Van Diemen’s Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen’s Land in 1803 before it became a separate colony in 1825. Its penal colonies became notorious destinations for the transportation of convicts due to the harsh environment, isolation and reputation for being inescapable. Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur are among the most well-known penal settlements on the island.
Between 1788 and 1868 more than 162,000 convicts were transported to Australia. Transportation as a form of criminal punishment emerged in the British legal system from the early 17th century as an alternative to execution.
Many of the crimes for which they were transported are considered minor offenses by today’s standards. The most common crime by far was stealing—food, clothing, money, household items—mostly items worth no more than £5.
One can only imagine how my great great grandmother, Mary Ann Maule, had been living prior to her sentencing after a series of petty thefts. Clearly Mary was no angel but conditions in Liverpool were particularly harsh. Houses were severely overcrowded and the impact of the Great Famine, known as the Irish Famine was profound.
Friedrich Engels was shocked when he visited Liverpool in the 1840s. “Liverpool, with all its commerce, wealth, and grandeur yet treats its workers with the same barbarity. A full fifth of the population, more than 45,000 human beings, live in narrow, dark, damp, badly ventilated cellar dwellings, of which there are 7,862 in the city.
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”– Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Their stories immediately captured my heart when I learned that if you were a working-class girl in London or Dublin in the 1800s you had two choices: enter prostitution, which was not a crime or steal food or clothing to be able to live another day,” Deborah says. “And so I began my six-year journey of researching and getting to know these remarkable female convicts.”
Having survived the long, perilous journey on board the convict ship, there can be no doubt that life would have been no easier when she arrived in the colony. However, the scarcity of women opened up opportunities for convict women as servants and wives. Many, including Mary Ann, successfully merged into colonial society, creating new families, and through good conduct and hard work forged new lives. Convict women, like my great great grandmother, demonstrated a diversity of character, aspirations and behaviour, which contradicted their stereotype as ‘damned whores’.
As a part of a series of past life stories an imagined version of Mary Ann appears in ‘A Letter to A Mother’.
The Chariot is the card of triumph, success, determination, and action. The Chariot usually shows a brave warrior standing tall in his chariot. He is all about taking charge and moving forward. He is not about thinking or feeling, but about doing.
The Charioteer knows what she wants and how to get it. Although the two sphinxes in the front of the carriage are pulling in different directions, the Charioteer has a strength of steel. She pushes them to go her way and to follow her will.
Fanny Finch was born Frances Combe in London, 1815. Her parents were believed to be of African descent, At eight weeks of age she was orphaned by her mother after a tryst with a footman ended in a pregnancy and no marriage proposal. She grew up in the St Pancreas Fledgling Home which protected her from slavery and provided her with an education.
Much has been made of the fact that Fanny was the first woman in Australia to defy the establishment and vote in an election, but her life was more than that moment in 1856 when she wrote her name at the bottom of a ballot paper. Fanny overcame incredible challenges and actively took control of her life.
The Chariot tarot card is all about overcoming challenges and gaining victory through maintaining control of your surroundings. This perfect control and confidence allows the charioteer to emerge victorious in any situation. The use of strength and willpower are critical in ensuring that you overcome the obstacles that lie in your path.
In 1836 at the age of 21, Fanny was granted free passage to the new colony of South Australia as a servant of the well regarded surgeon William Wyatt. There she married a sailor and had four children. Finding herself with an abusive husband she left with her four children to pave her own way. They walked from South Australia to Melbourne and then, after arriving in Melbourne, she pushed a wheelbarrow from Melbourne to the Forest Creek goldfields, where she settled.
Mrs. Finch’s Board and Lodging House became a “respectable” place of accommodations for the 25,000 gold mining men and women in the town of Forest Creek. Finch eventually moved to Castlemaine in 1854 and ran a restaurant, becoming an admired and successful businesswoman in the community. Not surprisingly, evidence points to Finch also being a sex worker while raising her four children as a single parent. But as historian and PhD candidate Kacey Sinclair remarked, “She was a single mother of four and there was no other way to send her kids to school, feed them, and keep a roof over their heads.”
Finch’s establishment was often the target of police injustice, including a conviction of illegal alcohol-selling, which motivated her to vote.
“I am a woman of but few words and plainly spoken…whatever my position may be, I have worked hard to keep my daughters in a good school and give them an education as I myself have not got…”
Finch died in 1863 and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. Kacey Sinclair and Finch’s great-great-great granddaughter Alice Garner, an actress and author, worked together to bring recognition to Finch’s life and important place in history. Finch’s new memorial, funded by a grant from the government, reads that she was “brave and outspoken, unfailingly supportive of those in need.”
Facts and Fiction
A Letter to Mother is a fictional Aussie yarn about another woman whose life journey bought her to Castlemaine
Waltzing With Matilda's 