Tag:unesco

mount wilson, nsw

The Beauty of Mount Wilson, NSW

Mount Wilson is a small village in the heritage-listed Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia.  It is known for its picturesque gardens, historic homes, and proximity to scenic hiking trails and national parks.

blue mountains
Autumn colours

During the autumn months, many trees undergo a process called leaf senescence, in which they lose their chlorophyll, and their leaves change colour before falling off the tree.  The exact process that causes the leaves to change colour varies depending on the tree species, but it is usually caused by decreasing daylight hours and temperatures.

mount wilson

The most common colours in autumn leaves are red, orange and yellow.  However, as the chlorophyll breaks down, other pigments in the leaves, such as carotenoids, which produce yellow and orange hues, and anthocyanins which produce red, purple and blue hues,, become more visible.  This process creates a beautiful display of fall foliage lasting for several weeks.  Some of the most popular trees known for their autumn leaves are maple, oak, aspen, and dogwood.

Spring
cyclamens at mount wilson

During the spring months, the gardens in Mount Wilson come to life with vibrant colours as the flowers bloom.  The gardens in Mount Wilson offer a wide variety of flowering trees, shrubs and perennials, making it a perfect destination for nature lovers and photography enthusiasts.  The village is also a popular destination for tourists during spring, as many visitors come to see the gardens in full bloom.

Autumn

The gardens in Mount Wilson also offer a different view during autumn, where the fall colours of the leaves and flowers are on full display, making it an ideal place for photography enthusiasts.

mount wilson
Private Gardens

All the gardens at Mount Wilson are private; consequently, not all are open year-round, nor do they offer free entry.  The cost varies from garden to garden but on average, it’s around $10 pp.

Breenhold Gardens

One of the best gardens, if not the best, at Mount Wilson is the heritage-listed Breenhold Gardens.   The garden was established in the early 1900s and covers an area of about 45 hectares.  It is known for its extensive collection of azaleas, rhododendrons, and camellias.  The garden is also home to many other exotic and native plants, including an extensive collection of ferns, a rock garden, and a lily pond.

Laburnum Steps at Breenhold
Laburnum Steps at Breenhold

Breenhold Garden is open to the public during spring and autumn, when the garden is at its best and most plants bloom.  The garden has won several awards for its beauty and has been featured in many gardening magazines.  Breenhold Garden is also a well-known wedding venue in NSW.

Row of Confiers at Breenhold
The row of Confiers at Breenhold

An autumn favourite for us when we visited Breenhold was the Laburnum steps and the row of conifers near the entrance.

Featured on better homes and gardens show

29 The Avenue, Mount Wilson NSW 2786, open 10 am to 4 pm daily during autumn and spring

Autumn and spring gardens

Merry Garth: Along Davies Lane to Galwey Lane, Mount Wilson
Open Wednesdays and weekends during April

Nooroo: Church Lane, Mount Wilson 

Sefton Cottage: 21 Church Lane, Mount Wilson

Yengo Sculpture Garden:  11 Queens Ave, Mount Wilson

Little red gate at Bebeah gardens Mount Wilson
Little red gate at Bebeah gardens Mount Wilson

Open most of the year is Bebeah (with the famous little red gate) at The Avenue, Mt Wilson and Windyridge in Queens Ave, Mt Wilson.   The Cathedral Reserve is also worth a visit with rows of plane trees, limes, elms, beeches, liquid ambers and pink cherries.

David (Chim) Seymour

David Seymour: The Humanist Photographer who Captured Life

David Seymour (Chim) was a Polish-born American photojournalist and co-founder of Magnum.  Seymour is best known for his empathic and moving images of people, especially children, and for his work covering the Second World War and other conflicts. He also photographed celebrities, politicians, and socialites working for magazines such as Life, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar. Seymour believed the medium of photography could awaken the public conscience and used his skill to tell stories photographically.

