A Tasmanian tale

Heather Cullings was our tour guide in Hobart during a recent visit to Tasmania. She was not only well-versed with the tourism hotspots and wildlife but also had more to offer— her family ancestry was intertwined with the history of Tasmania. She is the sixth generation descendent of convicts Edward and Lydia.

Edward Cullings was 19 when he was convicted for larceny and sentenced to seven years in prison in 1800s. As the English prisons were overflowing with convicts, so he was sent to Van Diemen’s land (as Tasmania was known then) with other convicts, overseers and soldiers as part of a ‘more productive alternate’ solution. Although the conditions were harsh and the future looked bleak, Edward endured. He earned the trust of the jailor through his good behaviour, and served him in personal capacity till the end of his term. On his discharge, with a glorious recommendation from the jail superintendent, he was allotted 150-acres of land near Hobart which enabled him to settle down as a farmer.

Around the same time 20-year-old Lydia was also sent to serve her prison term in Tasmania ‘for stealing in a dwelling house’. She ended up in the Cascades female factory in south Hobart at the foot of Mount Wellington, that housed hundreds of women, children and babies. Convict women were sent here to serve their prison sentence as unpaid servants. With no hope of ever returning to her home, many of them rebelled — getting drunk, using sour language and running away. During her initial years of incarceration, Lydia was found to have ‘disobeyed orders and general improper conduct’ and received a further 12 months of punishment. But with passing years Lydia kept her counsel and went on record for good behaviour. On completion of her sentence, she became the house-keeper of a government official in Hobart. Eventually, she married a widowed farmer and set up her own family.

Edward and Lydia never met in their lifetimes. But Edward’s grandson George met and married Lydia’s granddaughter, Mary. Our tour guide Heather Cullings is the great-granddaughter of George and Mary. The subject of their convict-grandparents was still anathema to George and Mary. But with the passage of time, the stories of the convicts transitioned from villains to victims.

Heather looks upon her ancestors as those who came to this land in disgrace but who rose above all the perils. They chose to settle down honourably and raise their families. A visibly emotional Heather pointed to the solitary confinement cell in Richmond gaol which was a 3 foot by 6-foot chamber made of wooden planks and asked me if I would like to feel their life for a minute or two. So, I stepped into the cell and as she closed the door behind me, it was pitch dark, mind-numbing cold and rendered me senseless, giving a glimpse of their hardships.