As part of the TATE?UTAS Ross Symposium, I was able to spend time in the town, deliver a presentatiion on my passion and pass some precious time exploring the relics.
Here is a version of what I experienced and shared ...
It began with a night's accommodation at the utterly charming property of Somercotes (one I simply must repeat!) What a delightful setting, and a terrific chance to steep myself in the modern day context of my own 19th century novel.
A significant highlight was the chance to enjoy some precious time before the day’s literary sessions amidst the relics of Horton College. Major bucket list TICK!
Here is a version of what I experienced and shared ...
It began with a night's accommodation at the utterly charming property of Somercotes (one I simply must repeat!) What a delightful setting, and a terrific chance to steep myself in the modern day context of my own 19th century novel.
A significant highlight was the chance to enjoy some precious time before the day’s literary sessions amidst the relics of Horton College. Major bucket list TICK!
How authentic and quaint is this ?????
And the surrounds were stunning ....
Writing About Place ...
Re-inspired by my jaunt to the Melbourne
Writers Festival in August, wich offered some amazing inspiration regarding the
importance of place in writing - an idea that featured across the entire range
of author presentations I attended, with both national and international
writers
The idea of place as a character in itself
within a story - alive, complex, tangible and unique - was one I explored in my
own writing, which began with a place ...
Scenes and chapters in our own local, state and national history - the
untold stories - are a terrific source of inspiration!
What stories lay waiting to be uncovered in the relics?
For me as a writer, recreating our past through stories and keeping our history alive before it disappears forever is a particular area of passion and interest, one I was excited to explore when I began my MA with Rohan Wilson …
A childhood
spent growing up in Evandale no doubt fuelled my
fascination with Tasmania’s past from an early age – especially historic
buildings (and even more notably grand ones!).
My Relationship
With Tasmania's Past ...
Fallgrove, Clarendon
House, Franklin House and Entally were all so close, along with
those lesser, quieter buildings in local streets, all surrounded
by the midlands of Tasmania.
Personal ancestry.
William Henry Clayton, the second son of Henry and Mary Clayton, was the
architect who designed over 300 Tasmanian buildings including The Launceston
Hotel, Chalmers Church and Wickford, the family property built at Norfolk
Plains in 1838, before he emigrated to New Zealand
There are
fascinating stories already existing within these two personal threads.
What others are as yet untold?
Following my
discovery of the initial image that sparked a story I was desperate to
learn more.
Research.
The research
process began where I imagined myself in the writerly footsteps of
Hannah Kent and Kate Grenville – but in a Tasmanian context
Sources of
information -
Local
LINC library. TAHO (field trip planned!)
People
- Archivist Keith Sykes, Historical Society publications
The Treasure TROVE
(long may it live!)
This led
me on a deeper digital trail to a myriad of
amazing repositories …
~ Newspaper
articles – including scandalous letters to the editor
~ UTAS eprints,
Library Open Repository – letters and photographs
~ Victorian Police Gazette
– the language of the period, inquests, deserters, crimes
~ University
of Melbourne Library – historical map of Richmond, Hawthorn, Yarra
History Revealed Itself ... that crumbling arch was once THIS!!
History Revealed Itself ... that crumbling arch was once THIS!!
Horton
College
~ Exclusive boys
boarding school in the midlands of Tasmania, two and a half miles south of
Ross, that operated in the second half of the nineteenth century
~ Established when
Captain Samuel Horton, of Somercotes, made a donation of land and a sum of
money to the Wesleyan Methodist Church
~ The
foundation stone was laid by Captain Horton on January 6, 1852, but the
building was not completed for another three years due to a delay caused by the
Victorian gold rush
~ The
first student. “John Manton aged 11 years admitted 3 October 1855”, one of 770
boys who passed through the College, with an average of 50 students
a year, mostly Tasmanian but also a number from Vic and NSW
~ During
its 38 years of existence it was home to a succession of boys – many
of whom became successful doctors, barristers, merchants, well-known clergymen
and various other creditable professions
- Subjects
included Latin, Greek, French, Algebra, Trigonometry, History, Geography,
Arithmetic, Writing, Grammar, Scripture along with Music, Drawing and Drill
~ Closed 1892 after
the retirement of Willam Fox, Head Master of 26
years, financial decline and the establishment of rival schools in
Hobart and Launceston
~ Demolished in
1920, most materials sold, the College bell went to Hutchins School in Hobart,
while some of the bricks were taken to Launceston, becoming part of the wall of
the Mary Fox wing of the Methodist Ladies College in Elphin Road
From the Horton
College Journal ..
