History revisited at Woolmers
YARNS were swapped by descendants of convicts and their farming masters at Woolmers, as they gathered to celebrate the World Heritage listed property’s 200th birthday at the weekend.
Woolmers remains as a time capsule from European settlement’s earliest days, when the workers were convicts and the gentry ruled.
About 100 guests were yesterday reminded of positive aspects of the penal system, which enabled enlightened landowners — such as the Archer family who settled at Woolmers in 1817 — to repay their better behaved convicts with trust, respect, and a chance at rehabilitation.
Nancy Higgins from Victoria and Denise Odgers from Burnie are both descendants of convict Joseph Moore, who flourished at Woolmers starting as a shepherd in 1817 and ending as an overseer in 1827. They discovered that Moore’s good fortune came at a cost.
Ms Higgins is descended from Moore’s first wife, left behind in England, while Ms Odgers is a descendant of Moore’s second wife, who he married in Tasmania after gaining his freedom. They were put in touch 27 years ago.
“Since then it’s a passion for us,” said Ms Higgins, who joined the Woolmers 200th party with a cake cutting and a tour of the servants’ areas yesterday.
Another partnership that might have raised eyebrows in the 19th century has the five year relationship between David Boon (not the cricketer) from Beaconsfield, a descendant of Thomas William Birch, a surgeon and land owner — whose wife Sarah had an island penal colony in Macquarie Harbour named after her — and Sonya Forsyth, descended from Woolmers inmate Daniel Ellis.
Katrina Archer, whose family are fifth and sixth generation descendants of the Archer family, took on a servant’s role yesterday’s function, as a Woolmers volunteer staff member.