Australian History

[loamer]

I closed in the 1870s (although I am still open today, but not used for my original purpose). At the time of closing I had the following 'clients' in three groups.
64 people of this type. 126 of this type and 79 of this type. An event occurred here that changed Australian (not Colonial) Law dramatically. What am I?

 

[DrDuck]

That's a head scratcher, Loamer, but I think I've got it.

Was it the Port Arthur Prison that was closed in 1877? If so, the event was the Port Arthur Massacre committed by Martin Bryant in April 1996.

I'd guess that the clients at closure were prisoners, paupers who were ex-prisoners to old or ill to work, and the mentally ill?

 

[loamer]

Port Arthur it is Dr D.
64 convicts - transferred to Hobart
126 paupers
79 lunatics

sad thing about the convicts was that most were old and infirm but still transferred in leg-irons.

 

[DrDuck]

Thanks Loamer,

That was a hard set of clues. I guessed that it may have been a prison, so the search strategy was to start at 1875 and look for the terms prison closure for each year around that. First link for 1877 was to the Wiki article for Port Arthur. It was then just a matter of researching Port Arthur to make sure it fit the other clues.

Now to think of another question and try to disguise it from easy google solutions....

 

[Ramjet]

That's a head scratcher, Loamer, but I think I've got it.

Was it the Port Arthur Prison that was closed in 1877? If so, the event was the Port Arthur Massacre committed by Martin Bryant in April 1996.

I'd guess that the clients at closure were prisoners, paupers who were ex-prisoners to old or ill to work, and the mentally ill?

Nice work Doc.

 

[DrDuck]

While we are on the subject of penal establishments:

I shared a name with a great Roman, and my name reflected my origins, which were very unusual for a convict at one of Australia's most notorious penal establishments. Who was I and where was I from?

 

[loamer]

John Black Caesar (c.1763-1796), convict and bushranger of unknown African parentage, may have been born on Madagascar. He was a servant living in the parish of St Paul, Deptford, England, in 1786. On 13 March that year at Maidstone, Kent, charged with the theft of some 12 from a dwelling house, he was sentenced to transportation for seven years and sent to the hulk Ceres. He embarked on 6 January 1787 in the Alexander, which reached Botany Bay with the First Fleet on 19 January next year. Popularly known as 'Black Caesar', he became known in the colony as a hard worker and a conscientious labourer.

 

[DrDuck]

Not a bad try, I asked a question about Black Caesar a few weeks ago, but it is not him. The bloke I had in mind was from a very unusual place insofar as convicts in Australia go. I suppose a few people of different races got named after Romans back in the colonial days.

 

[DrDuck]

I'll give a clue, my origin and ethic group was much later featured in a movie that all started when a coke bottle fell from the sky...

 

[Sandta]

I remember that movie ... Some very funny moments .

 

[DrDuck]

There's a clue, Sandta, not many blokes from that part of the world were convicts!

 

[DrDuck]

Another clue, our bloke lost his life trying to escape ...

 

[slowflow]

Sarah Island convicts. I looked through the entire list & could have missed it. Sitting on the side line, bugger.

 

[Magilla]

I am googled out, every lead gets back to John Caesar.

 

[Magilla]

Scipio Africanus, from Africa. He drowned while trying to escape from Norfolk Island.
I gave up but my wife didn't, she is like a dog with a bone.

 

[DrDuck]

I'll give it to you Magilla, but my info is that he escaped from Port Arthur, not Norfolk Island. He drowned trying to escape in a canoe. Port Arthur would have been my next clue. He was an African Bushman, of all things, which was the reference to the movie the Gods Must be Crazy, which all started with a coke bottle falling out of a plane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GorHLQ-jLRQ

THe original Scipio Africanus was a famous Roman general who defeated Hannibal in the final battle of the second Punic war.

 

[Magilla]

My wife found the answer here
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/ahri/centres/menzies/research/Publications/LPAS3CassandraPybus.pdf
on page 19. It is written by a Pom so may not be correct. Very good question, I am amazed at the tenacity of the missus to keep looking.

 

[Magilla]

New question.
I was a Scottish born immigrant who used convict labour to re-shape a part of Australia.

 

[DrDuck]

Great reference, Magilla. I had no idea that there were so many African convicts. I'm pretty sure the author was wrong about Norfolk island, though, as there are multiple references to Scipio drowning trying to escape from Port Arthur.

I'll have to think about your question tomorrow...

 

[Ramjet]

Scipio Africanus, from Africa. He drowned while trying to escape from Norfolk Island.
I gave up but my wife didn't, she is like a dog with a bone.

Well done to Mrs Magilla. That was a tough one. Like you I just kept getting references back to Ceaser.