MORE HISTORY - ROSS - PART 3 (COTTAGES, THE FEMALE FACTORY AND THE GREAT DIVIDE) (26 - 28 FEBRUARY 2018)

What an absolutely delightful little town this is. I have been a fan of the words of 'Aussie Towns' for some time now, and as I said in my last, in relation to Ross they have nailed it yet again. 

As you have seen, Church Street just brims with history and charm under the spreading branches of its wonderful elms. It is a real credit to those who have had the foresight and wherewith all to recognise the value of restoring and maintaining their heritage and retaining their history in this charming example of a 19th Century colonial village, recognised widely as Australia's finest.

But like so many of its counterparts here in Tasmania, the town of Ross has an historical dark side, this time in the form of its 'Female Factory'. I set out to see what was left of it, and en route came across even more lovely old stone cottages dotted throughout the back streets, one of which has connections with an Irish rebel of real note.

And then, of course, there is the 'great divide', for me one of the most fascinating aspects of early life in Tassie (and it continues to this day!).....more of that shortly.

I had set out to visit the Female Factory site, and in doing so took the long way round through a few of the back streets of Ross where I found an assortment of some of the old building which make this town what it is.

This cottage has no particular significance of which I am aware (except I'm sure to its owners!), but is just so typical of many one finds in the back street of Ross. Most, like this one, have been added to. I suspect in this case the bull nose verandah is far from original.









Many have obviously had new roofs, and several, like 'Cupid's Nest' pictured here, are now used as upmarket B&B's.











Whilst stone predominates throughout this town as the building material of choice, old wooden cottages can be found dotted here and there. Why the variation?  I have no idea!

'Forget-Me-Not' cottage, 













complete with its picturesque sign swinging in the breeze, was once used as the overnight stop-over for the men who plied the reins and long whips of the passenger coaches making the run between Hobart and Launceston. The old stables in which their trusty steeds also took a well earned breather  can still be found at the rear. 

The oddly named 'Lone Pine' has obviously been the recipient of several additions, including the rather incongruous front portico and dormer windows. I say 'oddly named', because the only single tree of note in the yard is actually a palm! 












'Dray House' was once something slightly more than a 'cottage', judging by its size, but even with the additions, the rear roof line remains typical of the design of the time. 






This building was originally another of the town's coach staging posts and comes complete with the old stables and a marvellous orchard. It recently sold for  mere $375,000. Apart from rocketing real estate prices in Hobart, some delightful homes can still be found in Tassie at remarkably modest prices. 

And here is another Ross back street scene which is utterly typical and needs no further comment.












By now I had made my way to Bond Street, which parallels Church Street, and here I made two finds.

Compared with much of what can be seen in Ross, this old wooden cottage would not normally rate very highly, and from an architectural point of view, that would be justified.






But this rather run down little home has a real historical significance. It was once home to Thomas Meagher. I'll let the most excellent text of the website of  'Visit Ross' take up the story.

"[Meagher]......was one of the group known as the Young Irelanders. He was transported to Van Diemens Land after taking part in a failed uprising (1849) to overthrow British rule in Ireland. He, along with several of his comrades was convicted of treason and sentenced to death. Political pressure resulted in the sentences being commuted to transportation for life. 

These were gentlemen prisoners from relatively privileged backgrounds and once in Van Diemens Land were offered special paroles provided they lived in separate districts, did not meet and promised not to escape. 

Meagher was first sent to Campbell Town but requested permission to move to Ross where he lived with ‘a maid of all work and a legion of flies’ and that the town has ‘30 to 40 houses and a military barracks before the door of which soldiers yawn and smoke all day’. [an interesting commentary!]

While in Ross he rode and hunted with fellow-countryman Dr McNamara. He was also an admired orator and speech-writer, and assisted Mr Kermode of Mona Vale with his election address. He also kept a boat on Lake Sorell and built a house there. [not bad for a bloke who had been sentenced to death for treason].

While in Ross he married Catherine Bennett, who was governess for Dr and Mrs Hall and whom he rescued when her buggy overturned just south of Ross. 

In 1852 Meagher escaped to America where he became leader of the Irish Brigade, a regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War. After serving for over a year as Acting Governor of Montana, U.S.A., he drowned in 1867 in a boating accident on the Missouri River." 

Dare one suggest that Maker's fate was almost fitting given that he had been spared the gallows and led a life of relative comfort in Van Diemen's Land on the condition he promised not to escape!






Not far from Meagher's cottage the white walls of this modest little building once enclosed the bar and ale taps of Hope's Hotel.....this was apparently the 'colourful' Irishman's home away from home!








Before I leave the subject of Ross backstreet houses, I just had to include one with absolutely no age or historical significance whatsoever, but like so many of its more venerable counterparts, it did come with a name.









What more needs to be said!














I continued to tramp east along Bond Street










until I reached the point where it joined Tooms Lake Road. From here I could see the grave stones of the Ross pioneer cemetery crowded together on the gentle slopes of the hill to the north behind its old stone boundary wall.


I later learnt that this was used for the dead of both the Roman Catholic and Anglican faiths, something I found quite astounding given the intense religious differences which existed at the time. Clearly the founding fathers of Ross were nothing if not pragmatic!





