Richard Davey
Encyclopedia
Richard Innes Davey is an actor, director and writer. He is the founder of the Round Earth Company and advocate for the understanding of the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station
on Sarah Island
on the West Coast
of Tasmania
.
Over ten years of the Round Earth Theatre Company
at Strahan
, and work on Sarah Island as a guide, Davey's work has had significance in helping tourists understand the penal station and its context, where previously there had been scattered and not very accessible research. The Ship that Never Was, written by Davey, is Australia's longest-running play, with over 5,000 performances and continuing to be performed nightly at Strahan; it is about the successful escape of 10 convicts from Sarah Island.
His book The Sarah Island Conspiracies: Being an account of twelve voyages to Macquarie Harbour and Sarah Island, which was short listed for a major prize in Hobart in 2005, complements the work of Richard Flanagan
's Gould's Book of Fish
. They both use the painting by William Buelow Gould
of the Weedy sea dragon
on the covers of their books.
A good explanation about Davey and his presence on the West Coast of Tasmania is found in Nicholas Shakespeare
's In Tasmania, which also provides a connection of Davey's with a much earlier stage of Tasmanian history.
Davey's long lasting interest in Shakespeare's King Lear
saw production in November 2007 of an adpatation The Madness of King Lear in Hobart, Tasmania.
Macquarie Harbour Penal Station
The Macquarie Harbour Penal Station was a notorious British penal settlement established on Sarah Island in the southern portion of Macquarie Harbour in what was Van Diemen's Land in , Australia....
on Sarah Island
Macquarie Harbour Penal Station
The Macquarie Harbour Penal Station was a notorious British penal settlement established on Sarah Island in the southern portion of Macquarie Harbour in what was Van Diemen's Land in , Australia....
on the West Coast
West Coast, Tasmania
The West Coast of Tasmania is the part of the state that is strongly associated with wilderness, mining and tourism, rough country and isolation...
of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
.
Over ten years of the Round Earth Theatre Company
Round Earth Theatre Company
The Round Earth Theatre Company, founded by Richard Davey, performs in Strahan, West Coast, Tasmania. Each night the company performs Australia's longest-running play, The Ship That Never Was...
at Strahan
Strahan, Tasmania
-See also:* Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania* Macquarie Harbour* Railways on the West Coast of Tasmania* West Coast Piners-Further reading:* *...
, and work on Sarah Island as a guide, Davey's work has had significance in helping tourists understand the penal station and its context, where previously there had been scattered and not very accessible research. The Ship that Never Was, written by Davey, is Australia's longest-running play, with over 5,000 performances and continuing to be performed nightly at Strahan; it is about the successful escape of 10 convicts from Sarah Island.
His book The Sarah Island Conspiracies: Being an account of twelve voyages to Macquarie Harbour and Sarah Island, which was short listed for a major prize in Hobart in 2005, complements the work of Richard Flanagan
Richard Flanagan
Richard Flanagan is a novelist from Tasmania, Australia.-Early life:Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania, in 1961, the fifth of six children. He is descended from Irish convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land in the 1840s. His father is a survivor of the Burma Death Railway. One of his three...
's Gould's Book of Fish
Gould's Book of Fish
Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish is a 2001 novel by Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan. Gould's Book of Fish was Flanagan's third novel.-Plot summary:...
. They both use the painting by William Buelow Gould
William Buelow Gould
William Buelow Gould was an English and Van Diemonian painter. He was transported to Australia as a convict in 1827, after which he would become one of the most important early artists in the colony, despite never really separating himself from his life of crime.Gould's life in Van Diemen's Land...
of the Weedy sea dragon
Weedy sea dragon
Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, the weedy seadragon or common seadragon, is a marine fish related to the seahorse. It is the only member of the genus Phyllopteryx. Adult weedy seadragons are a reddish colour, with yellow and purple markings; they have small leaf-like appendages that provide camouflage...
on the covers of their books.
A good explanation about Davey and his presence on the West Coast of Tasmania is found in Nicholas Shakespeare
Nicholas Shakespeare
Nicholas William Richmond Shakespeare is a British journalist and writer. Born to a diplomat, Shakespeare grew up in the Far East and in South America. He was educated at the Dragon School preparatory school then Winchester College and Cambridge and worked as a journalist for BBC television and...
's In Tasmania, which also provides a connection of Davey's with a much earlier stage of Tasmanian history.
Davey's long lasting interest in Shakespeare's King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
saw production in November 2007 of an adpatation The Madness of King Lear in Hobart, Tasmania.
Work
- Davey, Richard, (2002) The Sarah Island conspiracies : being an account of twelve voyages made by one G.K. to Macquarie Harbour on the western coast of Van Diemens Land 1822-1833 Strahan, Tas. : Round Earth Co., ISBN 0975005103 (Reproduction of a memoir dated 1896 authored by an anonymous clerk G.K. )
Further reading
- Shakespeare, Nicholas, In Tasmania Milsons Point, N.S.W. : Random House Australia, 2007. ISBN 1741669060
See also
- Convicts on the West Coast of TasmaniaConvicts on the West Coast of TasmaniaThe West Coast of Tasmania has a significant convict heritage. The use of the West Coast as an outpost to house convicts in isolated penal settlements occurred in the era 1822-1833, and 1846-1847....
- Macquarie HarbourMacquarie HarbourMacquarie Harbour is a large, shallow, but navigable by shallow draft vessels inlet on the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia.-History:James Kelly wrote in his narrative "First Discovery of Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour" how he sailed from Hobart in a small open five-oared whaleboat to discover...