V for Violet Vimpany

April 26, 2022April 23, 2022 Miss W. 1881-1910, 1911-1940, 1941-1970, 1971-2000, Special people Amos Vimpany, Art Society, artist, Forcett, painter, stonemason, Violet Alomes

Violet Emma Alomes was born 15 April 1886 to Walter Alomes and Emma Jane Parker at Forcett. She had 7 other siblings.

According to her daughter in 1975, her mother collected tin foil and used stamps as a child so she could help others through the Dr Barnardo’s homes in London. During the wars her mother knitted scarves and donated food parcels.

At age 23, Violet married Amos Vimpany at St David’s Cathedral.

In the late 1920’s, Violet attended Hobart Technical College where she studied art under the wing of Lucien Dechaineaux. In the late 1930’s she studied under Max Meldrum in Melbourne.

In 1934, one of Violet’s paintings Auriculas was shown at the Women Painters exhibition in Sydney. She used oils and watercolours as well as etching in her career. Violet exhibited in New York in 1939 at the International Women: Painter, Sculptors, Gravers exhibition.

Violet was on the council for the Art Society of Tasmania and would often present their report at the National Council of Women of Tasmania annual meetings.

In 1938, Violet was involved in a contempt of court case with the Lord Mayor (J Soundy) and Mrs Olive Calvert.

Violet shared a studio with Florence Rodway, Mildred Lovatt and Edith Holmes who were also exhibitors as many Art Society events.

In 1940, Mrs A Vimpany was honoured at the National Council of Women meeting. She was a definite champion of women’s rights and a philanthropist and was a member of many societies in Tasmania.

In The Mercury in Margot’s Notebook section, there is a great description of clothing worn by Violet.

In 1944, at the Art Society’s 60th anniversary, Violet exhibited a portrait.

Her husband Amos, a well known stonemason, passed in 1945 leaving many memorials incomplete. Violet decided she would need to learn the skills and techniques so she could finish his work.

At the 1947 Art Society exhibition, held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art gallery, there were few portraits hung, but Violet had one she had painted of “Jenny”, the librarian of the Art Society.

To find out more about Violet’s life, read this article written by her daughter Gwen which was published in The Australian Women’s Weekly magazine in 1975.

Violet passed on 2 March 1979 and is buried in the cemetery at Forcett.

U for Umbrella Maker

April 25, 2022April 26, 2022 Miss W. 1821-1850, 1851-1880, 1881-1910, Early families, General information convict, Hannah Green, James Jones, Lewisham, Thorne, umbrella maker

Thanks to Jo Hopkins for writing this post for the A-Z challenge.

UMBRELLA MAKER is not a trade that springs readily to mind, however that is the occupation that James Jones gave when he was committed to trial in London in 1837.

James Jones was born in 1817 in Shoreditch London. On 27 June 1837, James approached John Love in the street and demanded money, making him a ROBBER.¹

He was sentenced to transportation for twenty-one years and began his time as a CONVICT. He was transported on the Moffatt and arrived in Hobart on 1 April 1838. His convict record has umbrella maker crossed out and the comment LABOURER inserted.²

James Jones was allocated to the New Norfolk area to labour in a WORK GANG, then after his probationary period he was assigned to Robert Thorne of Pitt Water. Thorne was the son of Samuel Thorne, a marine who arrived in Hobart Town in 1804.

As an ASSIGNEE Jones was required to undertake any tasks allotted by his master, and Thorne had varied business interests – coastal shipping, farms, a ferry, the Rose and Crown Inn. Thorne had a grain store on the foreshore in Lewisham and probably operated a passenger ferry from there across to 5 Mile Beach (The middle of the three ferries). James Jones is likely to have been a FERRYMAN who rowed across the channel.

James Jones received a Ticket of Leave on 25 December 1842 and married Ann Kennedy in 1843. On the birth registrations of their three children (William 1844, Harriet 1845 and James 1848), he was described as a MARINER. In 1847 he attained a Conditional Pardon.

By 1848, James Jones had acquired and was the LICENCEE of the Victoria Inn in Lewisham. (The building was extensively remodelled for a century then demolished around 1968. The Lewisham Tavern was built on the site.) ³

Ann Jones died in 1857, and James remarried to Charlotte Stacey, daughter of John Stacey and Hannah Stacey (Green). The 1858 marriage record lists him as a LICENCED VICTUALLER. Their son Charles and their eight daughters were born in Lewisham between 1859 and 1875.

