Book reviews
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The St. Helena Story
JAMES COOK MUSEUM
by Jarvis Finger $39.95, Boolarong Press Several kilometres from the mouth of the Brisbane River lies St Helena Island. For more than 60 years from 1867, St Helena was home to thousands of society’s outcasts, for here was located colonial Queensland’s foremost prison for men. During those years, and in the decades following its closure in 1933, the lovely little island gained a fearful reputation as ‘the hellhole of the Pacific’ and ‘Queensland’s own Devil’s Island’, where men were reputedly ‘kept chained by day and night’, ‘flogged to death’ and ‘hurried under the sod while their oppressors turned on those still living’. It was a place to dread for the colony’s murderers, rapists, bushrangers, rebels, thieves and men of like violence and mayhem. They were subjected to the lash, the dreaded black hole, the gag and straight jacket, and energy-sapping shot drill. Life could be tough on St Helena. It was a secure prison – but dozens of men were desperate enough to attempt escape. Few succeeded. But St Helena also gained a reputation as a self-sufficient model prison, held in high regard by visiting interstate and overseas penologists, churchmen and journalists, for here men could be rehabilitated through learning such trades as tailoring, bootmaking, tinsmithing, saddlemaking and farming pursuits. Indeed, it was claimed that the prison was for the inmates ‘a perfect paradise… In fact they often want to get back there’. Where does the truth reside? Was the St Helena Island Penal Establishment ‘living hell’ for society’s miserable outcasts or was it ‘a remnant of old Eden’? Special Offer: $10 off The St. Helena Story – March only.
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The Museum is located in the former convent of St Mary, erected 1887-1889. The existence of this large masonry building is indicative of Cooktown’s importance during the Palmer gold mining boom. The collection includes an Endeavour cannon, one of six jettisoned by James Cook when his barque, Endeavour, ran aground on the Endeavour Reef south of Cooktown in 1770. Special features include the original Endeavour anchor, also recovered from the reef, items pertaining to Cooktown history and the beautiful convent chapel. Location: Corner Helen & Furneaux Sts, Cooktown Qld 4871.
QANTAS FOUNDER’S MUSEUM The Q.A.N.T.A.S. Founders Museum tells the story of how it all began: • Medical Practice: medical services in isolated places, the problems of road transport. • The principles of flight: aerodynamic forces: lift, thrust, weight and drag, aircraft control: roll, pitch and yaw. • The big trip: in 1919 Fysh and McMaster made a big trip in a Model T Ford to map and build airstrips for the Great Air Race. This crystallised the idea to found an airline. Wings to the World: how Q.A.N.T.A.S. developed into an international airline and became Qantas. Early pilots: a certain style: tales from an open cockpit. Flying Doctor: how Q.A.N.T.A.S. played a major role in the establishment of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Location: Longreach Airport, Sir Hudson Fysh Drive, Longreach Qld 4730.
History Queensland