Australia's first streaker
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325793)
Rockingham, Australia
June 21, 2018 6:13am CST
It is highly possible that Australia’s first streaker (someone who runs naked in public) was a convict called William Sylvester. He was a gardener on Sarah Island, a penal settlement in Tasmania where only the most hardened criminals were sent.
The settlement was run by a commandant whose servants bribed Sylvester to run naked around the settlement in an effort to scandalise the doctor’s wife and her sister in the hope that they and the highly unpopular doctor would then leave the island.
About 2,000 prisoners, officials and military passed through Sarah Island between 1822 and 1833. The treatment there was brutal in the extreme and very few managed to escape. James Goodwin was one who did make it across the country from the west coast to the east. He was promptly seconded to assist in several expeditions involved in surveying the interior of the country.
The photo is of the remains of one of the buildings.
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13 responses
@Marilynda1225 (79731)
• United States
22 Jun 18
@JudyEv wow I can't imagine being confined to such a small space
2 people like this
@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Jun 18
@Marilynda1225 Many of them went insane in such confinement. It was really a terrible place.
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@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
21 Jun 18
great story - he was lucky to get away
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@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
26 Jun 18
@JudyEv they were lucky to survive
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@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
22 Jun 18
Well they needed some distraction, entertainment under such brutal conditions.
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@Freelanzer (10745)
• Canada
22 Jun 18
@JudyEv I can't imagine how they survived and probably most of them didn't.
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@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Jun 18
@Freelanzer I'm sure many would have succumbed. They were kept half-starved so they wouldn't be strong enough to escape.
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@snowy22315 (169966)
• United States
21 Jun 18
"Oh yes, the call him the streak, fastest thing on two feet" "Don't look Ethel, it's too late..she had already been in- censed." Funny song..you know it? It reminds me of a crumbling governors palace we have in these parts..the ruins aren't much to look at, but the adjacent winery is good!
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@snowy22315 (169966)
• United States
21 Jun 18
@JudyEv Yep, not much more there though the ruins you have shown, probably less..Although they do have some grand Boxwood hedges there. They are fun to walk around i.
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@Marilynda1225 (79731)
• United States
22 Jun 18
I wonder if the streaking was successful? Your travels certainly are interesting and I learn a lot about places I'd never be able to visit
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@JudyEv (325793)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Jun 18
Apparently the doctor and his family went back to the mainland within the month. It seems the doctor was arguing with everyone on the island.
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
21 Jun 18
Phew for a moment there I thought we were going to see a photo of you streaking around Hobart keeping up the tradition started by William Sylvester!
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@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
21 Jun 18
I saw something about the prison. Convict labor was used to build the first road there.
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