This pair of shoes was said to have been made by a convict from Port Arthur. Made from leather, and with heavily studded soles, there is no difference between the right and left shoe – both shoes have ‘221’ stamped, and ‘WN’ incised, on the sole. (Indeed, the use of right and left shoes did not become common until the 1850’s.) The shoes seem harmless enough, but they are not just footwear – they serve as a powerful metaphor for invasion and the industrial machinery of the colonists!

The Commissariat and its buildings, now an integral part of TMAG, supplied colonists and the military with items of clothing and food from 1803. This included hundreds of pairs of shoes, most of which were made by convicts at Tasmania’s penal stations. The shoes, such as this pair, were supplied by the Commissariat to participants of the Black Line of 1830, a military operation that marked the last phase of the Black War that occurred between the Tasmanian Aborigines and the British colonists – from invasion in 1803 until 1831.

The Black Line attempted to isolate the Aboriginal population in a confined area, allowing them to be captured. The Commissariat could be regarded as the engine of the invasion, and its role in supplying the 2,500 soldiers, free colonists and convicts of the Black Line was critical to the logistics of this highly complex operation. The operation captured only two Aboriginal people – but it did pave the way to negotiations for a settlement of the conflict.