearing the end of his sentence, the lucky expatriate found work as a timber cutter and builder. He had endured the gauntlet of imprisonment, and it was time to settle down and start a family. Nearing the end of his sentence, the lucky expatriate found work as a timber cutter and builder.

William's bra.s.sy humor and working-cla.s.s roots made him a fine match for the bonnie beauty with the Scottish brogue. He taught Agnes to read, to shoot a gun, and to use his well-worn ax. He was skilled, ambitious, and full of adventure and vitality. Like Agnes, he cast off limitations, living with abandon and buoyant good hope. She'd found her wild colonial boy and knew he'd be her mate for life.

Descendants of this well-timed union describe their meeting as fated. William had grown up with a mother and father and lived with them as a young adult, an apprentice at his father's side. For Agnes, his compa.s.sion "was her first experience of any love and care in her whole twenty years."13 Transported beyond the seas for the temptation of a few coins, the strong and rugged woodsman had survived some of the worst h.e.l.lholes in the empire. As he worked free in the forest, s.h.i.+rt tied around his waist, Agnes found her eyes drawn to the heavy scar tissue crisscrossing William's back, the signature of the cat-o'-nine-tails. "Old residents speak today of having seen these convicts, in the days of their youth, peel off their s.h.i.+rts to wash, and their backs were cut and marked so that there was not a piece of skin unscarred and scarcely a ridge of the flesh left free of marks of the scourge."14 Speaking not a word, the typically gregarious Scot conveyed what she felt for William with a simple touch. She understood his journey and shared his resiliency, yet tears still welled up in her eyes when she placed a gentle palm against the thirty-seven lash scars crossing his back.

With her best intentions now focused on romance and pa.s.sion, a love-struck Agnes soon found herself climbing the cold stone steps into the Oatlands gaol. She'd been insolent to her master and was to be confined to two weeks in solitary confinement, but her only regret was time away from dear William. Probably aware of the reason for her distraction, Magistrate John Whitefoord put Agnes on the first police cart headed back to Hobart Town. Though a Scotsman himself, he could not be charmed by a familiar brogue.

Over the next three years, the incorrigible Scot stayed in contact with William, twice absconding for the comfort of his arms. Surrendering any opportunity for early release with a Ticket of Leave, Agnes served her entire sentence. Seven years to the day of being found guilty by Ayr's Court of Judiciary, she held Certificate of Freedom #388, dated May 3, 1843. True-blue mate Janet Houston was freed the same day, which was the last time they would see each other.

Head held high, Agnes left Cascades behind her and headed north. Hitching a ride on an Oatlands-bound cart and humming her favorite tunes once again, she felt as though she were looking at the world for the first time. Traveling as a free woman, Agnes breathed in the island's mysterious beauty. Gum trees, their bark stripped stark-white bare in the annual molt, danced over the hills like human skeletons. Decaying eucalyptus appeared like gnarled and twisted fingers trying to scratch their way out of a grave. The wildness of the landscape only excited the wildness of her heart. As she traveled through the interior and approached the outpost, Agnes pa.s.sed huge groves of bushy honeysuckle shrub, their gigantic yellow cones in full autumn bloom and a welcoming sight that marked the entrance to Oatlands.

William had diverted himself with hard work while he waited for the woman he intended to marry. Convict #253 had finally reclaimed her name and now willingly added William's to hers, though no records indicate an official union. For the next several months, the Robertses saved every penny and plotted their future together. Anxious to make a fresh start and put the past behind them, the determined couple headed south to the Hobart Town docks in the spring of 1843. William's work on Mr. Calder's chain gang ten years earlier had introduced him to the prosperous possibilities for settlement along the Huon River.

