Cat-o’-nine-tails
1840s
One of the most common forms of convict punishment was flogging (whipping) with a ‘cat-o’-nine-tails’, a whip named for the way it scratched the skin like the claws of a cat. Made up of nine lengths of knotted cord attached to a handle, it would lash the back of the offender, tearing the skin and causing intense pain. The number of lashes, 25, 50, 75 or 100 or more was determined by a magistrate or court, and dependent on the seriousness of the convict’s offence. In 1833, Ernest Slade, Deputy Superintendent of Hyde Park Barracks introduced a new cat-o’-nine-tails that he boasted could draw the blood after only four lashes. All convicts present at Hyde Park Barracks were ordered to watch the floggings. Contrary to popular belief, not all the convicts experienced multiple floggings; two thirds of all convicts experienced only one or no flogging during their sentence.
As I passed along the road about eleven o’clock in the morning there issued out of the prisoners’ barracks a party consisting of four men, who bore on their shoulders (two supporting the head and two the feet) a miserable convict, writhing in agony of pain – his voice piercing the air with terrific screams. … I... was told it was “only a prisoner who had been flogged, and who was on his way to the hospital!
Roger Therry, Reminiscences of thirty years’ residence in New South Wales and Victoria, London, Sampson Low, Son, and Co., 1863, 2nd ed, 41-42.
More artefacts
Convict Sydney
Objects
These convict-era objects and archaeological artefacts found at Hyde Park Barracks and The Mint (Rum Hospital) are among the rarest and most personal artefacts to have survived from Australia’s early convict period
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Convict Sydney
Hammock Scrap
A few scraps of rope and coarse, but finely woven flax linen scraps like this one are all that’s left of the hundreds of hammocks that originally lined the convict sleeping wards
Convict Sydney
Leg Irons, bar link
Known as darbies or slangs in the convict ‘flash’ slang language, leg irons came in various shapes and sizes
Convict Sydney
Leg irons, standard
Standard leg irons, like those pictured here, weighed seven pounds (3.2 kilograms)
Convict Sydney
Leg irons, heavy
Known as darbies or slangs in the convict ‘flash’ slang language, leg irons came in various shapes and sizes
Convict Sydney
Ball and chain
1820s–1840s: Known as darbies or slangs in the convict ‘flash’ language, leg irons came in various shapes and sizes
Convict Sydney
Molesworth report
The findings of the 1837 Molesworth inquiry brought about the end of convict transportation to New South Wales
Convict Sydney
Iron Gang chain
Convicts who re-offended after arriving in the colony could be assigned to do hard labour in an iron gang
Convict Sydney
Leg iron guard
A stunning example of an improvised handicraft, this leather ankle guard or ‘gaiter’ was made to protect a convict’s ankle from leg irons
Convict Sydney
Leg irons, ovalled
Leg irons chafed the ankles, made loud clinking noises with every movement, and made working difficult and tiring
Convict Sydney
Branding iron
Branding irons like this one were used to brand government-owned property livestock as well as items made from timber