Kiera Lindsey, The Convict’s Daughter: The scandal that shocked a colony,

Allen & Unwin, 2016, pp 1-322

The Convict's Daughter, Keira Lindsey

Sydney in the 1840s was a complex and volatile city, a colourful social melting pot of convicts, ex-convicts, ex-convicts made rich, imposters, gentlemen of questionable repute and many others determined to refrain from having anything to do with any of them. During this decade, calls for representative government were being made by self-made men, often from dubious backgrounds. Those in the upper reaches of polite society were incredulous at the possibility of ex-convicts becoming gentlemen and shuddered at the legacy of the convict stain. Sydney was also a society where one’s reputation really mattered. For men, reputation centred on their professional lives and their family lives and involved notions of honour, honesty and manliness; for women, it involved obedience, chastity and moral integrity. And because the mere whiff of scandal might easily destroy one’s position within society, many colonists defended their honourable reputations with a fierce determination. So in 1848 Sydney was utterly enthralled by the scandal of an attempted under aged elopement in the dead of night, an enraged father chasing after the pair with loaded pistols, and a subsequent trial for abduction which sensationalised the colony.  The love birds involved were fifteen year old Mary Ann Gill, a spirited and audacious colonial born lass, the daughter of Irish convict parents and the gentleman James Butler Kinchela who was of a very different class and more than twice her age. The Gill’s had risen from their lowly origins to become the proud and respectable proprietors of one of Sydney’s most prestigious hotels located in Pitt Street. Because Mary Ann’s midnight flit threatened to damage the family’s reputation and indeed her own, her father Martin Gill took Kinchela to court for the crime of abduction. He was found guilty and sentenced to nine months incarceration in Parramatta Gaol. Remarkably Mary Ann and James eventually did marry in San Francisco in 1852. But before they did, there were chance encounters and missed opportunities, betrayal by her father and family breakup, the economic depression of Sydney in the late 1840s, revolutions across Europe, the discovery of gold in California and surviving ship wreck en route to America. In The Convict’s Daughter historian Kiera Lindsey tells this thrilling and remarkable colonial melodrama of a family against the backdrop of the wider social history of Sydney and indeed the outside world. At times there are also dark and menacing allusions to the frontier violence which was occurring outside of Sydney during these years. Lindsey skilfully weaves these wider themes into the narrative with a passionate verve and a keen sense of historical accuracy; along the way she paints a vibrant and memorable portrait of colonial life at mid-century and indeed beyond. Based on the life of her feisty great, great, great aunt, The Convict’s Daughter is a meticulously researched, broad sweeping book, combining real events found in the records with the author's own brilliant imagination when the silences of the archive left gaps and omissions. In her hands, Sydney as a place truly comes alive. This is a marvellous, rip-roaring book with many unexpected twists and surprises. It would make a thoroughly compelling and utterly thrilling ABC mini-series. It is just gloriously unputdownable and the history of Sydney has been magnificently enriched by its recent publication. Dr Catie Gilchrist May 2016 Available here from Allen & Unwin or your favourite local bookseller.  

Wild weather just hit Sydney and parts of Australia’s east coast, causing four deaths and an estimated $38 million in damage. It seems each time this occurs, photographs and film footage captured by awestruck residents dominate the news, and this sort of media frenzy has happened throughout Sydney’s history. I spoke with Jamie on 2SER Breakfast about Sydney's stormy past.

According to Dictionary of Sydney contributor, Sharyn Cullis, there is evidence of severe weather hitting the New South Wales east coast in the past 10,000 years. Since European settlement, there have been various instances of natural disasters hitting Sydney and surrounds.

wp-image-12715https://home.dictionaryofsydney.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/SLNSW_a1528471h.jpgHawkesbury flood, in 1816 taken from [?]rofton Cottage Windsor No.4, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a1528471 / V1B / Wind / 16)433315/> Hawkesbury flood, in 1816 taken from [?]rofton Cottage Windsor No.4, Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a1528471 / V1B / Wind / 16)