These same prospects had not gone unnoticed by the ambitious and entrepreneurial Lady Jane Franklin. Seeing potential in attracting free immigrants with an interest in farming, the governor's wife made an investment she thought wise for the colony's future and her own. In 1838, she purchased 640 acres of fertile land in the Huon Valley, twenty-eight miles southwest of Hobart Town.15 She subdivided the large tract and sold parcels to G.o.d-fearing immigrants who denounced liquor and sin, pa.s.sed her interview, and met with her approval. Eager tenants, many of the Methodist faith, agreed to her lease-to-buy arrangement, requiring full payment within seven years. In 1843, Her Ladys.h.i.+p left Van Diemen's Land with a tidy profit for land sold at fair value and returned to England following her husband's removal as the colony's governor. She subdivided the large tract and sold parcels to G.o.d-fearing immigrants who denounced liquor and sin, pa.s.sed her interview, and met with her approval. Eager tenants, many of the Methodist faith, agreed to her lease-to-buy arrangement, requiring full payment within seven years. In 1843, Her Ladys.h.i.+p left Van Diemen's Land with a tidy profit for land sold at fair value and returned to England following her husband's removal as the colony's governor.

The governor's wife had conducted her business more honestly than certain wealthy landowners who employed a lease-to-buy scheme as a way to avoid the backbreaking work of clearing swamps and felling giant trees. Setting rents that few could afford, these greedy land barons held back eviction notices until after the land was cleared.16 Instead of paying to have the forests leveled, they collected rent money from hopeful settlers until it ran out. When the owners reclaimed the land, it was more valuable and often resold or used as pasture for sheep or cattle. Instead of paying to have the forests leveled, they collected rent money from hopeful settlers until it ran out. When the owners reclaimed the land, it was more valuable and often resold or used as pasture for sheep or cattle.

During his sixteen years on the island, William Roberts had grown wise to corruption and graft. Carrying coveted skills as a pit-sawyer and carpenter, he'd find honest work crafting durable, seaworm-proof Huon pine into fine sailing vessels for the colony's trade. The water-resistant wood was used on the decks of the empire's finest sailing vessels and was in huge demand. Bringing only what was essential, William and Agnes left Oatlands and headed for the Huon Valley. They may have walked to Hobart Town, then boarded a cart. The former city lad wrapped his ax and sharpening file in canvas sail that would double as a tent. He had a rifle to hunt for food, ammunition, and everything he needed to make a good living. Seated by his side, his smiling common-law bride wore a wool hat and scarf, and a blanket layered over her shawl. Two small possum rugs rested over her lap. They used the fur sides for cool seasons and the reverse for summer.17 A cloudless sky looked clearer than ever on this windy September morning. They'd need the lengthening daylight to set up camp and build a permanent shelter before summer's end. Agnes held tight to a tin cup and a cooking pot with some spoons jingling inside. William confidently fingered the coins he'd stashed away for rent and pa.s.sage up the river. Waterways offered easier travel than overland routes where no roads existed. To reach the Huon River settlement, the freed couple probably took a lighter, a barge headed upriver for a load of timber. Or they might have boarded the forty-ton vessel Lady Franklin had commissioned to service the community now named in her honor.18 The growing town of Franklin lay twenty-eight miles southwest of Hobart Town, and traveling overland was reserved for only the heartiest of explorers willing to navigate on foot the slippery mountain slopes and confusingly dangerous tangle of forests. The growing town of Franklin lay twenty-eight miles southwest of Hobart Town, and traveling overland was reserved for only the heartiest of explorers willing to navigate on foot the slippery mountain slopes and confusingly dangerous tangle of forests.

Only the sorrowful ghosts of Aborigines knew the secret paths through sacred ground now on the edge of modern civilization. Once part of Australia's continent, Van Diemen's Land separated from the mainland when sea levels rose during the last major ice age and formed the Ba.s.s Strait. Starting in 1803, British rule set in motion a systematic eradication of those deemed to be "savages," the earliest settlers who had inhabited the island for some forty thousand years. Fifty indigenous tribes with a total population estimated between five thousand and ten thousand were scattered across Van Diemen's Land when the English first landed. By the time Agnes arrived, that number had been reduced to less than two hundred, who lived in exile on Flinders Island off the northeast coast. Isolated from the rest of the world for about ten thousand years-the longest known isolation in human history-the Aboriginal people of Van Diemen's Land were completely exterminated in less than seventy-five years.

