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From the Shadows update Please help us raise $70,000 to replace the ‘From the Shadows' orphan statues. The sculptures, representing two Orphan School children, were unveiled in 2022 in St John's Park, New Town, Tasmania to commemorate the almost 6,000 children who were sent to the Orphan Schools from 1828 to 1879. The sculptures were created by renowned Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie as part of the 'From the Shadows' project to highlight the stories of convict women and Orphan School children. In April 2025, the sculptures were stolen and destroyed for scrap metal. We are committed to replacing the sculptures and we need to raise $70,000 to do so. We have set up a GoFundMe page: Replace 'From the Shadows' Orphan School Sculptures https://gofund.me/81038198 (Last updated 4/06/2025 10.30am)

Thank you! Thank-you for your overwhelmingly support after the recent theft and destruction of the Children's Sculptures from St John's Park, New Town. Parts of the Sculptures have been recovered in small pieces. It is not likely they can be reconstructed from these remnants and we are exploring replacement options with Irish sculptor, Rowan Gillespie. Thank-you, too, to Tas Police for their prompt and efficient assistance. We hope to create a photographic record of the Children's Sculptures. If you have any photos to share, please send them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Dianne Snowden, Secretary, for From the Shadows Inc. (Updated 19/04/2025 8.30am) Sad News Supporters of our efforts to commemorate convict women and their children will be as devastated as the From the Shadows committee to learn that the two statues of children have been removed and vandalised beyond repair. The statues, representing two orphan children were unveiled in 2022 in St John's Park New Town, Tasmania to commemorate the almost 6,000 children who were sent to the Orphan Schools from 1828 to 1879. They were made by renown Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie who is shocked that this has happened. This is a senseless act of vandalism. Thanks to the prompt efforts of the police force the culprit has been apprehended and arrested. The committee are determined to do all they can to raise the necessary funds to have the two statues of children replaced. We will keep you updated. (Updated 16/04/2025 10.00pm)

13,000 convict women, together with more than 2,000 of their free children, arrived in Van Diemen’s Land from 1803 to 1853. On arrival, the women were sent to the Cascades Female Factory or a similar institution, and their children were taken from them and sent to the bleak and miserable Orphan Schools at New Town. In all, nearly 6,000 children, mostly the children of convicts, were admitted to the Orphan Schools from 1828 to 1879.

For many women sentenced to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land, their anguish at being forced to leave the country of their birth and undergo a sea voyage of over 12,000 miles to a strange land can only be imagined.

Children have always been part of the convict story, if not always a visible one. Many children experienced institutional life even before arriving in Van Diemen’s Land, incarcerated in gaols or workhouses.

While they were serving their sentences the women were powerless to keep their children with them. For many of these children their formative years were spent in a range of austere institutions. In the colony, families were fragmented as a result of death, desertion and rigid rules and regulations. Mothers and children lost contact with each other; many were not reunited. Many of the children disappeared from the records once they were released from the Orphan Schools.

From the Shadows reflects the emergence of the stories of these convict women and orphan school children from the shadows of the past.

From the Shadows follows on from the hugely successful Footsteps towards Freedom statues installed on the Hobart waterfront and unveiled by the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, and the Governor of Tasmania, Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, in October 2017.

These sculptures, let us remind ourselves, also make common cause with the suffering of migrants in our times. They should remind us that the trauma of displacement and forced exile are not experiences confined to our past, but are the lived experience of millions around the world today, including many who now call Australia home.
—Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland, Hobart 2017

The statues will create a significant heritage tourism route linking sites integral to the convict story — the Hobart waterfront, the Cascades Female Factory and the Orphan Schools.

We are proud to announce that – finally – all four of Rowan Gillespie’s From the Shadows statues have been installed and unveiled.

From the Shadows would like to thank our major sponsors: the Federal Department of Infrastructure (facilitated by Andrew Wilkie MP, Member for Clark); Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (PAHSMA); and the Federal Group. We would also like to thank our generous donors, including the State Government (through Hon. Elise Archer MP, Member for Clark); South Hobart Progress Association; Friends of the Orphan Schools; Female Convicts Research Centre; Convict Women’s Press and the Fellowship of First Fleeters; and our many individual and family donors and supporters.

We would also like to thank Robyn Boyd, CEO, Southern Cross Care, and Stephen Shirley, Chairman, Southern Cross Care, for allowing us to use their land at 85 Creek Road, New Town for the Orphan School Children statues

Many individuals have helped bring the project to fruition and we would like to thank Jennifer Bett; Pru Bonham; Jo Doyle, WLF; Julie Hawkins, In Graphic Detail; Elaine Crawford, for our website; Sue Hickey; Caroline Homer and Ross Latham, Tasmanian Archives; John Kelly, Footsteps towards Freedom; Michael Lawrence and Cameron Green, documentary makers; Paul Lennon; Angie Magowan, archaeologist; Deidre Macdonald and Russell Dobbie, Heritage Tasmania; Tony Parker; Rev. Bill Stewart, St John’s Church, New Town; Paul Swifte, Insurance Masters; Becher Townsend, Font PR; Elizabeth Wilson and the HCC Planning team; our musicians, Lags and Lasses and the Lochner Violin Quartet; piper Katy Robinson; Alistair Bett, photographer; and, of course, our models, Brydie (Martha), Emily (Elizabeth), Viktor and Estella (William and Mary Ann).

Last but by no means least, Irish sculptor, Rowan Gillespie, for his poignant and evocative works of art, and the significant contribution he has made to interpreting forgotten aspects of Tasmania’s history.

From the Shadows team

(Bob, Dianne, David, Lorraine, Ros, Sandra and Darryl)

FromTheShadows Launch 2022

From The Shadows Committee and Rowan Gillespie at the Launch February 27, 2020.

More photos available here...

From the Shadows update

Please help us raise $70,000 to replace the ‘From the Shadows' orphan statues.

In April 2025, the sculptures were stolen and destroyed for scrap metal. We are committed to replacing the sculptures and we need to raise $70,000 to do so. We have set up a GoFundMe page: Replace 'From the Shadows' Orphan School Sculptures https://gofund.me/81038198

Thank you!

Thank-you, too, to Tas Police for their prompt and efficient assistance. We hope to create a photographic record of the Children's Sculptures.

Dianne Snowden,

Secretary,

for From the Shadows Inc.

Sad News

Supporters of our efforts to commemorate convict women and their children will be as devastated as the From the Shadows committee to learn that the two statues of children have been removed and vandalised beyond repair.

The statues, representing two orphan children were unveiled in 2022 in St John's Park New Town, Tasmania to commemorate the almost 6,000 children who were sent to the Orphan Schools from 1828 to 1879. They were made by renown Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie who is shocked that this has happened.

This is a senseless act of vandalism. Thanks to the prompt efforts of the police force the culprit has been apprehended and arrested. The committee are determined to do all they can to raise the necessary funds to have the two statues of children replaced.

We will keep you updated.