A Mystery Ship

The mammoth job of cataloguing all of Les Brown’s papers and photographs has brought forth some very interesting items. A lone, fairly poor quality photograph of a line drawing of a ship with three masts and thirteen gun placements could have been filed away with no further thought – except for an intriguing note written upside down on the paper. The note says “Kingston Norfolk Island Cooking-pot Uprising July 1846”. A stamp dated 1993 shows that the photo has come from the Launceston Reference Library collection. What was this drawing all about?

Janelle Blucher made contact with the Launceston Reference Library and found out that the drawing is on the back of an ink and watercolour image of the action of what we refer to today as the ‘cooking pot riot’. That image is reproduced in our museum as it is the only image that details the action of the riot. However what has never been known is the name of the artist, who it appears has used the reverse side of the paper to draw the ship onto. The Launceston Reference Library told Janelle that they began life as the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute in the 1860s and the drawing has been in their collection for as long as they can remember, but unfortunately they have no details on the artist.

Our Norfolk Island Cemetery tells the story of the riot through the headstone of Stephen Smith, the cook which reads that he was “…barbarously murdered by a body of prisoners whilst in the execution of his duties at the settlement cookhouse, leaving a wife and three children to lament his loss”. Murderers Mound lying outside the cemetery fence is of course the most vivid reminder of the event as the mass grave for twelve men executed for their part in the mutiny. Another five men were later hung whose bodies were buried elsewhere.

The riot was caused by the removal of the convicts billys and kettles, made by prisoner ‘mechanics’ and used by the convicts to cook their meals. The reaction of the prisoners on finding the pots confiscated was instantaneous. A group of prisoners stormed the barracks store to retrieve their cooking gear and in the ensuing chaos, three soldiers and Stephen Smith were killed. The mutiny lasted only twenty minutes until order was restored by soldiers with levelled muskets and fixed bayonets.

The mutiny was led by convict William Westwood, a bushranger known as ‘Jackey-Jackey’. Just before his hanging he made the following statement: " Sir the strong ties of earth will soon be wrenched and the burning fever of this life will soon be quenched and my grave will be heavens resting place for me William Westwood. Sir out of the Bitter cup of misery I have drunk from my sixteenth year 10 long years, and the sweetest draught is that which takes away the misery of living death - it is the friend that deceives no man, all will then be quiet, no tyrant will disturb my repose I hope -Wm. Westwood.".

Was the person who drew the picture of the riot there at the time, witnessing the murder and chaos and misery of the men as they were hung? Was this ship sitting out to sea at or was it from his imagination? Les Brown, no doubt, would have known the answer or would have had a pretty good idea at least. His papers and photographs continue to intrigue and we give on-going thanks to Paul Bowe for donating his collection of books, papers and photographs to the museum.

Scanned Photo Albums

One of the jobs that our wonder volunteer Sue Brian has been undertaking is the scanning of all the images in photo albums in our collection. This is being done for a number of reasons: it provides a back-up copy in case of some disaster that destroys the image or album; and it means that handling of old and fragile albums and photographs is lessened as access can primarily occur via the digital copy. Over the years the museum has been lucky enough to have a number of albums donated that include images from across the island covering people, events and scenery going back to the 1870s.

One of the photos that Sue scanned recently has a photo of a view looking through the arch that used to stand at the entrance to the Lumberyard. It is an intriguing photo. The arch is now long gone, but provides an opportunity to imagine Bay Street not only with this additional structure in place, but as the place where the action of the infamous Cooking Pot riot occurred in the prisoners’ mess area in1846. This was the riot that led to twelve men being executed and their bodies thrown in a pit outside of the consecrated area of the cemetery, now known as Murders’ Mound.

The Lumberyard contained a yard separated from the Prisoners’ Mess by a stone wall. Three-quarters of the yard was roofed to form an open shed under which was a hundred foot saw-pit. An overseers’ room and carpenters’ shop were located at the north end of the yard. The entrance – as you can see from the photo was located in the south wall. The activity of this area must have been great. The carpenters’ shop was later transferred to the open shed in which a number of benches were fitted. The saw-pit in this shed was only used in wet weather, three others being located outside the building. Coopers, wheelrights, turners and other craftsmen employed in the Engineers department also worked in the carpenters’ Shop.

The prisoners’ mess was located alongside this area and had a yard, cookhouse, constables’ room, gatekeepers lodge, entrance way, store, overseer’s mess and numerous privies. The cookhouse had a flagged floor and contained four coppers and a fireplace. The prisoners’ sugar and soap rations were issued from the store located on the west side of the entrance way. The mess rooms consisted of two sheds erected around the north and east sides of the mess yard. One shed was for the ‘old hands’ and the other for the ‘new’ – however as no fence divided the two this could not be enforced. The mess yard was a dangerous place, the haunt of the so-called ‘Ring’ even becoming an area that the overseer dared not exercise authority.

Another of the jobs that Sue is working on includes incorporating a number of these scanned images into a 20 minutes slide show, complete with backing music. She has spent countless hours doing this. The display will be available for all to see within the next few weeks at one of our venues, the details will be advertised once it is in place. This project provides us all with the opportunity to look through our fabulous photographic collection – in effect opening up these precious albums and bringing their stories and memories to life.