STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator DOWLING (Tasmania) (13:14): Earlier this month, I stood at St Johns Park in New Town, Hobart for the unveiling of Rowan Gillespie's replacement of his sculpture . The two bronze children represent William and Mary Ann Butler. Their story begins in County Carlow, Ireland.

In 1845, their mother, Margaret Butler, a widow with six children, was sentenced to seven years transportation for stealing potatoes. Only two of her children travelled with her to Van Diemen's Land: William, aged 10, and Mary Ann, aged just two. Within days William was sent to the Male Orphan School, and Mary Ann went to the Female Orphan School several months later.

The word 'orphan' conceals much of what happened here. These children had a mother. They had committed no crime.

But the convict system decided where they would live and whether they would remain with their family. William was eventually sent across Bass Strait to Port Phillip. Mary Ann was later released back to her mother.

Then, in 1855, tragedy struck again. Margaret was beaten to death by her second husband, who was later imprisoned for manslaughter. Mary Ann was 11.

A month later, she was sent back to the orphan school. By then, William was long gone. Then something quite remarkable happened.

Somehow William and Mary Ann found each other again. Think about what that meant in the 19th century. There was no telephone, no internet and no searchable database.

They'd been separated as children and sent in entirely different directions. We don't know exactly how they found each other, but we know that they did. After the system tore them apart, William and Mary Ann found a way back to each other.

Between 1828 and 1879, nearly 6,000 children passed through orphan schools in New Town. Most were the children of convicts. Nearly 2,000 had arrived in Van Diemen's Land with their mothers.

At least 45 Aboriginal children are now known to have been institutionalised there, and more than 400 children died while in the institution's care. That is confronting history, but that is Australian history. The surviving orphan school buildings, St John's church, the burial ground and the wider precinct give that history a physical presence.

That is why I support National Heritage listing of the orphan schools and associated historic places at St Johns Park. The Friends of the Orphan Schools lodged the nomination in April 2023. More than three years later, the precinct is still not on the current finalised priority assessment list.

I think it is time to move. I am calling for this nomination to be prioritised, brought into formal assessment and progressed to the National Heritage listing. The statutory process should be respected, but in my view the destination should be clear.

This place belongs on the National Heritage List. I particularly acknowledge Dr Dianne Snowden AM, the Friends of the Orphan Schools and the From the Shadows group. Dianne has spent years researching these children, helping descendants recover their stories and making sure this history is not lost.

This story is personal for Dianne. William Butler was Dianne's great-great-grandfather. I also acknowledge the extraordinary community response after the original sculptures were stolen and destroyed for scrap metal last year.

Around $60,000 was raised towards their replacement, and Rowan Gillespie immediately committed to replacing them. There is also a powerful Irish connection running through this story. Margaret, William and Mary Ann came from Ireland.

Rowan Gillespie is an Irish sculptor. The replacement sculpture was created in Dublin before making its way to Hobart. It was fitting that Australia's former ambassador to Ireland, Gary Gray, was joined by Ireland's consul general for Victoria and Tasmania, Marie-Claire Hughes, for the unveiling in New Town, Hobart, and it was great to see the consul general and Ambassador Fiona Flood in this building yesterday to celebrate 80 years of diplomatic relations—two countries, half a world apart, connected through the lives of a family transported here more than two centuries ago.

We cannot change what happened to these children, but we can decide whether the place where it happened is protected, understood and remembered. For too long they were out of sight and out of mind. The sculptures have brought William and Mary Ann back into view.

Now it is time to give the place that holds their story the national recognition that it deserves.