For the Term of His Natural Life Duration: 1 ½ hours Age group: upper primary Years 4-7 No of students: 30+ Location: Nolan Gallery eaves, West Gallery, East Gallery Materials: heshin/ canvas/ calico fabric scissors, crayons glue gun and glue sticks tables - five display cabinets - Neville Locker material (isolation mask; warder’s cutlass, facsimile leg irons, cat o’nine tails, leather lash, gaol keys) East Gallery - For the Term of His Natural Life other artworks in Foundation Collection - Kelly series, Eliza Fraser (unlikely to utilise) laminates - Hampstead Heath, convict uniform with government symbol, Israeli punishment methods, convict boat, images of Eliza Frazer story Program: approximately 1½ hours Purpose: introduce artists Sidney Nolan and author Marcus Clarke, and book and drawings entitled For the Term of His Natural Life. raise awareness of creative responses to historical material demonstrate what happened to people in nineteenth century crime, punishment, authority and justice, by way of source material from Neville Locker, selected works from Foundation Collection, and Term of His Natural Life. demonstrate examples of convict life and experience in Australia’s penal colonies; provide a pointed contrast to the experience of convicts at Lanyon Themes: isolation, punishment, oppression, Nolan’s response through a series New words: series, epic, cat o’nine tails, triangle, pastiche, Intro: 5+ mins, leave bags under the eaves, split groups into two (only if more than 25) Part 1: For the Term of His Natural Life 40 mins Group 1 (then 2) Part 2: Convicts in Foundation Collection/ Making Isolation mask 40 mins Group 2 (then 1) Regroup/ cleanup/ conclusion: 5+ mins Groups 1 & 2 N.B: Group may be going to lunch and then Lanyon Convict Role Play, or have just had lunch Bold type in the program guide indicates words which may require explanation to students. The story For the Term of His Natural Life has been simplified and does not include names of certain characters, or events or locations. PROGRAM GUIDE INTRO (5-10 mins) Ask students to leave bags under the eaves Gather students under the eaves in two groups Explain what they will do: Today we are learning about convicts, and about crime and punishment in early Australia. This place is called the Nolan gallery. What do we normally see in a gallery? We will also be making some artwork. Today we are looking at a story and artwork about convicts by a famous Australian artist. We’ll be looking at the work of Sidney Nolan - who has heard of Sidney Nolan? Nolan - Australian artist, produced work from the 40s to the 80s, opened this gallery with his work in it in 1980. Sidney Nolan was interested in depicting the story of Australians who lived in the past, such as convicts What do I mean by the word convict? What do we know about convicts? convicts at Lanyon? What kind of people were convicts? Inside this gallery we are going to see examples of the type of people who became convicts, and what happened to them when they travelled to Australia. I want you to think about how it might contrast with your experience of being a convict at Lanyon. I want (group 1) to follow (Nolan guide) to the front of the gallery on my left (Foundation Gallery), and (group 2) to follow me to the front of the gallery on my right (East Gallery). PART ONE: FOR THE TERM OF HIS NATURAL LIFE (40-45 mins) Artist Sidney Nolan loved to read. Both literature (stories) and history were important sources of exploration and inspiration for his artwork. This series of drawings by Sidney Nolan is based on the story For the Term of His Natural Life, by the Australian author Marcus Clarke. This is one artist’s response to the work of another. Like Sidney Nolan, Marcus Clarke was also very interested in history, and used historic records as a major source of exploration for his writing. Marcus Clarke thought he had something in common with the convicts Outside front door of gallery Movement to respective parts of the program. transported for hard labour: he was also an unwilling exile from England. What is an exile? After the death of his mother when he was a child, Marcus Clarke was raised by his wealthy father (lawyer), and expected to become a Victorian ‘gentleman’. His father became mentally ill and lost all his money. Clarke was sent to live with various relatives as a teenager before being shipped off to Australia. This was a typical fate for many colonials: the ‘transportation’ from England was a traumatic and painful experience for Marcus Clarke, the bitterness of his departure and stayed with him. Clarke adapted to new possibilities in Australia. Clarke had financial difficulties in the new country, but survived as a journalist in Melbourne. The novel For the Term of His Natural Life began its life as a serial in The Australian Journal over two years (1870-72). In For the Term of His Natural Life (revised for publication as a book in 1874), Clarke : Sought to depict the dismal condition of a convict during his term of transportation from England. Demonstrates what the English system of transportation was like, and the kinds of problems it could cause. Problems such as: 1. Putting a large group of offenders against the law together. 