The people of the Hawkesbury River area thought they had seen the worst of it in 1864, when the river peaked at 14.6 metres causing widespread damage with many families left destitute. But in June 1867, disaster struck again when heavy rain and winds caused the water to rise to 19.2 metres destroying homes and buildings from Pitt Town to Wisemans Ferry. The 12 deaths caused by this flood came from the one family. The deaths of the Eather family were dramatically depicted in the Illustrated Sydney News in July 1867. The low-lying inner west suburbs of Sydney were struck by heavy rains in May 1889. Residents in suburbs including Croydon Park, Canterbury and Marrickville were illustrated in the newspapers in rowboats rescuing the homeless and rowing through the streets past partially submerged shopfronts and homes. One Newcastle newspaper reported that 150 residents had been ‘rescued’ and were given provisions at the Royal Exchange Hotel on Marrickville Road. The Australian Town and Country Journal also published a series of dramatic images, from a bus crash on the Cooks River bridge in Canterbury, to a Manly ferry fighting choppy seas and a baker wading through water to deliver bread in Marrickville!

The late heavy rains in Sydney and suburbs, Australian Town and Country Journal, 8 June 1889, p27

Other floods have occurred along the Georges River, which flows from the O'Hares Creek catchment 80 kilometres north and east to meet Botany Bay at Taren Point. The February 1873 flood was the biggest rising to 10.3 metres at Liverpool. Eighty-three years later, the 1956 flood caused five deaths, with 1,000 homes flooded and 8,000 people evacuated. Homes in Bankstown, Panania, East Hills, Milperra, Moorebank and others were inundated and residents were rescued by police and army 'ducks' as well as by civilians in row boats, some had been waiting for assistance on their roof-tops. Floods would occur in the years that followed with one in 1988 overwhelming 1,000 homes along the Georges River, in Cabramatta and Prospect Creek. Sharyn Cullis notes, trends over time show that floods can ‘cluster in a small number of years, not to be experienced for decades, and reappear’. So between 1901 and 1940 there were only two large floods on the Georges River, but between 1969 and 1979 there were six.

Volunteers from the Milperra district in response to an urgent broadcast appeal. work in blinding rain to sandbag a point in the Georges River where flooding was imminent, 16 June 1950, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 June 1950, p1

Storms have long been a part of life in Sydney and its floodplain areas, and there will be plenty more in the years to come. Flood management and planning will no doubt play a role as government bodies and emergency services grapple with the challenge of wild weather and its impact on the community.

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If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in to 2SER Breakfast on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney.

 

