“Get along with you, you old wretch.”

Immerse yourself in A wintery Dickensian experience at Narryna featuring an eclectic collection of Dickens inspired curiosities.

Highlighting Charles Dickens pieces from the Narryna collection including Charles Dickens Magic Slides and Lanterns, Costumes of the era, The Works of Charles Dickens House Hold Edition and much more.

An exhibition not to be missed that will delight audiences of all ages.

House entry $10 adults, $8 concession, $5 children.

Open 10am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday.

Narryna’s Winter 2021 program, Pills, Potions and Pandemics, explores Tasmania’s social history through the ‘kill or cure’ experience of pre-modern healthcare.

Narryna’s 19th century residents – Captain Haig, Elizabeth Haig, their children and convict servants – were subjected to a range of treatments including bloodletting and emetics to 'even out' the balance of the four humours or liquids that were believed to regulate the body and emotions. The humours were blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile. They corresponded with four basic personality types: sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic and melancholic. This understanding of the body reflected few advances in medical science since the Greek philosophers of the 4th century BCE.

They were furthermore administered harmful substances such as opiates and mercury. To receive no attention from the surgeon or apothecary was generally more beneficial.

Plagues and pandemics have been with us since ancient times. The word, quarantine, comes from 40 days’ isolation if arriving in Venice on an infected ship. Before the recognition of bacterial infection in the 1870s (and viruses in the 1890s), it was believed that diseases such as typhoid were transmitted by foul smells (miasmas).

Houses such as Narryna, in elevated positions and open to sea breezes, were regarded as healthy. Hence George Washington Walker’s decision to move his family to Narryna in the early 1850s, away from the low-lying areas of central Hobart around the polluted Hobart Town Rivulet.

Join us for this special exhibition with special ‘white gloves’ / blue gloves tours examining rich collections of artefacts from the collections of Narryna and COMA (Collection of Medical Artefacts) Tasmania.

16 – 22 June, Pills, Potions and Pandemics open extended hours (seven days per week 10am – 6pm, open Fridays and Saturdays 10am – 8pm) with festival bar. Check this website regularly for additional tours: https://www.narryna.com.au/exhibitions-and-events/2021/5/29/pills-potions-pandemics

Our latest exhibition, A Social Occasion highlights fashion items from the Narryna collection worn for social events including weddings and garden parties.

HIDDEN HISTORIES

Narryna at first glance seems to epitomise the success of the early colonial free settlers. Its neo-Classical façade radiates an air of genteel respectability which is echoed by elegant interior furnishings where an atmosphere of domestic comfort, security and prosperity prevails. However, if one probes beneath the veneer, different histories emerge. Hidden Histories is a series of installation works that seek to bring to light some of these untold stories, focusing on the lives of women – both free settlers and convicts.

Hidden Histories is guest curated by Dr Llewellyn Negrin. Participating artists are Frances Watson, Janine Combes, Jane Slade, Julie Payne, Christl Berg, Irene Briant, Denise Rathbone, Chantale Delrue and Janelle Mendham.

Given that in the 19th century, the home was identified with the woman as a result of the demarcation between the public and private spheres that emerged at this time, Narryna’s interiors are a particularly apt location in which to explore these forgotten lives.

YOU CAN ALSO LEARN MORE ABOUT HIDDEN HISTORIES BY VISITING THE ‘ONLINE EXHIBITIONS’ PAGE CLICK HERE

Frederick Mackie, Quaker Plantsman

An Exhibition of Plants recorded in Frederick Mackie’s Journal, written during his visits to Narryna (1852 1854). This exhibition will include artwork by Botaniko.

Image: Old China rose by Jean Henley

Patrick Hall, If They Should Accidentally Fall

As part of Dark MOFO 2019, Narryna is hosting Patrick Hall’s evocative installation work, If They Should Accidentally Fall. Confessions in the dark. Overseen by their preachers or prophets, congregation of bottled-up people whisper of longing and disappointment and the slow erosion of belief, the passing of time illuminated by the rhythm of a breath.  

FINAL WEEK

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10:00am to 4:30pm

From out of the fiery furnace came the work of Tasmanian industrial and studio potters. In this exhibition, colonial era artisan potters are represented by makers such as Worby, Sherwin, Port Arthur (convict and Price period), Goulburn, Yeates, Huon, Campbell Bros and McHugh. The 1920s-60s studio potters will be represented by Maude Poynter, Violet Mace and Mylie Peppin. This show is a must for those exercising their creativity in clay.

An exhibition of costumes and undergarments showing how fashion has emphasised different aspects of the female form over 140 years.

Purchase tickets

Tasmania's wild, rugged coastline has been chartered by navigators such as Abel Tasman (1642), James Cook (1777) and Freycinet (1818). Located in the townhouse of Captain Andrew Haig, this exhibition captures the technical skill and unfolding legacy of these early cartographers.