Bonnet project tips hats to ‘mothers of Australia’

I’m going to make a bonnet. No, not a baby bonnet, not an Easter bonnet. I am going to make a bonnet in tribute to Beulah Thomas, one of the 25,266 convict women who were transported from Ireland and the British Isles to Australia in the 1800s. I’m going to make this bonnet, a replica of an original cap worn by the convict women, to lend a sewing hand to artist Christina Henri of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, who will create the installation “Roses from the Heart,” consisting of those 25,266, bonnets. The installation is slated for display March 8, 2008, in Hobart.

Henri needs people from around the world to sew bonnets. So far she has more than 5,000, but that leaves 20,266 yet to be sewn. If readers of the By Hand column wish to participate by sewing a bonnet, here are a couple of ways to do that. First, visit www.christinahenri.com.au. At the Web site, you will find the bonnet pattern and instructions which can be printed to paper for easy use. You also will find details about the project. To find lists of names of the convict women, visit www.femalefactory.com.au.

Bonnet makers can choose a name from the lists and dedicate the bonnet to that woman, or e-mail Henri and ask her to send the name of a convict woman you can adopt for the project.

You may request a bonnet pattern be e-mailed to you, by

e-mailing cjhenri@iinet.net.au.

If you do not have a computer or access to one, let me know and I will mail you a copy of the bonnet pattern if you request it and send a stamped, addressed envelope to: By Hand, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor ME 04402-1329.

Or write directly to Henri at: PO Box 1020, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia 7006.

When you send your bonnet to Henri, be sure it is accompanied with an authorization form, also available at her Web site.

I chose the name Beulah Thomas for the bonnet I will make. Her name appeared on a prison lying-in hospital list of patients. I chose her name because my grandmother’s name was Beulah.

Beulah Thomas was transported from London to Hobart, Australia, in 1893 when she was 16. She was 17 when she gave birth to a daughter on Aug. 22, 1894. She was discharged from the hospital on Dec. 11, 1894.

Beulah gave birth far from home, mother, sisters or other female relatives. It can be inferred that she was pregnant when she was transported, or that she became pregnant while she was a convict in transit to Australia by ship, which implies sexual exploitation or physical violence.

It is possible that she was the same Beulah Thomas, born in 1878 in Longton, Staffordshire, England, an area where pottery was manufactured commercially. Those statistics are listed in the British Census of 1881, information I found at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints family history Web site, www.familysearch.org.

Thomas’ father’s name is listed as Henry Thomas and his occupation as “waterman.”

I was not able to discover what crime Beulah committed that resulted in her exile to Australia. Perhaps she had stolen food or had been forced into prostitution by dire family circumstances.

“Although [the installation] looks at women sent to Australian shores,” Henri wrote in an e-mail, “it encompasses all convict women. Before the American War of Independence, Britain was shipping many from its poverty stricken section of society off to the American colonies.” Thus, it is possible that some of us Americans are descended from female convicts.

Many female convicts in Australia served their time, married, had families and became, quite literally, the “mothers of Australia.”

Henri said she named the art project “Roses from the Heart” “because the rose is a very strong symbol of love.”

Henri said that men as well as women are participating in the project, so if there are any good old Maine guys out there who want to stitch a bonnet, go for it.

In the blessing ceremony that will open the installation next March, a male lament song that speaks of the loss men felt when their loved ones were shipped away will be included, Henri said.

Henri suggests that bonnet makers design with vintage materials in mind and include heart and rose motifs in the scheme of embellishment.

When the bonnet exhibit begins its travels from Hobart, it eventually will cross the oceans to venues in Canada and the United States.

I am hoping that at least 266 Mainers will make bonnets for the project. Then Henri will need only 20,000 more.

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.