Catherine Bishop, Minding Her Own Business: Colonial Businesswomen in Sydney

New South, Sydney 2015, pp1-302, RRP $39.99

Contemplating the life of women in Sydney in the nineteenth century one might think about them as daughters, wives, mothers, lovers, sisters, spinsters and widows. Or of their domestic roles which made them responsible for child rearing and running the private world of the home. You might rue their lack of legal and political rights, or wonder about women of the lower orders who often worked long hours as domestic servants, laundresses, poorly paid piece workers or indeed as prostitutes. Or you might read the many memoirs and diaries which endure today that chart the lives of privileged upper class women, which suggest a rather different existence; the pleasures of elegant colonial drawing rooms where hours were spent engaged in piano playing and embroidery as a pastime, the endless round of society balls and dinners, perhaps a philanthropic interest in a church or charitable organisation. Yet in between traditional prescribed gender roles and the disparities of class, there was a whole other layer of female experiences going on at the same time. In Minding her Own Business Colonial Business Women in Sydney, historian Catherine Bishops adds to her wonderful Dictionary of Sydney entry Women of Pitt Street 1858 and reveals more of the forgotten history of a colourful army of nineteenth century businesswomen who played a vital role in the development and growth of colonial society from a small convict settlement into the commercial city of Sydney. They were a diverse and varied crew and included ex-convicts, free immigrants, colonial born and a few more ‘exotic’ types from France and other British colonies. Indeed, though they have left few tangible traces in the street scape today, the streets of Sydney were vibrantly alive with the hustle and bustle of many busy women ‘minding their own business’ in the colonial era. These entrepreneurial business women were diverse and eclectic, earning their livings in a variety of small and sometimes surprising ways. Some were hugely successful, others less so; some ran their single businesses for years whilst others went from one business enterprise to the next with fluidity and a great deal of resolve and determination; some were backed by successful male relatives, others had hopeless husbands and partners and found themselves doing whatever it took to earn a crust. Other businesswomen were entirely independent of male influence, good, bad or indifferent. So what sort of businesses did women own in Sydney in the nineteenth century? Catherine Bishop introduces us to a wide variety of female entrepreneurs. Those handy with a needle were to be found amongst the many milliners and dress makers, bonnet makers, staymakers and drapers who clothed the people of Sydney; some worked from home, others opened shops in the busy thoroughfares of George and Pitt Streets. Educated women often opened ladies schools and academies and worked as teachers or private tutors. Their target market was Sydney’s growing middle classes who were keen for their daughters to be educated in suitable ‘feminine’ subjects such as art, music and languages. Many women ran boarding houses, hotel bars and brothels providing accommodation, food, conviviality and sometimes company for single men newly arrived or passing through the busy port town. There were also female butchers and bakers, market stall holders, grocers and fruiterers, confectioners and dairywomen who fed the populace. Women worked as private midwives and nurses and some established employment registry offices to match up female workers with employers who required their services. Other women contributed to the cultural and social life of the city; they set up bathing facilities for women and children, ran circulating libraries and private museums, gave public lectures at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts in Pitt Street, and organised regular concerts and plays. Others worked as writers, artists and illustrators such as the formidable Scott sisters, Harriet and Helena. Upon widowhood women often carried on their deceased husbands business; they ran ironmongers, jewellery shops, tobacconists, breweries, garden nurseries, taxidermy shops and salt stores. Few of these enterprising women have left behind letters or diaries to reveal their voices, or their thoughts and feelings about their business lives. Yet the reader nevertheless gets an intimate sense of their lives through the deft and admirable manner in which Bishop has used the available sources to retrace their many and varied lives. From shipping arrival lists, to trade directories (such as Sands), to colonial newspapers advertising their shops and services and the many court cases which some business women found themselves in times of bankruptcy or disputes over customer payments, the archives have been deeply mined and some real treasures have been found. Minding Her Own Business is an accessible and yet deeply engaging read. It is an entirely new and insightful history of the economic development of Sydney. At the same time, it breathes life back into the many women who played a role in this development. There is a little bit of scandal, infamy and naughtiness in here too. The book is also beautifully illustrated with sixteen pages of fabulous photographs of nineteenth century Sydney. As such, it will appeal to a wide audience of readers interested in the history of women, colonial Sydney and the economic development of the city. Catie Gilchrist June 2016 Available from NewSouth Books, or from your favourite bookseller!  

White Bay power station c1930, City of Sydney Archives (SRC352)

Sydney Harbour was once a bustling maritime port and industrial waterfront. The White Bay Power Station is a landmark industrial complex on the shoreline of White Bay, an abandoned reminder of this 20th century history. It was built between 1912 and 1917 by the NSW Railway Commissioners to cope with the expansion of the tramway network and to deal with the anticipated electrification of the railway system and the proposed underground railway system for the city. This is a state government agency that was thinking ahead and planning for the future. What a radical idea! During its operation from 1917 to 1984, the White Bay Power Station helped to power Sydney's public transport for most of the twentieth century. Its location allowed coal ships to dock right beside the facility and deliver coal directly into the plant. The water in the bay provided unlimited cooling water to circulate through the plant. The White Bay Power Station is massive. Its presence really marked a gateway to the Balmain industrial waterfront. The power house is sometimes referred to as Balmain Power Station, but that was actually another power house situated just east of the Iron Cove Bridge. Its no longer there - that site is covered by apartments. We have an article about that in the Dictionary too - naturally! The White Bay site is now the last remaining example of a coal-dependent, harbourside, industrial complex, something that was once relatively common in Sydney. As well as its physical presence on the landscape, the internal space of the White Bay power house inspired visitors and workers alike, with large cavernous boiler houses and turbine rooms that were cathedral-like in their industrial scale. Today the White Bay Power Station retains its landmark quality with the remaining chimneys easily identified from many vantage points. In 2006, White Bay was included on the New South Wales State Heritage Register. The White Bay Power Station has been in the news over the last 12 months because the state government is planning to redevelop the "Bays Precinct" and there's talk that the power station building will be adaptively reused. You can hear former power station workers talk about the plant, see interiors of the powerhouse and historic photographs in this 15 minute video produced by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.