2. Putting these offenders in remote locations (away from the public eye or opinion) 3. Offenders submitted to discipline and punishment which depended on the personal character of their gaolers (pleasant/ unpleasant) Students gather around the first drawings: A novel about oppression and the bonds that people forge against it. The events in the novel are true historical events which occurred during the time convicts were transported to Australia. The characters in this story however, are convicts of fiction, and these particular events did not happen to them. Were the convicts at Lanyon fictitious or factual? Lets find out about the convicts depicted by Marcus Clarke. The story begins in a place called in Hampstead Heath, London, England, in 1827. The people who live here a very rich. What do you think is happening in this picture? A rich young man called Richard Devine has just stumbled across a body by the side of the road. Beside him is a whip stained with blood, and his diary reveals that this man’s name is Lord Bellasis. Richard Devine has only recently discovered that this man is his father. Lord Bellasis has a fractured skull from a blow to the head, and dies in Richard’s arms. Richard realises his father Lord Bellasis has been murdered by someone Laminate Hampstead Heath Death of Lord Bellasis else . Very soon other people arrive at the scene, and accuse Richard of murdering Lord Bellasis. Nobody else knows that this man is Richard’s father except for Richard’s mother. Richard is taken to the police and decides not to tell them that Lord Bellasis was his father, to save his mother’s reputation. Why do think Richard’s mother’s reputation might be affected? (child out of wedlock, she was married to another man, Victorian values) To hide his identity and protect his mother’s reputation, Richard Devine tells the police his name is Rufus Dawes. Rufus is wrongly charged with murder and robbery, and sentenced to travel on a prison ship to Australia, as a convict for the term of his natural life. How long is the term of your natural life? Rufus Dawes travelled to Tasmania on the prison ship Malabar. Do you think it looks comfortable and spacious? Why? How has Sidney Nolan conveyed the amount of space available to convicts? Prison ships were the only way to move convicts out to Australia, and often convicts lived on board ships in the harbours of England for very long periods of time. Here is a picture of convicts going aboard a prison ship in England. The Prison Ship Malabar laminate Prison Ship York in Portsmouth Harbour Who would we find on a convict ship? convicts captain sailors/ soldiers/ naval officers lieutenant Rufus Dawes was innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted. Most of the other convicts weren’t. How do you think he would have related to the other convicts? This is a picture of a man called Maurice Frere. Lieutenant Maurice Frere was also travelling on the same ship to Australia, and was a very cruel man, often enforcing the convict’s punishment. Maurice Frere What is a lieutenant? (Maurice Frere came from the same rich family as Richard Devine, who is now disguised as Rufus Dawes. Richard Devine was to inherit all his father’s money, with none of it to go to Maurice Frere). Lt Frere takes an instant dislike to Rufus, the convict who ‘thinks’ he is innocent. Rufus Dawes and Maurice Frere do not like each other at all, (and Rufus never tells Maurice his true identity, because he will punish him even more). Here Rufus is picking up the ball dropped by a little girl onboard the ship. Her name is Sylvia Parsons, the daughter of the ship’s captain. He befriends Sylvia, and over the years falls in love with her. Sylvia becomes a symbol of hope for Rufus. Maurice Frere becomes a symbol of cruelty and violence. Rufus Dawes picking up Sylvia’s ball The journey to Australia is very monotonous. Many convicts including Rufus Dawes get sick with fever. How long do you think it would take to sail to Australia in 