Roses from the Heart ™ 

Roses from the Heart™ is impacting on thousands of people, influencing them to travel and reconnect with family members on the other side of the world. Families living in Great Britain and Ireland are visiting Australia to travel in the footsteps of their convict ancestors. Australians are traveling back home to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to see the land from whence their ancestors came. In some cases families are meeting for the first time as people learn about relatives across the sea whose existence had previously been unknown. Participating in Roses from the Heart™ has facilitated this experience for a great many people. 
Hundreds of Australians are visiting Tasmania to personally hand their bonnet tributes to Christina Henri and to visit Female Factory Sites and colonial homesteads where their female convict ancestors spent time. 
Christina’s art is featured in the World Heritage Convict serial nomination (11 Sites) presented to UNESCO members in Paris. Christina Henri is the only artist featured and her work has been commended for attracting attention to the lesser known story of convict women. Her work has been shown on a number of the 11 nominated sites including, the Cascades Female Factory Site, Tasmania; Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasmania; Fremantle Prison, Fremantle, WA; Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, NSW and will be shown on Norfolk Island; Woolmer’s Estate, Tasmania and at Old Government House, Parramatta, New South Wales in 2010.
(See Australian Convict World Heritage Nominations - pps 151/152)  

Background  
Roses from the Heart™ is a unique memorial to the 25,566 convict women transported to Australia from Britain and Ireland from 1788 to 1853. 
The concept of Christina Henri, an artist completing her PhD in Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Tasmania, the project involves the making of a bonnet, similar to that worn at the time, to commemorate the life and contribution each of the transported women made towards the founding of a new nation. Already 15,000 bonnets have been contributed from all parts of the world, many of these from descendants of the original transportees. 
Bonnets are easy to make. For those wishing to do so, a simple pattern may be obtained from Christina Henri’s website. For others who would like to be involved but feel they do not have, either the skills or time to devote, a bonnet may be purchased at a reasonable cost. Email cjhenri@gmail.com for bonnet details. For those with convict ancestry, a bonnet can be inscribed with the relative’s name, or a name may be chosen from amongst the remaining list of convict women. In addition to making a basic bonnet, contributions may be further adorned with lace, ribbon, buttons and beads.  
To learn more about this enduring, extraordinary memorial to Australia’s convict past visit Christina’s website (www.christinahenri.com.au) for more information and details of how to obtain a bonnet pattern or make a purchase. 

Bringing the Spirit of the Convict Women Home ….. 
On 28 August 2010 Christina, in response to an invitation by Elizabeth Kearns, Manager of the Cork City Gaol, Heritage Centre, will ‘take some of the girls (the bonnets symbolise the convict lasses) back home’ to present their unique stories in words and music. This event will especially commemorate the 194 Irish convict women who, in 1828, were condemned to transportation in the prison ship Elizabeth, for often trifling crimes committed in their native land.  
Irish convict woman Mary Walsh will also be remembered. Mary, a resident of Clonmel, was sentenced, to seven years in the harsh penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land for allegedly stealing cloth from a local shop. She arrived at Hobart Town in April 1842, accompanied by her one year old daughter. In 1843 her husband James addressed one of the most moving love letters to his wife on the other side of the world. This letter, now in the keeping of the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, forms the basis of an intriguing mystery surrounding both Mary and her family back in Ireland. 
Mary’s tale has been encapsulated by the composer of the Fields of Athenry, Pete St John, in a new tribute song The Bells of Ireland. Cork musician, Dave McGilton, likewise moved by Mary’s plight, has also written an especially poignant song, Sky and Sea which looks at the transportation story from the point of view of those left behind. Fred Rea has also penned a song performed by local duo, Duvet (Fiona Rea and Latiesha Boucher), titled Christina Take Me Home.  
Fiona and Latiesha will perform this song in the Cork Gaol and other venues around Ireland. Dave McGilton and Pete St John will both perform, supported by the Irish Countrywomen’s Association Choir, and be accompanied by Western Australian musician and songwriter Fred Rea, who is also owner/editor of The Irish Scene which he produces for the Irish community. The whole event will be narrated by Christina Henri.
At the Cobh Heritage Centre south of Cork City, a concert will be held on Sunday 29^th August. This concert will be narrated by Christina Henri and will again have the above mentioned artists performing. At the time of transportation to Australia, Cobh was known as Queenstown and was the port where many of the Irish Convict women embarked from in the 1800’s.  
It is hoped that Irish President, Mary McAleese, will be present at the Cork City Gaol inaugural performance.
On 4 September ‘Bringing the Spirit of the Convict Women Back Home’ will be staged in Dublin organised by Pete St John and a ‘Blessing of the Bonnets’ ceremony will be held at an Inchicore. 
The following weekend, 11/12 September, a ‘Blessing of the Bonnets’ ceremony and ‘Bringing the Spirit Back Home’ show will be presented in the picturesque fishing village of Kilkeel in Northern Ireland as a mark of respect to the many convict women transported from County Down.  Additional performances and bonnet ceremonies may be staged.
To support these presentations, a CD featuring all the musicians and again narrated by Christina Henri, is being produced and will be available for sale at each event.
Christina has also been invited to have an exhibition of 13,000 bonnets at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham, England on the 19-22 August, 2010. This Festival sees over 40,000 people visit and Roses from the Heart™ is a main draw card for the Festival as interest in connecting with the convict story and making a bonnet tribute is spreading rapidly throughout the Country. 
See:
http://www.twistedthread.com/pages/exhibitions/viewExhibition.aspx?id=25&view=features
http://www.twistedthread.com/uploads/pdf/FoQ%20Additional%20Features.pdf
Christina Henri’s Irish tour she has been invited to hold both a ‘Blessing of the Bonnets’ and an exhibition of bonnets in Jersey, the Channel Islands England on September 19, 2010. 
Event promotions  
All these events will inevitably attract wide interest from the populations of Cork, Dublin, Kilkeel and elicit comprehensive media coverage including print, radio and television throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
In order to further promote events in Ireland, Fred Rea and Christina Henri will schedule radio appearances on local radio talkback shows (BBC-NI and RTE). 
Before leaving Australia, Fred Rea and Christina Henri will guest on Australian radio shows in Hobart (ABC radio), Perth (ABC Radio) and other Australian States. A feature article is also planned to appear in The Irish Scene in the May/June edition together with promotional articles in The Mercury (Tasmania) and The West Australian (West Australia). The Cascades Female Factory website will publicise sponsors for Roses from the Heart™.

Christina Henri
Roses from the Heart
www.christinahenri.com.au