Listen now

If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in to 2SER Breakfast on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney. [embed]https://youtu.be/UUKOpdWum3Y [/embed]

LIGHTFOOT DANCING: AN Australian-Indian Affair by Mary Louise Lightfoot  ISBN 9781310808586 RRP $10.99

Mary Louise Lightfoot, the author of the Dictionary of Sydney entry on dancer Louise Lightfoot http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/lightfoot_louise has published LIGHTFOOT DANCING: An Australian-Indian Affair, - part biography, part dance history, part inter-generational memoir - as an e-book available on Amazon, Smashwords, ITunes and most e-book publishers. Review by Marian Quartly, Professor Emerita of History Monash University "Louise Lightfoot is virtually unknown in her native Australia, but she played a vital role in bringing traditional Indian dance forms to the West and also in raising their cultural status in India. This biography by her niece, Mary Lightfoot, creates a rich tapestry of voices, images and text to capture the extraordinary career of this pioneering dance entrepreneur and cultural ambassador. Her story will be of interest to lovers of ballet and devotees of Indian dance - and to anyone fascinated by women who tear down boundaries and open international hearts and minds." Buy here on Amazon.com.au or iTunes    

Liquor Referendum sign and advertisements, Surry Hills June 1916, City of Sydney Archives (NSCA CRS 51/1831)

Back in February we chatted about the Liverpool Soldiers Riot in 1916. The riot, which started as a protest against camp conditions, caught the military and many officials by surprise. The boozy rampage by AIF recruits was picked up by the temperance movement and used to serve their cause. The drunken behaviour of “Black Monday” was condemned as unpatriotic and made NSW “the shame of Australia”. The temperance movement, supported by the conservative Sydney Morning Herald, demanded the closing of all bars until the war was over. The state government agreed to put to the people of Sydney and NSW the question of the closing hour of pubs in NSW. They scheduled a referendum for the 10th June 1916. It was described at the time as the Liquor Referendum, and later many referred to it as the Early Closing Referendum. In the early 20th century, publicans had liberal regulation of the hours for the sale of alcohol, liquor and spirits. Many pubs opened at 6am in the morning, and closed 17 hours later at 11pm at night. Voters were asked if they wanted pubs to close at which time between 6pm and 11pm.  Campaigning was fierce. And it divided into two main options: Close the pubs at 6pm or Close the pubs at 9pm. Many pubs affixed banners to their balconies lobbying for moderation and a 9pm closing hour.

BUNG'S WARNING The Liquor Trade looks upon the Early Closing Movement as an únwarrantable interference with the liberty of the subject'. Bung (to his victim) - 'Don't let them tamper with YOUR liberty on Referendum Day!' The Australian Worker, 11 May 1916, p10 (via Trove) http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145762861http://