1827? students are motioned around to face ‘Mutiny’ drawing Because the convicts were are so unhappy with their treatment by Maurice Frere Mutiny they plan a mutiny. Who knows what a mutiny is? This convicts name is Gabbett. What do you think is happening in this drawing? Gabbett was the convict who organised the mutiny. Gabbett tore a cutlass from a soldier, and bounded up the ladder. Gabbett hated the way he was treated by Maurice Frere and tried to strangle him to death. He nearly overpowered the lieutenant because he was so big, but there were too many sailors to restore order to the ship. Rufus Dawes didn’t think of himself as a convict because he was innocent of murder. Rufus Dawes had overheard the convict Gabbett’s plans for a mutiny whilst he was lying sick with fever, and informed the prison ship guards about what was to happen, in the hope that his sentence would be repealed. The mutineers were caught in a trap, Gabbett’s mutiny failed. The convict Vetch guessed the mutiny plot had been revealed by Rufus Dawes, and he decided to place the blame on Rufus Dawes. With the other ringleaders including Gabbett and Vetch - Rufus Dawes was sentenced to death. Their sentences were commuted to six years at the penal settlement of Macquarie Harbour. The bloodiest, the most brutal, the most feared in British colonial history! Well, that’s the reputation of Macquarie Harbour. Settled to provide a slave labour force to gather the very valuable ship building timbers from around the river and basin. It was also settled as a death camp - “if you do not knuckle down and behave convict, this is where you will be banished”. Only the worst of all bad convicts were sent to Macquarie Harbour. It was the convict labour which constructed Macquarie Harbour and Sarah Island with roads, jetty, docks, guardhouse and of course a gaol, plus an industrial shipyard. So Dawes and Gabbett amongst others were sent to Macquarie Harbour, and the cruel Lieutenant Freres was their commander. This bloody slave labour camp - Macquarie Harbour - existed in the middle of nowhere, desolate and isolated at the end of the world. For convicts sent here, there was no escape except death. Many convicts chose to kill themselves rather than live any longer under Lieutenant Frere’s cruel command, or tried to escape through the ‘desert of scrub, heath, and swamp which lay between prison and settled districts’. Rufus Dawes did try to escape but was ‘lamed’ by the heavy leg irons he wore, and was for a time condemned to solitude on a lonely island in the harbour which we see in this drawing. This man is Rufus Dawes. What is Rufus Dawes wearing? A typical convict uniform…. This Solitary man was Rufus Dawes laminate convict uniform Dawes is in the striped shirt of a convict and around his ankles are two leg irons, connected by a short and heavy chain. The leg irons cut into his ankles, and makes walking difficult. Here is an example of the leg irons which Rufus Dawes had to wear. I want you to pass them around in a group and then hand them back to me. As you handle them feel their weight/ texture/ length of the chain/ size of leghole….. Facsimile - leg irons students pass around the leg iron Do you think it was difficult to walk around with them? Could you have run very fast? Would you like to work with these on? Where was Rufus Dawes living? Would it be easy to escape? For convicts who did not behave there were other forms of punishment, such as flogging. Flogging involved using a leather lash or whip to strike against the bare back of a convict. Flogging The kind of lash used to whip that Gabbett used to whip Dawes was called a cat o’nine tails. A cat o’nine tails was a whip which had nine knotted cords fastened to a handle. In this drawing we can see the nine ‘cats’ used to flog offenders. This drawing shows a flogging triangle. Three wooden poles, 7-feet high (a little taller than a person), were fastened together in the form of a triangle. To this structure the convict - such as Rufus Dawes- was bound. Dawes’ feet were fastened to the base of the triangle; his wrists, bound above his head, at the apex (top of the triangle). His white back was exposed to be flogged. The Flogging Triangle Often, warders (an official having charge of prisoners in a gaol) would make other convicts to flog each other. One time Dawes was flogged by the convict Gabbett, who was a very violent and bloodthirsty criminal. He claimed he could flog a man to death. Some convicts did die on the flogging triangle. On the first flog, Dawes’ felt like his back was cut in half, and his back was instantly striped with six