The dense forests of the Huon Valley, first inhabited by the indigenous Nuenonne tribe, was where Agnes and William began to erase their shared history in Van Diemen's Land. Immigrants who arrived of their own free will voiced an ominously rising prejudice against an expanding population they needed and despised at the same time. Comparing the island's beauty to the hideousness of those transported to its sh.o.r.es against their will, a male settler wrote that "the inhabitants are like a set of vultures . . . defacing one of the finest countries in the world."19 And a female settler similarly observed that the convict, "like an ugly nose, spoils the face of the country." And a female settler similarly observed that the convict, "like an ugly nose, spoils the face of the country."20 As he began to write On the Origin of Species On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin visited Van Diemen's Land and termed the colony "a festival amongst the lowest barbarians," writing: ". . . I was disappointed in the state of society. . . . There are many serious drawbacks to the comforts of a family, the chief of which perhaps is being surrounded by convict servants. How thoroughly odious to every feeling, to be waited on by a man who the day before, perhaps, was flogged, from your representation. The female servants are, of course, much worse: hence children learn the vilest expressions, and it is fortunate, if not equally vile ideas."21 Offering less understanding still for Aborigines, he echoed a sentiment shared by many: that "Van Diemen's Land enjoys the great advantage of being free from a native population." Offering less understanding still for Aborigines, he echoed a sentiment shared by many: that "Van Diemen's Land enjoys the great advantage of being free from a native population."22 An attempt to gloss over the penal colony's past was yet another cause adopted by Lady Jane Franklin. About the time she purchased the Huon Valley land, she spearheaded a campaign to change the island's name to Tasmania, a name first printed in an 1808 atlas and then bandied about in newspapers beginning in 1823.23 Following the coast down the River Derwent and pa.s.sing Bruny Island, William and Agnes sought a fresh start. Though they were legally free under the terms of the Transportation Act, the heavy chains of their convict past still rattled ominously against the promise of their future. Much of the far southeast remained untamed in 1844, though the island's total population had grown to about fifty-eight thousand. It was a region greener and wetter than Oatlands and Hobart Town, fertile for living off the land and water, and for blending into a quiet wilderness, where the couple could together shed their convict stain and start afresh.

Agnes found herself in high spirits as they sailed through the magical valley. Enchanted forests carpeted in velvety moss and giant leafy ferns revealed layers upon layers of deep green density. In the runoff of spring, streams rushed toward the river, and waterfalls cascaded over jagged cliffs. Ancient trees of gigantic proportions, some measuring ninety feet in circ.u.mference, pushed their lofty crowns toward a perfectly pristine blue sky.24 The river rippled with silver ribbons of light as the bloodred sun slipped below an endlessly green horizon. Looking north, Agnes spied a gently muted mountain range aptly named Sleeping Beauty. Remains of a harsh winter lingered in the snow, atop graceful slopes mirroring the silhouette of a princess who reclines peacefully on her bed, hair flowing along her side.

Crossing the Tasman Sea, heading upriver, and fighting the current required at least a day and a half from Hobart Town, depending on the winds and the tides. Buoyant with excitement as they hoisted their worldly possessions onto their shoulders, the couple was rowed ash.o.r.e to a timber camp on the outskirts of Franklin. Traveling with only what they could carry and the clothes on their backs, William steadied his wife's arm as they waded through the marshy mudflats and up the steep hillside banks. The st.u.r.dy thirty-nine-year-old knew hundreds of other free men on the island: acquaintances from the hulk in England, the sea voyage, the prison tread wheels, and his sentence to the chain gangs. Even in this remote place, William found familiar faces happy to offer the couple a place at the fire, along with a little rum and cooked eel to welcome their old mate.

Women were still rare in the male-dominated backcountry, so news of the grey-eyed Agnes accompanying her rugged husband ensured plenty of help stringing a canvas awning between trees and settling in that first night. Within the week, William purchased a good saw and paddled upstream to a small riverside plot they'd clear for their future. He gathered kindling wood for a fire and set traps for fish while Agnes prepared supper from the provisions they'd packed from Oatlands. For the time being, they'd sleep in a tent. Using a whetstone, William honed his ax's blade and set to work removing dense tea tree scrub and felling Huon pine.

