Another highlight of our stay in Sydney was visiting the Hyde Park Barracks. This is where the prisoners who helped settle Australia were brought when they reached land. It’s now been restored and turned into a very good interactive museum.
As we went through the museum we listened to the audio tour. It gave us a lot of insight into what it was like being there in the early 1800’s.
This is what a typical meal for the prisoners would have been like. Mush for breakfast, no lunch and then soup for dinner.
This is hard to see but what I’m hoping you can tell this is a treadmill. After years of flogging the prisoners, the administrators thought they should come up with a more constructive form of punishment. This is what they come up with. It was used for men who were caught stealing or gambling, refused to work, questioned authority etc. Basically it’s a huge wheel with long steps running lengthwise allowing for 12 -15 men to fit shoulder to shoulder. If you were given the treadmill as a punishment you would be put on the wheel and between you and your friends you would keep it going all day long – 8-10 hours at a time with a 20 minute break every 4 hours. I can only imagine how tiring that must have been.
These are the leg irons that were used. They are incredibly heavy and cold. They were used to keep the prisoners in place but allowing their hands to be free to work.
This is the church that sits across the street from the barracks. This is building that housed the orphanage and school for the children. Sadly, there were women prisoners as well. Approximately, 150 children were also housed at the prison due to their parents being inmates.
At one point it was decided that because of the potato famine in Ireland, thousands of orphaned girls should be sent over to Australia. Can you imagine losing your family and then not having any say about getting shipped off to a foreign land? When they arrived they were put to work in various mills, factories, sewing shops etc. Some unfortunately ended up in brothels and other racy establishments.
This was one of sleeping rooms. In each room 70 hammocks were hung, two high about a foot apart. We sat in one, they weren’t incredibly uncomfortable but not something I’d want to sleep in every night for years on end. Also, we weren’t in here with 69 of our closest friends who had been working all day with out deodorant or a bath, and remember there wasn’t any indoor plumbing. I can’t even imagine the stench.
The one thing all the prisoners had in common was time. When the barracks were constructed they included this large clock which rang on the hour marking the passing of the day.
Many of the prisoners had really long sentences, some even life. I can’t imagine the drudgery of going through each day doing the things the prisoners were asked to do and not having any hope of being free again.
After leaving the prison we decided against the bus and ended up walking through this great park to get to the rail station.
This is a huge Greek sculpture in the center of the park. You can’t tell but it is Apollo. He’s surrounded by 4 other smaller statues. Ian gave us the run down on each of the statues and what they mean. (I think he should study History or Greek Mythology in college. He’s amazingly smart in these areas and has an incredible memory.)
This park had a giant chess board with many waiting to play. There were several smaller versions being played as well. By the time this game was half over they had a large crowed gathered around watching them play. Way to much pressure for me!
The park led into this beautiful cathedral. I loved seeing all the different kinds of architecture.
Now off to the aquarium….
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