crimson bars. On the second flog he began to bleed from the cuts. On the third his skin began to change colour to a bruised purple. He stifled crying and yelling until it became unbearable. Dawes had been lashed before, and this time he received 100 lashes. In this display cabinet we have an example of: cat o’ nine tails - how many ‘cat’ tails can you count? why do you think this whip has so many knotted chords attached why do you think this was effective? leather lash - used to flog women - not as harsh as a cat o’nine tails warder’s cutlass (and sheath) - a short, heavy, slightly curved sword, used especially at sea. The cutlass sheath had a button to release the sword which could only be pressed by the person wearing the cutlass. gaol keys - including the gaol master key The brutality of the treatment of convicts led many to desperation - to risk death by escaping or to kill oneself. Students are motioned to stand around the display cabinet Convict Boys commit suicide Students are What do you think is happening in this picture? There is something hanging on a little tree. Well, eventually Gabbett and five other convicts do escape into the dense prickly scrub. Sticking to the coastline, they have no supplies except an axe. They travel for nine days without food, shade or shelter. “I am so weak that I could eat a piece of a man” cries Vetch, one of the convicts. The other convicts were secretly thinking the same thing. But Gabbett was especially hungry, and bloodthirsty. That night when everyone was asleep, an horrific cry rang out. In the morning, the carcass of one convict was divided amongst four others. By the twelfth day, the convicts food provisions are running short. motioned around Giant Convict Eating Others Giant Convict Eating Others Gabbett the Canniball On the fourteenth day, the four convicts can scarcely crawl. Greenhill is the weakest convict and thinks he will be next. When Vetch goes off to get wood for the fire, he hears a crash and groan. He returns to find Gabbett wearing Greenhill’s shoes, which are much better. The three convicts decide to rest a day or so, now they have food provisions! After two more days, Gabbett, Vetch and the other convict Sanders have run out of food. Time to eat another convict! Vetch and Sanders try to make a run for it, but Gabbett strikes Sanders on the forehead with his axe. Escaped Convicts in the Bush How many convicts are left alive? What are their names? How many convicts have been eaten? After two more days, Vetch and Gabbett have run out of convict to eat. Gabbett was the stronger and hungrier, but Vetch had the axe. For two days they haven’t spoken to each other, or slept. Why wouldn’t they want to go to sleep? Eventually Vetch falls asleep. What do you think happens? A skin and bones Gabbett finally reached Hobart, in blood-stained rags, carrying an axe and a bundle over his shoulder. What do think was in his bag? The authorities decided he was insane and locked him away. Frere and the convicts have now been moved to another brutal convict settlement on Norfolk Island. It is equally desolate and isolated as Macquarie Harbour. The year is 1838, Rufus Dawes & Maurice Frere left England eleven years previously. Rufus Dawes is 33, and the Malabar ship captain’s daughter Sylvia Vickers is now 25. Rufus cherished and loved the memory of Sylvia, and secretly loves her. Sylvia has now married the cruel Lieutenant Maurice Frere. She does not love him. (She loves the Reverend North). Why would this young girl marry the lieutenant? What other kind of men did she have to choose from? Murdered Convict and Axe laminate map of Australia showing Macquarie Harbour and Norfolk Island Bridle Lieutenant Frere has discovered new tortures for the convicts, including the bridle - which went over a convict’s face and prevented them from breathing. One day Rufus Dawes picked a rose for Sylvia, and it was discovered by Frere. Frere’s revenge was to sentence Rufus Dawes to the ‘spread eagle’ and the ‘stretcher’. Dawes was bound on a horizontal iron frame with iron slats placed crosswise, with his neck projecting out over the end. If he allowed his head to hang, the blood rushed to his brain and suffocated him, while the effort to keep his head raised strained every muscle to agony pitch. His face was purple and he foamed at the mouth. The Torture of Rufus Dawes laminate stretcher The Rose What do you think is happening in this picture? Sylvia discovers what her husband is doing to Rufus when she visits the gaol, and insists that the warders “loose him… this is no punishment; it’s murder!” She gets on her knees