A simple hut at the river's edge, built from "split timber and clay reinforced with wattle twigs,"25 seemed a fine spot to raise their brood. The small bulge in Agnes's belly carried a child conceived soon after their reunion in Oatlands. Fresh fish from the river and potatoes from nearby farms offered thetwenty-three-year-old and her developing child many a bountiful feast. Crayfish and eels were roasted on an open fire and seasoned with spicy berries from wild pepper plants. Rus.h.i.+ng streams provided an abundant supply of crystal-clear water. The water's edge was eerily quiet save for croaking frogs, buzzing mosquitoes, an occasional owl's call, and the sound of the river lapping against the sh.o.r.e. Their new home s.h.i.+elded the couple from the harshness they'd always known and offered a safe place to drift off to a deeply sound sleep. A fine mist embraced this ethereal landscape, as vibrant rain-forest spirits prepared to spring into life. seemed a fine spot to raise their brood. The small bulge in Agnes's belly carried a child conceived soon after their reunion in Oatlands. Fresh fish from the river and potatoes from nearby farms offered thetwenty-three-year-old and her developing child many a bountiful feast. Crayfish and eels were roasted on an open fire and seasoned with spicy berries from wild pepper plants. Rus.h.i.+ng streams provided an abundant supply of crystal-clear water. The water's edge was eerily quiet save for croaking frogs, buzzing mosquitoes, an occasional owl's call, and the sound of the river lapping against the sh.o.r.e. Their new home s.h.i.+elded the couple from the harshness they'd always known and offered a safe place to drift off to a deeply sound sleep. A fine mist embraced this ethereal landscape, as vibrant rain-forest spirits prepared to spring into life.

Sunrise burned off dawn's heavy fog as noisy black currawongs sporting bright yellow eyes swooped clumsily along the river's edge and looked for insects. Fairy wrens and white-bellied sea eagles joined in the chorus. Dragonflies danced on ferns, among the oldest known on earth, many unique to the island. b.u.t.terflies displayed brightly colored wings, painted with golden eyes and violet pupils. Large moths, most colored in camouflaging browns and greys and some with surprising additions of soft rosy pink, populated the forests and streams.

While William sawed timber downstream, Agnes explored the woods at their rear boundary. A nearly impenetrable treetop canopy cast a brooding stillness over the spongy rain-forest floor, touched by nary a hint of sunlight. Surrounded by the Huon pine, her closest neighbors were the majestic myrtles and September-flowering sa.s.safras covered in lichen. Smells from the hearth and the smokehouse attracted the occasional curious wallaby or echidna, but Agnes rejoiced in a life simple and free.

Heavy with child and blessedly content, thinking back to Glasgow's stinking streets, the mother-to-be delighted in the fragrance of black peppermint trees. Adding a touch of comfort to the cabin, the couple put up shelves, and William fas.h.i.+oned a table and stools. A rope bed and small crib, crafted with basic tools, added a homey touch to their isolated shack. On a chilly autumn morning in April 1844, Agnes gave birth to a daughter they named Lavinia Louisa; she was joined in 1846 by a brother named after his father. The two were baptized together by a missionary chaplain, who held services inside a modest wooden church built by Lady Jane Franklin. Over the next eight years, Agnes delivered George Henry, Agnes Lavinia, and John Edward. Lavinia and William enrolled in a school that opened in 1848 and helped teach their younger siblings how to read and write.

As the family expanded, the island's economy sank into a depression. Three-quarters of the men in Van Diemen's Land were convicts or ex-convicts, and many could not find work on any part of the island.26 By 1851, a rising tide of hatred directed toward transports and their offspring swept over the colony, further dividing a society already rife with prejudice. Looking toward the Southern Cross so clear above the Huon Valley, Agnes and William whispered excitedly about news they'd heard about golden opportunities in the nearby colonies of Victoria and New South Wales on Australia's mainland. By 1851, a rising tide of hatred directed toward transports and their offspring swept over the colony, further dividing a society already rife with prejudice. Looking toward the Southern Cross so clear above the Huon Valley, Agnes and William whispered excitedly about news they'd heard about golden opportunities in the nearby colonies of Victoria and New South Wales on Australia's mainland.

Blessings of Abundance.

