Sydney

After our journeys through the art and natural world we decided to take a trip back in time to discover how Sydney and Australia was formed at the Hyde Barracks Museum, a World Heritage Site that exhibits ‘Convict Sydney’.

The carefully restored 19th century barracks is rather inconspicuous beyond being atheistically appealing amongst the typical backdrop of city office blocks. Yet this belies its significance in the founding of this nation. Long before its co-ordinated streets, beautiful gardens and iconic landmarks were constructed, Sydney was a small swampy penal colony. As crime and imprisonment spiralled in Britain, policy makers sought a new deterrent by sending those convicted to Australia to serve their sentences.

The barracks’ brick and timber structure was built by the same hands of those who were sent under this policy who were used as a cheap source of labour for the construction of the city’s infrastructure. Rooms on the top floor of the barracks house long rows of hammocks where some of these sent resided. Other displays illustrated the conditions experienced and whilst we have heard a number of well-meaning jokes about the country being full of convicts (particularly from Kiwis in New Zealand), it’s a sad and compelling foundation to a city and country. It was unsurprising to learn that by the 1840s the citizens of Sydney petitioned against receiving any further ships of convicts from Britain due to both the repeated offending of some as well as exposure to the treatment dealt out by officials. Hangings, lashings and chain gangs evoked images of the slave trade in the Americas.

Yet despite Sydney no longer receiving convicts, other places in the country continued to do so for many years to come. In total, over a period of nearly 80 years, 166,000 men, women and children were deported from Britain to Australia. Such genealogy used to be source of shame and was hidden by families. Yet with changing attitudes since the 1970s it has almost become a ‘badge of honour’ to have a convict ancestor. The museum contained a census of names but we found no Stringers or Radloffs.

Even after the cessation of this policy, many thousands of people continued to be ‘assisted’ to migrate to Australia and the museum also told their stories. Young women and children whose parents/families had died or were unable to care for them were sent through the 19th and into the 20th century due to Australia being naively, even negligently, seen as an answer to British societal woes. To further appreciate this we would highly recommend reading/watching ‘Oranges and Sunshine’, a powerful representation of the abusive child migration programmes that existed well into the 20th century.Läs mer