and begins to untie his ropes. Sylvia saves Rufus Dawes’ body, which has been on the stretcher for nine hours. (Reverend North arrives to save Rufus Dawes’ soul). Sylvia learns that her husband Maurice is responsible for the cruel punishments which Rufus Dawes has endured. Maurice Frere’s acts of violence finally result in Sylvia insisting on their departure from Norfolk Island. Frere promises to change his cruel ways. Epilogue Frere and his wife Sylvia depart on a schooner soon after. Rufus Dawes stows away on the boat, disguised as the priest Reverend North, who was supposed to leave Norfolk Island on the same boat. Soon into its journey, the schooner is capsized in a cyclone. Rufus Dawes rescues Sylvia from the sinking ship, and she begins to remember her love for him as a child. The next morning their motionless bodies can be seen drifting out to sea together on a floating piece of shipwreck. Who do you think the two bodies were? Why are the people of the floating shipwreck motionless? Do you think this was a happy ending to the story (for Rufus and Sylvia)? What do you think happened to Maurice Frere? Do you think Rufus Dawes would have ever escaped, or was his fate to be a convict forever? What was his escape in the end? Macquarie Harbour, Port Arthur and Norfolk Island were especially hard prisons for the worst convicts. But if a convict was well-behaved and productive, they could often earn tickets of leave. Not all the stories and fates of convicts were as bad as that of Rufus Dawes. End of program…. That’s the end of our story lets head outside to pick up our isolation masks. Go to Part Two of Program, Option Two - the preferred option. Now we are going to have a look at another form of punishment used on convicts which didn’t involve cutting or whipping or stretching or bleeding…. move to the cabinet with the isolation mask PART TWO: CONVICTS IN THE FOUNDATION COLLECTION & ISOLATION MASK - MAKING (40 - 45 mins) Option One (least likely): Go to practical activity, via convicts in the foundation collection Spiel not yet done, because there probably won’t be time for students to look at Ned Kelly’s father and family’s subsequent treatment, as well as the convict who rescued Eliza Frazer. Option Two is to start with the isolation mask in cabinet and then commence practical activity. Option Two (most likely): Go to practical activity, via Isolation mask Macquarie Harbour, (and Port Arthur) in Tasmania and Norfolk Island were especially hard prisons for the worst convicts. But if a convict was well-behaved and productive, they could often earn tickets of leave. Not all the stories and fates of convicts were as bad as that of Rufus Dawes. Laminate Sidney Nolan first Kelly painting Eliza Frazer painting Frazer series laminate Practical activity making an isolation mask What do you think this mask might have been worn for? Eventually, after the time of Lt. Maurice Frere, the British system of punishment abolished forms of torture such as the cat o’nine tails, the bridle and the stretcher. At the edge of the civilised world, isolation could be a form of punishment. Convicts who continued to offend were separated and kept in isolation from other convicts. A death sentence, for example, meant being isolated for exactly one year. These prisoners were kept in complete isolation and silence. They said nothing, and nothing was said to them. They had to wear slippers so that their feet made no noise when they walked. They had to wear masks like this which prevented them being identified by other convicts. Can you imagine what it would be like to be separated from everyone you know for a year … no talking for a year? Nobody can tell it’s you under the mask. Similar kinds of punishment are still in use today. Show laminated images of contemporary use of mask and leg chains in Israeli torture. Well, now we are going to go outside to the tables to make our own isolation mask. Maybe your teachers can use them back at school! Our group is just going to use these two tables, because the other group’s work is on these tables. Explain process and the materials used, as well as why these materials are to be used. Make sure attention focussed on speaker as all instructions are given. On our tables we have some calico to use for our masks. scissors to cut out our head shapes and to cut out a shape for our eyes velcro dots to stick on three places to hold the top of the head shape laminate Israeli torture Students wait for the cue and then move outside to the eaves for practical instruction. Each of the two divided groups of students has two trestle tables each, with