We are only trying to tell a story. Let the 17th-century painters worry about the effects. We’ve got to tell it now, let the news in, show the hungry face, the broken land, anything so that those who are comfortable may be moved a little

David Seymour (Chim)
David Seymour (Chim), photograph taken by Elliott Erwitt
David Seymour (Chim), photograph taken by Elliott Erwitt
Early Life

He was born Dawid (Chim) Szymin on November 20, 1911, in Poland to Polish Jewish parents Regina and Benjamin Szymin. His parents were prominent Yiddish and Hebrew book publishers and owners of a bookstore that was a gathering point for Warsaws Jewish intellectuals.  Chim was a talented pianist and linguist, fluent in eight languages and studied graphic arts and printing technology in Leipzig. However, with the increasing political and economic unrest at home, he decided to continue his studies in Paris.  While studying at Sorbonne University in 1932, he developed an interest in photography.  

Regina and Benjamin Szymin with their daughter and Henri’s sister, Halina. Wikimedia Commons.

By 1934 he abbreviated his surname and began stamping his prints ‘Chim’ (pronounced shim) as it was easier to pronounce and more “commercial”.  He became friends with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Besson while they were all working at the RAP picture agency. All three shared an apartment in Paris for a time, and their bathroom doubled as a darkroom.

Chim's 1936 press card from the French photo agency RAP, which was owned by a family friend, © Chim Archive
Chim’s 1936 press card from the French photo agency RAP, © Chim Archive

In the late 1930s, Chim covered the Spanish Civil War.  His images gained widespread attention, particularly those that portrayed life behind the lines and the impact of the war on the people of Barcelona, and they were published in Life magazine. In addition, the new French weekly Match assigned Chim and writer George Soria to photograph the defeated Republicans fleeing Spain for France. He also covered the SS Sinaia voyage in 1939, the first ship to carry Spanish refugees to Mexico.

David Seymour (Chim), Spanish Refugees aboard S.S. Sinaia, 1939, gelatin silver print, Gift of Ben Shneiderman, 2008.122.32
David Seymour (Chim), Spanish Refugees aboard S.S. Sinaia, 1939, gelatin silver print, Gift of Ben Shneiderman, 2008.122.32
The War Years

In 1939 while he was covering the Spanish civil war, Chim realised it wasn’t safe to return home, so he emigrated to the United States.  In 1942, he was drafted, and while training in military intelligence as a photo interpreter at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, he became a naturalised U.S. citizen.   During his service, he received a bronze star and  was discharged with the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1945

Girl selling black-market cigarettes in Naples, 1948 David Seymour, Public domain
Girl selling black-market cigarettes in Naples, 1948 David Seymour, Public domain

 In 1947,  Chim, Capa, Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and William Vandivert founded Magnum Photos, the international photographers’ cooperative agency.  Magnum was formed to give photographers control over their own assignments and retain copyrights over their own negatives.

Children of Europe
Girl playing with her baby brother, Naples 1948 by David Seymour Public domain
Girl playing with her baby brother, Naples 1948 by David Seymour Public domain

Chim was designated a ‘special consultant’ by UNICEF in March 1948 and was assigned to document the plight of the child survivors of World War II. That year, while on assignment for the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), Chim photographed the children orphaned by the war and irrevocably physically and emotionally damaged.

David Seymour (Chim), Terezka, A Disturbed Child in a Warsaw Orphanage, 1948, printed 1982, gelatin silver print, Gift of Ben Shneiderman, 2008.122.38.5
David Seymour (Chim), Terezka, A Disturbed Child in a Warsaw Orphanage, 1948, printed 1982, gelatin silver print, Gift of Ben Shneiderman, 2008.122.38.5

The assignment would take him to five countries. His visit to a school in Warsaw for disturbed children saw him create one of his most famous images. Tereska’s ‘drawing’ on a blackboard of her’ home’ is a nebulous, incomprehensible scribble, indicating her deep trauma.  He later turned the images into the critically acclaimed book  Children of Europe (1949).  While still on assignment with UNESCO, Chim learned his parents, who had remained behind in Poland during the war, were killed by the Nazis when they liquidated the Otwock Ghetto and sent the inhabitants to Treblinka. The Children of Europe series reflected his raw emotions.

