Government blanket fragments

1819–1848

These fragments of a natural-coloured woollen cloth are thought to be from a government issue blanket, used by convicts in the Barracks sleeping wards. Found by archaeologists beneath the floors of Hyde Park Barracks, these fragments have a coarse weave, and a couple of pieces show that the blanket had a thin brown woven stripe. Barracks blankets were stamped with the government ‘broad arrow’ and the date they were issued, and were most likely made in the colony by female convicts at the Parramatta Female Factory, using locally grown wool. And while the convicts in the Barracks were keeping warm under these blankets, from 1826, these same blankets were also issued annually to Aboriginal people. A painting of Cora Gooseberry at Camp Cove in 1845 shows her wrapped in the same sort of natural coloured blanket with a thin border stripe along one edge. In 1844 the government stopped its blanket hand-outs to Aboriginal people, and Port Hacking man William Annan who came into Sydney in winter that year, probably to receive his blanket, died of exposure near the Barracks, in Hyde Park.

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Convict Sydney, Level 1, Hyde Park Barracks Museum
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

Convict Sydney

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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

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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

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Convict Sydney

Convict shirt scraps

Deliberately torn into squares and strips, these scraps of convict shirt suggest that some convicts were recycling old clothing for new purposes

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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

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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

Cap
Convict Sydney

Convict Cap

A hat was known as a castor or a kelp in the convict 'flash' slang language

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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

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Convict Sydney

Convict shirt scrap, ‘B.A.’

This square scrap of striped convict shirt is curiously stamped with the letters ‘B’ and ‘A’

Taylor panorama (left detail)
Convict Sydney

What was convict assignment?

‘Assignment’ meant that a convict worked for a private landowner

Old and faded blue and white striped cotton shirt
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