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Patchwork Prisoners: The Rajah Quilt and the Women Who Made It
Patchwork Prisoners is a study of the 180 female convicts who were transported on the convict ship Rajah from England to Hobart in 1841. It is also the study of the Rajah Quilt and the convicts who may have been involved in making it during their voyage to Van Diemen's Land. The role of Miss Kezia Hayter, the ship's Matron, in making the Quilt is also explored.
The Rajah Quilt is the only known surviving quilt made by female convicts on their voyage from the United Kingdom to Australia. It was found in a Scottish attic in 1987 and gifted to the National Gallery of Australia in 1989. The study is a valuable reference for historians, genealogists and family historians.
The Rajah Quilt is the only known surviving quilt made by female convicts on their voyage from the United Kingdom to Australia. It was found in a Scottish attic in 1987 and gifted to the National Gallery of Australia in 1989. The study is a valuable reference for historians, genealogists and family historians.
- GenresHistory
326 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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December 26, 2025
I purchased this book while visiting the Cascades Female Factory in Hobart, because I'm interested both in textile history, and in the life of Elizabeth Fry and her efforts for prison reform, especially her connection to Australian women prisoners.
The first few chapters are particularly helpful for understanding the history of the Rajah Quilt, and the selection process and hopes that Elizabeth Fry and her fellow reformers had for the women who were on the ship. These women were selected for their potential to do well out of the experience of learning to quilt, and being provided with saleable skills, education, and a fresh start. Unfortunately, for all the women on that ship, their lives were not so easily reformed, in part because of a lack of further support when they arrived in the colony.
While we will never know exactly who made the quilt, it is clear from Cowley and Snowden's excellent work, that the life for these prisoners, brought to Australia as cheap domestic servants and future wives (also cheap domestic servants!) was extremely difficult. This book traces the stories of many of the women on the ship, and includes plentiful data (which unfortunately gets a bit dull) about their lives, crimes (before and after transportation), marriages, children, and deaths. It is clear that life was hard whether they were in the factory (which was a prison, lying-in hospital, laundry operation, and employment office), out "to service", or had attained their freedom.
While the prison reformers were well-intentioned, they lacked the support of the Tasmanian colonial government, who did not have or did not prioritise resources to reform the women sent to the Cascades. Instead, the women were cheap labour for the new colony, and there was little effort made to help their rehabilitation. Instead they were left to survive a brutal prison system, a hard life as domestic help, separated from their family back home. It is staggering to think how poorly these women were treated, many of them young women, and heartbreaking to consider how they would have been treated at the factory and in the homes they were sent to. No wonder they turned to drink, or sought to be returned to the factory.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more technical information about or detailed images of the quilt itself, but that would require the work of a different type of historian, I suppose.
The first few chapters are particularly helpful for understanding the history of the Rajah Quilt, and the selection process and hopes that Elizabeth Fry and her fellow reformers had for the women who were on the ship. These women were selected for their potential to do well out of the experience of learning to quilt, and being provided with saleable skills, education, and a fresh start. Unfortunately, for all the women on that ship, their lives were not so easily reformed, in part because of a lack of further support when they arrived in the colony.
While we will never know exactly who made the quilt, it is clear from Cowley and Snowden's excellent work, that the life for these prisoners, brought to Australia as cheap domestic servants and future wives (also cheap domestic servants!) was extremely difficult. This book traces the stories of many of the women on the ship, and includes plentiful data (which unfortunately gets a bit dull) about their lives, crimes (before and after transportation), marriages, children, and deaths. It is clear that life was hard whether they were in the factory (which was a prison, lying-in hospital, laundry operation, and employment office), out "to service", or had attained their freedom.
While the prison reformers were well-intentioned, they lacked the support of the Tasmanian colonial government, who did not have or did not prioritise resources to reform the women sent to the Cascades. Instead, the women were cheap labour for the new colony, and there was little effort made to help their rehabilitation. Instead they were left to survive a brutal prison system, a hard life as domestic help, separated from their family back home. It is staggering to think how poorly these women were treated, many of them young women, and heartbreaking to consider how they would have been treated at the factory and in the homes they were sent to. No wonder they turned to drink, or sought to be returned to the factory.
I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more technical information about or detailed images of the quilt itself, but that would require the work of a different type of historian, I suppose.
Displaying 1 of 1 review