Day 51: Sydney history - life as a convict

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The rain continued on into the night but was starting to show signs of clearing in the morning. We had a bit of a lie-in and spent the morning updating the blog (it had been neglected for 10 days or so). In the afternoon we jumped on the ferry from Manly to the Circular Quay and headed off to the Hyde Park Barracks Museum. As most people will know, the first people sent from England to the Australian colony were in fact mostly convicts; these people had their sentences changed from death to transportation for 7, 14 years or life. The Hyde Park Barracks Musuem provides insight into the daily lives of the convicts arriving in NSW and their route to freedom. It allows you to do a surname search using the historical database to find any relatives. I found a Thomas Pollard from Yorkshire whose crime was stealing shoes! He had a hard life as a convict labourer but his disobedience meant he was often punished. There were lots of Bailey's in the system, some from Stafford, Chester and Newcastle-under-lyme. An interesting couple of hours at the museum and again we were ushered out for closing!

We headed back across to Manly to join Hannah and Steffan for one of their favourite pastimes - the weekly quiz at their local (with their quiz team mates). Once again Steffan wowed us with his general knowledge (and Spice Girl knowledge) and we came a very respectable 4th place (not bad considering 5 of the team were Brits).

Bailey's bit: The museum certainly was an intersting afternoon detailing the initial story of the first people to arrive in the colony and the building of the barracks to restore some order to a city that was losing its way. It also described the buildings other guises up until it was turned into a museum, including a womens immigrations office for the assigning of young Irish orphan girls sent during the Potato famine. It was also converted over the years to become an old womens asylum, courts and law offices. It was only recently that Sydney people have come to accept their convict roots and accept that the building is part of their history.

Daily Mileage: 5 Went out looking for another route but ended up back on Manly beach. The weather was a bit better, still fairly cool so much more manageable than in higher climates.

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