Children placed in the Albergo de Pobre by order of the Juvenile Court Italy, 1949. David Seymour (Chim), © David Seymour Estate
Children placed in the Albergo de Pobre by order of the Juvenile Court Italy, 1949.
David Seymour (Chim), © David Seymour Estate
Post War

In 1949, Chim moved to Rome. Working on a  book on the Vatican, he took over 2,500 photographs, photographing everyone, from workers to the pope during a private audience. Then, in 1951, Robert Capa came up with a large-scale idea –  to be handled entirely by Magnum photographers. ‘Generation X’ was about children coming of age after the war. Chim, still in Italy, chose two subjects and, from 1951 to 1955, he photographed traditional religious festivals and processions held in Italian villages.  He also made several trips to Israel as the fledgling state was fighting against attacks from neighbouring Arab states.  Israel had become extremely important to him, symbolically and emotionally.  He saw it as a place of hope for the Jews of Europe.

Child in Naples 1948 by David Seymour Public Domain
The 1950s

In 1954 Magnum lost two of its top photographers.  Werner Bischof died in a car accident in Peru on May 16, and just nine days later, on May 25, Robert Capa, Magnums president, was killed in Vietnam when he stepped on a landmine. 

“My Dear Magnum family, the lump is still in the throat, and the dust not settled yet. The blow is hard, and the reaction slow to come… We have to go on, keep together, and avoid the stunning effects of our sorrow. Maybe through this we will help ourselves, and find strength to keep and develop Magnum—a home for all of us.”

David Seymour
Ingrid Bergman, Italy, 1953 ©David Seymour (Chim)
Ingrid Bergman, Italy, 1953 ©David Seymour (Chim)

Following Capa’s death, Chim took over the role of President at Magnum. He was also a gifted portrait artist. From 1955-1956, he was the trusted portrait artist of Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini and family, Audrey Hepburn, Joan Collins, Ava Gardner, Kim Novak, Kirk Douglas, Gina Lollobrigida, Rita Hayworth, Irene Papas, Maria Callas, and many others. In addition, he took portraits of writers and intellectuals like Arturo Toscanini and Bernard Berenson.

Death
Funeral services for Chim and Paris Match photographer Jean Roy, November 14, 1956, near Port Fuad, Egypt, photographer unknown, © Chim Archive
Funeral services for Chim and Paris Match photographer Jean Roy, November 14, 1956, near Port Fuad, Egypt, photographer unknown, © Chim Archive

On November 10, 1956, Chim covered the Suez Crisis for Newsweek.   He and French photographer Jean Roy were driving to photograph an exchange of wounded soldiers at El Quantara. Tragically they were killed by Egyptian machinegun fire.  It was four days after the armistice of the 1956 Suez Crisis, ten days before his 45th birthday.

Isle Of The Dead - Port Arthur

Isle Of The Dead – Port Arthur

The Isle of the Dead is a small island located in the harbour of Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia. It was used as a cemetery for convicts and civilians during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when Port Arthur was a penal settlement. The island is now a popular tourist destination and historical site, featuring a number of graves and a ruined chapel. Visitors can take guided tours to learn more about the island’s history and the people buried there.

At just one hectare (2.5 acres), the Isle of the Dead is very small in size. Significantly, however, it is part of the Port Arthur Historical Settlement, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Isle has two distinctly separate burial areas based on class. Convicts, young inmates from Point Puer boys prison, paupers and lunatics were laid to rest in primarily unmarked graves at the lower southern end. The higher ground at the northern end was reserved for free men, the military and their families.

