Convict Sydney

First published on 3 Aug 2010. Updated on 24 Mar 2011.

An ambitious new exhibition at Hyde Park Barracks sheds light on our convict beginnings.

Inara Walden, curator: what is the Convict Sydney exhibition?
It's about the convicts of Hyde Park Barracks, but also about the men and women who were sent there to be disciplined by the magistrate that sat at the Barracks after 1830.

The Hyde Park Barracks seems a fitting venue seeing as it was the first convict barracks in the colony.
Yes, and the exhibition centres on the building, but tells a much bigger story of the convict experience and how the convict workforce shaped the city of Sydney by 1842. Governor Macquarie built up this system of gangs that were productive work groups of skilled workers and they were working in every facet of the colony. Convicts were the bakers, the butchers and the candlestick makers. Ex-convicts, people whose sentences expired or who got a ticket of leave, were the main business owners.

How were you able to provide such a detailed account?
One of the reasons for convict transportation was to deter crime in Britain, but word was filtering back that there was a lot of freedom in the Australian convict colony. People wanted to steal a hanky and earn themselves a ticket to Botany Bay. The British government was so concerned about this perception of the penal colony that they sent Commissioner Big out to investigate the situation. He did a very detailed investigation and there are a lot of oral interviews and written testimony. He interviewed so many people from all works of life. It's a fascinating record for us.

What are some of the exhibits?

We have a giant painted tableau that depicts the convict experience of transportation: from a hanging in England and convicts being transported to the ships landing in Australia and then the experience of the convicts living in the Barracks. It's an amazing work that we have commissioned from Wayne Haag, an artist who creates digital worlds for films like Lord of the Rings.

Does the exhibition appeal to kids?
There are lots of hands-on activities. Kids can sit at a table to eat a convict meal, try on a set of leg irons or convict clothing or stand at the whipping post.

Have you uncovered any particularly gritty convict tales?
There is one interactive exhibit that comes from the bench book. They are from the judges that sat at the Hyde Park Barracks and they recorded the evidence and outcome of convict cases. One ex-convict, Mary-Anne Collis, was assigned as a servant to her own husband when she was released from her barracks. Her husband went to the bench to tell the judge that he'd caught his servant wife having an affair and that he wanted her punished. She was sent to the third class of the Female Factory for one month of punishment and at the end of her sentence she was returned to service with her husband.

That's incredible. Why is this exhibition something Sydneysiders should see?
You get a great perspective of early Sydney. We've tried to present the story of Sydney as well as the nitty-gritty of convict life. Convicts were the workers who built early Sydney, so there is a direct legacy there for and around all of us. Erin Moy