By now I had almost reached my original destination, and I have to comment that my arrival at the Female Factory site could best be described as anticlimactic....there is virtually nothing left of the old buildings which once covered this landscape,










apart from this section of block stone wall









and the building which was originally the home of the assistant superintendent.









Despite being known as the Female Factory, this facility was originally used to house the convicts working to build the Ross Bridge and the Hobart to Launceston Road, and there was nary a woman in sight in this group.

This situation changed in 1848, and from then until 1854 this site was home to female convicts....and their babies! Here they spent their time carding and spinning wool into yarn, sewing and knitting. It also acted as a hiring depot from which many of the women were sent out to work as domestic servants on surrounding farm properties.

As well as this somewhat 'gentile' aspect to life here, there was a grim side to the Female Factory. Recalcitrant female convicts would find themselves engaged in heavy labour or in solitary confinement, but in true colonial Tasmanian fashion, there was also an on-site chapel to assist with the reformation of the inmates. In many case I suspect the phrase 'good luck with that' would have been apt!

So despite all the hype about this historical spot, it really only served as the Female Factory for a brief six years, and as I noted somewhat huffily, there is precious little to now be seen.






From here I wandered on past the site along what is know as the 'heritage walkway'

which shortly brought me to an old flagstone stairway 












and an ascent past more remnant stone walls

to the head of Church Street. And it was here I came across yet another utterly fascinating (well, for my at least) aspect of the early history of colonial Tasmania and the realisation that on this island not much had really changed over the centuries.








'The boundary that never was'......? My curiosity was instantly aroused, and what an incredible story these very well presented plaques told.







I shall attempt to be brief in my synopsis (although that may be a tall order). In essence Tassie is a tale of two colonies and remnants of this original great divide remain to this day.

In a nutshell this is a tale about three men....a foolish colonial New South Wales Governor, and two soldiers, an arrogant Scot and a somewhat unfortunate Brit.

Phillip Gidley King, a Naval Officer, held the position of Governor of New South Wales from 1800 to 1806. As such he was in charge of all that was happening in the various settlements throughout what we now know as Australia. He did much to improve conditions throughout in the face of considerable difficulties, but he did make one 'interesting' decision which has had far reaching social consequences in Tasmania.








In October 1803, King dispatched Colonel David Collins to establish a new colony south of NSW at Port Phillip Bay. Collins did his best, but soon reported back to King that the location was unsuitable.

In response to the perceived threat from the French, who had been prowling around Van Diemen's Land, King then whizzed Collins off to the southern part of the island and in February 1804 the settlement of Sullivan's Cove (later Hobart as you already know from my previous offerings) was established. So far so good.









But then King had the bright idea of establishing another colony on the island, this time in the north, so enter Colonel William Paterson, a fiery Scot. As you have also read previously, Paterson landed at George Town in October 1804 and shortly thereafter moved on to settle Launceston.  Again, so far so good, but then the rot set in.










The problem arose from the fact that Paterson outranked Collins who claimed control of the entire island, including the newly established settlement in the north. Paterson was having none of this, and complained bitterly to King, who, in what has to be considered as one of the most extraordinary acts of management abdication, divided the island into two separate colonies, that of Cornwall in the north and Buckinghamshire in the south. The dividing line he chose was the 42 degrees south line of latitude, and this runs directly through the centre of  the yet to be established township of Ross.



  
This almost 'Gilbert and Sullivan' situation continued from 1804 until 1808 when Paterson was reassigned back to New South Wales, and finally, in 1813, some political and practical sanity returned to the situation when the island was united as a single colony and the seat of government was established in Hobart. 

Today this situation seems barely credible, but the rivalries, power struggles and enmities of those who founded Australia have to be read to be believed.

And in good old Tassie, the 42nd parallel continues to divide the population. Argument still rages as to the more popular and widely read newspaper, The Mercury in the south vs The Examiner in the north. The subject of Aussie Rules football can spark fiery debate.







The battle of the beers is legendary. It has even become the subject of this cartoon.










In 1959 the mayors of Launceston and Hobart even met and symbolically 'buried the hatchet', but would you believe, in 2012 the then mayors dug them up, dressed in full pirate regalia! (thanks to 'The Mercury' for the photo) What ever next!



On a more scholarly note, the University of Tasmania's 'Companion to Tasmanian History' notes that:

"Practically every major decision about the development and government of Tasmania has been affected by the problem of north-south rivalry. The cost of such controversy, in both practical and psychological terms, is considerable. It is also a problem in dealing with government and corporate bodies in other states and at the national level. The primary cause of the rivalry between the North and the South is the difficulty of providing accessible and equitable levels of government services to all sections of the population."

For those who have never visited Tasmania, this sounds completely improbable, but I can attest to the fact that we had by now become acutely aware of this division, and had a much better understanding of its root causes. To think it all began with the intractable arrogance of one man, the inability to deal with this by another, and a ridiculous decision by a third. 

'The Great Tasmanian Divide' ........what a story!

In my next we sortie out well beyond wonderful Ross to visit the high country, call into one of Tasmania's truly odd towns, grab a gander at the Great Lake and absorb some more Tasmanian history.