By the time Agnes and William moved from the Huon Forest and set sail for Melbourne, Agnes's old friend Janet Houston had married a highly successful horse breeder and given birth to nine of her eventual twelve children, including two sets of twins. The couple settled in the lovely towns.h.i.+p of Richmond, first called Sweet Water Hills and located just fifteen miles from Hobart Town.

At first, Janet's union with Robert Bailey was fraught with drama following on the heels of tragedy. Robert, a former convict, was probably the father of the ill-fated baby, William. Despite that relations.h.i.+p, he was not free to wed Janet for more than a decade. When he first set eyes on the redheaded Scot, he was married to another convict maid, a volatile gypsy horse thief who deserted him as soon as she was granted a Ticket of Leave. Divorce not being an option, he did the next best thing, posting a desertion notice in the Colonial Times Colonial Times in an attempt to absolve himself of responsibility for his wife's unpredictable behavior: in an attempt to absolve himself of responsibility for his wife's unpredictable behavior: CAUTION.

MARY BOSWELL, Ticket-of-Leave, wife of Robert Bailey, of Richmond, having left her home without cause, he hereby Cautions the Public from giving her credit in his name, as he will not be answerable for any debt she may contract from this date. Ticket-of-Leave, wife of Robert Bailey, of Richmond, having left her home without cause, he hereby Cautions the Public from giving her credit in his name, as he will not be answerable for any debt she may contract from this date. ROBERT BAILEY, ROBERT BAILEY, April 19, 1839 April 19, 183927 When Janet secured her Certificate of Freedom in 1843, she ran straight into the arms of the tall Englishman with dark grey eyes and thick chestnut hair. At five feet, eight inches tall, he towered above the pet.i.te woman, whom he'd met three years earlier. Thirty-six, a full twelve years her senior, Mr. Bailey certainly had his hands full. In a land where there was only one woman for every nine men, Robert found himself with one too many.

Transported in 1820 aboard the Guildford Guildford after being sentenced to seven years for petty theft, Robert arrived in Van Diemen's Land at the tender age of thirteen. He received his Certificate of Freedom on July 23, 1827, and celebrated by getting roaring drunk and incurring a stiff fine. During his twenties, Robert managed to stay out of trouble except for being accused of stealing a sheep-that is, until he met the fiery Mary Boswell. She arrived aboard the after being sentenced to seven years for petty theft, Robert arrived in Van Diemen's Land at the tender age of thirteen. He received his Certificate of Freedom on July 23, 1827, and celebrated by getting roaring drunk and incurring a stiff fine. During his twenties, Robert managed to stay out of trouble except for being accused of stealing a sheep-that is, until he met the fiery Mary Boswell. She arrived aboard the Harmony Harmony on January 14, 1829. The nineteen-year-old from Birmingham was connected to a gang of gypsy thieves and faced a life sentence for "horse stealing." on January 14, 1829. The nineteen-year-old from Birmingham was connected to a gang of gypsy thieves and faced a life sentence for "horse stealing."28 As Mary strutted through Hobart Town, the dark-complexioned, dimpled gypsy with deep brown eyes would certainly have turned heads, especially at five feet, four inches, which was tall for that time.29 She'd endured four miserable months at sea and eight days more anch.o.r.ed in Sullivans Cove, because of the time it took to process the first women who were to be incarcerated at Cascades. In appointing staff for the new prison in 1828, Superintendent of Convicts John Lakeland recommended a staunch Methodist couple, stating: She'd endured four miserable months at sea and eight days more anch.o.r.ed in Sullivans Cove, because of the time it took to process the first women who were to be incarcerated at Cascades. In appointing staff for the new prison in 1828, Superintendent of Convicts John Lakeland recommended a staunch Methodist couple, stating: The immoral habits and general bad conduct of the female convicts will require all the energy and nerve that any individual may possess to keep them in a proper state of subordination and discipline.30 The newly issued rules and regulations for the Female Factory reinforced a strict regime under Esh and Ann Lovell, both former Sunday school teachers. Within a month of Mary Boswell's arrival, the first of many riots erupted at Cascades. It started after a group of sympathetic soldiers tossed cheese, bread, and b.u.t.ter over the stone wall into Yard One. When a prisoner tried to share the bread in the mess hall, an overseer took it away. The women went wild, stomping and clapping until locked down in their cells, where one lit cloth and pine, setting the yard ablaze. Superintendent Lovell shortly erected a fence around the perimeters of Cascades.31 Mary, the independent firebrand, had no intention of spending a lifetime under the Crown's stifling rules and regulations. She opted out of her sentence via the fastest escape route from the Female Factory. She got married. Arriving in a wild frontier, the exotic vixen had little trouble finding a spouse, wedding an infatuated Robert Bailey six months after she arrived in Van Diemen's Land. Released to Robert's care to serve out her life sentence, Mary found the loophole to early emanc.i.p.ation less than ideal, bristling at the intent to foster "respectable" women.