materials set up. together hot glue gun to glue the front cover flap of your mask on, and glue together the gaps between the velcro dots. araldite glue to attach the fastening string to the back of your mask string/ shoelace to tie up the back of the mask crayon to mark out eyeholes on calico We have to 1. use scissors to cut out the two halves which will make the top of your mask 2. using three velcros evenly spaced, to stick the top of these halves together 3. select string/ shoelace to tie up the back 4. come out the front and we will araldite the string to the back of your mask. This glue will dry quickly 5. back at your table, you need to cut out the front face flap of the mask 6. use a crayon to mark out your holes for the eyes 7. fold calico in order to cut out holes for the eyes on this front flap 8. come out the front and we will use the hot glue gun to glue the front face flap of your mask to the top (head) part of your mask. We can also use the hot glue gun to glue any open spaces between the velcro dots on the top of your mask 9. when your glue has dried you can try your mask on. If the string at the back is firmly attached, you can tie your mask up at the back. 10. Put your name on the inside of your mask using the crayon. 11. No talking remember! See if you can recognise someone else in their isolation mask. Don’t give your identity away! Other practical activities: If you have finished making your mask and are waiting for it to dry. I want you to start doing some drawing. We have: a box of clipboards with paper tins of pencils and crayons We can do some drawings about: what you could see through your isolation mask what you think it might have been like to have been a convict at Macquarie Harbour, or isolated wearing this mask what happened to you during convict role play at Lanyon, or what you think will happen think of the symbols and drawings used by Sidney Nolan (have images from the Term series available if students have not seen the exhibition yet) such as the skeleton, the axe, triangle, whip, and Sylvia. Tell the story of convict life using some of these images. Go to End of program: When you have finished making your masks, place all the mask material back in neat piles on your tables, and then we’ll wait for the other group to finish so we can go to lunch/ to the bus. Go to Part One of program: When you have finished making your masks, place all the mask material back in neat piles on your tables, and then we’ll wait for the other group to finish so we can go into the drawing exhibition. Before people had to wear isolation masks as punishment, there were many more cruel punishments in store for convicts who were transported to Australia. This activity should take approximately half an hour plus. Alternative practical activity drawing their ideas/ experiences of ‘convict role play’ Students collect masks and drawings, and line up to be moved to bus etc Students wait for the cue and then are moved into the exhibition For The Term of His Natural Life. Now we are going to here the story For the Term of His Natural Life, by the Australian author Marcus Clarke. It tells the story of convicts who travelled out to Tasmania in the 1820s. We are going to look at the response by another artist, Sidney Nolan, in a series of drawings. CONCLUSION & EXIT I hope you enjoyed your time at the Nolan Gallery, thankyou for coming, etc. For the Term of His Natural Life was just one series of drawings by Sidney Nolan about characters from Australian history and Australian stories. Who was Marcus Clarke? Students are hopefully gathered under eaves or lined up outside with their bags, masks, and perhaps drawings. Awaiting to go on bus, or off for lunch, or to Lanyon for subsequent program. Were the characters in For the Term of His Natural Life real people? What did you think of the drawings by Sidney Nolan? Did they look very detailed? Do you think you could do similar drawings? When you go back to school, you might like to do your own drawings about what you think it might be like to be a convict. Students depart. Thankyou for coming, hope to see you again sometime. FLOW OF PROGRAM (25 students or less) FLOW OF PROGRAM (25 students or more) INTRO (5-10 mins) INTRO (5-10 mins) Exhibition: For The Term Of His Natural Life (40 - 45 mins) Exhibition: For The Term Of His Natural Life (40-45 mins) Practical: making Isolation Mask (40-45 mins) Practical: making Isolation Mask (40- 45 mins) Practical: making Isolation Mask (40-45 mins) Exhibition: For The Term Of His Natural Life (40-45 mins) CONCLUSION & EXIT (5 mins) CONCLUSION & EXIT (5 mins)