For many years James was a great SUPPORTER of the local area. Newspaper reports (found through Trove) see him on organising committees for race meetings held at Forcett and for regattas at Lewisham. The Victoria Inn was often the venue for meetings and celebrations.

In 1865 James Jones, SHIP OWNER, together with Robert Harrod launch the Lewisham Belle, a 55-foot schooner to trade between Sorell, Lewisham, the Tasman Peninsula and Hobart. Unfortunately, the new and uninsured boat sinks off Taroona
with the loss of three crew and the cargo of wheat.

James Jones continued to live in the Lewisham area where he had been assigned in 1839. By the time of his death, he was a LANDHOLDER owning 169 acres of land around the area. Much of the property was farmland – around Boathouse Hill and the hill behind and including the Rose and Crown Inn (no longer licenced). His estate included the Victoria Inn and the parcel of land immediately to the north of the inn. This block, perhaps mistakenly sold by the government, contained the local Watch House, making James a GAOL OWNER.

Digital panopticon The Digital Panopticon James Jones b. 1817, Life Archive ID obpdef2-1634-18370703 (https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/life?id=obpdef2-1634-18370703). Version 1.2.1, consulted 20th April 2022. ↩
https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON27-1-7P172# Founders and Survivors Record ID fasai37630 ↩
Victoria Inn. AA Rollings photo NS1553-1-420 ↩

P for Photography

April 19, 2022April 20, 2022 Miss W. 1851-1880, 1881-1910, 1911-1940, General information, Special people Arch Rollings, Forcett, glass plate negatives, photography, Robert Tanner, Tasmanian Archives

Albert Archer Rollings was born on 24 March 1865 to parents James and Martha Rollings (nee Wiggins).

In 1888, he was elected as secretary of the Lower Sorell road trust.

On 4 June 1890 he married Sophia Dodge, youngest daughter of Ralph Dodge, in Hobart.

In 1894, Arch was selling off a lot of goods at Rosy Vanyan, Forcett, the property owned by his parents who had both passed.

By 1895, Arch was the manager of the Forcett Milk Company operating from 78 Murray Street, Hobart. In 1898, he was now manager of the Country Milk Supply Company and he was sent to Sydney to scope out how milk was supplied to customers there. Arch was present in 1917 when the Primary Producers Union was formed.

He was appointed post-master and savings bank agent at Forcett in 1896 after his sister Kate resigned.

In the late 1890’s, Arch had a photography business in Harrington Street, Hobart with his partner Harry Dart. In the early 1900’s he sold his part of the business and moved to Sorell where he set up his own shop. He also had a partnership with H E Howard until 1906.

Arch was a member of the Sorell cricket club and often mentioned in reports. In 1914, he donated pendants as trophies for cricket. In 1916, he was secretary of the re-organized Sorell Rifle Club and by 1921 Arch was captain of the Sorell Rifle Club also donating a trophy that year.

When a public meeting was held in August 1915, Arch used his skills to throw the anthems of the Allies onto a screen so everyone could join with the choir in singing.

In November 1922, Arch was selling his drapery business in Sorell. Sophia Rollings died on 28 September 1928. Arch remarried to Julia Adelaide Rapp. He died on 2 March 1947.

As Rollings and his wives had no children, the business was up for auction in the late 1950’s when the second Mrs Rollings died.

Robert Tanner, a former Sorell history teacher and a resident of Sorell, was attending the viewing for the auction of the Rollings business in Sorell. He noticed an old dunny (outhouse) in the backyard, looked inside and found it had been used as a dark room. It contained lots of boxes filled with glass plate negatives. He thought these could be used as part of his grade 7 local history studies at school. There was no lot number, so the auctioneer added a number. On the day of the auction, Robert was teaching, so a friend bid for him and it cost 10 shillings and 6 pence. A lot in the late 1950’s.

Robert and some of the older residents of Sorell could name people in the photos, so they were then sent to the Tasmanian Archives where they are now held. To listen to the ABC interview of Robert, follow this link. Also find out more about the discovery by reading Robert’s article in Pitt Water Chronicles Vol 2 (p39-42).

Below is a selection of the first 100 images of Arch Rollings negatives now digitized by the Tasmanian Archives.