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The From the Shadows Committee is pleased to announce the successful installation of their first statue, female convict ‘Martha Gregory’. The statue was installed in Degraves Street, South Hobart, opposite the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site. On Tuesday 16 February 2021, limited by COVID-19 restrictions, a small, ticketed event took place in glorious sunshine.
Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AC, Governor of Tasmania with Brydie Pearce unveiled the statue to the delight of the small gathering. Brydie, a descendant of Martha Gregory, was chosen by Rowan Gillespie as the model for the statue. Martha Gregory was tried in Warwick, England, on 24 March 1806 and sentenced to transportation for 7 years for 'stealing printed cotton in a dwelling house'. Martha arrived in Van Diemen's Land via Sydney, as did so many early female convicts. She was the wife of Thomas Beames, District Constable at Port Dalrymple. Her statue represents all convict women, especially convict mothers.
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