Convict shirt scraps
1819-1848
In their 'flash' slang language convicts called a shirt a smish, kemesa, or flesh-bag. Deliberately torn into squares and strips, these scraps of convict shirt found under the floors of Hyde Park Barracks suggest that some convicts were recycling old clothing for new purposes. It was the rats that made their nests beneath the floorboards from soft fabric found in the wards that helped to preserve the tens of thousands of fabric scraps that were later discovered underfloor by archaeologists. Among these scraps were pieces of clothing left behind by the convicts who stayed in the wards, like these scraps of the distinctive blue striped convict uniform shirt.
Historical accounts tell us that convict tailors worked by candlelight in the wards in the evenings - possibly to earn a few coins from the other convicts. They would have used scraps like these to sew patches on torn shirts and trousers and replacing missing buttons with others they had found and stored.
… What do the men do at night?
Perhaps there are six or seven making hats, some tailoring, and others card-playing...
Convict John Barker, Evidence to the Select Committee on Security of Life and Property, 1844, 39-40.
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Convict Sydney
Objects
These convict-era objects and archaeological artefacts found at Hyde Park Barracks and The Mint (Rum Hospital) are among the rarest and most personal artefacts to have survived from Australia’s early convict period
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Convict Sydney
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Convict Sydney
Clock-winding crank
This sturdy crank was used for many years to wind the Hyde Park Barracks clock
Convict Sydney
Hack barrow
Convict brickmakers working at the Brickfields (now Haymarket) used hack barrows like this one, stacking 20 or 30 wet bricks on the timber palings along the top, for transporting them from the moulding table to the ‘hack’ yard for drying
Convict Sydney
Cupping glasses & scarificator
These cupping glasses are of the type that was used in the treatment of convict patients at the General ‘Rum’ Hospital
Convict Sydney
Convict Braces & Belts
Convict ‘slop’ clothing was one-size-fits-all, so some convicts had to improvise ways to keep up their baggy trousers
Convict Sydney
Convict Cap
A hat was known as a castor or a kelp in the convict 'flash' slang language
Convict Sydney
Convict hat sennets & leaf shredder
This shredding tool and ‘sennets’ or fragments of plaited cabbage tree palm leaves (Livistona australis) were found beneath the floors of Hyde Park Barracks, and used by convicts for making hats
Convict Sydney
Convict shirt scrap, ‘B.A.’
This square scrap of striped convict shirt is curiously stamped with the letters ‘B’ and ‘A’
Convict Sydney
What was convict assignment?
‘Assignment’ meant that a convict worked for a private landowner
Convict Sydney
Convict shirt
Known as a smish, kemesa or flesh-bag in the convict 'flash' slang language, this convict uniform shirt has been worn, torn, stained and patched
Convict Sydney
Convict uniform buttons
Archaeologists found over 250 bone buttons, which were once attached to convict shirts, jackets and trousers, and then lost beneath the floors