The Road Parties

During the construction of the road that linked the north and south of the island, the Heritage Highway region was dotted with gangs of convicts stationed at some distance from each other and charged with building particular sections of the road - a task much easier said than done, given the nature of the terrain and the primitive tools at their disposal.  Stories abound regarding the conditions under which they laboured, and while some speak of good food rations and benign overseers, one account is particularly brutal.

The history of convict transportation focuses on the majority who were sent from England, however there is a lesser known group, the 'Patriot Exiles' who were involved with the 1837 rebellion in upper Canada and transported for life.  These unfortunate prisoners were assigned to road construction at Lovely Banks near Jericho - you can identify the property from the sandstone block and a windsock near its entrance.  

In his book, Highway in Van Diemen's Land, well known Tasmanian historian, Hawley Stancombe provides a vivid description of the appalling conditions under which these men toiled.

It is claimed that they were forced to work in the wet, often without boots and in threadbare clothes, dragging carts carrying a ton of stone a distance of two miles, half of it uphill.  The carts were drawn by four to six men who were expected to make twelve journeys over a twelve-hour day.  Underfed, men often collapsed from exhaustion.  During the winter of 1840, they slept in their wet clothing with little bedding and no fire. 

Floggings occurred frequently.  On one occasion, several of the group were punished with solitary confinement when they were caught attempting to warm themselves by the cookhouse fire.  Their section of road to Spring Hill was to become one of the best, but it's no wonder they called the Hill, 'Hell's Gates'!