Lost in Tasmania

I have had a need to visit Tasmania after reading a book called "The Tin Ticket" by Deborah J.Swiss.

It tells the story of some young girls being brought out to Australia after having been caught committing a crime in their native homeland.
The stories are disturbing and horrifying.
I wanted to see where "Cascades" Female Factory was and to feel what it was like to be on the site where part of this book has been set.

The outer shell of part of the Female Factory remains with outlines of where buildings once stood.

The power and emotion of the place can be easily hidden and misunderstood or underestimated if you are not guided around the site. It looks pretty bare and uninteresting.

I managed to get a photo of what the original factory site looked like in 1900 which gave me a better idea of what it all looked like.

But I would totally recommend a guided tour or take in a very special experience by either booking the "Her Story" Tour of the one I went on "Louisa's Walk".
Here is where it all changed as I became part of "Louisa's" journey.

The actors took us on a walk through the connecting park and created the scene for entering the Female Factory site. We were introduced to the yards, the buildings (no longer there) the work, the hardships and the true story of Louisa.

At one moment our actress knelt down in what used to be the Chapel and started to sing - the rain was pouring down on her in one of those cold showers that we experienced during our two days in Tassie as we heard her Irish voice signing out to her God to help her endure her pain.

There was not a dry eye in the yard amongst those watching.

We were shown the wall where names have been engraved of all of the female convicts that had spent time at the factory and then we were taken back through the Park and told a "semi sweet" happy ending so that we would not walk away too mournful.

As painful as it was to hear the story of the women of the Factory it was also a most powerful and absorbing experience and I am so glad that I spent time to travel to Tasmania to connect with these ladies.

I have now completed a few "factory" sites with Newcastle ( Girls Reformatory and Industrial School - Watt Street, Parramatta Female Factory and now Cascades Female Factory in Tasmania.