Port Arthur settlement

These graves, numbering around one hundred and eighty, are marked by headstones. Among them are one government official, seven soldiers, seven seamen, an officer’s wife and nine children. However, while those graves are marked, it wasn’t until the 1850s that some convict graves were given headstones. Before then, marking the convict graves with headstones was forbidden. As a result, it is estimated that less than 10% of graves on the Isle are marked with headstones or footstones.

The Cemetary

The first chaplain for the Port Arthur settlement was the Reverend John Allen Manton, who arrived in 1833.  Manton selected the Isle as the colony’s cemetery, as it was close to but separate from the colony. Manton then renamed it Isle of the Dead. 

‘This, it appeared to me, would be a secure and
undisturbed resting-place where the prisoners might lie together until the morning
of the resurrection’

Reverend John Allen Manton

Burials took place on the Isle of the Dead from September 1833 to 1877.  Internees came from Point Puer boys’ prison, soldiers from Eaglehawk Neck, and convicts from the Coal Mines at Norfolk Bay.  Following the closure of Point Puer boys’ prison in 1849 and the end of convict transportation to Tasmania in 1853, the military departed in 1863.

The cemetery, however, remained in use. Burials continued for the destitute, aged and infirm men, mainly convicts and ex-convicts. These men continued to reside in Port Arthur’s welfare institutions, such as the hospital, Paupers’ (invalid) Depot and Lunatic Asylum.  When they had all closed by 1877, the cemetery was abandoned.

Burial Records

The exact number of people buried on Tasmania’s Isle of the Dead is unknown due to poor record keeping and the destruction of or incomplete burial records. However, from the documents that have survived, we know that most burials on the Isle of the Dead resulted from a death caused by disease.

Convicts arriving in the colony came in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions of the hulks and gaols and suffered nutritional deficiencies.  In the colony’s early years, illnesses such as dysentery, enteritis and fever were the primary causes of death. The secondary reason was respiratory disease and epidemics that swept through the colony. A significant number of deaths also resulted from accidents, such as drowning, as all transport was by water. Children died from whooping cough and scarlet fever, and women often died during childbirth. Murder and suicide were also common.

David Little (2006). Port Arthur (Isle of the Dead) graves.
Courtesy of David Little (2006). Port Arthur (Isle of the Dead) graves.
Graves

Three Isle of the Dead graves recorded are:

Collins, Dennis. ( 1775 – 1833)

An English convict, disabled pauper and retired sailor. Collins had served in the British navy. Tragically, his leg was severely injured in a sea battle during Britain’s war with France. This led to him becoming an amputee. Unable to work, he was granted a pension from the government; this was subsequently taken away without explanation. Collins tried all available channels to have his pension restored but was denied. Finally, as a last-ditch attempt, he wrote to the King pleading his case, but this too was turned down without explanation.

Frustrated and angry, he attended Ascot races and threw a stone at the King, knocking his hat off. As a result, he was arrested and convicted of high treason and sentenced to be hung, drawn (disembowelled), and then beheaded and quartered (body cut into pieces). However, the sentence was commuted to transportation for life. He arrived at the colony on August 12, 1833, and died on November 30, 1833.  The cause of death was listed as suicide due to the refusal of food. He had lasted just three months at Port Arthur.

Eastman, Reverend George. (? – April 25 1870).

Eastman was the Church of England chaplain for the penal colony from January 1855 to April 1870 and was known as “the Good Parson”. In April 1870, while unwell with a cold, he visited an ill convict at an outstation. Eastman himself then died two days later.  He was interred in a raised sandstone vault on April 28 1870. The inscription on the tomb marked his age as 51. However, the Port Arthur burial register recorded his age as 50. Following his death, the local diocese ran an appeal to aid his wife and ten children

Reverend Eastmans Vault on Isle of the Dead, Port Arthur
Reverend Eastmans Vault
Savery, Henry. (1791–1842)

Savery was a businessman, forger, convict and Australia’s first novelist. He was arrested in Bristol, charged with forgery, and condemned to death in April 1825.  However, the day before he was due to be hung, his sentence was commuted to transportation for life. Arriving in the colony, he worked as a clerk for the colonial treasurer.  In 1828, deeply in debt, he attempted suicide by cutting his own throat but was saved by Dr William Crowther.