After eight years of marriage, Mary earned her Ticket of Leave in 1837, shortening her sentence and reducing government expenses. A year later, her union with Robert turned rocky, and on February 21, 1838, she was recorded "Absent from her husband's premises. Severely reprimanded."32 By 1840, Mary's Ticket of Leave was revoked, following her arrest for larceny. She faced twelve months' hard labor back at Cascades. By 1840, Mary's Ticket of Leave was revoked, following her arrest for larceny. She faced twelve months' hard labor back at Cascades.

Abandoned by his wife for the past three years, Robert fell in love with Janet Houston. They met on the streets of Hobart Town, and she somehow managed to live on his farm in Richmond for nearly a year. Returned to the Female Factory and carrying a child, she was separated from the das.h.i.+ng Mr. Bailey until the warm autumn day she held Certificate of Freedom #339. Unfortunately, her grand reunion did not go quite as planned.

In 1842, Mary Boswell had absconded from her a.s.signment in a tiny village called Green Ponds (later Kempton), more than twenty miles from Hobart Town. She was returned to her husband, but by March 1843 she left him once again. Two months later, Janet arrived at Robert Bailey's home and by the following year was pregnant with twins. John and James Bailey were born in their parents' cozy stone cottage on May 20, 1845.

Robert prospered breeding horses and developed an upstanding reputation. The Colonial Times Colonial Times recommended his farm as one where "good gra.s.s and well watered paddocks are provided for mares sent to him." recommended his farm as one where "good gra.s.s and well watered paddocks are provided for mares sent to him."33 He also invested in land to support their expanding brood. William Houston Bailey was born in May 1847 and named after the little boy Janet had lost five years earlier. Twin girls Rebecca and Betsy arrived in 1848, followed by siblings Robert, Arthur, Mary, Kate, Randolph, Wallace, and Samuel, born last in 1860. Janet finally married Robert on March 3, 1852, at Richmond's United Church of England and Ireland, surrounded by their children and carrying a simple bouquet of wildflowers tied in a ribbon. He also invested in land to support their expanding brood. William Houston Bailey was born in May 1847 and named after the little boy Janet had lost five years earlier. Twin girls Rebecca and Betsy arrived in 1848, followed by siblings Robert, Arthur, Mary, Kate, Randolph, Wallace, and Samuel, born last in 1860. Janet finally married Robert on March 3, 1852, at Richmond's United Church of England and Ireland, surrounded by their children and carrying a simple bouquet of wildflowers tied in a ribbon.

A year later, in August 1853, Janet and her family witnessed the official abolition of transportation to Van Diemen's Land. Since 1803, sixty-seven thousand convicts had been s.h.i.+pped to this isolated outpost. Now they made up half its population. The older Bailey children attended the Richmond Primary School, built by prisoners in 1834.34 Convict labor had built most of the munic.i.p.al buildings in Hobart Town, and chain gangs had cleared the land for roads that now bustled with settlers and commerce. Convict labor had built most of the munic.i.p.al buildings in Hobart Town, and chain gangs had cleared the land for roads that now bustled with settlers and commerce.

Each school-age child was issued a medallion, coined by the Royal Mint in London, commemorating fifty years of European settlement and the close of a penal colony.35 In both Hobart Town and Launceston, jubilee festivals were orchestrated to erase the lingering stigma a.s.sociated with freed convicts like Janet Houston and William Bailey. The couple probably avoided the celebration, beca