Temperance movements, the "six oclockers", rallied at town halls and churches and women's pages in the newspapers were bombarded with appeals for the women's vote. By May early closing had become a patriotic and a strategic question. Four months after the riot, the citizens of NSW voted to close all pubs at 6 o’clock for the duration of the war. Of 579,106 votes cast 347,0494 votes supported 6 o'Clock. A further 178,842 voted for 9pm. Results of the Liquor Referendum 1916: 6.00 p.m.    347,494 7.00 p.m.    4,830 8.00 p.m.    21,134 9.00 p.m.    178,842 10.00 p.m.    1,405 11.00 p.m.    3,193 Total Formal    556,898 Informal    22,208 Total Votes    579,106 APPROVED - 6.00 p.m. closing time Source: NSW Electoral Commission Three years later the legislation was made permanent. This law remained in place until 1955. Similar legislation was introduced in Victoria later in 1916 and it was removed until 1966! The changing of liquor licensing and the hours that pubs could be open had a dramatic effect on Sydney life and the design of pubs. Distinct smaller areas such as snugs and parlours and separate rooms for dining and meetings were abandoned. Increasingly, billiard tables, dart boards, quoits and skittles were removed to accommodate large crowds that gathered in the hour before closing time. Brewers and pub owners took the opportunity to modernise pubs, introducing a sleek new look, often moderne or art deco in style. The pub was opened up into a larger space: walls knocked down, and the serving area of the bar extended, to cope with the influx of male drinkers after work. Interiors were lined with tiles, which were easier to hose down after the frenetic pace of the six o'clock swill. The early closing transformed hotels from being the social centre for the local community, where sporting club meetings were held and sing-alongs took place, to being the 'bastion of hard drinking men'. Historian Clare Wright in her book Beyond the Ladies Lounge, describes how the public drinking culture became associated with an "overtly masculine style of social engagement: hard, fast, loud, competitive and gender-exclusive". (p.115) Whereas once the pub was considered a place of domesticity, it transformed in the 1920s to be the antithesis of feminine world of hearth and home. You can read all about the transformation of Glebe's pubs and the impact of six o'clock closing in Max Solling's entry on Glebe Pubs.

Men queuing outside the Auburn Hotel 2 August 1952, NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice & Police Museum, Sydney Living Museums (Record no: 33318)

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If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in to 2SER Breakfast on 107.3 every Wednesday morning at 8:20 am to hear more from the Dictionary of Sydney.    

wp-image-12532https://home.dictionaryofsydney.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Giantcoins.jpgPic: Training for the new decimal currency - a display of giant coins at the Channel 10 studio in Sydney 1965. By W Brindle. Contributed by National Archives of Australia [A1200, L52590]450448/> Pic: Training for the new decimal currency - a display of giant coins at the Channel 10 studio in Sydney 1965. By W Brindle. Contributed by National Archives of Australia (A1200, L52590)

The Dictionary of Sydney is a unique digital story-telling platform about Sydney with over 400 contributors, 940 entries, 12,735 entities and 4,217 multimedia items freely accessible online. Since 2006 the City of Sydney has been our major government partner providing us with cash and in-kind support, including our current premises in Benledi House, Glebe. From July we will enter into a new partnership with the State Library of NSW to host our website. The project to transfer our website is being funded by a one-off grant from the City of Sydney and does not include operational funding from the SLNSW. From December 2016, the City of Sydney will no longer fund the Dictionary on an ongoing basis. More than ever, for the Dictionary to flourish, we rely upon the goodwill and generosity of our supporters. While we are continuing to work with our existing supporters as well as seeking new partnerships, we hope our many supporters can help us raise funds to ensure that the Dictionary continues to improve its content and functionality. Each year the Dictionary of Sydney has an annual fundraising drive. This year we ask you to consider what impact the Dictionary has had on you, why you use it and what you love about it. There are many people who would appreciate and use the Dictionary but don't know it exists. In order to bring our content to a wider audience, we need to keep growing the Dictionary.

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wp-image-12418https://home.dictionaryofsydney.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Hydro-Majestic-Hotel-Medlow-Bath-1920s.jpgHydro-Majestic Hotel, Medlow Bath 1920s. By Charles Henry Hunt. Contributed by National Library of Australia [nla.pic-an10566802] 413313/> Hydro-Majestic Hotel, Medlow Bath 1920s. By Charles Henry Hunt. Contributed by National Library of Australia [nla.pic-an10566802]

The Dictionary of Sydney has plenty of content across the greater Sydney region, including Sydney's outskirts high up in the Blue Mountains. The Dictionary of Sydney recently partnered with Varuna, the Writer's House in Katoomba, to commission five writers to write about iconic sites of the Blue Mountains. The essays have just been published on the Dictionary and include:

• Echo Point by Delia Falconer
• Hydro Majestic by Julian Leatherdale
• Varuna by Mark O’Flynn
• Darwin’s Walk by John Low
• Mt Hay Plain and Lockley’s Pylon by Naomi Parry.

