State Library NSW, Hyde Park Barracks Museum & Sydney Opera House, Sydney (February 15, 2016)

Reading Rating: Giant Tub ‘o’ Popcorn

 

Davin Reporting!

    Today we started out by heading over to Circular Quay and walking to the State Library of New South Wales for a tour.  Fortunately, this tour was free.  Unfortunately, it was not a very good tour.  The guide talked too quietly, so we constantly had trouble hearing what she said, despite trying to stand as close as possible. 

    We did see a couple of interesting things:

    First was a statue of Matthew Flinders who “explored and skillfully charted a large portion of the Australian coast.”  Apparently he had a cat named Trim that sailed with him when he circumnavigated Australia.  When his cat died he eulogized him as “the best and most illustrious of his race.”  As a result, there were cat footprints nearby his statue, leading to a statue of a cat standing next to the building.  There’s also the typical nonsensical story about the cat’s ghost walking around some nights. 

    Second, was a map of the world from the time before Australia’s coast was charted completely. A large portion of the map reflected the contribution of Matthew Flinder’s charting efforts. This map was interesting because it showed only part of Australia’s outline, since no one knew where its other bounds were located.  It also showed New Guinea and Australia as being connected, as was thought before Captain Cook discovered they were two separate pieces of land.     

    As for the rest, none of it was particularly memorable.  The library basically has a large collection, focused mostly on works created by Australians, which is theoretically worth billions of dollars.  On the whole, I can’t really recommend this tour, free or not– sometimes you get what you pay for.  Even with a better guide, I don’t think it would be worth it.  Instead just walk around the outside of the library to see the statue, and walk inside yourself to see what there is to see in there.

    After leaving the Library, it was a relatively short walk down the street to the Hyde Park Barracks Museum.  This was another museum that was part of our four museum pass, and was by far the best of them.  The Hyde Park Barracks was originally used to house newly arrived convicts to the colony, and the museum focuses mostly on that early period of Sydney’s history. 

    Sydney was originally founded in the early 1700s as a destination for convicts exiled from Britain for crimes they committed.  Upheaval of society in Britain related to industrialization and the end of communal farming resulted in a large number of poor people flocking to the cities, and a great deal of crime.  In an effort to combat this increase in crime, the vast majority of offenses, even what we would today consider minor offenses, had come to warrant a death sentence.  This could result in death for even young offenders who stole over a certain set value of property. 

    Eventually this began to be viewed as inhumane, and exile of convicts was proposed as a fairer alternative.  Those convicted of a crime were exiled to Sydney or another convict colony where they served a term of indentured servitude, after which they would be released to live in the colony as a free man or woman.  What struck me as a bit odd about this strategy was that there only appeared to be two sentences– 7 or 14 years– and even violent crimes like rape would result in exile.         

    The sentences handed out seemed to me to be rather arbitrary, with non-violent and seemingly less serious criminals being lumped in with much more serious offenders.  Personally, if I were founding a colony, I’m not sure I’d want to have a bunch of rapists shipped in.  That sort of offender doesn’t seem like a good candidate for a productive colonist, and some of them did go on to cause further trouble once in Australia.  One of the punishments for convicts that misbehaved was to be put on an all day shift (12 hours) on the dreaded “tread mill” which literally was a manual flour mill.  Convicts were given 20 minutes to rest per hour, and were weighed before and after using the tread mill to make sure they weren’t “wasting away”.  

    In any case, for many of the colonists sent to Sydney the living conditions and opportunities to prosper in life actually ended up being greater than those they left.  Back in Britain they were just another poor, unemployed or underemployed and unneeded person.  In Sydney they became a vital contributor to the colony’s success.  In the course of their sentence they could pick up a trade or skill, and then after their release make a living as a free man. 

    In fact, things were so good that it is suspected that the family members of many convicts ended up committing crimes just to get a “free ticket” to the colony.  Because prisoners could be released to work for a free member of the colony, some men ended up even being assigned to their wives.  Initially the population of the colony was heavily weighted toward men, so women were encouraged to come over too (not by breaking the law).  Many poorer women also made the trip to try to find a better life, and most were apparently married within a couple of weeks of arrival.         

    Life in the colony was not all good though.  The clothing the convicts were supplied with turned out to be woefully unsuited for the Australian climate.  They were given a leather hat which was too hot and didn’t provide adequate sun protection, and a heavy coat that they never needed.  Fortunately, convicts living in the colony quickly learned how to make a lighter cabbage palm tree hat that could be used instead. 

    The convicts personal possessions– clothing and other articles– could also be stolen from them either in the colony, or by the captain of the ship that brought them there.  The convict’s food was the same every day, and consisted of some sort of gruel for breakfast, and a watery stew for dinner.  And, of course, the British colonists basically displaced the aboriginal people who were living in the Sydney bay area at that time, and also exposed the aboriginals to diseases which decimated their populations. 
   

    (Kristin Interjection: “Eventually Sydney became so established and prosperous that the convict history of the colony came to be viewed as an embarrassment. Although in 1970 this opinion flipped flopped again, and now anyone who can trace their lineage to a convict is proud of their history. But by the mid-1800s, respectable Sydneysiders did not like seeing men in leg irons marching through the streets to conduct a days work. At the same time, attitudes about the sentence of exile changed in Great Britain and it came to be viewed as too cruel and severe a punishment. As such, the year 1840 was the last year a convict ship was received in Sydney. The prisoner barracks population dwindled and eventually the active role that convicts played in Sydney society faded away and became a part of history.”)

    After spending several hours at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, we departed and stopped by a department store where we saw an unusual pair of underwear, which Scott requested that Kristin buy for him.  Kristin couldn’t believe Scott was serious about wanting them, but I wasn’t surprised. We then proceeded to the Sydney Opera House for our tour there.  There isn’t that much to mention from the tour, although it’s probably worth doing yourself if you are in Sydney. 

    It was interesting to learn that the Opera House, now considered an iconic structure which is recognized around the world, actually was a bit of a boondoggle at the time of its construction.  It went way over budget, which probably isn’t surprising given the unusual shape, and the lead architect actually parted ways with the project somewhat acrimoniously (fortunately he was recognized for his contribution to the structure before he died, and was brought back on board to help round out his design).  Another interesting thing is despite being called the Sydney Opera House, the largest shell actually houses the Concert Hall used primarily by the Sydney Symphony.  Kristin said she plans to see if there is a classical concert this week that might interest us to attend.

    (Kristin Interjection: “It was interesting to see that the Sydney Opera House shells have a pattern to them. Whenever we’ve seen pictures of the building it was too far away to notice. We always thought the shells were just a smooth white color.”)

    Rounding out the day, we returned to North Sydney and had a margharita pizza from an Italian restaurant we had seen there.  (The one that we had intended to eat at yesterday.) This was a pretty good pizza, which was quite close to what you might get over in Europe.  And just like in Europe they rip you off for the drinks: $7 for a 0.75 liter San Pellegrino!  The people working there were nice though, and the high prices were balanced out by the fact that we accidentally didn’t leave a tip– there was some sort of confusion about adding the tip to the credit card slip, and they said not to worry about it.  I probably should add that tips are generally not as large or vital in Australia as they are in the U.S.