Convict Ships
Between 1788 and 1868 the British penal system transported about 164,000 convicts from Great Britain to the Australian penal colonies onboard 806 ships. The last convict ship, Hougoumont, left Britain in 1867 and arrived in Western Australia on 10 January 1868.
Transportation was an extremely harsh punishment, second only to execution. As many as 25,000 women were transported from Britain to Australia to work in penal colonies, for crimes as varied as petty theft and poaching, to murder. Their sentences were often miscarriages of justice. Many didn’t survive the long journey. Most of them never returned.
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| The Rajah Convict Ship |
The Rajah Convict Ship
The Rajah was a 352-ton barque convict ship constructed in 1835 in Whitby. It left England on April 1, 1841 and arrived at Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) 109 days later on July 19, 1841.
Onboard this nondescript convict vessel were 180 convict women that unwittingly became a significant chapter in the history of quilt making.
The Rajah Quilt
This remarkable quilt was made by the convict women on the Rajah convict ship in 1841. The convict ship sub-committee for Elizabeth Fry's British Ladies Society for promoting the reformation of female prisoners, persuaded the Navy board to fund "gifts" for the convicts. These basic items included knives, forks, aprons and notably, sewing materials which included tape, 10 yards of fabric, four balls of white cotton sewing thread, a ball each of black, red and blue thread, black wool, 24 hanks of coloured thread, a thimble, 100 needles, threads, pins, scissors and two pounds of patchwork pieces (or almost ten metres of fabric).
During the journey some of the women had embroidered and sewn the materials into an appliquéd medallion style coverlet now known as the Rajah Quilt. It is thought that about 29 women were involved. The convict sub-committee's work was remembered by the women on board. The quilt includes a message embroidered in silk thread giving thanks to the "convict ship committee".
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| Rajah Quilt Label |
The Message:
"To the ladies of the convict ship committee, this quilt worked by the convicts of the ship Rajah during their voyage to van Dieman’s Land is presented as a testimony of the gratitude with which they remember their exertions for their welfare while in England and during their passage and also as a proof that they have not neglected the ladies kind admonitions of being industrious. June 1841."
The quilt was presented to the Lieutenant Governor’s wife Lady Jane Franklin. It was sent back to Britain for Elizabeth Fry, the leader of the British Ladies Society. Where is quilt was for the next 147 years is unclear. It was found in an attic in Scotland in 1989 and is now held by the National Gallery of Australia.
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| The Rajah Quilt |
Research shows that the quilt was not unique as other references are made to the convict women's needlework. One of the references is to the women leaving their work behind. However, the Rajah Quilt is the only documented quilt made by convicts that still survives.
Rajah Quilt Revisited
The historic Rajah Quilt, sewn by women convicts on board the ship Rajah measured approximately 128" x 128". This quilt was selected as the inspiration for the 2016 Block of the Month - the Rajah Quilt Revisited as designed by Lessa Siegele. Rajah Revisited is impeccably written and thoroughly tested quilt pattern.
Lilo Bowman was intrigued about the history of the quilt and added "History Tidbits" to each of the monthly BOM lessons. The Quilt Show
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