Back in prison for debt, he wrote his first book, a volume of Australian essays under the title of The Hermit of Van Dieman’s Land.  The book was published under the pseudonym Simon Stukeley.  He followed this with Quintus Servinton, the first Australian novel, in 1830. Unfortunately, he again fell into debt and was sent to Port Authur, where he died of a stroke in February 1842. Following his death, he was buried on the Isle of the Dead. 

Isle of the Dead, 2022, courtesy of Wikipedia
Gravediggers

Two gravediggers are known to have lived and worked on Tasmania’s Isle of the Dead. They were John Barron, an Irish convict, and Mark Jeffrey, an English convict.  Barron lived and worked on the island for more than ten years until pardoned in 1874.  

Mark Jeffrey, Gravedigger (Public Domain)

Jeffrey was known for his quick temper and violent rages and, by 1859, had nineteen convictions for assault and abusive language. In 1872 he received his second life sentence for manslaughter and accrued another twenty-four charges over the next four years. Finally, he was sent to the Isle of the Dead as a gravedigger to separate him from the other men. He remained a gravedigger on the isle until the penal colony closed in April 1877, when he was transferred to Hobart Town prison. He died in the Paupers Depot, Launceston, in 1903, aged 78.

While on the Isle, the two gravediggers lived in the gravedigger’s residence, a weatherboard hut with a wood-shingled roof and brick chimney.  A second shelter was used for funeral parties; this was a latticework-sided shed located near the jetty.

Tourism

Surprisingly, tourism began within six months of Port Arthurs’s closure as a penal settlement in 1877.  By 1880 a tourist centre was running organised tours. It gradually grew to include local people and arrivals from Melbourne and Sydney.   By the 1890s, steamship companies ran tourist excursions in the summer. The ships departed from Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney as inland infrastructure was not fully developed. While Port Arthur experienced tourism growth, visits to the Isle of the Dead were minimal due to a lack of accessibility.

(1890). Photograph - Port Arthur - Isle of the Dead - Headstones. Libraries Tasmania
(1890). Photograph – Port Arthur – Isle of the Dead – Headstones. Libraries Tasmania

In 1887 Isle of the Dead and Point Puer were sold to Thomas White. The Tasmanian government required it in 1971 and, in 1916, listed the Isle of the Dead as a scenic reserve. They then cleared overgrowth and planted new trees.

Conservation

 In 1971 the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) took over management of the Isle. The NPWS introduced conservation methods to minimise further erosion. For example, they removed exotic species and replaced them with native trees. Additionally, they also began to restore the monuments with concrete and mortar.

In the 1970s, tourism continued to increase, and a new jetty was built. A boat would take tourists from Mason Cove at Port Arthur to the Isle.  However, tourists were allowed to wander unsupervised once on the Isle, and many removed relics as souvenirs.

Since the late 1980s, tourism is now on guided tours. This protects the relics and avoids erosion by keeping tourists on designated walkways.  In 1995 the Isle of the Dead was included as part of the Port Arthur Historic site and placed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register.  It was added to the Australian National Heritage list in 2005 and the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010. Thus becoming the eleventh Australian convict site added to the list.

Conservation continues

In 2021 a 5-year, $1.3 million project was completed to improve access by replacing stairs with ramps. In addition, the project built above-ground walkways and viewing platforms, ensuring visitors no longer walk over unmarked gravesites. The walkways also work to preserve the moments by stopping the acceleration of erosion of the headstones by people touching them.

Pre-bookings for all tickets and tours are essential at Port Arthur Historic Site – Isle of the Dead tickets are purchased at additional cost.

© Bevlea Ross