Tasmania Reads: An Application to the Orphan School (Part One: The Challenge)
The State Library is issuing a challenge to Tasmanians to read five different examples of nineteenth century handwriting from our Heritage Collections, each featuring a different set of records held in the State Archives.
The scripts are selected to give you insights into some of the key strengths of our collection and we hope they will pique your interest to explore further.
Your Transcription Challenge
This final challenge is, for me, the most difficult to read both for its content and style. It is an application to the Colonial Secretary for the immediate admission of John Garrity to the newly opened orphanage at New Town. The orphan school catered for the children of convicts under sentence, as well as the children of the free when the parents were unable or unwilling to care for them.
The Answer…
will be published in our blog this afternoon. Stay tuned!
Memorandum
28th Sep
Be so good as to direct that John Garritty 7 years of age, son of Charles Garritty formerly a soldier in the Staff Corps be received into the Orphan School this day. The child is presently destitute, his cruel & unnatural parents having totally abandoned him.