Tag: St Helena Prisoners

St Helena Prisoners, St Helena Warders, Today's Community

Are your ancestors connected with the Penal Establishment of St Helena Island? We need to hear from you!

We are searching for Warders’ families that lived on St Helena Island during the Penal Establishment years. Is that you? We need to hear from you! The St Helena Island Community is regularly contacted by individuals exploring their family tree and who have unearthed information that they have a St Helena prisoner or warder amongst their relatives. Others know their ancestor was on St Helena … Continue reading Are your ancestors connected with the Penal Establishment of St Helena Island? We need to hear from you!

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St Helena Prisoners, St Helena Warders, Today's Community

Is data your thing?

Is data your thing? Or stories? For me it’s always the story, which is why it’s so amazing that this whole blog post is going to be about data and databases. And I’m going to be seriously enthusiastic about them because we’ve never had digitised data relating to St Helena Penal Establishment in any format that is searchable. And now The St Helena Island Community … Continue reading Is data your thing?

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Colonial History, St Helena Prisoners

ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER ON ST HELENA ISLAND

In prison 1st January 1921- 158 prisoners.Received through the year 117. Discharged through the year 186 In prison 31st December 1921 – 89 prisoners. Prisons Department Report – Year ended 31st December 1921 In 1921, The Home secretary, Mr McCormack controlled prisons. Major discussions had been ongoing for years regarding the best way to administer and manage prisoners in Queensland. The final decisions, outlined in … Continue reading ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER ON ST HELENA ISLAND

Belinda Daly1 Comment
Environmental History, St Helena Prisoners, St Helena Warders, Today's Community

History is like a box of jigsaw pieces

I think history is like a large jigsaw puzzle – the 5,000 small piece kind. In the box, the puzzle is a jumble of indistinct colours and shapes and there is no clarity. Yet, when you begin to join some pieces together, a picture starts to emerge, and the more pieces that you are able to join together, the clearer the picture is. When researching … Continue reading History is like a box of jigsaw pieces

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Built environment, Environmental History, St Helena Prisoners, St Helena Warders, Today's Community

‘We could go anywhere here, we were only youngsters.’ Bob and Fred Murrie.

“We could go anywhere, we were only youngsters. We couldn’t go in the stockade, but if there was a warder with you, you could go in. My father’s job…at 9 o’clock at night, he used to go in to the prison and make sure everything was locked up and under control, and I’d go in with him sometimes… we’d go in the front Number 1 … Continue reading ‘We could go anywhere here, we were only youngsters.’ Bob and Fred Murrie.

Belinda Daly4 Comments
Built environment, Colonial History, St Helena Prisoners

Queensland’s Ned Kelly imprisoned at St Helena Island

Strength of character often means having qualities such as resilience, determination, consistency, focus and passion. If this definition is applied to many of the prisoners within the St Helena Penal Establishment, many of them clearly display strength of character. Prisoner Walter O’Hara had all the above qualities, giving him every opportunity in life.   I believe if Prisoner Walter O’Hara’s drive, tenacity and determination was … Continue reading Queensland’s Ned Kelly imprisoned at St Helena Island

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