Stories set in stone reveal gems from the past


Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 05/06/2013

Reporter: Tracy Bowden

A picturesque spot in Sydney is home to some stories literally set in stone and they are delighting archaeologists, historians and tourists alike with what they reveal.


LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: We've all heard the saying that something is set in stone. When it comes to Australian history, that's actually literally true.

Thousands of migrants passed through the old quarantine station in Sydney and many of them left their mark in the sandstone cliffs and buildings.

Now a team of archaeologists is trying to discover the stories behind the carvings.

Tracy Bowden explains.

TRACY BOWDEN, REPORTER: This spot just inside the Sydney Harbour was chosen as the site for Australia's first quarantine station in the 1820s.

ANNIE CLARKE, ARCHEOLOGIST, UNI. OF SYDNEY: It was really about trying to keep the health of the colony and stop the spread of really sort of seriously infectious diseases - smallpox, typhoid, cholera, the plague.

TRACY BOWDEN: Over the years, hundreds of ships from around the world offloaded thousands of passengers.

Now archaeologist Annie Clarke is travelling back in time, trying to unravel the stories of the people who were forced to spend time here.

ANNIE CLARKE: The stories behind those inscriptions are just so interesting in terms of what they're telling us about a very detailed and multicultural history of Australia.

TRACY BOWDEN: Everyday the sandstone reveals more clues, in different languages, from different eras.

It's like being a detective, isn't it?

ANNIE CLARKE: Completely, yeah. And a detective that can see things according to the different light qualities, which is kind of - the things come out of the rocks all the time, which is part of the magic, actually, of doing the recording.

TRACY BOWDEN: Some inscriptions record the names of the ships and of those on board, others, where they came from or why they were quarantined.

ANNIE CLARKE: The aim of the project, whilst we know quite a lot about the broad history of quarantine, it's really to try and get to the individuals, the ordinary people who came through, who migrated to Australia.

TRACY BOWDEN: Research associate Ursula Frederick is also working on the project, along with historian Peter Hobbins, who's piecing together a medical and social history of the quarantine station.

PETER HOBBINS, HISTORIAN, UNI. OF SYDNEY: There are somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 separate carvings and paintings on the rocks. We've got everything from a scoundrel being recorded, sort of tucked away in one corner, to some really quite moving poetry.

TRACY BOWDEN: Just one of the many stories the team is delving into is that of the stonemason who carved this inscription in 1879, John Howie.

ANNIE CLARKE: It's a very beautiful formal inscription. It was done by John Howie, who was a stonemason from Scotland. His - one of his children died on the voyage out here.

TRACY BOWDEN: John Howie's relatives are helping the the archaeologists fill in some of the gaps in the story. Today the stonemason's great-grandson Max Howie has brought his family to the site to take a look at their ancestor's work.

MAX HOWIE, GREAT-GRANDSON: Gives you a real kick. I can see it from here now. A real thrill, yeah.

TRACY BOWDEN: It turns out that John Howie was part of a family of stonemasons and his work at North Head was just the beginning.

MAX HOWIE: They come out to Australia in 90 days at sea, I understand. Quarantined here, obviously. But they built the Art Gallery, they built the Mitchell Library, they built Parramatta jail.

TRACY BOWDEN: It might be a beautiful setting, but for many people this was an unhappy and frightening place. The sickest ended up here in the hospital on the hill. Almost 600 people died at the quarantine station and some of the messages reflect the anxiety they must've felt.

ANNIE CLARKE: Some of the Asian ones that have been translated are quite sad and quite poignant, you know, "I wish I'd never come here. Don't come here; I feel really sad."

TRACY BOWDEN: This inscription was carved in 1917 by an internee from China. In part it says, "I'm frightened of having the disease. Moreover, the doctor is helpless to control the sickness. Feeling pessimistic and despondent."

ANNIE CLARKE: You do see - in some of them it does say so-and-so died on a voyage. And it does make - all the time you're thinking about who the people are, what made them do these inscriptions.

TRACY BOWDEN: Once Annie Clarke and her team have compiled all of the stories from the sandstone, they'll create a digital database, including not just details about the inscriptions and the people who made them, but shipping, migration and health records.

ANNIE CLARKE: This 19th and 20th Century history of Australia is about immigration. So we're all - you know, whether it's this generation or five generations back, we're all migrants in some way. So it tells that - it is really about that story of the creation of the nation.

PETER HOBBINS: Just tracking down the really interesting stories out of that information and telling those stories and sharing them with the public is something that we're really thrilled to be doing and documenting it for posterity as well.

LEIGH SALES: Tracy Bowden reporting.