For this project, each author explored the layered meanings of cultural icons and landscapes, reflecting on the historical and personal memories that their chosen place evokes. Each place has an environmental and a cultural history, whereby their iconic status has been created and cultivated over time. Before Echo Point and the Three Sisters, there was Wentworth Falls and the Blue Gum Forest in the Grose Valley. Each pathway through the forest has its own stories, ancient and new. And the Hydro Majestic, built by Sydney retailer Mark Foy, capitalised on them all. Foy created an up-market health resort that boasted romance and charm in nature walks and waterfalls, and healthful crisp mountains air. Varuna itself is a more modest but not less influential icon. It was the house of Australian writer Eleanor Dark and her husband Eric. They built it in 1939. In 1990 it was gifted by her son Mick to his mother's memory as a writer's retreat; a gift of nurturing and solitude. A place for writers to come and work, a place of reflective and solitude, quietness. It is a place where writers emulate what Eleanor Dark did, discuss ideas around the fireplace. Mark O'Flynn in his essay describes how Professor Elizabeth Webby "jokingly referred to a new genre in Australian literature, that of the 'Vaurna book'." The jest points to Varuna's influence in fostering creativity amongst writers. One can almost feel the presence of writers gone before, including Eleanor Dark, standing beside you, encouraging you just to 'get on with it'. The collaboration between the Dictionary of Sydney and Varuna, The Writers House was supported by the Blue Mountains City of the Arts Trust 2015 Grant Program. As part of this collaboration, four of the writers - Delia Falconer, Julian Leatherdale, Naomi Parry and John Low - will talk with me at a special Sydney Writers Festival event at Katoomba on 16 May. I hope to see you there! Date: 16 May Time: 3:00 – 4:00pm Place: The Carrington Hotel, Katoomba Single Session Tickets $15 (only available at the door on the day, subject to availability). Listen Now

If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am.

Traffic flowing smoothly on the Sydney Harbour Bridge after two new lanes were opened, July 1959. Credit: National Archives of Australia (A1200, L32700)

Since it first started in 2009, over 1.5 million words have been published on the Dictionary of Sydney including 940 entries, 4,217 multimedia items, 12,735 entities and 38,639 factoids. With a free mobile app, resources for schools linked to the national history curriculum and regular local radio spots on Sydney's history, our audience continues to grow.

New partnership

From June 2016, the Dictionary of Sydney will enter into an exciting new partnership with the State Library New South Wales. With assistance from our long-time supporter, the City of Sydney, the Dictionary will move its main website to a new platform at the library. The library will preserve and maintain the Dictionary of Sydney website, ensuring that we can all enjoy the Dictionary of Sydney for many more years to come.

Impact

Between July and December 2016, no new content will be added to the Dictionary. The current website will still be accessible and we will continue our weekly radio segments, blog posts and newsletters. Behind the scenes we will begin transferring the Dictionary of Sydney to a new and more sustainable platform. We will resume publishing once the site is up and running early in 2017. The Dictionary’s URL will remain the same: www.dictionaryofsydney.org

Future

The City of Sydney has provided cash and in-kind support to help transfer the Dictionary's website to the State Library of NSW. The City has extended our lease at Benledi House in Glebe until December to support this transition period. After December, with our website safely housed at the State Library, the City will no longer fund the organisation on an annual basis. The Dictionary of Sydney will continue to work with our existing partners while pursuing new opportunities for collaboration and funding. You can read more about the transition here: City of Sydney 'Past and future of Sydney's history secured.'

Thank you to the City of Sydney, all of our existing supporters, partners and contributors for making the Dictionary of Sydney the wonderful resource it is today.

We appreciate your letters of support and look forward to continuing to work with you in the future. You can read the History Council of New South Wales' letter of support for the Dictionary here.