Jun
16, 1857 “James J Turnbull ran away from College.”
Dec
21, 1858 “Thomas Melville dismissed from his
situation in deep disgrace and heavily in debt. A desperately bad
man.”
Sep
23, 1859 “Mr Maxey, the Head Master, left to
the great satisfaction of the President and Masters who had all been insulted
by him.”
Oct 14,
1881 “Two of the boarders, Frederick Walter Dally
and George English Herbert Fulton died. In the former case death was caused by accident, and in the latter it was the result of disease …
the moral effect on the boys was most [important].”
The Beginnings
of a Story ...
Having gathered
together all sorts of articles and pictures, I began to imagine my own version
of Horton College. I created maps and family trees which I collated together with my
cuttings and scribblings in a notebook. I then began to
set in motion the ideas that had begun to bubble away in my brain in my process
of ‘magpie nesting’. Finding the right mix – the historical evidence of setting, characters
and events scattered within a narrative arc that came from my own
imagination.
As the story
started to take shape on the page I began to assemble my cast of
characters – students, masters, servants … But stepping into
the centre stage spotlight appeared 16 year old William Learoyd,
bringing with him a large helping of dramatic tension.
On the UTAS eprints repository, I found these wonderful letters which gave voice to the students.
“I received thy letter in due time and am very much obliged to thee for the photograph.”
“I received thy letter in due time and am very much obliged to thee for the photograph.”
“I wish Papa
would write oftener for I have written two letters to which I have received no
answer.”
(Aha! William)
“On the 23rd of
9th Mr Robert Crawford aged about 19 who was the head
waiter of Horton College died suddenly at about 5 in the
afternoon … I suppose thou hast seen all the particulars in the
newspapers …”
“On the 5th of
November we had a holiday and we made a large bonfire on the top of a high hill
and the wind drove the flames amongst a lot of dead trees and set fire to them.
The boys had a great many fireworks and we had a great deal of fun in letting
them off.”
Shaping the
Narrative ...
Chapters
constructed around the snippets I had discovered in my research – the flash
flood of the Macquarie, the fire on the hill, the masters behaving badly, a
tragic death – but with William’s experience of this new environment providing
the perspective, the lens through which all this is narrated.
Having William
sent to Horton from Melbourne demanded (of course!) a reconnaissance mission to
find where he came from – and details of the dark reason behind his move to
Tasmania.
Miriam’s character materialised later in
the process (a little bit of me in the story) For me, her emerging role within the narrative became
necessary – but she needed to add something to the story. Her modern
day sections alternate with William’s as she goes on her own
Tasmanian trail into the past. It is Miriam who finds closure for them both
– laying to rest ghosts of the past.
The End of the
Journey ...
Well, I’m yet
to get there … although I know where I’m going, along with Miriam, and
where William has gone. Amdist the daily routine - the bread and butter stuff of English
teaching that interferes with our dreams of living the fantasy of writing
full-time - William whispers to me from time to time, waiting for me to resolve
his story. I have promised him this summer ...
~ All That
Remains ~
"All that
remains today of Horton College is a crumbling portico arch evident on the
Midlands Highway just south of Ross. It was once a grand building, established with a donation by Captain Samuel Horton
of Somercotes, an exclusive boys boarding school that operated from
1855 to 1892.
-->
In 1868,
William Learoyd was sent to Horton from Melbourne after a terrible
murder near his home above the Yarra. He struggled to adapt to
the change, finding himself suddenly alone in the isolation of the
Tasmanian midlands, but slowly began to make friends in this distant
colonial outpost. However, a series of traumatic events and
conflicts led William to ultimately run away from the college
and he was never seen or heard from again."
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